Andrew Cyrille Quartet - The Declaration Of Musical Independence (2016) [Official Digital Download 24-bit/96kHz]

The great avant-jazz drummer Andrew Cyrille whose associations have ranged from a long, vintage collaboration with Cecil Taylor to co-leading current all-star collective Trio 3 with Oliver Lake and Reggie Workman makes his ECM debut as bandleader on "The Declaration Of Musical Independence" and what a band it is! Guitarist Bill Frisell, keyboardist Richard Teitelbaum and double bassist Ben Street are perfectly in synch with Cyrille throughout this set that opens with a Coltrane cover (Coltrane Time) but is otherwise all-original, including three pieces composed by the entire quartet in the studio.

A portentous title for an unself-consciously inquisitive, selflessly collective quartet nominally led by the great drummer Andrew Cyrille, an elderly master of unpredictable yet flowing free-jazz momentum, steered by the kind of patience that drummers aren’t always famous for. His very classy partners here are Bill Frisell (guitar), jazz/classical synth pioneer Richard Teitelbaum (a long-time Cyrille collaborator) and Ben Street (double bass). A version of John Coltrane’s Coltrane Time kicks things off with a snare pattern Cyrille learned from Coltrane drummer Rashied Ali – which he sustains while the others float rhythmically and arrhythmically around him. Frisell’s melancholy Kaddish rings quietly on over Cyrille’s far-distant mallets, Street’s Say resembles a slow pop ballad, and Dazzling (Perchordally Yours) is built around alternations of single chord-hits and silences, the players reacting to the resonances. It all swings without regular swing, sounding fluently melodic, though much of it is cell-like and episodic. It might be too wrapped up in itself for some, but its close-listening musicality grows on you.

Tracklist:

01 - Coltrane Time
02 - Kaddish
03 - Sanctuary
04 - Say…
05 - Dazzling (Perchordially Yours)
06 - Herky Jerky
07 - Begin
08 - Manfred
09 - Song For Andrew No.1

Produced by Sun Chung. Engineered by Rick Kwan.
Recorded in July 2014 at Brooklyn Recording, New York.

Musicians:
Andrew Cyrille - drums, percussion
Bill Frisell - guitar
Richard Teitelbaum - synthesizer, piano
Ben Street - double bass


Thanks to the Original customer!