I took a bit of a nap on Hamiet! Not all his material is maniac, so I think I was deterred by a straighter outing in an earlier examination, as I reverse-devour in depth the Avant-Jazz lineage with unthwarted esurience. It’s always majorly thrilling to find “someone else” & start cruising through their releases & history. The Bluiett epiphany came about with probably the best inadvertent recommendation ever from an anonymous NY Jazz body who told me he had to stop taking lessons from Bluiett cos’ he was “too crazy”! So a Southern saxophonist playing Off-Raod squall, with a reputation for being “too crazy”?…could it possibly be better? & thus I pick out this album, Resolution from 1977 that pleasingly is still in print. Black Saint, resplendent line-up (Fred Hopkins, Don Moye, Don Pullen, Billy “Jabali” Hart), two drummers…can’t go wrong here. & what a delectable eclectic cosm Resolution is! The first thing to notate is it’s range – traditional Jazz & Blues (often warped by Avant enthuse), histrionic Free Jazz, Afrocentric elliptics & Spiritual Jazz aesthetics all clashing, converging & cohesing. Like a good Fusion album from the era, the tracks are distinctive & disperate, like distant continents or alternative scenarios. There are also two drummers, knocking simultaneous, each panned to his own channel (Moye on the right & Hart on the left). Heaps of cow-bells, wood-blocks, chimes, bells & “little instruments” wind their way into the forage like a marsh packed to the bull-rush with life-forms. Hamiet predominantly deploys a Baritone sax but also flute, clarinet & bamboo flute. The album has an extremely loose, joyous & carefree mien or convivial-chaos if you will that is rarely interrupted. The two stages on the LP where this rubric is genuinely altered are actually my favourite cuts – Before Yesterday & the sublime & insane Spring’s Joy. Spring’s Joy is just a complete burner of Tempo Jazz with Hamiet blitzing it on top with some of the most exultant exclamation in the game. Dead marvellous, uber-energetic clammering exhilaration. An extremely positive interpretation of life’s vibrancy shot through just 4.47 minutes worth of overactive mirth! Before Yesterday is a percussion stuffed motley of African Avant-Garde, & the only track that Don Pullen is absent from. It’s frivolous & playful, yet powerful & wise as well as exhibiting plenty of bonkers & brain-bend. Very’ very delicious. Its sounds like the crew had a lot of fun knocking this luxurious gallivant out. As a listener it’s an absolute feast & a versatile feast at that. Off-hook!
Rekd: 1977
Label: Black Saint Records