Mosaic Select: Dave Liebman & Richie Beirach - Dave Liebman/Richie Beirach

Mar

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Mosaic Select: Dave Liebman & Richie Beirach - Dave Liebman/Richie Beirach

≡ Category: 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, Avant-Guarde, Fusion, Highly Recommended, Post Bop, Reviews |
≅ Written by: Michael Kydonieus

JAZZBO NOTES HIGHLY RECOMMENDED RECORDING

Rating:

Mosaic Select: Dave Liebman & Richie Beirach is a tough box set to review. It features three distinct periods and styles of music, and not all of them are equally pleasurable to listen to. First, there’s Lookout Farm, Liebman’s first band. Then there’s Quest, the 80s group that evolved out of Liebman’s desire to continue the direction begun in his quintet documented in another Mosaic box set, Pendulum Live At The Village Vanguard. Finally, some duets with his musical compatriot Richie Beirach are included. These three distinct formats are alotted one CD apiece.

From a logical standpoint, it’s hard to argue with Dave Liebman’s selection of material from his personal stash of live recordings. In each case, he has opted to include the most evolved version of the group, but this choice has mixed results.

In the case of Lookout Farm, in the group’s final stage, the grooves were intense and the harmony extremely advanced, much like Pendulum Live At The Village Vanguard. In fact, I would argue that late Lookout Farm led directly to the results of the Pendulum date. Although the sound quality is a little spotty (these tapes were never meant for commercial release), the material absolutely smokes.

In my opinion, Lookout Farm is underdocumented, considering it is one of the greatest fusion ensembles of the 70s, alongside the Dixie Dregs, and yes, Miles Davis’ electric groups and the Mahavishnu Orchestra. At this point, a lot of you are probably shaking your heads and thinking I’m a few walnuts short of a macaroon. I’m pretty much the lone critical voice crying in the wilderness about the merits of Lookout Farm. The group is almost forgotten today. Some of their recordings have not even been reissued on CD. For me, that makes this boxed set extremely valuable and worth owning.

That’s the good news. Now we get to the not-so-good news. I was never much of a fan of Quest. Much as late Lookout Farm led to the Pendulum date, the Pendulum date led to the formation of Quest. Pendulum is even the first tune on the CD devoted to Quest, which the band often played in concert.

The main problem is that the neo-classical and avant guarde leanings of Richie Beirach started to overwhelm little things like swing. The Quest material doesn’t swing the way the Pendulum Live At The Vanguard material did. It’s also relentlessly dissonant, to the point of being grating. The music is cold, cold, cold.

Another problem: the rhythm section Liebman was able to put together for a working band couldn’t hold a candle to the one he had for the one-off Pendulum date. With Quest, he had bassist Ron McClure and drummer Billy Hart. On Pendulum, he had bassist Frank Tusa (one of jazz’s all-time underrated bass players) and drummer Al Foster, who was coming off of years of playing with Miles Davis. See what I mean?

Finally, the dissonance and parcity of grooves on the Quest material brings out the worst in Dave Liebman. He’s rarely sounded harsher. The gnarliness of the music is constant and unrelieved. It’s a tough listen, for sure, but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t have it’s rewards.

Which leads us to his duo material with Beirach, the most recent of which was an outgrowth to some degree of Quest. The results are even more abstract and related to 20th Century classical music than their earlier duos. This is highly intellectualized music, and while rewarding, it’s admittedly tough sledding.

Fortunately, Liebman dug out some of his early duo collaborations with Beirach as well. They aren’t too shabby, but they pale compared to the material on Forgotten Fantasies and Omerta , two of the loveliest duet albums in the history of jazz. On those releases, Beirach’s intellectuallism was balanced by a lush, romantic feel. The early duets satisfied the brain and the heart. By the early 90s, the duets were overwhelmingly intellectualized, to the point that listening to them can feel like homework at times.

Unfortunately, Amazon doesn’t have any clips for Mosaic Select: Dave Liebman & Richie Beirach, but you can go to the Mosaic website and listen to a few clips.