|
|
Notes:From Michael G. Nastos at allmusic: "For even the astute early
creative music lover, pianist Lowell Davidson is an obscure figure in the annals
of jazz. Recommended to ESP-Disk by Ornette Coleman and signed to record his
music without an audition, Davidson was the son of a theologist, studied
biochemistry at Harvard, was fatally injured in a lab accident, and died at age
50. This is his only studio session, although ESP claims to have a live date
from a Boston engagement in the can. He is accompanied by the stellar, and in
this case sublime rhythm section of bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Milford
Graves, and the result is a fascinating display of understated, purely
improvised music that is eminently listenable, beautifully conceived, and
flowing through past, present (circa 1965) and future resources. Of the five
tracks ? all consistently intriguing and well played ? the opener "L" is
deliciously exploratory but not dissonant, diffuse and fractured but scarcely
scattered. You realize that Peacock and Graves utilize perfectly supportive,
keen listening skills during the pensive and introspective "Stately 1." The
slight visage of Cecil Taylor, or perhaps the dark brooding style of Mal Waldron
crops up during the short cut "Dunce," nonplussed or bright and beautiful. In
contrast, a thematic approach launches the lengthy "Ad Hoc" and "Strong Tears,"
the former a rumbling, rambling then a playful Tayloresque discourse with a bass
solo from the always brilliant Peacock, the latter showing evocative restraint,
never overplayed, with some calmed drama near the coda. What Lowell Davidson
offers, aside from parallels to Paul Bley, is a sensible and free flowing
approach to unconventional linear improvisation, and in many ways a lost art.
Others like Valdo Williams, Burton Greene and Eric Watson were somehow lost in
the shuffle like Lowell Davidson, but thankfully he has been given another
chance to be discovered, and to revel in this unearthing of a brilliant musician
is to be universally celebrated. Seek this distinguished document ? it is a
treasure."
|
