In the Tradition, Vol. 1 in Bloomington, MN

The great avant-gardist
Anthony Braxton
threw the jazz world a curve with this album (and its second volume).
Braxton
, filling in for an ill
Dexter Gordon
, was joined by pianist
Tete Montoliu
, bassist
Niels Pedersen
and drummer
Tootie Heath
for a set of five jazz standards. After playing the melodies fairly straight,
tears into
Warne Marsh
's
"Marshmallow,"
"Just Friends" and "Lush Life" with very complex and abstract improvisations that are generally ignored by the rhythm section who go about playing in their usual bop-oriented style. An exception is a duet with bassist
Pedersen
on a very spooky "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat," one of two songs on which
plays contrabass clarinet. His solo on "Ornithology" on that instrument is a bit silly, for the contrabass clarinet is so low that one has difficulty telling some of its notes apart from each other. A historical curiosity, this set is not as essential as
's explorations of his own music. ~ Scott Yanow