Lester Bowie always seems to me like he had a good time making his recordings and "The Great Pretender," a 1981 ECM disk I bought this summer, is a case in point. Besides the nearly 17 enjoyable minutes of the title track, culled from the '50s pop hit by the Platters, he and what's mostly a quartet also make hay with "It's Howdy Doody Time."
Except for "When the Moon Comes Over the Mountain," the other songs are Bowie's. Baritone saxophonist Hamiet Bluiett and gospel singer Fontella Bass join the ensemble for "The Great Pretender," which, like the rest of the program, is rendered in avant-garde jazz terms with a variety of styles (from New Orleans marching bands to Motown) worked into the mix. The eerie, abstract "Oh, How the Ghost Sings" won't be everybody's cup of tea, but the rest of it's pretty much like the opener, a good time.
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