Search - Chico Freeman :: Beyond the Rain

Classic modern jazz

Tyler Smith | Denver, CO United States | 04/18/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Freeman, whose sound has run the gamut from avant-garde to straight-ahead jazz to fusion, produced a memorable session with this 1977 date, originally released on Contemporary and now available on OJC. "Beyond the Rain" ranks with Freeman's best early work from India Navigation and other independent labels, for which he produced many important recordings. The work here is by turns fiery and delicate, and it bridges many musical worlds. "Pepe's Samba," most notably, builds around powerful Latin rhythms, but Chico's tenor solo takes the tune far out of the mainstream. Like Odean Pope, Sonny Simmons, Sonny Fortune, George Adams, David S. Ware and others who picked up Coltrane's and Coleman's modernist torch, Freeman is able to play all over the instrument and produce startling sounds that are still fresh and surprising today.As I commented in reviewing another of Chico's albums, he is also capable of great delicacy in his playing, which he displays in "My One and Only Love," a standard that Coltrane memorably imprinted. Chico puts his own mark on it. Unlike some modernist players who took on standards to "turn them inside out," Chico's primary attention is on melody, and he preserves the contours of the tune while still making a personal statement.The powerful drums of Elvin Jones keep the uptempo tunes on the album churning, and Hilton Ruiz, who had earlier played with Rahsaan Roland Kirk, contributes a very lyrical and Latin-tinged piano.There was much tepid, disco-oriented music being produced during this period, but not by Chico Freeman and a number of other underappreciated jazz artists. Happily, not only is this CD still going strong, but so is Chico, who has built a fine discography that continues to grow."