Customer Reviews

Life Rays

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To date, this is the last known recording by
master vibraphonist Walt Dickerson. From 1982,
it presents the trailblazing malleteer at his
pioneering finest, joined in melodic challenge
and multiharmonic drive with fellow wayfarer
Andrew Cyrille's simmering fire on drums, and
the equally adventurous Sirone's puckish
weavings on bass.
Wonderfully polytonal and inescapably lyrical,
the Soul Note album states its own case for
Jazz that can embrace both deep, resonant
tradition and devout, pertinent transition.
Listen, as the quiet feel of soaring dynamics
lift you into the whirlwind of "No Ordinary
Man", Dickerson wasting no time in issuing
the session's clarion call for conscientious
focus.

The trio's collective pulse shimmers with a
swing all its own, dissolving meter into a
broader time and space. "Good Relationship"
(a slow-grinding revisit of an older classic,
"Relativity"), and the Zen-conjured title
selection suspends all sense of disbelief,
as you hear the delightful play of creative
song that we are constantly told cannot be
done!!!
The session's sole non-Dickerson selection
emerges a whole new brew stirred in the
poultice of the vibraphonist's questing
groove. Gershwin's "It Ain't Necessarily
So" cuts no slack and loses all jive, as
Dickerson and friends pour it on, and
bring it all home with a warming flourish.

A look at the Philly Jazz website reveals
that Dickerson (as of early December 2005)
is still active, and still playing. That
such a musical pioneer has not been accorded
the respect of a new album for 25 years is,
quite simply, a monumental disgrace.
In a time where charlatans can front as
messiahs of swing, and fusioneers continue
to market their bloated cocktail as "the
people's music", surely there's enough
marketability for an authentic artist the
caliber of Walt Dickerson.

LIFE RAYS poses a particularly persuasive
reason why such deserved recognition
should not be held back for one moment
longer.