Search - Test Test Test :: Test

Like the first and foremost free-jazz king of New York, David S. Ware, this quartet has logged some time playing on the subway platform. The musicians include Tom Bruno on drums; Sabir Mateen on alto and tenor sax, flute, and other instruments; Matthew Heyner on bass; and Daniel Carter on alto and tenor, trumpet, et cetera. All are given room to express their own unique voices while still complementing each other in the ensemble setting (the purpose of any successful free-jazz outfit). The end result is another significant release on the continually impressive Aum Fidelity label. "HuhuhuH (Nite Sounds on 5th)" is a 21-minute jamboree that simply begs to be reckoned with--the interplay between the saxophones is simply amazing, as it is on the aptly named "Straightahead, Forward Motion," which sounds like an outtake from Ornette Coleman's Free Jazz (with suitable Billy Higgins-style gutbucket drumming from Mr. Bruno). Along with Other Dimensions in Music (also on Aum Fidelity), Test are the most authentic of the late-'90s free-jazz groups. Their music sounds like an organic process (that is, a learning experience) as opposed to a reactionary statement meant to confound (and thus get noticed). Witness the clatter of "What RU Going to Due?!", which, even though it was recorded in a loft in Brooklyn, evokes the group's street sensibilities perfectly. This is an all-out free-jam, part Art Ensemble, part Last Poets. The easy comparison would be to say the cut--and this whole album--evokes the classic sounds of '60s ESP-Disk, but maybe it's time we start saying it sounds like classic Aum Fidelity. --Joe S. Harrington