Mike Reed - Sun Beans of Shimmering Light

March 9, 2021

Label: Astral Spirits, 2021

Personnel - Wadada Leo Smith: trumpet; Douglas R. Ewart: woodwinds; Mike Reed: drums.

Sun Beans of Shimmering Light is a fantastic set of improvised music by trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith, Jamaican-born woodwind player Douglas R. Ewart and drummer Mike Reed, all AACM musicians known for bringing a fresh perspective to any project.

This special encounter happened in 2015, but, criminally, only now is being released on the Astral Spirits label. As a true sensory catharsis, the music takes several forms, sometimes going from delightfully descriptive to energetically dynamic. The opening track, “Constellations and Conjunctional Spaces”, wields contemplative, audacious and prayerful moments in a constant exchange of energies. By plunging their instruments in tonal contrasts, Smith and Ewart create beautiful effects during a dialogue that stirs passion. While the former artist embraces infinite abstraction and multiphonic enchantment, the latter takes us to exotic places, exploring astringent cascading lines, whether on the bassoon or the sopranino. Reed’s pummeling percussion is often amorphous but well honed, cohering with whatever it’s going on at the fore.

The album’s title track displays crystal clear trumpet notes underpinned by chiming and rattling percussion at first, before evolving into a meditation with flute at the center. Near the end, this same flute probes elliptical trajectories, becoming occasionally percussive as it supports the boldness of Simth’s muted trumpet.

“Super Moon Rising” assimilates extra percussion in the aesthetics, imposing the majesty of toms, cymbals and snare drum rolls in order to grapple with the fierceness and the projection of the trumpet. Ewart then skitters around between Eastern-patterned arches before expressing his final thoughts.

Although enjoying the freedom of not having to deal with tempo, the trio suggests a three time feel on the introductory riff of the short “Dark Tango”, whose intuitive denouement is fabulous.

Each track churns with impressively cohesive ideas; all is improvised, nothing is disjointed. Hence, what Smith, Ewart and Reed do here resonates with musical assurance.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Constellations and Conjunctional Spaces ► 03 - Super Moon Rising ► 05 - Dark Tango

Roscoe Mitchell & Mike Reed - The Ritual and the Dance

February 8, 2021

Label: Astral Spirits

Personnel - Roscoe Mitchell: reeds; Mike Reed: drums, percussion, electronics.

The free jazz genre is graced by the dynamic duo of multireedist Roscoe Mitchell, an unapologetic nonconformist, and drummer Mike Reed, an artisan of the rhythm. The sophomore release of these AACM artists is called The Ritual and the Dance and was recorded live in 2015 during their European tour. It consists of a nearly 37-minute uninterrupted storytelling with no idle moments.

The high-pitched soprano laments delivered by Mitchell take the form of piercing indigenous chants blown vertiginously with circular breathing and patterned stimuli. The dry rat-a-tat of the snare drum makes a beautiful tonal contrast with the deep bass drum kicks, establishing an intense, sedulous workout routine that will put you in a state of bemused fascination.

The impressive versatility of Reed surfaces not only when he seats behind the drumset, but also when he operates electronics with subtle sensitivity. At some point, his adept pulses are transformed into droning backgrounds, whose dark tones allow the saxophone to reflect brightly. Reed then resumes the stomping cadence but keeps changing its colors.

The turbulent environment is refrained at the minute 20, when Mitchell switches to tenor, seeking folk melodies and exploring some long notes that oscillate in pitch. His beefy, occasionally raucous tone is unadorned, if slower, here, but he switches horns again for a stimulating final stretch.

Adventurous jazz listeners will be struck by the force of this music, certainly wishing that Mitchell and Reed can collaborate again soon.

Mike Reed - Flesh & Bone

August 15, 2017

Label/Year: 482 Music, 2017

Lineup – Greg Ward: alto saxophone; Tim Haldeman: tenor saxophone; Ben Lamar Guy: cornet; Jason Stein: baritone clarinet; Jason Roebke: bass; Mike Reed: drums.

Riding high in the aftermath of his previous album, the propulsive A New Kind of Dance (482 Music, 2015), and moved by a harrowing racial experience in Europe, Chicago drummer Mike Reed presents us his new rewarding project, Flesh & Bone. The band features the core of People, Places & Things quartet - Greg Ward on alto saxophone, Tim Haldeman on tenor, and Jason Roebke on bass - plus a pair of sturdy improvisers, Ben Lamar Guy on cornet and Jason Stein on baritone clarinet. There’s also the spoken word of Marvin Tate who tries to call our attention to a few specific problems of this world.

On “Voyagers”, the chord-less ensemble inaugurates a celebratory state of affairs that flourishes with multiple horn timbres dancing in-the-groove of an unflinching percussive motion.

Another tune that strikes with invigorating horn spins is “A Separatist Party”, which besides exhibiting often-static bass notes and a funky backbeat, also welcomes the horn players into the spotlight of a hot improvisational steam.

In a totally different mood, “Conversation Music” features unobvious cornet routes by Lamar Gay and comes orchestrated with a Mingus feel and densely populated with expressive horn fills in the background.

The introduction of “My Imaginary Friend” (referring to a possible dream with his fellow drummer Tyshawn Sorey) consists of a saxophone monologue provided by Ward. His peers join him, kicking into a happy swing momentarily disrupted to introduce a neurotic solo by Stein, who operates his bass clarinet embracing an extended tonal range. Shoulder to shoulder, Lamar Gay and Haldeman pop into the scene for a sparkling conversation that finishes with tonalities of a serious argument.

“I Want to Be Small” and “Watching the Boats” are deviated from rugged paths to provide for the melodious tranquility that also reveals the generous spirit of the group. The former, a tune dedicated to the painter Archibald Motley, features Ward developing a phraseology whose cordial sound and sweetness take us to Duke Ellington’s times. In turn, the latter, following Roebke’s bass intro, opens the doors to an Indian-tinged meditation whose melodic contours are exemplarily designed by the reedists.

Tate’s poking words can be heard in three tunes. On one of them, “Call of Tomorrow”, the band harks back once again to Mingus, while continuously changing scenarios, from effusive carnivalesque parades to good-old-times swinging walks to rousing collective improvisations.

Mike Reed melts past and present, fusing them beautifully in Flesh & Bone, an album that allows us to hear and feel the tactile intensity of the collective and the individual expression of the soloists.

Favorite Tracks:
01 – Voyagers ► 03 – Conversation Music ► 06 – My Imaginary Friend