By Gary Chapin
If drummer Rashied Ali had only ever recorded one album—Interstellar Space,
with John Coltrane—he would be worthy of his place in our esteem. But he did
much more, including gigging, recording, teaching, and mentoring, and much
of that was documented on his own Survival Records, which he founded in
1972. The label existed until Ali’s death in 2009, and was revived in 2019
by his family in order to reissue materials with “optimized” masters, and
also to put out hitherto unheard archival materials.
Sidewalks in Motion features tenor great Frank Lowe, along with Jumaane
Smith on trumpet, Andrew Bemkey on piano, and bassist Joris Teepe. This
group debuted at the 2002 Vision Festival (NYC), and went into the studio
shortly before Lowe’s passing. The album hits that sweet spot that lies
between mid-60s Wayne Shorter and Cecil Taylor’s Conquistador. It’s post-bop
with heads and solos, but spends far more time away from the straight and
narrow.
The band is extraordinary. The notes describe them as “also the young
musicians,” but each have gone on to extraordinary success. Trumpeter
Jumane Smith
stands out not only for his formidable playing, but for compositions, as
well. Three of the tunes on here are his.
Joris Teepe
, a Dutch bassist, and
Andrew Bemkey
, based in New York, work with Ali to create a rippling foundation. Bemkey’s
solos, in particular are janky and playful. A surprise cut is Eric Dolphy’s
“Gazzeloni,” from Out to Lunch, and that Dolphy shoutout implies the space
this music lives in very well.
