We listen to them – and I guarantee you will – with frequent pleasure in the same way that we turn to Parker, to Mozart, even, and to Ornette Coleman and Don Cherry, because they clear away the plaque of predictability that threatens our aesthetic heartbeat. Every time I have listened to this music, it provides a different spin on itself, not because it is densely layered and complex, but because it deals with musical fundamentals in an engaged and humane manner. And that’s the other thing about it: these guys may go out under an enigmatic group name, but they come across as personalities, very different, possibly sometimes even contentious, but absolutely united in purpose.
Brian Morton