David S. Ware: Balladware

The history of the music on record is of course peppered with examples of "outside" musicians playing "inside," and in that respect this is an addition to a canon. On a more fundamental level, however, it's an example of four musicians bringing their collective methodologies to bear upon the kind of material that usually falls outside of their scope.

Thus, Ware's tenor playing on "Autumn Leaves" betrays a restless quality, as if he feels a certain anxiety at having to conform with the restrictions of the material, whilst on "Gospellized" Shipp is not reticent with regards to evoking the spirits of countless Sunday mornings on the piano—and simultaneously maintaining the ambience of what might be called the group's collective remit.

This was the first time Guillermo E. Brown ventured into the studio as a member of this group, though his drumming is so deep in the pocket that such knowledge seems irrelevant. Longevity of association amongst the three other members of the group has had the effect of making them sound like different parts of the same whole, and while there might be better examples of their work out there, this release is still significant documentation of work in progress.

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