Jones Jones is a sort of free improvisation supergroup, featuring three masters of their instruments, each one with legendary, decades-long careers – American sax player Larry Ochs (playing here the tenor and sopranino saxes) of ROVA Saxophone Quartet since its inception in 1977, Lithuanian drummer-percussionist Vladimir Tarasov, once a member of the revolutionary Ganelin Trio, and Fellow double bass player Mark Dresser (with an arsenal of three double basses and electronic pickups) once a member of the seminal and classic Anthony Braxton Quartet (with pianist Marilyn Crispell and drummer Gerry Hemingway). The leaderless trio first performed as a unit in 2006 for one concert in the San Francisco Bay Area; that special performance led to more sound explorations among these three masters whose ability to listen and respond shines forth during every trio concert.
«Just Justice» is the fourth album by Jones Jones and it was recorded at Studio B in UC San Diego in January 2020, when all were still outraged by the American so-called El Presidente and his henchmen in Congress The whimsical spirit that led to the anonymous name of this trio continues with the titles of the eight pieces. Each piece offers distinct, daring and deep listening dynamics that stress the strong individual voices of Jones Jones, their profound affinity and idiosyncratic and sometimes eccentric vocabularies, often spiced with humor and irony but with no attempt to attach themselves to familiar or conventional improvisation strategies. Just serving the music by keeping exploring possible modes of conversational dynamics and then letting go. The beautiful cover art of Roberto Harrison cements the unique sonic vision of Jones Jones
Ochs sketches instant, lyrical melodies. Dresser’s bowing technique is impeccable, always challenging and dives deep into magical microtonal universes (check his masterful playing on «The Further Adventures of Ms. Microtonal Jones»), while Tarasov keeps his comrades on their toes with his fast, shape-shifting percussive patterns. Together they form a poetic and powerful collective that explores imaginative texture like «Bali Hai Jones», burns with urgent energy and rage on «Call of the Jones», investigates the timbral qualities of their instruments in a series of delicate and tense collisions in «Jones in the Sonar System», or simply surfs with post-bop rhythmic joy on «Jones Free Jones» and the bluesy «RBG Jones». The last piece «And His Sisters Called Him Jones» captures best the always inventive, unpredictable dynamics of this great trio and this inspiring album.
Eyal Hareuveni
Larry Ochs (ts, sopranino s), Vladimir Tarasov (dr, perc), Mark Dresser (b)
https://larryochs.bandcamp.com/album/just-justice-june-2022
