There is a certain associative thrill that comes with hearing the commercial releases of concerts one attends. I haven't been listening to music, and more specifically its creative improvised ilk, for all that long in the larger scheme of things. Thirteen years really are just a drop in the temporal bucket. This means that the number of such albums I can count registers easily on a pair of hands. So when one crops up it makes me look twice. NAM's new release is really several years old. Truthfully, I don't remember much about the show. Ensconced in the larger senses-numbing context of the Vision Festival 2001 at the Knitting Factory it flew by quickly. Fortunately a friend of mine taped it on a portable mini-disc set-up (the musicians' blessing received) and sent me a CD-R. But the rough verité audio made it a memento that soon got lost in the stacks.
The sound on this professional release is far superior and reveals aspects my faulty memory had long forgotten. NAM has been around for a few years. Trumpet player Ahmed Abdullah acts as nominal leader. His creds in the bands of Sun Ra, Sam Rivers, Hamiet Bluiett and others are respected. Baritone saxophonist Alex Harding is younger, but still old enough to have held tenure in the Arkestra as well as stints with Bluiett, Muhal Richard Abrams and Lester Bowie. His muscular and resourceful approach to his horn quickly catapulted him to the vanguard of current artisans on the instrument. He embraces all the volume and subterranean power that the elephantine reed puts at his disposal. Bassist Jimmy Weinstein and drummer Masa Kamaguchi are lesser known, but still well suited to stand in the company of their peers. Actual Proof, the band's debut on CIMP, planted a seed in my ears that bore blossoms of recognition when this concert came round. Hearing it all again makes me wish that they had found the means to return to the studio. Harding has since partnered up with pianist Lucian Ban, but who knows, maybe something's in the works?
On the surface the music here is fairly standard energetic, spiritually infused free jazz. Where the surprises arise is in the on-the-fly give and take between the horns and their playful volleys with their compadres. A rousing rendition of Ornette Coleman's "Chippie" opens things up. Abdullah bounces along with mute inserted as Harding's shouts urge him on. The latter's own solo scuffles and wrestles in the guttural register, flinging off clots of snorted notes as Kamaguchi and Weinstein feed an increasing rhythmic density around him. Things bog down a bit in the bassist's well articulated, but slightly rote statement, but the drummer works things back up into fine froth with his own spotlight feature at the close. Two originals follow: the moody title ballad by Abdullah and a booting blues march by Weinstein voiced staunchly in the spirit of Bluiett's Baritone BBQ Band. There's also room for a spoken reminiscence by Abdullah of his friend Frank Wright, along with renderings of Gunter Hampel's "Serenade to Marion Brown" and a traditional Brazilian folk tune "Canto 2 Canto II." Playing time holds to a welcome vinyl span of forty-five minutes. In some ways it's just like being there.
Also edifying is the painting by Jeff Schlanger that serves as wrap-around cover art. The Music Witness' style of abstract action art was once something of a staple on NYC free jazz releases and its good to have him back in such a capacity. Clean Feed appears to be branching out its scope as a label. Upcoming and current releases include projects by Paul Dunmall, Charles Gayle and Ken Vandermark. With ears open to a plurality of free jazz currents and a production aesthetic that ranks at the forefront as well, these Lisbon-based newcomers are situated to take center stage amongst their peers.
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