Allen, Drake, Jordan, Parker, Silva - The All-Star Game (2003)

Allen/Drake/Jordan/Parker/Silva
The All-Star Game
2003 - Eremite Records: MTE-44 CD
http://www.eremite.com/album/mte-44



* Marshall Allen: alto saxophone
* Hamid Drake: drums
* Kidd Jordan: tenor saxophone
* William Parker: bass (right channel)
* Alan Silva: bass (left channel)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_Allen
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamid_Drake
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kidd_Jordan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Parker_%28musician%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Silva

Recorded on 1 Dec, 2000 at Ica Theater, Boston, MA (Massachusetts).
http://www.icaboston.org/


Reviews

By Thom Jurek
http://www.allmusic.com/album/the-all-star-game-mw0000316009

The All-Star Game indeed. This 73-minute jam in six parts is the aural document
of a gig held at the ICA in London in December of 2000. The lineup that
champion saxophonist Marshall Allen chose is startling: Kidd Jordan on tenor,
Hamid Drake on drums, and both William Parker and Alan Silva on basses! And
before you surrender to the erroneous notion that this is just some blowing
session where skronk is the name of the game front and back, get real. These
men are all improvisers of a different sort. All of them have played in very
disciplined units and know how to make the most of dynamic, harmonic interplay,
tonal dexterity, and (of course) group interplay as well as solo
improvising. The exchanges between Allen and Jordan themselves are remarkable
for the way in which contrapuntal allowances are turned around in a series of
cadences dictated by the bassists and then articulated through first subtle and
then bleating shifts of tone and color. The articulation of breath, elongation
of line, and opposing notions of legato phrasing as it differs from alto to
tenor player is remarkable. On the third and fourth sections, the engagement of
both bassists with Drake as the sax players lean in to play tight and close to
the rhythmic sprawl is nothing short of astonishing. That this intensity of
focus and creativity is displayed for this length without a single straw note
or easily copped riff or trope is remarkable in and of itself. But the real
secret of this gig's success was in its reliance on keeping the rhythm section
the center of focus and attention: this music swings -- albeit in an entirely
new way -- as hard as it blows.

--

By Jeff Stockton
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/...-review-by-jeff-stockton.php

By Bill Shoemaker
http://jazztimes.com/article...an-william-parker-alan-silva