REVOLUTIONARY ENSEMBLE / Counterparts
Leroy Jenkins (violin); Sirone (bass); Jerome Cooper (drums, balaphone, chiramia, Yamaha PSR 1500)
"They morph seamlessly into lengthy, imaginatively conceived improvs, wherein the band's gift for spontaneous composition is given free rein." - Chris Kelsey, Jazz Times
Counterparts is a document of the last live performance by the legendary Revolutionary Ensemble. This recording was made of a performance in Genoa, Italy on November 25, 2005.
In the 1970¹s, the Revolutionary Ensemble introduced New York to decided musical advances, many pioneered by Chicago¹s A.A.C.M. musicians. Ex-Chicagoan Leroy Jenkins, who played violin, of all unheard-of modern jazz instruments, had formed his concept from classical, swing, blues, and modern elements and had been one of the radicals who discovered new concepts of sound, space, and musical relationships in the late 1960s. Jerome Cooper had been a somewhat later Chicago explorer, while Sirone¹s freedom of motion had grown out of work with the most visionary New Yorkers. Extensive rehearsal led this cooperative trio to a shared, free sense of dynamics, momentum, and form, and a wholly unique sound: their instrumental recombinations yielded a surprising variety of textures and colors. Most of all, these highly sophisticated personalities played together to create an ensemble music even larger than the sum of its parts.
After the long overdue reissue in 2004 of their 1975 recording The Pysche on Mutable Music, the Revolutionary Ensemble - Leroy Jenkins (violin), Sirone (bass), and Jerome Cooper (drums, keyboards) reunited for both recording and performances. This live set presents Sirone’s Configuration and Berlin Ertarhung; Usami and Rumi Tales by Leroy Jenkins; My Birds by Jerome Cooper, as well as a group improvisation - Fulfillment. All three of these great musicians are at the top of their form here and their remarkable realization of the ensemble ideal was still revelatory and still revolutionary.
TRACK LIST
Configuration (Sirone) (7:00)
Rumi Tales (Jenkins) (5:41)
Usami (Jenkins) (6:46)
My Birds (Cooper) (16:06)
Berlin Ertarhung (Sirone) (6:32)
Fulfillment (Cooper, Jenkins, Sirone) (4:38)
