John Fordham 

Jack DeJohnette: Made in Chicago review – intriguing reunion of free jazz pioneers

Chicago free jazz don Jack DeJohnette is reunited with some of the players he grew up with on this live album recorded in 2013, writes John Fordham
  
  

Henry Threadgill, Roscoe Mitchell, Jack DeJohnette, Larry Gray and Muhal Richard Abrams
Not always comfortable listening … (from left) Henry Threadgill, Roscoe Mitchell, Jack DeJohnette, Larry Gray and Muhal Richard Abrams. Photograph: Paul Natkin/WireImage Photograph: Paul Natkin/WireImage

Jack DeJohnette is best known for his work with Keith Jarrett, Miles Davis and his own Special Edition band – but here is a rekindling of DeJohnette’s early Chicago life, reconvening with sax-playing schoolfriends Roscoe Mitchell and Henry Threadgill, and Chicago free-jazz guru Muhal Richard Abrams. It was recorded live at the city’s jazz festival in 2013, and has the spirit and Albert Ayler-influenced horn sounds of archetypal 1960s African-American free-jazz – but it is anchored by varied compositions and DeJohnette’s loose, flowing drumming. Mitchell’s Chant has wild sax lines rising out of a four-note motif; Threadgill’s Leave Don’t Go Away unleashes DeJohnette at his free-funkiest and Abrams in chord-hammering, Cecil Taylor-like mood. It’s not always comfortable listening, but it’s an intriguing reunion of jazz pioneers.

 

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