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The Special by Mitch Marcus Quintet
fave it Weird Jazz | Bebop
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21st century jazz: adventurous music that swings with all the muscularity and verve of pioneers like Mingus, Monk, and Rollins, but pays tribute to that glorious past by daring to advance the sweet science of improv.
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Editorial review
Some fresh Bay Area jazz from Mitch Marcus and company provides a sense of rebirth of the collective improvisation ideal. It isn't quite free jazz, but there are aspects of Albert Ayler or Sun Ra in there, in the way that Marcus and alto sax player Sylvain Carton drop casual cascades of notes here and there regardless of the backdrop. It isn't quite fusion, but one can hear a trace of John McLaughlin in guitarist Michael Abraham's work for the opening track. This is freeform jazz, with an outline of an idea put into the score and a general theme for the players to follow, a la Ornette Coleman. There's some strong virtuosity displayed, but primarily in the sensibilities of the players to the strength of the rhythm and course of the flow. They can diverge on separate paths to explore, but come back for a bumpy, bouncy hook at a moment's notice. This is jazz at its thick, heavy best. The album may take some thinking and attention to appreciate it properly, but it holds up to the inspection. This is something worthy of a larger label and distribution (perhaps the avant-garde end of Origin Records, OA2) and more listeners than it's likely to get currently. ~ Adam Greenberg, All Music Guide
Bio / Background
The Mitch Marcus Quintet plays 21st century jazz: adventurous music that swings with all the muscularity and verve of pioneers like Mingus, Monk, and Rollins, but pays tribute to that glorious past by daring to advance the sweet science of collective improvisation into the future. The quintet's influences range freely through the last few decades of musical exploration – you can hear everything in it from the luminous harmonies of Ellington and Strayhorn to the on-a-dime turnarounds of Ornette's groups to Zappa's perpetually surprising melodic inventions – but they sound like no one but themselves, the sign of true innovators. These qualities of freshness and boldness shouldn't be as rare as they are; but Marcus and company have happily freed themselves from the deadly reverence for previously-discovered territory that drags down many younger jazz players these days. The Special is music that reawakens the hip listener to the potential of the vast undiscovered terrain ahead.
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