Year: 2001
Record Label: Edgetone
Style: Free Jazz / Avante Garde
Musicians: Rent Romus (alto and soprano saxophones, voice, piccolo),
Toyoji Tomita (trombone),
Bill Noertker (bass, recorder),
Dave Mihaly (drums, percussion, odd things)
Review: A short while ago I was down with the flu and spent a good deal of time listening to Albert Ayler recordings. The experience left me with several thought. Of course, Ayler was a tremendously impassioned and powerful saxist but also that, as Harvey Pekar and others has already said, he wouldn't have been much of a player in bop or any other style but free jazz. Furthermore, while he did write actual tunes and the same can't be said for every free jazz player who came after him, the compositions seemed weak and hardly worth any study on their own merits. Ayler may have been the bodily incarnation of a free jazz god but a songwriter he didn't seem to be.
Avatar in the Field presents a radical challenge to that third conclusion. The disc consists of 9 cuts -actually there 10 tracks but one of spoken introduction by bandleader and saxist Rent Romus and features no musical content-, four of which are originals and mostly loosely done in the style of Ayler, four of which were penned by Ayler and one final piece that was written by Ayler's brother Donald.
Fine but undistinguished musicianship is found throughout the release. Romus has a simultaneously bright and fiery tone that reminds me of a scatter shot Fred Anderson. Dave Mihaly is most solid on the skins and circular metals but rarely stands out and when he does, it is hardly because of any great skill but rather just because the other players have dropped out. Bassist Bill Noertker is acceptable in that duty but doesn't exactly inspire. His biggest contribution to the disc has to be "V/F Bright and Noble," a rather lame up-tempo number that he wrote and which none of the players can save. Trombonist Toyoji Tomita is the only other member of the quartet who ever takes anything approaching the role of the guide as he occasionally sneaks in to give shape to music. His strong tone and intermittent bursts of fury allow him to stand out nicely. Tomita isn't exactly Roswell Rudd or Michael Vlatkovich but it would be nice to hear more from him in the future.
Fortunately strong song writing steps up to save the disc from the largely middling playing described above. Nobody should confuse the renditions of "Holy Spirit," "Zion Hill," "Vibrations" and "Dancing Flowers" with the originals but at least these players aren't too trying too hard to sound like Al. In fact, it is impressive that the wild expressionism that Ayler came to be known for is largely eschewed in favor of letting the tunes speak for themselves. Musical nuisances that are often lost in more "traditional" covers of Ayler tunes thus shine through. It isn't that Ayler was the second coming of Duke Ellington or Charles Mingus or anything like that but the music does contain an intelligent and subtle side that perhaps restrained playing can best facilitate. A comparison to the soulful cover of Donald Ayler's "Our Prayer" perhaps best illustrates this point. It is enjoyable and features some good work from Romus and excellent material from Tomita but lacks any sort of the depth.
The four originals vary widely in quality. The awful " V/F Bright and Noble" doesn't deserve any more comments but Romus' tunes ""Aces for Albert" and "Snow Ghost" are fine gestures of love to the master while that group composed title cut is a burst of energy that sounds more like what Ayler might actually have recorded than anything else here.
Tribute albums fail to accomplish what should be their main goal when they don't allow listeners to learn anything more about the individual(s) that they are honoring. Such discs might as well just feature musicians wearing influences on their sleeve without that element. Despite less than stellar performances, Avatar in the Field passes that test with flying colors.
Record Label Website: http://www.edgetonerecords.com
Reviewed by:
Micah Holmquist
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