This gathering is a natural and direct consequence of past events and associations.
Tyrone Hill (1948; Philadelphia, PA) originally recorded at CIMP with his quartet featuring Marshall Allen (1924; Louisville, KY, ) in June of 1997. Then, in March of 1999, Elliott Levin (1953; Philadelphia, PA) and Tyrone recorded a pair of CIMP concerts with Howard Cooper (1941; Philadelphia, PA) and Ed Watkins (1952; Philadelphia, PA) and, in between those 2 dates, Marshall had recorded his own dates on CIMP. Their trips to The Spirit Room have produced highly graphic and energized music and, when Elliott proposed this quintet, I welcomed the opportunity as previous experiences have been both personal and professional pleasures and have produced a body of work which is distinct, interesting, and artistically rewarding.
The northcountry summer of 2002 had proved to be uncommonly hot. I was glad to be done with it and figured the arrival of autumn and the quintet would bring a breath of fresh air– figuratively and literally.
The group arrived late in the afternoon and we immediately went to supper. A few hours of food, visiting, and catching up preceded setting up and sound checks, but by 9:30 p.m. we were set to roll. The quintet opened with Marshall's multi-styled Space Station, an engaging line which was run through a number of times at various tempos, each take (or incomplete take) containing its own joys, albeit not always in perfect settings. On Space Station, Tyrone took the role of strawboss and musical director, nicely coordinating the whole and extracting a big sound from the 5 piece-group.
Musical direction was next passed to Howard (See Minor Run) who set the pulse while Ed levitated the platform, setting up Marshall for one of his gravity-defying solos. Tyrone's section was more transitional and the listener, now in on the strategy, could start to speculate on the route Elliott would take. Elliott seemed to reference Marshall's solo before blazing his own direction.
And so it went into the night, compositions put forward to an open forum with the musical direction generally coming from the composer in what was more a workshop setting than a concert.
Abit after midnight, Elliott, Marshall, and Tyrone put away the written music and engaged in a spontaneous trio improv (Trio Number One). A bit out of character with the preceding work, it produced a remarkable multi ad-lib adventure into various tonalities and rhythms and is quite unlike anything I've heard these three do in the past. Listen for the rather ingenious maneuvering that takes place as these three try to coordinate docking this exploration while maintaining its musicality and without losing its compositional integrity. Three captains, three steering wheels, and yet a near seamless takeoff, flight, and landing.
The next morning's session sprang to life with Tyrone's infectious second line ramble, March on Cumberland Street. Marshall was out first on the solos. You had to smile at his inventive sly history lesson before it was handed on to Tyrone's big Philly funk andthen to Elliot's curved soprano and Bechet-like suggestion and then—gad!—a missed understanding on the end, resulting in an incomplete take. The next take revisited the energy and, again, Marshall's solo—in another direction—moved me with his humor and creativeness. Tyrone and Elliott responded with stronger new statements before giving Ed his run on the toms and returning to the theme. I've left both takes in as I think it makes for an interesting comparison, is good music, and nicely bookends the whole concert. It is my hope that the truncated ending of Take 1 will not critically disrupt the concert ambiance for the listener.
Next, the roots tapped into Ellington and Ra on Marshall's Tone. How can you not like this music? Following that, a brief blowout on Ed's Gruff and the session ended on Elliott's Day of Blowing.
Earlier in the morning, in speaking with Elliottabout the material, he said the group wanted to expose as much of it as possible, for they do not get that many recording opportunities. A curious reality in this day of over-recording exposure and even more curious when one considers the quality of work produced by this group during those few recording opportunities. Here is another opportunity, well taken advantage of, and with rewards for us all.
Robert D. Rusch - Sept. 25, 2002
