Search - Andrew Cyrille, Mark Dresser, Marty Ehrlich :: C/D/E

The cooperative free-jazz trio C/D/E--drummer Andrew Cyrille, bassist Mark Dresser, and reed player Marty Ehrlich--came together in 1996 with the intent of hooking up with West Coast cornetist Bobby Bradford at New York's Knitting Factory. As things turned out, Bradford was unable to make the concert, but the group knew a good thing when they heard it and continued working together. C/D/E, their first album, reflects their devotion to the neglected, great horn player via "For Bradford" and "BBJC," both of which combine a cool, knotty melodicism and a magnetic pulse (the JC stands for clarinetist John Carter, Bradford's late partner). Cyrille, Dresser, and Ehrlich (heard primarily on clarinet and alto sax) also partake of the open, floating melodies of Ornette Coleman (a Texas crony of Bradford and Carter's) and pay tribute to the late reedman Thomas Chapin with his quietly stirring "Aeolus," which features Ehrlich on flute. Good chemistry through music is never a guarantee, but with Ehrlich's soulful swoops and boppish slants, Dresser's resonant singing tones, and Cyrille's circling and sweeping authority, C/D/E makes uniformity seem as easy as ABC. --Lloyd Sachs