Andrew Cyrille Quartet, The Declaration of Musical Independence

Over the years Andrew Cyrille has proven himself as one of the premier avant jazz drummers in the music, an extraordinary creative force as soloist and band member--and band leader. For his latest, The Declaration of Musical Independence (ECM 2430), he assembles a band not entirely typical for him, but exceptional in its breadth and scope of musical expression.

Bill Frisell is here, a dynamo of electric guitar finesse and power; then there is Richard Teitelbaum, a pioneer of new jazz as a synthesizer proponent and a formidable pianist. Ben Street may not be as well known, but his double bass role on this album is exactly what is needed.

Andrew sounds as beautiful and as innovative as ever. Everything he does lays just right, whether it be as the open free time melder for the quartet or as a profound if all-too-brief soloist. This is about the group sound more than as a vehicle for him to show us his singular brilliance, but he nevertheless manages to give us a major statement on the drums as the music forges on with great presence.

There are originals by Frisell, Teitelbaum and Street. They give structure and purpose while allowing plenty of room for individual and group soloing of a high level. Then there are four-way free improvs that stand out for their special sonics and electricity.

It's a free and voltage-tapped music that gives everyone space and ambient direction of which they make ideal use. The result is startlingly unique and reminds us that the use of some electricity can still give us every bit of the open subtlety of an all-acoustic date.

I cannot recommend this one more strongly than I do here. This is one of the more profound avant jazz releases of the year. Hear it!

Naked Truth, Avian Thug

Another good one from rarenoise records, who have been giving us consistently worthy examples of avant electric jazz-rock fusion and happily so. Today it is the band Naked Truth and the album Avian Thug (rarenoise rnr057 CD or LP). It is a very game quartet with Graham Haynes making a significant re-emergence on trumpet and electronics, Lorenzo Feliciati on basses, guitars and keys (and co-producing along with Bill Laswell), Roy Powell on all manner of keys, and fuse-prog drummer of note Pat Mastelotto.

This is post-Milesian, post-Mwandishian space music in the best tradition, but innovative and updated. There is some remarkable interplay between band members and solid, advanced compositional head structures that give the music a jolt.

Graham sounds hauntingly good here, moving the electricity of his trumpet forward beyond Miles but clearly with a reverence for the master. Pat M. gives us electric and acoustic drumming that has modern jazz-rock heft but also plenty of variability to open things up. Feliciati teams with Powell for some beautiful sound color mixes and driving power.

Think of the Miles Fillmore band and how it alternately rocked out and took it out and you will find that approach further developed in Naked Truth. There are more colors technically available to a band like this these days and so we get a more orchestrated palate of outness than was the norm earlier, plus the studio plays a role at times reinforcing sounds via some additional dubs from what I hear. But primary is the inventive imaginations of the quartet, the ability to improvise color, texture and notefulness.

So in the end we have a very musical set that rocks, wails, takes it out, and gives us fine composed landmarks along the way. Graham Haynes sounds better than ever; but then everybody hits on it. This is a band to be reckoned with! Excellent!