Byard Lancaster Unit - Live at Macalester College

Porter

Critical reception toward Byard Lancaster has waxed and waned over his five decade career in creative music. There are those who argue that he has yet to wax an album worthy of his talents. First released on the Philly Dogtown imprint in 1972, this live collection isn’t certain to solve the polemic, but it does provide some prime and vintage free jazz as consolation. It also documents an earlier stage in the still flourishing creative partnership between Lancaster and percussionist J.R. Mitchell. The pair most recently recorded a deuce for CIMP in 2006. Despite album’s location specific title, the first cut “1324” comes from a 1970 Boston gig. Lancaster fronts an ensemble buoyed by both upright and electric bass. Paul Morrison’s percolating performance on the latter axe braids with the conga accents of Lester Lumley, but it’s Mitchell’s sturdy sticking that supplies the principle rhythmic drive. Lancaster cycles through a small arsenal of horns starting with alto and moving on to soprano, trumpet and bass clarinet. His brief, but potent improvisation on the last recalls John Gilmore’s famous “Adventure Equation” foray. There are moments were a spectral second horn line creeps into the left stereo channel, but my money is on mic echo/bleed rather than an uncredited colleague. Sound quality is in par with Joe McPhee’s CJR titles from the same period.

The Macalester cuts are a mixed bag starting with the flute reverie “Last Summer” and moving on to the heated urgency “War World” dominated by charging tenor and churning drums. Pianist Sid Simmons is a bit of leavening presence, his warm dancing chords suggesting early Keith Jarrett. The title track is an ebullient vamp piece in a Noah Howard vein with Lancaster’s alto closely miked and in a loquacious mood. A switch to flute opens the piece up into more meditative territory before scalding tenor takes it out on an ecstatic note. The St Paul audience in attendane returns the band’s efforts with appreciative applause. The disc concludes with two bonus cuts by the J.R. Mitchell Experimental Unit culled from another Boston gig, this time dating to 1973 and totaling 24 minutes. Band specifics are sketchy as is fidelity, but the two pieces are still a welcome addition. Lancaster is part of a larger horn section though the exact number is hard to pinpoint given the density of the interplay, which rises and recedes in writhing polyphonous slabs. Mitchell joins bassist Calvin Hill and an unidentified pianist/keyboardist in balancing the reeds and the roughly hewn music is often bracing in its intensity. This set is just the start of a reissue campaign on the part of Porter Records. Future titles will include new and archival material from Odean Pope, more from Lancaster, and a new release by the duo of Henry Grimes and Rashied Ali. I, for one, can’t wait.

~ Derek Taylor