Search - Equal Interest;Myra Melford;Joseph Jarman;Leroy Jenkins :: Equal Interest

It was back in the late 1960s that Joseph Jarman and Leroy Jenkins first challenged listeners' notions of jazz and improvisation, the former as a member of the Art Ensemble of Chicago and the latter as a peerless improviser on violin. Their influence is clear in the form of pianist Myra Melford, who rounds out Equal Interest. The trio can easily cavort through jutting improvisations that seem to always highlight microtonal gaps in the air between their instruments. That only seems to push Jenkins, Jarman, and Melford further, eliciting scrambles like "Everything Today," where the music jostles and tumbles, as well as meditative pulsations like "The Beauty We Love." The trio shines on "Apricots from Eden," a traditional Armenian song with a doleful, undulating melody over which Jenkins soars. Melford proves a fine harmonium player, just as Jarman reminds again how ably he can pick up Turkish hand drums, chimes, and a Vietnamese oboe and make beautiful, surprising music. --Andrew Bartlett