Throw heat

On "Body and Soul," Black Saint, my man David Murray does a lot of Sonny Rollins via Albert Ayler and Ornette Coleman, with the song "Odin" an excellent example of that. Murray was a power player at this point, 1993, and still is, although like Mr. Rollins he's worked a variety of placement pitches into the mix with those heaters he continues to uncork.

Here, he's mostly bringing it like Lee Smith used to for the Cubs. (Sorry, it's baseball season). If you don't remember Lee Smith, just spin the first two tunes on the disk, "Slave Song" and "Celebration Dance," and you'll see what I'm talking about. Pianist Sonelius Smith (no relation to Lee, as far as I know) is an attraction on this quartet date as well. He's complimentary throughout and pay attention to his unusual intro to, and his solo later in, the title track, which Murray uses to update Coleman Hawkins in ways that just make me marvel at the cleverness of his approach. Still waiting for the first David Murray CD that doesn't intrigue me.