Pendulum Live At The Village Vanguard - Dave Liebman Quintet

Jul

20

Pendulum Live At The Village Vanguard - Dave Liebman Quintet

≡ Category: 1970s, Essential, Post Bop, Reviews |
≅ Written by: Michael Kydonieus

JAZZBO NOTES ESSENTIAL RECORDING

Rating:

I’ve got bad news and good news about the Mosaic label’s re-release of Dave Liebman Quintet’s classic Pendulum date, which includes not only the original recording, but a number of other tunes that were recording during the two-night gig at the Village Vanguard.

The bad news is that none of the tunes that were left in the can back then are immortal classics like Footprints or Pendulum from the original date (for descriptions of these tunes, see my review Pendulum - Dave Liebman Quintet). The good news is that most of the tunes are better than Picaddilly Lilly, the Dave Liebman penned chord changes tune that rounded out the original release.

I always suspected that Picaddilly Lilly was chosen because of its short length rather than because of its artistic merits. Basically, it’s there because it fits on the album. Since it’s a Dave Liebman original and not as well known by the band members, it’s played in a respectfully straightforward fashion that just isn’t all that interesting. In contrast, most of the additional tunes chosen for the Mosaic set are standards, ruthlessly deconstructed and explored within an inch of their lives. None of the covers is less than 17 minutes and not a minute is wasted.

What becomes abundantly clear listening to these additional tunes is that saxophonist Dave Liebman is almost a sideman in his own band. He may be calling the tunes off of the bandstand, but pianist Richie Beirach is driving the group. Beirach is incredibly aggressive, both in terms of rhythm and harmony. He frequently employs rhythmic ostinatos to alter the original pulse of the standards, pumping up the energy and providing a stimulus for the other musicians to play off of. And he’s just relentless in terms of mutating the harmonies of the original tunes. Very often, you won’t recognize a tune until you’re a minute or two in because it’s been altered so severely.

But Beirach is far from being the whole show. He’s just the catalyst. Give Dave Liebman credit for assembling a band which is tailor made for the rhythmic and harmonic approach of Richie Beirach and every bit as good as any band that Miles Davis or John Coltrane ever fielded. A strong statement, but I believe it’s warranted.

Take trumpeter Randy Brecker. In his previous work, you can hear his natural tendency to deconstruct harmony and play outside, even in a relatively straight ahead context. Here that’s his whole job, and he takes to it like a pig that’s fallen into a vat of buttermilk. He’s brilliant, the preemininent trumpeter in this style.

Then there’s Dave Liebman. By the gig at the Village Vanguard, Liebman and Beirach already had a long history playing together, either in Liebman’s fusion band Lookout Farm or in a duet format. Their’s is one of the great partnerships in jazz. Liebman’s passion plays off of the sometimes clinical, analytical approach of Beirach. They’ve always tended to want to reharmonize standards and play up the resulting dissonance and tension, and their work together here is simply a logical extension of their discoveries up to that point, applied to post bop rather than fusion. Liebman is in blistering form throughout the date, and the extended lengths of the tunes allow him to thoroughly explore the implications of Beirach’s twisted harmonies.

Frank Tusa is the perfect bassist for this material. You can’t rely on the standard bag of tricks when you’re playing behind Richie Beirach. You have to be on your toes. Tusa responds to the challenge with the some of the most lucid bass playing I’ve ever heard. He’s constantly responding to what Beirach does rhythmically, sometimes strumming the accoustic bass almost like a percussion instrument. His walking is always tasteful, always original and never a cliche. His tone is gutsy and beautiful. I tend not to notice bass players, but Frank Tusa doesn’t disappear into the background, even in this band of consummate professionals.

Al Foster kills on the drums. Like everyone on this date, he’s got huge ears, and responds to the lead of Richie Beirach. Foster also swings like mad and plays very clean. You never get the feeling that Foster is vamping or playing empty fills. Every beat is there for a reason. His solos are almost melodic in their conception, respect the form of the tunes, and develop logically.

What you’ve got in Pendulum Live At The Village Vanguard is the ultimate post bop quintet, let loose and devouring everything in its path. It’s true that nothing else on this Mosaic three disk set reaches the perfection of Footprints or Pendulum, but what you have is still burning collective improvisation, consistently sustained at a nose bleed level of quality.