Most reunions tend to be nostalgia trips. Old friends reminisce, reformed rock bands play their big hits, while former classmates laugh about that time you did that thing.
But while iconic jazz saxophonist Dexter Gordon held a bit of a reunion during the 1977 concert that’s now available as Espace Cardin 1977 (CD, vinyl), this album is anything but a look backwards.
0When it comes to jazz, the oeuvres of John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, and Dexter Gordon guarantee that there’s more than enough albums by sax-led quartets to go around. And when it comes to sax- and trumpet-led quintets, well, once you know Miles Davis, you don’t need to know anything else. But what’s far less common, and for no good reason, are albums by
trumpet-led quartets.
Enter trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, who introduces his fantastic trumpet-led four piece with A Rift In Decorum: Live At The Village Vanguard (CD, digital).
If there’s one truism about jazz duos, it’s that their sparse instrumentation often makes for some moody music. And while that is true for some of Duet, a live album by pianist Satoko Fujii and bassist Joe Fonda, there are also moments on this concert collection where this free-form jazz is anything but moody.