Label: Clean Feed, 2022

Personnel - Avram Fefer: alto and tenor saxophone, bass clarinet; Marc Ribot: guitar; Eric Revis: bass; Chad Taylor: drums.

Avram Fefer, a dazzling and eclectic saxophonist with a supple sense of phrasing, returns with his powerful quartet. Juba Lee is the follow up to their debut recording, Testament (Clean Feed, 2019), and an equally strong statement.

The stirring opener, “Showtime”, swings freely, coming up with a motivic theme expressed in parallel by Fefer and drummer Chad Taylor. The saxophonist blows in and out, and yet his improvisation is so cohesive as he mixes boppish lines and avant-garde audacity. He’s followed by the great guitarist Marc Ribot, who sounds nearly muted in tone while getting loose in the posture. He can be offbeat at times in the interest of the music, being all the more participative in the disconcerting finale.

“Bedouin Dream” follows a 13-beat cycle with sax and guitar playing close to each other through well-placed notes. This piece has the same spirit of those African-inspired themes that have been frequent in Fefer’s albums. Fluttering along with odd-meter as well, “Sky Lake” is expeditious in the flow and modal in the formula. It’s dispatched with stimulating solos full of energy, from which Ribot stands out.

Just like the other cuts on the album, the sinewy and stark “Juba Lee” is an original by Fefer. Even sharing the same title as the tune (and album) by free jazz saxist Marion Brown, its primary influence was Ornette Coleman. There’s a deconstructed contemporary rhythm underneath formed by haunting, buzzing and droning accompaniment, after which it takes the form of a fusion piece that simultaneously swings and pedals during the main theme.

“Brother Ibrahim” firstly appeared on the 2003 album Shades of the Muse (tackled with a completely different quartet), and, intentionally or coincidentally, reminds me the sensitive touch of African pianist Abdullah Ibrahim. Another Ornette-inspired tune, “Gemini Time”, is synonym of fun time, with Taylor and bassist Eric Revis swinging beautifully. The latter concludes the time set for impromptu demonstration, following Fefer, who starts off with an intoxicating ascendant move, and Ribot, who throws in a legato of sumptuously designed notes.

Immediately before “Sweet Fifteen” - a duet of bass clarinet and acoustic guitar that, maintaining an Eastern flavor and quintuple meter, pays tribute to the late American writer, musician, and producer Greg Tate - we have a tinge of Americana and blues with “Say You’re Sorry”.

Propelled and colored by this wonderful quartet, Juba Lee is a refreshing album that glistens with adventurous harmonies and rich melody. Fefer puts a liberating emotional focus in everything he does.

Favorite Tracks:
02 - Bedouin Dream ► 03 - Sky Lake ► 09 - Sweet Fifteen

Label: Clean Feed, 2019

Personnel - Avram Fefer: alto and tenor saxophones; Marc Ribot: guitar; Eric Revis: bass; Chad Taylor: drums.

Avram Fefer has been part of the New York jazz scene for a quarter century, over which he played with illustrious figures such as Archie Shepp, Sunny Murray, and Roy Campbell, among others. His second outing on Clean Feed, Testament, is a very personal statement comprising eight exciting pieces, which apart from one of them, are culled from his self-penned repertoire. Despite five of them have been previously recorded, they appear here with an exceptional new instrumentation thanks to a fresh partnership with guitarist Marc Ribot, with whom Fefer had played before but never recorded. The other two elements of the quartet on display, bassist Eric Revis and drummer Chad Taylor, are also members of Fefer’s stellar trio and their musical excellence and rapport are pretty much in evidence throughout.

Fefer’s African influence can be testified on old and new tunes such as “African Interlude” and “Magic Mountain”, respectively. Both are put in motion with a three time feel, but where the former breathes a warm, dry air from the sub-Saharan region, the latter falls into an electric Afro-funk permeated with playful avant-garde passages. Unison sax-guitar agreements are frequent, and if Ribot often brings staccato strokes into his cool funky comping, Fefer makes use of his excellent articulation to generate soul-transporting narratives intonated with enormous passion and motivic flair. Having lots of fun, Revis and Taylor stand behind the thrilling percussive throb of these chants.

Also sliding at a medium 3/4 tempo, the breezy “Essaouira” evokes the Moroccan port city cited in its title with fascinating lyricism and a steady groove often engraved with Ribot’s ardent bluesy licks. The guitarist brings them again on “Wishful Thinking”, a rock-washed tune propelled in five and populated by Fefer’s staccato expressions, rhythmic figures, and winding phrases molded with chromatic exuberance. The final stretch has Taylor emphasizing rim-clicks and the metallic ringing of the ride cymbal.

Taylor’s “Song For Dyani” initially offers a relaxing Americana atmosphere. However, the tune’s last section attests the drummer’s departure from the mallet vibrancy and cymbal sparkle in order to join forces with Revis on another African-tinged groove.

All differing in nature, but enunciated in a way we can immediately identify their author, “Dean St. Hustle” captures the quartet in moments of swinging bravura and elevated state of interaction, “Parable” takes the shape of an acoustic folk ballad before evolving into anthemic rock, and “Testament”, an old spiritual hymn written for Ornette Coleman, bonds together avant-jazz nerve and rock density while Eastern melodic flavors take its place atop.

As usual, Fefer points for ambition and his receptiveness of other musical sources is sincere and liberating. Testament tells us who he really is as a musician.

Favorite Tracks:
02 - African Interlude ► 04 - Song For Dyani ► 08 - Essaouira