Frank Lowe didn’t like the
studio system much and so didn’t leave behind the kind of legacy that he
deserved. He was an avant garde jazzman
to his core but, as is often the case, there were deep streaks of tradition in
his locks. I have been listening today
to a new acquisition: Decision in
Paradise (1985). All the comments on
the recording I have read describe it as “conservative”. It is in fact a genuine exploration of the
bop sentiment. In many ways, this is my
favorite kind of jazz recording: an avant garde revolutionary trying out the
old whiskey.
I chose the album mostly for
the band. Don Cherry on trumpet suggests
wild, but the suggestion goes wide of the mark.
Grachan Moncur III on trombone also misleads. But I am a big fan of Moncur. Geri Allen on piano, well, what’s not to
like? Charnette Moffett plays bass and
Charles Moffett beats the skins.
I am playing the title cut and ‘You
Dig!’ This is one album that you will
dig. It’s available from Amazon for
about $5. Get it and dig it.
I am also playing a cut from The Flam (1976), a more characteristic
Lowe recording, I suspect, and a flamboyant avant garde document. Joseph Bowie plays a spitting trumpet, Leo
Smith draws from a quiver of horns, Alex Blake is on bass and Charles Bobo Shaw
is on drums. Lowe’s tenor is squelching
and screechy, in a Charles Gaye sort of way.
Let it run.
