Fans of Joe McPhee were no doubt surprised to hear a tight reading of Sonny Rollins' Oleo burst forth on the opening track and perhaps surprised yet again when, after stating the theme, Raymond Boni's wah-wah guitar suddenly sprawled over the proceedings. But McPhee was ever the adventurer and Oleo was a statement of sorts, signaling his reluctance to be pigeonholed into one area of the avant-garde. Oleo is followed with a suite dedicated to three Pablos -- Picasso, Casals, and Neruda -- and features bassist Francois Mechali in Spanish-tinged mode, providing a lovely arco lead-in for the ensemble. The entire piece is a thing of restrained beauty. Much of the remainder of the album also features McPhee coming face to face with "the tradition," either explicitly, as in his cover of Benny Golson's I Remember Clifford, or in the relatively straightforward thematic material of his own pieces. There's even the occasional injection of a trace of funk! Special mention should be made of reed player Andrew Jaume, a longtime associate of McPhee's, who is outstanding here, especially on tracks like the gorgeous Astral Spirits, a deep, touching paean to the Ayler brothers. Oleo was released on disc along with a solo recording of McPhee's under the title of Oleo & A Future Retrospective, Rovi

1		Oleo [Take]
2		Pablo
3		Future Retrospective
4		Astral Spirits
5		Oleo [Take]
6		I Remember Clifford
7		Ann Kahlé
8		When You Hear Music
9		After It's Over
10		It's Gone in the Air
11		You Can Never Capture It Again

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