Walt Dickerson - Life Rays (Soul Note, 1982)

 This post is by Dan

Walt Dickerson (vib); Sirone (b); Andrew Cyrille (d)

Recorded February 4 and 5, 1982

Walt Dickerson's music is unusual and defies expectations one might have of a vibes-led trio. Comparisons with players like Milt Jackson, Cal Tjader, Gary Burton, Bobby Hutcherson, and Joe Locke seem inappropriate because Dickerson's approach to the instrument is totally different. He plays intricate patterns rapidly at low volume, punctuated by swelling, sustained vibratos that the vibes are designed to create. The result is music of great beauty and sensitivity that unfolds gracefully over lengthy and unhurried spans that may last an entire side of an LP. His compositions seem like improvisations because it's hard to tell when an improvised variation on a theme begins or ends. 

His approach to the metal bars is mostly soft but very precise, and it's hard to imagine the dexterity required to play so rapidly without missing bars. The photo below shows Dickerson holding a short pair of small-headed mallets halfway down the shank, a technique very different from that used by vibists who use four mallets to play chords over the whole range of bars.  

DIckerson's recorded output began in 1961 when he was 30 years old. A series of four quartet albums on Prestige's New Jazz label were well received, especially To My Queen, which featured Andrew Hill on piano. But Dickerson moved away from piano quartets in the 1970s, which helped him to refine his musical signature and style. He tends towards small groups -- trios and duets -- and solo performances. Two great duet albums recorded in 1977 with bassist Richard Davis were released on SteepleChase as Divine Gemini and Tenderness. The solo Shades of Love (SteepleChase, 1978) exposes all of his formidable technique across three long pieces. 

Life Rays is typical of Dickerson's approach to trio music, and his supporting cast here is superb. Drummer Andrew Cyrille is well suited to this type of outing, and bassist Sirone fits right in. In addition to three originals, the trio extends George Gershwin's "It Ain't Necessarily So" beyond 18 minutes (to my knowledge a feat only surpassed by Herbie Mann's Village Gate version of the song some 20 years earlier). Because Gershwin's music is so familiar in the jazz world, this performance gives the keenest insight into the trio's alchemy. Vibes briefly state the familiar theme accompanied by a walking bass that continues until Cyrille disrupts the beat and prompts Dickerson into an unaccompanied solo that seems like a long coda. But it's not. The bass returns for a free solo before the trio returns to take the tune out with Cyrille actually keeping time! The theme appears now and then throughout the vibes and bass solos, while avoiding harmony and ignoring tempo. The aural image is one of a mobile of suspended song fragments. Throughout, all three players demonstrate uncanny responses to each other. The whole album is both enjoyable to hear and fascinating to study. 

I like all of Walt Dickerson's recorded music, but for me Life Rays is the best portrait of a mature artist who knows how to achieve the exact results he wants.