Label: TUM Records, 2022
Personnel - Enrico Rava: flugelhorn; William Parker: double bass; Andrew Cyrille: drums.
I’m a long-time admirer and follower of the music put out by the Italian trumpeter Enrico Rava (here on flugelhorn only), the bassist William Parker, and the drummer Andrew Cyrille, as leaders. These brilliant musicians, who often write with improvisation in mind, are constantly open to ideas, remaining alert and responsive to every sound that surrounds them.
Although appearing together for the first time as a trio on 2 Blues For Cecil , they were all part of the groundbreaking Cecil Taylor Unit in the past, but at different times. Cyrille and Parker played in the cited group for 11 years each, 64-75 and 80-91, respectively; Rava appeared twice alongside the free jazz piano genius in 1984 and 1988. This dedication to the memory of the pianist comprises four collective improvisations, one jazz standard, one original by Parker and two apiece from Rava and Cyrille.
“Improvisation No.2” is way more reflective and sparse than “Improvisation No.1”, which opens the record with singing bass lines and likable figures, ever-sparking drumming filled with multi-timbral discernment, and crystal-clear horn playing that manages to be agile and searing. Also collective improvisations, “Blues For Cecil No. 1” and “Blues For Cecil No. 2” have different feelings. The former starts off slowly and then swings conveniently with Parker mutating rhythmic flows with vision; the latter is a more conventional 12-bar blues limned with expressive melody and groove.
Rava populates his hasty, if carefully calibrated, 1991-penned “Ballerina” with restless trumpet, but it’s his other composition, “Overboard”, that enthralled me the most. This Ornette Coleman-inspired piece was revisited many times before, but is built afresh here with beautiful trumpet lines and an enveloping rhythmic web consisting of sure-footed bass walks and intense tom-tom focus.
Whereas Cyrille’s “Enrava Melody” was written for the trumpeter, who, blowing with ascendant verve, combines sophistication and stamina, Parker’s open piece “Machu Picchu”, grounded on a three-time-feel bass ostinato, is a static yet dazzling showcase for Rava’s melodic impressions. The trio concludes with a brushed, harmonically broken reading of Rodgers/Hart’s “My Funny Valentine”.
Favorite Tracks:
01 - Improvisation No. 1 ► 08 - Overboard ► 09 - Machu Picchu