Willimantic Records is gaining a well-deserved reputation for consistently providing a welcoming space for free jazz – something greatly appreciated by the musicians who perform there as well as by their avid supporters. That this space exists at all acquired more urgency with the ending of Carl Testa’s Uncertainty Music series in New Haven after a long and successful run.
What is free jazz? At its best, it is absolute freedom in music, a complete liberation of the musical soul, radiating outward from a core that accepts no bounds. It is adventurous and challenging music par excellence. And, looking outward to the world at large, it is both musically aware and worldly aware in a way that we haven’t seen since the 60s: two awarenesses infused in a combustion chamber that is Willimantic Records.
The best recent demonstration I have heard of this music was a tour de force performance at Willimantic Records on the afternoon of April 8, 2018. Here is a 13-minute excerpt.
This leaderless, nameless group featured Paul Flaherty on sax, Lao Dan on sax and flutes, Damon Smith on bass and Randall Colbourne on drums. Paul Flaherty, a preeminent master of free jazz with decades of experience and countless recordings, is a driving, uncompromising force who always performs at a high level – that was on full display that afternoon. Lao Dan, here on a short visit from China, was unrelenting in the energy and passion he brought to his performance. Without exception, every musician gave his all to the music.
This was a performance that fearlessly worked the twin forces of creation and destruction, that surprised us with all the sounds they could wring out of the instruments at hand.
Fortunately, the entire performance was recorded so we should see a CD soon.
