Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » DKV & Joe McPhee: The Fire Each Time

DKV & Joe McPhee: The Fire Each Time

By Mark Corroto
March 24, 2019
View read count

Do you participate in the 21st century phenomena called 'binge-watching'? With the advent of Netflix and downloadable television, consumers can view an entire television series in one sitting. Be it eight episodes of Russian Doll or sixty hours of The Wire, it's all available, and the possibilities to feast are tempting. Where a filmmaker might have two hours to create something for the cinema, these series allow a deeper dive into story telling. The same can be said of music, and a release like The Fire Each Time, a 6-CD boxset by DKV &

Joe McPhee

woodwinds
b.1939

" data-original-title="" title="">Joe McPhee. Recorded on two different continents and in five different cities—Paris, Pozna��, Pardubice, Milwaukee, and Chicago—one disc flows into the next and, before you know it, you've entered a marathon listening session.

Then again, if you are a devotee of DKV, you probably have participated in a marathon session with the trio's 7-CD Past Present (Not Two Records, 2012) and/or the 5-CD Sound In Motion In Sound (Not Two Records, 2014). If you've followed the career of saxophonist

Ken Vandermark

saxophone
b.1964

" data-original-title="" title="">Ken Vandermark, you might lament the passing of several of his ensembles including Vandermark 5, Fire Room, Joe Harriott Project, Sound In Action Trio, Powerhouse Sound, School Days, Spaceways Incorporated, and another dozen thrill rides you might have ridden in the past, including his organization of the

Peter Brötzmann

woodwinds
1941 - 2023

" data-original-title="" title="">Peter Br?tzmann Chicago Tentet.

It is interesting, and not surprising, that the trio DKV, which formed in 1994, endures. Vandermark, bassist

Kent Kessler

bass, acoustic
b.1957

" data-original-title="" title="">Kent Kessler and drummer

Hamid Drake

drums
b.1955

" data-original-title="" title="">Hamid Drake create powerful and—this is somewhat of a rare commodity these days—irresistible free jazz which you find nearly impossible not to shake your rump to. This binge-worthy edition documents a 2017 tour with McPhee. The trio had previously recorded music with guests including

Fred Anderson

saxophone
1929 - 2010

" data-original-title="" title="">Fred Anderson,

Joe Morris

bass, acoustic
b.1955

" data-original-title="" title="">Joe Morris, and also

Mats Gustafsson

woodwinds
b.1964

" data-original-title="" title="">Mats Gustafsson with his Aaly Trio and The Thing. Certainly each of the trio's musicians has a bond with Joe McPhee, a current elder statesman of free jazz alongside

Marshall Allen

saxophone, alto
b.1924

" data-original-title="" title="">Marshall Allen and

Roscoe Mitchell

saxophone
b.1940

" data-original-title="" title="">Roscoe Mitchell. That alliance is evident throughout. These recordings are dedicated to writer and activist James Baldwin, who is referenced multiple times here with titles that refer to various locations from his life. McPhee repurposes his composition "Nation Time" four times during these live dates and with a poem included in the notes entitled "Nation Time For Real This Time (In The Error Of Trump)."

The music here is free jazz, but free jazz that consistently melds into song form. This is accomplished either through the pulse and push of Drake and Kessler's time keeping or through references (noted as "Impressions Of") to various composers such as

Thelonious Monk

piano
1917 - 1982

" data-original-title="" title="">Thelonious Monk's "Evidence,"

Jerome Kern

arranger
1895 - 1945

" data-original-title="" title="">Jerome Kern's "Ol' Man River,"

Don Cherry

trumpet
1936 - 1995

" data-original-title="" title="">Don Cherry's "Brown Rice," "George Gershwin}}'s "Summertime"

Duke Ellington

piano
1899 - 1974

" data-original-title="" title="">Duke Ellington's "Come Sunday" and McPhee's "Nation Time" and "Knox." Not surprisingly, the ESP we have grown to expect between Vandermark, Kessler and Drake expands here with McPhee, and there are no weak moments on these recordings. If we were back in the '60s and living under the rule of major labels, these six discs would have been whittled down to a single (maybe a double) LP. But with our new era, and visionary artist-friendly labels like Marek Winiarski's Not Two Records, binge-worthy marathon listening sessions are accessible.

Learn more about our star rating system

Track Listing

CD1: Le Select > Chicago Defenders > Nation Time; Rue De Tournon; 201 Chemin du Pilon > IMPRESSIONS OF KNOX: Variations on a theme by Joe McPhee; CD2: CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE: Impressions Of A Theme By Thelonious Monk > 100 West Mosholu Parkway South; An Impression of SUMMERTIME by George Gershwin; Ebe Hanim; 137 West 71st Street > Nation Time; An Impression of COME SUNDAY by Duke Ellington; CD3: West 128th Street; CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE: Impression of a theme by Thelonious Monk > NATION TIME; IMPRESSIONS OF KNOX: Variations on a theme by Joe McPhee; CD4: L��Abbaye; P.S.24; For Trayvon Martin (Giving Voice To One Which Was Stolen); Les Deux Magots; IMPRESSIONS OF KNOX: Variations on a theme by Joe McPhee; CD5: 81 Horatio Street; An Impression of OL' MAN RIVER by Jerome Kern; Leukerbad; IMPRESSIONS OF KNOX: Variations on a theme by Joe McPhee; An Impression of BROWN RICE by Don Cherry; CD6: Caf�� de Flore; Saint-Paul-de-Vence; IMPRESSIONS OF KNOX: Variations on a theme by Joe McPhee; IMPRESSIONS OF OLD EYES: Variations on a theme by Joe McPhee > Nation Time.

Personnel

DKV Trio

Joe McPhee: tenor saxophone, pocket trumpet; Ken Vandermark: tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone, clarinet; Kent Kessler: bass; Hamid Drake: drums.

Album information

Title: The Fire Each Time | Year Released: 2019 | Record Label: Not Two Records

PREVIOUS / NEXT

Asperger
< Previous

NauMay
Next >

Support All About Jazz

All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.