Black Stars
Jason Moran has a genuinely contemporary vision that's also in touch with a neglected and radical past. On his third CD for Blue Note as a leader (produced by his usual employer,Greg Osby), the young pianist continues to reach across the great divide that separates his often conservative generation from the label's '60s firebrands. This time he's taken that approach still further, working with saxophonist/flutist/pianistSam Rivers, one of the stalwarts of Blue Note's most adventurous period and still, at 78, a commanding and adventurous musician. The results recall the early work of pianist Andrew Hill. Sometimes moody, sometimes bright, the music can be turbulent and multidirectional with complex, overlapping patterns that fuse the taut structures of hard bop with the density of free jazz, resulting in a music that combines the energies of both. Moran's meeting with Rivers is an extraordinary success. A mutual lyricism touches glowing, subterranean depths on the duet of "Say Peace," and the same empathy shows in the airy, Oriental grace of "Summit." The final "Sound It Out" is more intimate and spontaneous still, beginning with one of Rivers's own exploratory piano solos before he turns to flute, ceding the keyboard to Moran for another charged dialogue.--Stuart Broomer