Tuesday, July 21, 2009

The Fully Celebrated, Drunk on the Blood of the Holy Ones, AUM Fidelity

Perfect music for a ritual sacrifice...just kidding. Weird title aside, it's a somewhat strange jazz trio date that sounds like Ornette Coleman meets funk and Monk (nowhere more than on Moose and Grizzly Bear's Ville) with some Albert Ayler, Mingus and Eric Dolphy in the mix. Alto guy Jim Hobbs doesn't dip much below the high register. I'd swear he's playing a soprano most of the way. He brings Thomas Chapin to my mind, notably on Reptoid Alliance. The title track is surreal, which makes complete sense.

No gypsy guitar from Django Carranza, whose job instead is to lay down the beat for the proceedings, noticeably on Enemy of Both Sides, where he's really the centerpiece. Pearl's Blues (Your What Hurts?) makes me think of a twisted Tiny Bubbles, while Conotocarious is a free jazz romp and Brothers of Heliopolis has a Chinese thing happening. Dew of May begins like a quiet morning with coffee, a donut and a paper, after which you reluctantly exit the La-Z-Boy and get some stuff done. Timo Shanko on bass plays right along all along. Endearing after a few listens, over the course of which I keep hearing new things.

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