Jemeel Moondoc All-Stars - Live In Paris

THE JEMEEL MOONDOC ALL-STARS
Live In Paris
CJR 1151

I like many of alto saxophonist Jemeel Moondoc’s Eremite albums quite a bit. Given that fact, and the line-up here (Roy Campbell on trumpet, Zane Massey on tenor sax, William Parker on bass, Cody Moffett on drums), I was prepared to enjoy the hell out of this record. I did come to like it, but not as much as I’d hoped I would.

Moondoc’s sound on the alto is very, very Coleman-esque (something acknowledged here by the song title "Not Quite Ready For Prime Time"), but he’s rawer than Ornette, willing to let his lines get raggedy, as they’re measured in breaths, not notes. He’s one of the most alive-sounding players in jazz; you can really hear him feeling the sound as it forms in his body, then launches itself outward.

Campbell is probably my favorite living trumpeter. His command of the upper register is always exhilarating, and the way he combines the influence on him of two of my other favorite players, Lee Morgan and Don Cherry, fills me with joy. The only time I’ve seen Peter Brotzmann’s Die Like A Dog quartet, at Tonic in NYC, Campbell was subbing for Toshinori Kondo, and he tore the place down.

Zane Massey appeared on Moondoc’s 2001 Eremite disc Spirit House, as well as Campbell’s New Kingdom. I think the best stuff I’ve heard with him, though, is Ronald Shannon Jackson’s Earned Dreams, easily my favorite Decoding Society record. Massey usually brings some funk to whatever he plays, but here he’s letting his skronky side show. This is most noticeable on the album’s final (and best) track, "One Down, One Up," where he gets into some almost Charles Gayle-like screech and flutter.

The weakest element of Live In Paris is the rhythm section, specifically the drums. Parker’s in more or less the same form he’s always in; I don’t think I’ve ever heard him have an off night, live or on record. But Cody Moffett isn’t the kind of powerhouse drummer (like, say, Hamid Drake) who can really inspire the bassist to towering heights. Too much of the time, Moffett sounds like he’s just there because a drummer was required. (The sound mix could be partially to blame; the rhythm section is recorded too quietly, compared with the horns. Even if Moffett had attempted some kind of explosive Tony Williams-esque outburst, it would have vanished into the background.)

As is often the case with Moondoc (and free jazz in general), some of these pieces, "Not Quite Ready For Prime Time" in particular, go on too long. The democratic urge to make sure everybody gets solo time is one that should be curbed occasionally, and frankly, a little more structure would have been nice. Live In Paris is a good record, but as its title might indicate, it has the feel of "just another gig." Many of Moondoc’s other albums (Spirit House, the two volumes of New World Pygmies) have had something unique about them, even if it was just an unexpected lineup. This one, being a three-horns-and-rhythm "straight" jazz show, preserved for posterity, feels sort of ordinary to me, and at its most flaccid moments (the lugubrious "We Don’t"), it seems like the band shares that feeling.

Phil Freeman