Nobuyasu Furuya brings to the table a big tenor sound in the tradition of the new thing players of the '60s without sounding quite like any one of them. His recent quintet LP The Major (No Business LP44) brings him together with some choice European players for a set of exuberant and raucous free improvisation of the old school, meaning that the music reminds of the Archie Shepp ensembles of the classic phase, the NY Contemporary Five, the NY Art conflagration, later Trane, Sonny Simmons, etc., without going the imitation route.
It's some delectably over-the-top testifying going on. He is joined by Rodrigo Pinheiro at the piano, Eduardo Lala on trombone, Hernani Faustino on the contrabass and Gabriel Ferrandini on drums. All have the new thing down and have developed their own voice on their respective instruments.
The collective ensemble improvisations here tend to be the most gratifying and exciting to me, and that's the emphasis at any rate. We also hear Nobuyasu's flute and clarinet as well, and he does a good job bringing out color and fleetness on the flute, texture and grit on the clarinet.
If you like the flat-out madness of the best classic avant jazz, this one will put you in a fine frame of mind. It did that for me.
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