"Epic" is a word that seems appropriate to describe the music on this two-disc offering by saxophonist and trumpeter Joe McPhee. Accompanied by four double-bassists, the veteran free-jazzer from upstate New York has concocted a tribute to the spirit of one of the genre's early patron saints and called it, appropriately enough The Albert Ayler 2000 Project.
Ayler, who was found drowned in the East River in November 1970, is the reason McPhee, who started his career as a trumpeter, picked up the saxophone at the age of 28. McPhee has since gone on to become a prolific stylist in his own right, and for this project, which was presented on a European tour in 2000, McPhee enlisted the services of frequent collaborator Dominique Duval, along with those of fellow bassists Michael Bisio, Paul Rogers and Claude Tchamitian. Two French concerts, one in Le Mans and the other in Nantes, are here available on these two CDs, affording listeners nearly two hours of music.
The centerpiece is the nearly hour-long title piece, which evolves along symphonic lines and proportions, with themes batted back and forth and developed among the quintet. "Angels, Devils & Haints," McPhee explains in the liner notes, "is a kind of metaphor for Albert Ayler," and is inspired by a painting in which McPhee saw "the artist ... driven to create by forces within himself which could not be denied." The painting's "angels, devils and haints, i.e. haunts or ghosts" inspire the mood of the piece, and the title "also reflects titles of some of Mr. Ayler's own compositions," McPhee writes.
"Angels and Other Aliens," the other marathon piece of the album at 24:12, mines a similar vein of ecstasy, jubilance and torment, although it is more minimalist in its means, while maintaining an equal share of passion and dramatic contrasts.
Of the remaining three pieces, two share a strong spiritual trait, in both style and content. They are the traditional "Goin' Home," and Jerome Kern's philosophic "Ol'Man River." The set closes with "The Gift," a piece composed for Donald Ayler, Albert's trumpet-playing brother whom McPhee met briefly in 1965 after returning from military duty. It features more sinewy bluesy playing, harkening back to the excitement of the Alyer brothers' art, reminding us of what made them so attractive on the scene in the mid-60s, when McPhee was a young artist looking for a voice.
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