Customer Reviews

Live In Berlin

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(From an extended feature, copyright 2009 Michael F. Hopkins)

LIVE IN BERLIN, recorded a year after the epic SACRED GROUND, is a release of Germany's jazzwerkstatt label. Featuring The Black Saint Quartet in concert performance, it stands as a powerhouse showcase of David Murray's prowess as a player, composer and leader.
For the first time ever in his 30 year-plus career, Murray leads a band where he is the senior member! No small point for the Oakland-born trailblazer, who's persistently staked fresh ground in innovation since his teens, yet has always appreciated the advice -and earned the respect- of this Music's most illustrious elders.
Unlike Wynton Marsalis, Murray is about the depth and character of this Music... not clever dazzle, divisive dogma, and sanctioned showboating.

From the bright and cheerful stomp of "Dirty Laundry" to the moonlit elegance of "Waltz Again", LIVE IN BERLIN engages ear, heart and soul in a cavalcade of irresistible rhapsody. From the landmark SACRED GROUND comes the title selection and the contemplative litany "Banished"; both stirring the imagination, and an urgent need for perceptive participation.
The time-honored "Murray's Steps" makes a fresh appearance here, its John Coltrane-inspired changes setting straight the unique measure of Murray's own considerable strides in this idiom. Throughout, this Music sings as arduously as it swings. compelling essential dance at every turn.

Murray's mastery is simply awesome. His bass clarinet work hums and struts its way with sober resolve and puckish charm, while his tenor saxophone talk melds high-pitched cry and deep-throated calm into prime narrative; always with a lyrical tale to tell.
Lafayette Gilchrist has grown by leaps and bounds since his standup
work with Murray on SACRED GROUND a year ago. The pianist strikes deep chromatic, polyharmonic tapestries which unflinchingly takes the listener deep into the groove. Grandmaster John Hicks, looking from above, is surely pleased with Gilchrist's authority, and fulfillment of promise. Look for more to come.
Bassist Jaribu Shahid and drummer Hamid Drake represent the finest in timeless rhythmatics; providing solid foundation for the quartet's play, while nimble and inspirational in the way that the weaving of foundation frees everyone to soar. Drake is among the most fearless of today's jugglers and sifters of tempo, while Shahid draws deep illumination with every touch. Much to savor here.

With a group sound that is dynamic as it is formidable, The Black Saint Quartet is already an ensemble to be reckoned with. LIVE IN BERLIN is yet another special chapter in one of the most distinguished careers in the annals of Music.
A hallmark of Jazz at its very best, LIVE IN BERLIN is David Murray deep in joyful
song, and serious play.