John O’Gallagher - Live in Brooklyn

The Guardian 80

(Whirlwind)

Bebop, that harmonically knotty jazz revolution of the mid 20th century, is still fertile territory for some inquisitive younger players – such as the US alto saxophonist John O’Gallagher, a formally advanced virtuoso who has borrowed, among many things, Viennese school serialism and the late George Russell’s modalism in quests to reshape jazz melody. This live recording featuring Johannes Weidenmueller (bass) and Mark Ferber (drums) is jazz-making without a safety net, the three juggling tough structures at will and maintaining an unmistakably jazzy spontaneity and bite, however taxing the navigation. The 10-minute Prime sprays short-burst alto phrases and Ornette Coleman-like exhortations amid precarious five-against-seven polyrhythms; Extralogical Rainman (an audacious makeover of Charlie Parker’s famous Relaxin’ at Camarillo) is full of unexpected sax-melody twists, and The Honeycomb a seesawing juggle of clipped alto motifs that eventually highlights O’Gallagher’s speed of thought and the emotional power of his sound and the collective clout of the trio. Only the audio quality is less than state of the art.