Deep Space features the American quartet of free jazz pianist-composer John Blum with Sun Ra Arekestra’s legendary leader, alto sax and EVI master Marshall Allen who recently celebrated his 100th birthday, under-sung tenor sax player and flutist Elliot Levin and drummer Chad Taylor (of Chicago Underground ensembles and digital Primitives, who recorded recently with Blum, The Recursive Tree, Relative Pitch, 2023, with sax hero David Murray). The album was recorded at Rittenhouse Soundworks in Philadelphia in December 2022.
Blum recorded before with free jazz legends like William Parker, Sunny Murray, Steve Swell and Denis Charles, but unfortunately, he his discography is quite sparse. He is considered an underground legend of the downtown music scene in New York. His piano techniques are described as a hybrid of Cecil Taylor and McCoy Tyner, decidedly percussive but with relentlessly fast right-hand linear structure. He is known as a musician who aims for the very personal, conveying the concepts of honesty and integrity in his playing.
Deep Space offers five compositions of Blum and surprises in its somewhat reserved spirit but still presents Blum’s explosive, high-voltage pianism. It focuses on Blum’s concise yet fast-shifting melodic ideas, propelled by the unstoppable rhythmic drive of Taylor, including on the African mbira, and then launched into the enigmatic sounding deep space – literally – by Allen’s EVI and Levin’s soaring sax and flute solos. The bass-less format allows more space for all to work within, but the quartet uses it cleverly and sparingly. Once the the melodic themes are exhausted the quartet moves to the next piece. Only the last piece, the 20-minute «The Aether», allows all to stretch further within its free and open, conversational dynamics.
Deep Space sounds like the work of a tight and powerful collective that has been working together for years and with exceptional free dynamics. It is a testament to the deep listening and the profound knowledge of free jazz and free improvisation.
Eyal Hareuveni
John Blum (piano), Marshall Allen (alto saxophone, EVI), Elliot Levin (tenor saxophone, flute), Chad Taylor (drums)
