McCaslin, Donny - Exile and Discovery
This interesting and enjoyable record opens with some of McCaslin's trademark honks and weaving, inverted lines. He is clearly a player grounded in the tradition but also very willing to push forwards in new directions. The slightly elongated solo breaks in Along Came Betty are very effective and McCaslin treats the head with a very sensual but masculine sense of phrasing. The title track is an exciting and wild adventure and it seems unusual that this wasn't placed as the opening number. The piano pushes as hard as the drums with bass driving away underneath. The whole band has a drive that keeps going throughout the track, even when the feel alters slightly. The blues which McCaslin plays here is strained, vociferous and complicated all at once. Double time kicks the track into another gear with pizzazz and satisfying energy. Piano drops out before a lively head and drum solo. The Piazolla tangos are a mistake in my (classical saxophonist) view but the rest of the record is exquisite if a little safer than McCaslin's later playing.