New York-based flutist Cheryl Pyle established her Beyond band as a duo in 2013 with guitarist Bern Nix, known from Ornette Coleman’s Prime Time. The duo expanded into a trio and briefly even into a quintet and hosted pianist Roberta Piket, flutist Jamie Baum and sax players Ingrid Laubrock and Daniel Carter. The current version of the Beyond Trio features drummer Reggie Sylvester, who has played in Nix’ quartet, and soprano sax player Michael Eaton.

Pyle composed few tunettes, as she likes to call her pieces, in the memory of her close collaborator Nix ,who passed away in May 2017, and other heroes who passed away recently – Joseph Jarman, Hamiet Bluiett, Ornette Coleman and Cecil Taylor. The Beyond Trio recorded these tunettes live at I-Beam, Brooklyn, in January 2019. She offers the live recording at her Bandcamp page as name-your-price, download only release.

The sound of the live performance of the Beyond Trio is raw, as the live recording was uploaded to Bandcamp immediately after the performances, with no edits or mixing. But the passionate playing of the trio compensates the quality of the sound, reflecting the seminal, eternal lessons of the deceased masters. The performance begins with a spiritual invocation, «Jarman’s Triagent», set to Jarman’s poem, and keeps exploring this spiritual vein throughout the eight pieces. Sylvester is the driving force of this trio, always pushing the open interplay with funky, energetic vibe, contrasting the more lyrical, conversational interplay of Pyle and Eaton. The last piece, «Nocturne for Nix», is, as expected, the most emotional one.

Eyal Hareuveni

Cheryl Pyle (fl, v), Michael Eaton (ss), Reggie Sylvester (dr, v)