Well, there are a lot of deer in Canada and drummer Dylan van der Schyff probably took a plane to Amsterdam for this September 2001 concert, so maybe he's the flying deer of the title. Joining him at Zaal 100 are ICP Orchestra alumni Tobias Delius (saxophone and clarinet) and Wilbert de Joode (bass). Their meeting is a friendly, unpretentious one, where van der Schyff, the man of all trades, puts on his Dutch avant-garde jazz hat, participating in Delius and de Joode's witty and spirited free-form exchanges like he'd been living in Amsterdam for the last two decades. The album starts with A Good Idea, a shout cuing in a devastating onslaught of firecracker music. A tad extreme and gratuitous, the piece nonetheless serves the purpose of pulling the listener in for the next two numbers, much more subtle and introverted. Seven Day Itch loses its way halfway through, but the title track delivers a sustained quarter of an hour of fascinating interplay. In Bar Flies, the drummer explores every nook and cranny of his set provided courtesy of Michael Vatcher, going through an arsenal of sticks and beaters. Zaal 100 begins with an inspired duet between bass (played arco and typically thunderous) and bowed or scratched cymbals. Later, Delius develops a post-bop melody on tenor sax while de Joode mumbles an unrelated counterpoint. It is not an essential or groundbreaking session, but it is a fun one. ~ François Couture, Rovi

1		A Good Idea
2		Seven Day Itch
3		The Flying Deer
4		Bar Flies
5		Zaal 100

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