I could have picked nearly any moment in the past decade or so to celebrate the power and beauty of drummer Andrew Cyrille’s music and his presence on the New York scene. Cyrille is simply that important and prolific, even now at 76. (I certainly should have in 2011, when he released the wonderful album “Route de Freres” with his Haitian Fascination band.
In my Wall Street Journal piece today, I review two new CDs bearing Cyrille’s name: “The Declaration of Musical Independence” (ECM), with Cyrille leading a quartet including guitarist Bill Frisell, bassist Ben Street and Richard Teitelbaum on synthesizer and piano; and “Proximity” (Sunnyside), which extends his catalog of duets, alongside tenor saxophonist Bill McHenry.
As I say in the review: Continue reading “Andrew Cyrille Declares His Independence (Once Again, and Twice…)”
Larry Blumenfeld on jazz and other things