Trumpeter
Wadada Leo Smith moves from Tzadik to the upstart Pi label for the second release with his Golden Quartet, again featuring
Anthony Davis on piano, Malachi Maghostut Favors on bass, and
Jack DeJohnette on drums. This measured, thoughtful music doesn't fit neatly into the avant-garde category, although its harmonic language is often open-ended and mildly dissonant. Both
Davis and
DeJohnette are credited on synthesizer, but the sounds they employ are remarkably close to the old-fashioned, analog Wurlitzer. Combined with
Favors' resonant, grooving basslines and
DeJohnette's loose straight-eighth rhythms -- on the opening "Al-Madinah," for instance -- the result is somewhat akin to
Miles Davis in the
In a Silent Way period. A similarly diffuse, vamp-based feel underlies "The Zamzam Well a Stream of a Pure Light," while "Piru" is even more spacious, with muted trumpet cries and drifting rubato sonorities. "Kangaroo's Hollow" offers an intimate look at the tight
Smith-
Davis rapport by featuring them in a stark duo setting. The title track comes the closest to what can simply be called free jazz; starting as a kind of moderate shout-blues, it soon speeds up, with
Smith and
Davis playing angular unison lines that set the stage for bracing, freewheeling improv. Finally, "Miles Star in 3 Parts" moves from mellow rubato textures to a jumpy, insistent theme, the bassline of which is played by
Davis, not
Favors -- just one example of how
Smith uses the instruments at hand in unexpected ways. ~ David R. Adler