Ambitious, atonal, challenging -- all are accurate descriptions of
Dimensions & Extensions,
Sam Rivers' fourth album for Blue Note.
Rivers remains grounded in hard bop structure, working with a sextet featuring
Donald Byrd (trumpet),
James Spaulding (alto saxophone, flute),
Julian Priester (trombone),
Cecil McBee (bass), and
Steve Ellington (drums), but he explodes the boundaries of the form with difficult, dissonant compositions. With his unique, mercurial tone and edgy solos, he keeps pushing the sextet in different directions. It's intense, cerebral music, but since it has distinct themes and strong rhythms, the forays into free jazz, dissonant harmonies, and unpredictable tonal textures are actually quite accessible.
Rivers simply burns on each track, whether playing tenor, soprano, or flute.
Byrd doesn't display the wild imagination of
Rivers, yet he keeps the pace with alternately languid and biting solos. Similarly, each of the remaining musicians makes a lasting impression with his individual time in the spotlight. With music as risky at this, it's forgivable that it occasionally meanders (especially on the slower numbers) but, overall,
Dimensions & Extensions offers more proof that
Sam Rivers was one of the early giants of the avant-garde. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine