DAVID MURRAY / GERI ALLEN / TERRI LYNE CARRINGTON - Perfection
Motema / Membrane
David Murray: tenor saxophone, bass clarinet; Geri Allen: piano; Terri Lyne Carrinton: drums; with (on ‘Perfection’: Charnett Moffet; acoustic bass; Craig Harris: trombone; Wallace Ronney Jr.: trumpet).
Recorded at Avatar Studios, New York, June 2016.
The title piece of this CD is a previously unreleased Ornette Coleman track. It was recorded only a few weeks after Coleman’s death by way of a heart-felt tribute from friends and colleagues. The liner notes convey the motivation for this: “There are certain extraordinary musicians upon whose shoulders we stand, both because their work of the highest musical standard and because of their ability to teach and inspire is exceptional, encouraging all of us to seek our own excellence and be the best we can be in order to put our feet in the groundwork which they laid”. On this track, the trio are augmented by three other musicians, and the ensemble produces a piece that captures the harmolodic structures of a Coleman piece with a joyfulness that is infectious.
For the rest of the CD, we have a ‘power trio’ assembled by Murray for the New York Winter JazzFest in 2015. Given three luminaries on the jazz scene, with so much experience playing alongside a panoply of the greats of last few decades (including Coleman), you would expect nothing less than perfection from this recording. It doesn’t disappoint. As a trio, we have three musicians at the peak of their talents, stretching their playing in the open structure of the bass-less trio. The gaps where one expect the bass line are expertly filled by Murray’s lower register playing, or Allen’s fills, or Carrington’s. Each piece is developed with post-bop experimentalism but always with tremendous poise and balance in their playing.
Following from the presentation of a Coleman piece, the set contains tributes to other musicians who have played key roles in the lives and careers of the trio here. ‘Barbara Allen’ (track 2) develops a piano line from a bass solo by Charlie Haden; ‘The Nuturer’ (track 5) is dedicated to Allen’s mentor, Marcus Belgrave; ‘Samsara (for Wayne)’ (track 8) is dedicated to Wayne Shorter; and ‘For Fr. Peter O’Brien’ (track 9) reminds us of Mary Lou Williams manager, and of the Mary Lou Williams Collective with whom Allen played, and has a delightfully syncopated feel in Allen’s playing. A previous career milestone is also referenced in ‘The David, Geri, and Terri Show’ (track 4), with its intimation of Carrington’s tenure as drummer on the Arsenio Hall show.
Overall, this is a wonderful recording of ‘certain extraordinary musicians’ (to quote their own liner notes back to them) and a trio that would be well worth catching at their London show in November this year.
Reviwed by Chris Baber
Motema / Membrane
David Murray: tenor saxophone, bass clarinet; Geri Allen: piano; Terri Lyne Carrinton: drums; with (on ‘Perfection’: Charnett Moffet; acoustic bass; Craig Harris: trombone; Wallace Ronney Jr.: trumpet).
Recorded at Avatar Studios, New York, June 2016.
The title piece of this CD is a previously unreleased Ornette Coleman track. It was recorded only a few weeks after Coleman’s death by way of a heart-felt tribute from friends and colleagues. The liner notes convey the motivation for this: “There are certain extraordinary musicians upon whose shoulders we stand, both because their work of the highest musical standard and because of their ability to teach and inspire is exceptional, encouraging all of us to seek our own excellence and be the best we can be in order to put our feet in the groundwork which they laid”. On this track, the trio are augmented by three other musicians, and the ensemble produces a piece that captures the harmolodic structures of a Coleman piece with a joyfulness that is infectious.
For the rest of the CD, we have a ‘power trio’ assembled by Murray for the New York Winter JazzFest in 2015. Given three luminaries on the jazz scene, with so much experience playing alongside a panoply of the greats of last few decades (including Coleman), you would expect nothing less than perfection from this recording. It doesn’t disappoint. As a trio, we have three musicians at the peak of their talents, stretching their playing in the open structure of the bass-less trio. The gaps where one expect the bass line are expertly filled by Murray’s lower register playing, or Allen’s fills, or Carrington’s. Each piece is developed with post-bop experimentalism but always with tremendous poise and balance in their playing.
Following from the presentation of a Coleman piece, the set contains tributes to other musicians who have played key roles in the lives and careers of the trio here. ‘Barbara Allen’ (track 2) develops a piano line from a bass solo by Charlie Haden; ‘The Nuturer’ (track 5) is dedicated to Allen’s mentor, Marcus Belgrave; ‘Samsara (for Wayne)’ (track 8) is dedicated to Wayne Shorter; and ‘For Fr. Peter O’Brien’ (track 9) reminds us of Mary Lou Williams manager, and of the Mary Lou Williams Collective with whom Allen played, and has a delightfully syncopated feel in Allen’s playing. A previous career milestone is also referenced in ‘The David, Geri, and Terri Show’ (track 4), with its intimation of Carrington’s tenure as drummer on the Arsenio Hall show.
Overall, this is a wonderful recording of ‘certain extraordinary musicians’ (to quote their own liner notes back to them) and a trio that would be well worth catching at their London show in November this year.
Reviwed by Chris Baber
