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Jeff Williams: Road Tales - Live At London Jazz Festival
By
Jeff Williams
drumsSince joining Whirlwind recordings, Williams has been able to revive the spirit from his creative days in the 1970s, when the American drummer appeared on some of the period's more extravagant and electric jazz albums, as for example part of

Dave Liebman
saxophoneb.1946

Carmen Staaf
pianob.1981

John O'Gallagher
saxophone, altob.1964
Josh Arcoleo
saxophoneSam Lasserson
bassAs is often the case with chordless outfits, a tendency towards the freer relationship between notes and intervals dominates the band's interplay and can be traced across this entire set. "New and Old," a tune that first appeared on Outlier, is given an extensive 14-minute treatment to open the set and sees the quartet juggling with melodies and rhythms in most colorful fashion. Tenor and alto saxophone are given much space to unfold and both, O'Gallagher and Arcoleo, know how to take advantage of such freedomin the harmonic and in the timely sense of the word. In some places the quartet's constellation calls to mind

Dewey Redman
saxophone, tenorb.1931

Don Cherry
trumpet1936 - 1995
"Interloper"'s broken beat features a standout performance by Arcoleo, whose alto builds an elegant dynamic arc with an extroverted climax over sparse accompaniment, making the tune a highlight of the record. Other cuts from earlier records, such as "Oddity," "Borderline" or "Scruge," are solid performances of rather straight-forward material that give a good glance at Williams' writing of the past decade, while "Search Me"'s stretched out cinematic theme and subsequent root-note based jam brings fresh ingredients to the date.
A fine live document of

Jeff Williams
drums
Lee Konitz
saxophone, alto1927 - 2020

Stan Getz
saxophone, tenor1927 - 1991

Richie Beirach
pianob.1947
Track Listing
New And Old; There Interploper; Borderline; Oddity; Under The Radar; Scrunge; Search Me; She Can't Be A Spy; Double Life.
Personnel
Album information
Title: Road Tales - Live At London Jazz Festival | Year Released: 2020 | Record Label: Whirlwind Recordings
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