LIVE IN MADISON by Luis Lopes Humanization 4tet (Ayler Records)
Recorded in June 2011, a few months after the Humanization 4tet had released their second album, Electricity on Ayler Records, this live set is truly something to hear.
Recorded on the last stop of a 10-date United States East Coast tour, the album sees the band roar through free jazz, rock, funk and hard blues – tearing it up, totally in charge of their instruments.
Guitarist Luis Lopes, with some funky backing from drummer Stefan Gonzalez, puts almost all rock guitarists to shame with his performance in the opening piece, Bush Baby, shredding like there's no tomorrow.
Anagrams and palindromes are what the band are into – check their name and the name of their 2011 album, Never Odd or EveN. However, it's nothing new either – remember the 1971 Miles Davis album Live Evil.
But now that we have established this has nothing to do with Monk, what is it then.
ReDiviDeR are a Irish quartet headed by Matthew Jacobson (drums) and featuring Nick Roth (alto saxophone), Derek Whyte (electric bass) and Colm O'Hara (trombone). They play experimental free jazz that has been described as both "freebop" and "postbop", but the band prefers the tag "two horns, no chords".
Animal Code is the best piece here, featuring the talents of Bonny on trumpet and live electronic manipulation. It is mournful at first, like a funeral procession where the horn section is drunk and stumbling out of step. But at about the two-minute mark, it takes on a groove that is wound tight, like a Tom Waits blues clank filtered through a dubby post-punk perspective.
The horns wail incessantly, Bonny joining in on trumpet.
It's a dub-blues-funk-free jazz masterpiece, a lumbering beast that is gaining momentum. Then it winds down, just the horns, mournful again – as if the monster has been felled and is groaning on the floor, trying to regain its senses. The beast gets back to his feet and stumbles off punch-drunk, yet valiant.
Guitarist Alex Roth is sublime on the sinewy Velvet Pouch, with Nick Roth tearing it apart on alto saxophone. The horn tones are warm and subtle and the song feels both light and soulful, while still being combative and challenging, similar to the work of Charles Mingus.
ReDiviDeR Meets I Dig Monk, Tuned is a pretty entertaining exploration of some of the potential that jazz still holds. It will reward those who are prepared to give it some repeated listening. – LG