Well recorded before an appreciative audience, here is Ali's current ensemble, working hard at straddling the line between hard bop and free. Out of the gate we have "Theme For Captain Black", a James Blood Ulmer vehicle with a quickly announced head that drops away for Ali to solo. He hasn't lost any vitality or imagination, and his drum kit sounds gorgeous. When the band comes back in, we get a Coltrane-ish solo from Lawrence Clark over a pretty straight bop rhythm at a zippy tempo. Pianist Greg Murphy catches the Trane feel and veers between Tyner-esque chords and more modern clusters and sweeps. Ali swings hard without ever actually playing any bop clichés, using taste and precision with a penchant for clouds and thunder. Next, things fall away to reveal Josh Evans' trumpet. He re-iterates the theme and then Don-Ayler's it for a bit before splaying angular lines and repeating phrases over the cart wheeling rhythm section. In between solos, things get thrown up in the air, like they are all juggling for a brief moment before catching that flying straight four.

"Lourana" is a Clark tune, a lovely modern ballad that wouldn't be out of place on a mid-60's Blue Note date, all smoky and after hours. The closer, and longest tune is another Blood Ulmer title, "Thing For Joe". One wonders why Ulmer's music is featured here so heavily, perhaps because he and Ali played together for a time, or just because they're good tunes deserving of wider audition. This one is a blues with a skewed progression, again taken at breakneck speed. Clark's solo evolves into a drums/tenor duet that, while it doesn't quite reach the heights of the recorded examples between Ali and his former employer, goes a long way toward evoking them. Which is not to slight these guys, it's just that in this day and age, they're working in well-known territory, whereas the Coltrane band was smashing boundaries. Murphy's solo here is fleet-fingered and full of big tonal leaps, coming near the end to a smash and grab section before lilting off into the sunset. He picks things up again and throws them at bassist Joris Teepe, who springboards into his solo, slipping and sliding very lyrically. Another drum lesson from Ali then directs us back into the where-have-I-heard-this-before head and the evening ends.

Rashied Ali Quintet: Live In Europe Is On Sale at Squidco!