Now, when I saw this line up I
was very curious for the music. I did not understand why it wasn’t really well
known. When I gave it a spin for the first time it became a little more clear
to me. The cd has some rewarding moments but overall: it’s a little disappointing
and did not meet up my expectations.
The opening Mombasa is an African spirited original by Everett. But
where people like Dyani and Abdullah Ibrahim could really make that work out so
well, Everett does not. At least not here. It sounds a little silly. The
following ‘Crossroads’ sounds like it’s building towards something but then it
suddenly stops. It feels very unnatural. ‘Murivel’ is a little better with a
nice bass groove set up by McBee and some great modal playing by the band. Chico
Freemans solo is excellent and passionate on this one. Mal himself doesn’t
really sound fully at ease in this setting. His solo is ok but he could have
done better.
Auburn Prive has this smooth almost pop music like feeling over it. It
sounds like an introduction to some tv program. It really misses the point and
Liberated isn’t much better. It’s just not the kinda music one expects from
musicians like Waldron, Freeman and McBee. It has some kind of weird energy
that’s is very unappealing and sounds outdated. Sangoma is an excellent drummer
but isn’t really impressive here either.
The one thing that make things a little better is the 17 minute long
closing composition. It was co written by Mal and is definitely recognizable as
so. It starts with some nice interplay between Everett and Waldron. Mal leads
here with beautiful robuuste and dark tones. Sangoma joins him with some very
rhythmic percussion playing giving it a sincere African atmospheric feel. Then
Sangoma fades out and it’s Mal solo. He plays an intriguing solo part. Then
Sangoma joins again with bells and other percussion. It’s an intense dialogue
with Waldron even playing the snares of his piano for some time. I really don’t
understand why they’ve chosen to record this as a duo only. It would have been
a great opportunity for both McBee and Freeman to join in with some furious
free playing. Another missed opportunity.
Overall this probably would have been a better record if it was lead
by any of the other musicians present here. It’s unfortunate and surprising to
see how 4 musicians of this stature could produce such a boring record as this
one. It was released by the Swiss TCB records and is widely avaible. This
really is one of the lesser efforts of the ‘90’s.
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