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jemeel
moondoc with denis charles jemeel
moondoc alto saxophone 1. we
don't (09:31) recorded 29 july, 1981, nyc we don't is a previously unreleased 1981 session pairing moondoc with denis "jazz" charles (1933-1998). in the 1970s, moondoc was a member of the highly influential ensemble muntu with william parker. moondoc's quirky & vivid alto style suggests the influence of ornette coleman, but the comparison "does not do justice to moondoc's originality" (the penguin guide to jazz on cd). moondoc's grandfather, the original 'moondoctor' & the family namesake, sang & danced in medicine shows at the turn of the century, & the presence of older, rural american folk music haunts the edges of moondoc's post-cecil taylor strategies. moondoc was never better than when matched with the late denis charles. a legendary "underground" figure, charles worked with cecil taylor & steve lacy in their formative periods, & his caribbean-inflected rhythms animated jazz in an entirely unique way. rough-edged, eloquent storytelling, & completely on-fire from start to finish. magnet magazine, top 10 free/jazz recordings 2003 "Anyone who thinks there are no second acts in creative music should consider the comeback of Denis Charles, whose raw thrilling introduction to the 1960 Cecil Taylor classic "Air" merits inclusion in any survey of jazz drumming. After years off the scene, Charles emerged in the late '70s, and assumed an elder stateman's role by the time of his passing in 1998. A passionate duo exchange with alto saxophonist Jemeel Moondoc, We Don't (Eremite) is a fine companion volume to a 1991 recording issued under Charles' leadership, Captain of the Deep (Eremite), which also featured Moondoc. Recorded less than three months after the quartet date, the duo revisits the traditional Caribbean tune that kick-started the quartet date, triangulating the folk material with Ayler-like intensity. From there, the duo stokes up three Moondoc originals, including the buoyant "Judy's Bounce," highlighted by a joyfully elemental Charles solo. We Don't is a welcomed addition to both musicians' respective discographies." --Bill Shoemaker, JazzTimes "not released until more than twenty years after it was recorded, this major find should not be missed. the sound quality of this studio release is surprisingly good but more importantly jemeel moondoc and denis charles are in outstanding form, with the saxophonist wailing passionately for the length of the album and the drummer egging him on with characteristic panache. while the total time is too short, especially for a CD, each of the four cuts exhibits the sort of stimulating, hardcore blowing that listeners have come to expect from moondoc. the uncanny similarity in sound to early ornette coleman is unmistakable, yet moondoc, of course, is no clone. yet he has the same cry imbedded in his voice, a prayerful yearning, a call from the inner depths of being that strikes an emotional chord. not many horn players could play for forty-plus minutes with only a drummer and keep the listener enthralled the way moondoc does, a tribute to him and to the exquisite drumming of charles. although each of the tunes hover around the ten minute mark, there is not a moment of diminished joy, as the power and forcefulness of the moment infuses every note. some of the best work of each of these artists can be found here, marking this recording as an important discovery and a fine example of free jazz at the highest levels." --steven loewy, all music guide "for a lot of you, this set needs no hard sell. a duo with jemeel moondoc & denis charles? the very thought puts an expectant smile on your face & this set doesn't disappoint. 'we don't' starts out with moondoc blowing raspy variations on an aylerish folk theme against charles' relentless machine gun drumming. "home" switches things to a swooning, soulful wail against grandiose tom-tom & cymbal beats. on "judy's bounce," they work out a funky theme reminiscent of ornette coleman's early work & "we do" is full-on screaming in the best '60s 'scour the earth' fashion. both of these men are highly underrated musicians though moondoc has been getting recorded a bit more lately. moondoc is in powerhouse form, blowing hard but in control & shaping his sound even when playing free. the late denis charles shows that he belonged in the pantheon of great modern drummers right beside cyrille, murray, jones, blackwell, & shannon jackson. the patterns he uses to set off moondoc's hellacious blasts & create a perpetual undercurrent of rhythm are remarkable. even the great ed blackwell couldn't set cymbals alight the way charles does here. there is astonishing communication between