An album that i bought ages ago [probably 5 years!], and i never got round to listening to [this is somewhat usual!], but wow!, what a gem, if i had known it was going to be this good, i would have been a rash all over it sooner, Harrison sounds a cross between Joshua Redman and Kenny Garrett, this album is in effect a Trio setting [sax, bass & drums], with Glen Patscha on piano for tracks 1, 3 & 5 only, Harrison is superb in a Trio, reminds me of Kenny Garrett's album TrioLogy [3rd March 2010], and it would have probably been better to play the whole album as a Trio, Vicente Archer [bass] and John Lamkin [drums] play throughout, except for the last two tracks, with famous names Ron Carter [bass] and Billy Cobham [Drums] filling in, it's superbly recorded, the bass is to the fore, and instead of being lost in the mix, you can hear the ideas of the Bassist clearly, a real revelation, as he's not merely there to make up the numbers, and especially in a Trio setting he becomes a bigger percentage of the group, the drums have that crisp attack and snap, as well as a gorgeous resonant echo, drums should become a foreground instrument, they're not merely in the background to keep the beat!, a well recorded disc doubles the joy for me, notice also it's called Free Style, rather than Freestyle.
Donald Harrison he made this recording in 2002, the front and back cover is a great idea [photo by Frank Nagel-Heyer], a black and white shot, with a yellow background, the yellow lettering all down his front, notice white lettering for himself, on the back there's a silhouette of Harrison, with the track listing clearly laid out in yellow and white, a great visual product, i like it a lot.
The sheer invention of the opening ideas of each track are a joy to behold, there's inspiration aplenty, and i'm sure i will love this album much more deeply on subsequent listens, well on this listen i really liked tracks 2-7 & 10-11, with track 5 'So What' the best of the bunch, a Miles Davis creation, a superb intro, a drum and cymbal solo by John Lamkin [0:00-0:10], and it's nice to hear Harrison go off on a funky solo [0:51+], slurring his notes at times like a drunk man, playing in extreme registers, really high and right after low [2:34-2:47], and some more high squealing [3:44-4:01], Patscha's solo break is a welcome deviation [4:16+], Harrison takes the track out in style [6:12-6:42], fluttering away as it were on the wind, a great invention, and i can't wait to hear this album again.
Here's on YouTube.
