In Chicago, musicians with any type of connection to jazz's avant-garde continue to wear the name
Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians
(AACM) like a badge of honor -- and with good reason.
The AACM
, since the '60s, has been having a profound influence on avant-garde jazz by favoring space rather than density and offering a contemplative, reflective alternative to the blistering atonality associated with
Cecil Taylor
,
Albert Ayler
, and late-period
John Coltrane
(play
Coltrane
's scorching
Om
next to the recordings of
Anthony Braxton
and
Roscoe Mitchell
, and it is impossible to overlook the fact that
the AACM
has generally represented a kinder, gentler approach to avant-garde jazz). But being influenced by
does not mean that Chicago residents are obligated to follow some type of script rigidly. For example, tenor saxophonist/bass clarinetist
Keefe Jackson
(an Arkansas native who relocated to the Windy City) brings an intriguing variety of influences to
Just Like This
.
Jackson
, who recorded this 55-minute disc in Chicago in 2007, clearly appreciates
's use of space, but
is hardly a carbon copy of
Braxton
's or
Mitchell
's work. Instead,
and his band
Project Project
also draw on non-
AACM
influences ranging from
Charles Mingus
to
Ornette Coleman
. The version of
that
leads on
is a 12-person unit that is dominated by horns -- except for bassist
Anton Hatwich
and drummer
Frank Rosaly
, everyone on this album is a horn player -- and the horn arrangements definitely owe something to
Mingus
' bands. But while
' inside/outside recordings were much more inside than outside,
is a lot freer and is often more outside than inside. Both
and non-
influences serve
well on this appealing CD. ~ Alex Henderson