More Is More

Album Review

This is an odd and sometimes self-indulgent live performance. The opening, "Setting Up," consists of the band talking for a few seconds while it gets ready. The closing, "Silence," is one minute of complete silence; what was the purpose of including it on this CD? Also a bit of a frivolity is the three-part "Dave's Car," which is a tribute of sorts to a dead car, narrated by Dave Allen. The other selections have the group playing either free bop in a style not too distant from that of the Ornette Coleman Quartet or jamming over vamps or blues changes. Trumpeter Steve Huffsteter and tenor saxophonist Andy Suzuki both take several excellent solos and bassist Dean Taba is fine in support, although one wonders why this group needed two drummers. The instrumental music is fine but the "extras" are quite unnecessary and lower the quality of the program.