American innovative composer-musical theorist-master reed player-improviser-bandleader Anthony Braxton will celebrate in June his 80th birthday. A good enough reason for the trio of alto sax player-composer Steve Lehmam – with double bass player Matt Brewer and drummer Damion Reid, augmented by tenor sax player Mark Turner, to release its highly-anticipated third album that pays homage to one of his earliest mentors with a hard-swinging live album, focusing on early compositions for small groups of the great master by consciously working with musicians outside of the maestro’s orbit. The album was recorded live in front of an enthusiastic audience at ETA in Los Angeles in June 2023.
Lehman, an adventurous musical thinker in his own right, studied with Braxton, and toured and recorded with Braxton ensembles from 1999 to 2007, including a tribute to the music of Andrew Hill Nine Compositions (Hill) 2000 (CIMP, 2001). He aimed to connect Braxton’s music with new audiences and make a case for his small group music as an indispensable part of the jazz canon. Lehman chose intricate and catchy compositions recorded in the 1970s and 1980s with the likes of Ed Blackwell, Dave Holland, and Kenny Wheeler, among others on albums like New York, Fall 1974 (Arista, 1975), and Six Compositions: Quartet (Antilles, 1982). He chose Turner for this project because the music of Warne Marsh and the larger Tristano-inspired orbit heavily influenced his work overlaps with Braxton’s and both.
The Music of Anthony Braxton offers fresh and insightful perspective on the compositions of Braxton where nothing is taken for granted and all options are open. The performance captures faithfully the joy and excitement of this ad-hoc, powerful quartet and its immediate impact on the audience. Lehman and Turner soar and dance with their commanding, distinctive sax voices on the opening «34a», weaving their voices into complex, feverish dance and enjoying the propulsive rhythm section. You get the same kind of inspired, precise yet unorthodox post-bop choreography on later variations of «23» and «40», and especially «40b» with one of Braxton’s one-of-a-kind, elegant melodic lines and intoxicating groove.
Lehman’s two original compositions – «LA Genes» and «Unbroken and Unspoken» – are informed and correspond wisely with Braxton’s compositional approach but highlight Lehman’s mature and highly personal aesthetics. The album ends with Thelonious Monk’s «Trinkle, Tinkle», introduced by an almost telepathic sax duo interplay of Lehman and Turner, and stressing the continuum of radical experimentation that permeates the entire jazz canon, which Braxton plays a major part in.
Eyal Hareuveni
Steve Lehman (alto saxophone); Mark Turner (tenor saxophone); Matt Brewer (double bass); Damion Reid (drums)
