Anthony Braxton stands as one of the greatest explorers of that
mysterious continent known as Avant-garde jazz. His breakthrough
album For Alto (1969) “challenged every parameter of the music,
tonal, textural, rhythmic, and structural,” according to The Penguin
Guide to Jazz Recording (may it be praised!). Eugene, recorded
twenty years later, is included in the Penguin Guide’s core
collection. Braxton’s recorded pieces are frequently identified by
abstract call letters: 40b, 23b & g, etc. Steve Lehman emerged
as a member of Braxton’s group. You can hear him on Nine
Compositions (2000) a recording devoted to Andrew Hill’s music.
The Steve Lehman trio features Lehman on alto sax, Matt Brewer on
bass, and Damion Ried on drums. Mark Turner plays tenor. This
album is a marvelous tasting menu for someone who is new to
Braxton’s compositions or needs to remember why I picked up so much
of it when I first began collecting in this direction.
I think the best cut is No. 40b, which you can find on the Anthony
Braxton Quartet’s Willisau (1991) Studio recording. It is a
conventional hard bop presentation: a four note theme, energetically
elaborated. Listening back-to-back (or back and forth) is a great
way to appreciate the genius of the ensembles across more than
thirty years. The Lehman version is rather warmer in tone. The bass
is much more distinct and supports the structure of the composition.
The dialogue between Braxton and Marilyn Crispell on piano is
replaced by a horn to horn conversation. Thematically, no one would
have trouble recognizing the second as the same composition.
The best cut for sampling all four musicians is L.A. Genes,
wonderful romp. The last cut on the album is a Monk composition:
“Trinkle, Tinkle.” It wasn’t on Braxton’s Six Monk’s Compositions
or anywhere else I looked. It is quite good. Get the Lehman album.
If you have Amazon Music or something similar, track down some of
the originals. In addition to the aforementioned recordings, I
highly recommend Braxton’s Charlie Parker Project.
You can hear more Steve Lehman with the same trio as above, but
thirteen years earlier, on Dialect Fluorescent (2012). It is worth
your time.
