Three sets of improvisational duos go out… way out, on new albums. Jaime Branch has injected vital punk energy into the improvised music scene during the past several years. The trumpeter puts her healthy irreverence to good use in Anteloper, a collaboration with percussionist Jason Nazary. Thanks to the deft production of Jeff Parker, the wavy Pink Dolphins might even appeal to fans of Animal Collective.

Reading Tony Whyton’s Beyond a Love Supreme: John Coltrane and the Legacy of an Album last week put me in the proper headspace for I Am’s Beyond. Saxophonist Isaiah Collier and drummer Michael Shekwoaga Ode channel the polarizing 1967 album Interstellar Space with uncompromising ferocity.

Skronky but slightly less confrontational, Symphonic Tone Poem for Brother Yusef features the veteran innovators Bennie Maupin and Adam Nussbaum. Mixing electronics with organic sounds, the saxophonist and percussionist pay tribute to the late Yusef Lateef. Pink Dolphins and Beyond are very good, but the old guys show the kids how it’s done in their exceptional ancient-to-the-future collaboration.

William Brownlee

August 30, 2021

Album Review: Lee Morgan- The Complete Live at the Lighthouse

William Brownlee

August 30, 2021

My admiration of excess is even more pronounced than my fascination with confrontation. That’s why I’m all in on The Complete Live at the Lighthouse, the seven-hour and 31-minute expansion of the Lee Morgan album originally released soon after it was recorded at the California club in 1970. The daunting length is a documentation of all 12 sets the quartet of Morgan (trumpet), Bennie Maupin (reeds), Harold Mabern (piano), Jymie Merritt (bass) and Mickey Roker (drums) played in the intimate room during a labor-intensive three-day stint. The stylistic tension between the musicians is conspicuous. While his band mates seem content to rehash the hard bop that was quickly becoming passé, Maupin is eager to expand on the innovations of John Coltrane and Eric Dolphy. The Complete Live at the Lighthouse, consequently, is a fascinating glimpse of music at a fateful breaking point.