Bittersuite in the Ozone - Bob Moses

Aug

7

Bittersuite in the Ozone - Bob Moses

≡ Category: 1970s, Essential, Free Jazz, Reviews |
≅ Written by: Michael Kydonieus

JAZZBO NOTES HIGHLY ESSENTIAL RECORDING

Rating:

Bob Moses’ Bittersuite in the Ozone (reissued on Amulet Records) is unique in the history of jazz. It is not exactly a free jazz album, although there is free jazz in it, and the playing is often very free. The best way to describe Bittersuite in the Ozone is as a shining example of what happens when you get some of the finest jazz musicians on the planet together and give them music to play with absolutely no concession to popular taste or commercialism.

Bob Moses has a lot of balls.

The lead off track for Bittersuite in the Ozone is Mfwala Myo La La, which starts off with a lengthy and raucous free section for voice (Jeanne Lee and Bob Moses), tuba (Howard Johnson), log drums (Bob Moses again) and drums (Billy Hart). It’s completely wacky and all about tone and rhythm, which is a pretty hard sell. It’s almost like a Native American Indian invocation to the spirits crossed with pure gibberish. Then we get some tutti sections with vibes (Bob Moses), flute (Dave Liebman), tuba and goodness knows what else.

The title cut, Bittersuite in the Ozone, begins with an ascending modal arpeggio courtesy of Bob Moses on piano, which is doubled by bassist Eddie Gomez and freely expounded on by Randy Brecker’s trumpet, Dave Liebman’s saxophone, and Billy Hart’s drums. That leads into a B section that starts off as a kind of a modified samba and then drifts into a rubato series of modally based chord changes with plenty of free playing by the horns. Then we get a C section consisting of a repetitive motif of a descending minor mode, which is used as base for free improvisation. And so on.

Message To The Music Business is a comically grim, through-composed combination admonition and flipoff directed at the music business, scored for horns and piano with solo space for Dave Liebman’s lacerating and tender tenor sax.

All of this is pretty heady stuff. In lesser hands, the approach Bob Moses takes on Bittersuite in the Ozone would sound self-indulgent, but in the hands of these musicians it’s a grand and brave artistic statement. But the best is yet to come.

The centerpiece of Bittersuite in the Ozone is Stanley Free, a 23 minute musical tribute to pianist Stanley Free. It is loving, humorous, and soulful in equal measure. It begins with a solo by Stanley Free himself on a slightly out of tune piano, which is rhythmically free and explores a variety of nostalgic melodies and chord changes. Stanley’s reverie is rudely interrupted by a tutti horn section consisting of Randy Brecker and Mike Lawrence on trumpets and Howard Johnson on tuba. Once they’ve had their say, Stanley Free introduces a searching and lyrical theme, with Howard Johnson’s tuba playing the bass part and Randy Brecker playing the melody. That segues into a completely free section for the horns and cellist Dave Eyges. And so on. Stanley Free (the tune) passes through many changes throughout it’s running time, even making a pit stop for the Jewish folk dance Hava Nagila at one point. Stanley Free is one of my very favorite pieces of music and a perfect way to end the album. It’s an impossible act to follow.

All in all, Bittersuite in the Ozone is not only one of the most important free jazz albums of all time, it stands as one of the pinnacles of group jazz in any context. It would be impossible to overpraise it.