moondoc & charles in a continual storm of energy & passion. you can almost feel the sweat running off them. this is one of those so-called 'avant garde' sets that retains a sense of the familiar even when both men are playing for their lives. this is exquisite stuff from two masters & very highly recommended." --jerome wilson, cadence "recorded back in 1981 when drummer denis charles was still on the planet, we don't is a fine and craggy set of four pieces, three penned by altoist moondoc (the title track is public domain). the difference between moondoc's tone today - twenty years down the line, several fine releases have appeared under his leadership, most of them on eremite - and what it was back then is immediately evident; the edge is harder, the attack more pronounced, but the innate sense of melody and timing is unmistakable. "denis charles he'd just chug-a-lug you for ever," sunny murray reminisced in our recent interview, and he was right. add ed blackwell to the equation and you can clearly see just where hamid drake came from. there's a strange dull reverb to some of the tom tom crashes, though that's presumably an inevitable result of jim hemingway's remastering of the original recordings, made in a studio down in alphabet city. this is a minor quibble though in the face of such glorious, strong, lyrical musicianship. one wonders what else might be lying around in the vaults awaiting the attention of eremite's michael ehlers." --dan warburton, paristransatlantic "the musical relationship jemeel moondoc and denis charles shared has scant documentation on record compared to the number of years they played together. only a handful of albums survive and when charles passed away in 1998, the likelihood of other recordings surfacing seemed to die with him. this relative paucity makes the material on we don’t all the more precious and revelatory. taped almost three full months prior to kostanze’s delight, moondoc’s debut soul note, the disc visits the alto saxophonist in intimate, though highly charged, duets with charles. it’s unclear whether moondoc originally intended the music for release. but the caliber of musicianship and the fact that the players were occupying professional studio space seems to suggest it that he did. more than likely, the shopped tape simply fell on noncommittal ears and got filed away. the pair jockeys through a set of four tunes starting with a joyous jaunt through the traditional title piece. moondoc’s dry declamatory horn sets the mood solo before charles adds martial punctuations in the spaces between his phrases with rumbling toms. the drummer’s penchant for favoring the deeper, more resonant, facets of the kit are on ample display and deluge of polyrhythms splashes against moondoc’s ebullient, fleetly articulated lines. between the two they whip quite a spray of enthusiastic racket and the final minutes feature a forceful solo from charles that never loses focus despite the din. with “home” the mood takes a somber tune as cymbal washes and ominous toms vie with moondoc’s melancholy alto cry. the tidal aspects of charles’ style are clearly audible on this piece and he shows himself a master at advancing and rescinding rhythmic tension. moondoc’s horn surfs the roiling result, spouting off scribbling melodic asides while sustaining the freefall forward momentum. another drum break by charles is a textbook lesson in wielding silence and space to full advantage and moondoc’s impassioned reentry seems catalyzed by his partner’s skill. switching gears again for a rundown of 'judy’s bounce,'a tune that would several months later serve as title piece on moondoc’s second soul note release, the atmosphere once again turns festive. moondoc negotiates the anthemic theme with ease and settles into a thoughtful improvisatory rumination buttressed by the drummer’s shimmering cymbals and tautly tuned toms. charles seems to tire a bit of the accompanist’s role and muscles to the fore mid-piece for a blakey-styled workout suffused with tumbling rolls and syncopated stick strokes. the finale “we do" comes off like the darker, inverted cousin of the title tune, a choppy head cloven by snatches of disorienting silence. charles once again shows off ear-numbing facility with the perfectly measured press rolls and moondoc shakes out the same clutch of phrases with whirlwind ferocity. why this music sat on shelf soon after it’s waxing is a mystery, but the upshot is its finally available now. as an endearing aside, the disc’s accompanying photos prove that moondoc’s affection for funky haberdashery was already in place at this early stage, with a patterned fez and a pin-stripe suit serving as his elected style of dress. --derek taylor, allaboutjazz.com |
