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Blues for Falasha by Glenn G-Force Spearman

Tenor saxophonist Glenn Spearman was familiar with the musical art of reaching plateaus. An acolyte of such unapologetically spirited improvisers as Albert Ayler, Frank Wright, and late-period John Coltrane, Spearman used his Double Trio to full-on free-jazz peak experience on Smokehouse, Fields, and Mystery Project. Here he takes the group into the realm of considering the oft-forgotten Ethiopian Falasha, a Jewish tribe that has lived separate from their nation's mainstream society to retain cultural integrity. The piece is full of long stretches that channel Larry Ochs, Chris Brown, Lisle Ellis, Donald Robinson, and William Winant into more slow-developing sound areas. Plenty of high-impact free improvising still crops up (and out), but on the whole this is music that has a wider-spread firmness, a blaze that spreads methodically rather than in flashes. The blues elements are mazed away by the interaction of twinned saxes, doubled drums, and the springing lunge of Ellis's bass and Brown's pianistic unleashings. Spearman is his usual scorched-range expert, ripping phrases open to study their roughest edges. Alas, Spearman's death in late 1998 stemmed a rising tide of creativity and energy all too soon. --Andrew Bartlett (Amazon.com)

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