Search - Hartmut Geerken :: Cassava Balls

If the classical Western music paradigm is a dialogue between tension and release, then this 1985 trio date combats that aesthetic with constant release and maximized expression. John Tchicai hasn't sounded this unbridled on tenor sax in decades, nor has Famoudou Don Moye unloosed such a rhythmic torrent since his early days taking the Art Ensemble of Chicago to the stratosphere. Hartmut Geerken, a specialist in the study and support of Sun Ra (check out Sun Ra Meets Salah Ragab in Egypt for some material Geerken made available), puts his improvisational chops on display on a staggering 29 instruments. In order to make sense of the trio, though, it's vital to focus on the rhythms and Tchicai's saxophone, letting the interruptive stuff surprise you into attentiveness as the music electrifies the mind. Moye is all over his percussion, rolling like a train while the sounds and chants and clangs come furiously charging through on top. This reissue adds Charlie Parker's "Mohawk," Albert Ayler's "Mothers," and Geerken's "Marconison" to the fray, notching the energy highest on the Ayler track. --Andrew Bartlett