Label: Freedom Art Records, 2025

Personnel - Alfredo Colón: tenor saxophone; Omar Kabir: trumpet; Adam Lane: bass; Lloyd Haber: drums.

Freedom Art Quartet returns more than two decades after debuting with Spirits Awake. The collective, formed in 1991 by drummer Lloyd Haber—who pens all compositions—and trumpeter Omar Kabir, delivers its latest eight-track album, First Dance. It’s a myriad of influences—from Ornette Coleman, Don Cherry, and Art Ensemble of Chicago to Freddie Hubbard, Mingus, and Miles—brimming with rhythmic intensity and improvisational acumen within an explosive freebop context. Joining the founders for the first time are seasoned bassist Adam Lane and rising saxophonist Alfredo Colón, replacing Jaribu Shahid and Abraham Burton, respectively.

“Counterbalance” opens with swinging eloquence, tenacious ostinatos delivered with fierce counterpoint, and rhythmic shifts. Colón blows with enthusiastic devotion and crisp articulation while Kabir backfires with unexpected lines and tones. “Stop Watch”, another exciting piece, thrives on a terrific bass figure, blending freebop and funk with dramatic improvisational turns from the horns.

“U.S. Blues Inc.” is an asymmetrical blues that closes with heavy arco bass musings. The bluesy spirit lingers on “Interpretation”, where Haber’s tappy snare clatter colors rather than drives, as groovy nuances thread the polyrhythmic piece.

Stretching nearly 13 minutes, “Song For the Old Ones” shows the group in effortless communication within a more melodic vernacular. Lane shapes a fluid bass discourse before joining Haber in the unpretentious Latin tinge of the closing theme. The title cut, “First Dance”, wraps the album as it began—with dazzling rhythms giving Lane and Haber a rigorous workout, bursts of horn energy, and pockets of deconstruction that shift the dynamics.

First Dance locks into deep-pocket grooves, hurtling into bright themes and cathartic releases with a sound that feels both familiar and new.