Sabir Mateen's Quartet Gives Us "Just A Little Something," Volume One

Tenor-reedman Sabir Mateen, through a long tenure with drum-giant Sunny Murray, with his own groups and other significant associations, has proven to be one of New York's prime avant jazz figures in recent years. He's absorbed the free tradition and realized his original, personal version of it. Albums made with his own groups can come in and out-of-print rapidly, which is a sign of the times. So when one comes along it's important to grab it while you can.

A new release of his quartet, Just A Little Something, Volume One (Deep Listening Institute) is a full set that the group played in Kingston, NY, 2006. (Volume Two continues where One leaves off, but I have not heard it yet.)

This is a ready-to-GO ensemble with free energy drumming from Ravish Momin, the bass and cello of Jane Wang, energetic out piano from Raymond A. King, and the alto, tenor, Bb and alto clarinet, and flute of Sabir. The group is game and Maestro Mateen puts in an excellent performance.

Those who have dug the artist in previous recordings and/or live will not be disappointed. Those new to his music will get a nice introduction here. It's available for a good price at the usual downloadaries. Catch it!

Sunny Murray in Duet with Sabir Mateen: "We Are Not at the Opera," 1998

Many if not most of the readers of this blog will know that drummer Sunny Murray is the godfather of "free" drumming. He played with critically important improvisers of the new thing musical explosion in the early sixties (like Ayler, Taylor) and he developed a uniquely effective "freetime" style, one that rarely stated an overt pulse, but proffered a running commentary and complement to the solos and bass punctuations. That's textbook fact. But listen to him in an especially exposed situation of duet or trio and you realize (if you didn't before) that he gets his own sound on the drums too. The cymbals and hi-hat don't ride as much as they speak in tones. And the same applies to the bass drum, snare and toms. It's drum melody, noise/pitch composing of the spontaneous kind.

A couple of years ago I reviewed for Cadence the 2-CD Eremite set Perles Noires, which documented a series of live dates with Murray and reedist Sabir Mateen in duet and in trio with other players coming in and out of the playing situation. Now that is an excellent set. Today though we backtrack to another similar outing of Sunny and Sabir doing a single gig in Amherst, Mass, 1998. We are Not At the Opera (Eremite 014) brings you almost 70 minutes of prime Murray and Mateen, alone and unaided by the cushioning that additional voices provide.

First off, Sabir is in excellent form, jumping from alto to tenor to flute and always fruitful with free ideas and sounds. Sunny too gets his A-game going. The sound of the drums are quite beautfully Murray-esque, thundering, setting up a wave of sound, making free melody in tandem with Mr. Mateen's lucid speechifying. Something else too, as anyone who's listened to Murray through the years knows: he does fall into loose pulses as he feels the urge, and he does them swingingly but wide open in terms of feel.

Sunny has always managed to find the right players for his groups over the years. In Sabir he finds the soulful and spacey hand-in-hand. What you get is what was played on that day. It was a very good day! Highly recommended.

William Hooker Trio and "Yearn for Certainty"

William Hooker has been a powerful free drummer on the scene for a long time. His qualities as a leader-conceptualist are out front on the recently released Yearn for Certainty (Engine 2010). It's a live date from Roulette in NYC, 2007.

A rather unusual trio instrumentation of William on drums and recitation, David Soldier on acoustic guitar, mandolin, banjo and violin, and the redoubtable Sabir Mateen on saxophones, flute and clarinet give the music color and texture.

Hooker's recitation of poetic utterances comes across as unpretentious and mood setting. His drumming has a narrative quality; it tells a story, even as it sometimes eloquently flails away. Soldier creates aural rootedness with the various string instruments, but also takes it out on occasion, as with his electric-wah violin on "Commonplace Travel." Mateen blows atop of whatever is going on with authority and big tone, or takes a little time out for some introspective searching, depending on the moment at hand.

This is not your typical free date. There are moments of energy and bash, yes, but just as frequently a kind of present-day-DIY-folk style that breaks up the music nicely into a series of vignettes, keeps your attention and brings fascination and pleasure to the listening event.

Yearn for Certainty is one of William Hooker's best to date.