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Original Phalanx
George Adams, James Blood Ulmer, Sirone
Original Phalanx
Genres: Jazz, Pop
 
  •  Track Listings (7) - Disc #1

Like the New York Art Quartet had done two decades before, Phalanx came and went in the mid-1980s, an ad-hoc supergroup that thrived and disappeared. Original Phalanx captures the quartet in a rumbling, springy glory, alig...  more »

     
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CD Details

All Artists: George Adams, James Blood Ulmer, Sirone, Ali
Title: Original Phalanx
Members Wishing: 1
Total Copies: 0
Label: Diw Records
Release Date: 7/21/1994
Genres: Jazz, Pop
Styles: Avant Garde & Free Jazz, Modern Postbebop
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPCs: 4988044008014, 634164080129

Synopsis

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Like the New York Art Quartet had done two decades before, Phalanx came and went in the mid-1980s, an ad-hoc supergroup that thrived and disappeared. Original Phalanx captures the quartet in a rumbling, springy glory, alight through James "Blood" Ulmer's craftily detuned guitar and the build-it-and-wobble-it rhythmic playing of bassist Sirone and drummer Rashied Ali. The star, though, is the late George Adams. His playing is inspired, swinging so hard and high that the musical registers turn to blurs. The band's tunes are vaguely Ornette Coleman-ish, in that they build off quick, melodic statements that sound at times like four-way solos. Then the band's off, Ulmer and Adams pursuing solo logic on one plane, the rhythm section on another. They peak on Adams's "Playground," which rings with poignancy and punch-it-up power. But Sirone's minor-key, episodic "Free Spirit" is likewise a work of genius, achieving a stellar balance of passion, intellect, and gusto. --Andrew Bartlett