Jack DeJohnette is best known for his work with Keith Jarrett, Miles Davis and his own Special Edition band – but here is a rekindling of DeJohnette’s early Chicago life, reconvening with sax-playing schoolfriends Roscoe Mitchell and Henry Threadgill, and Chicago free-jazz guru Muhal Richard Abrams. It was recorded live at the city’s jazz festival in 2013, and has the spirit and Albert Ayler-influenced horn sounds of archetypal 1960s African-American free-jazz – but it is anchored by varied compositions and DeJohnette’s loose, flowing drumming. Mitchell’s Chant has wild sax lines rising out of a four-note motif; Threadgill’s Leave Don’t Go Away unleashes DeJohnette at his free-funkiest and Abrams in chord-hammering, Cecil Taylor-like mood. It’s not always comfortable listening, but it’s an intriguing reunion of jazz pioneers.
