Mat Walerian, Matthew Shipp, Hamid Drake, Jungle: Live At Okuden (ESP-Disk)
His adventurism ranges far and he occasionally makes harsh sounds, but Polish reed artist Mat Walerian ultimately projects a calming effect not often found in avant garde music. The album is from the concert that produced a previous Walerian album with American pianist Matthew Shipp. Here, drummer Hamid Drake adds energy to Walerian’s and Shipp’s empathetic partnership. Without creating rhythmic stumbling blocks that sometimes mar free playing, Drake abets the melodic and harmonic interaction between Shipp’s piano and Walerian’s alto saxophone, bass clarinet, soprano clarinet and flute. A piece called “One For†suggests intimate familiarity with the chance-taking of John Coltrane’s later groups. The album has no visual aspect except in the mind of the listener. If that mind is open, it may take the advice expressed in the title of the last track, “Sit Back, Relax and Watch.â€