Lisle Ellis / Marco Eneidi / Peter Valsamis - American Roadwork (CIMP)

CIMP 312

Recorded in CIMP's Spirit Room on May 17th and 18th 2004 (as usual Bob Rusch's liners go into all kinds of detail, including even the local weather forecast), this is a smoking session from a trio that deserves the kind of attention and exposure usually reserved for the likes of Shipp, Parker and Ware. Marco Eneidi's running head to head with Ivo Perelman for the Most Unfairly Neglected Living Great Free Jazz Saxophonist Award, but it's to be hoped that this outing and the recent Botticelli release Live At Spruce Street Forum (with Peter Brötzmann, Jackson Krall and Ellis once more) will turn some more heads his way. The fact that no fewer than 7 out of 12 tracks on American Roadwork are entitled "Blues" is significant, as Eneidi digs deep into the blues -- we're talking the spirit rather than the letter of the law -- to reveal some dirty and sweaty roots to his playing. He's all too frequently compared to his erstwhile teacher Jimmy Lyons, but as I've said elsewhere there's plenty of Ornette and Moondoc in there too. Of course, Lyons has left his mark in the fleet post-bop flurries of "Shock and Awe Shucks", "Dreamt Up Blues #5" and the title track, all of which go so damn fast you can almost hear a Doppler effect, but the dangerous curves he drives on a dirty sheet (to quote Tom Waits) in the opening "Baby Please Don't Go" and "Contractual Obligation Blues" are low, slinky, musky and irresistible. Bassist Lisle Ellis is the ideal partner, melodically curvaceous and suggestive on the slower cuts and impossibly agile on the up-tempo numbers, and drummer Peter Valsamis inventive throughout, especially as a soloist. Sorry to bitch once again about the CIMP recording aesthetic -- I have total respect for and understanding of Marc Rusch's work -- but I wonder if a slightly flashier drum sound might not have helped matters a little. Still, a piddling quibble, to be honest. This is great stuff and copies should be sent post-haste to every major festival promoter throughout the civilised world.

~ Dan Warburton