This post is by Scott
Recorded on January 13 & 20, 1982
Like Clark Terry, Miles Davis, and Lester Bowie, trumpeter Baikida Carroll grew up in St. Louis, Missouri. After serving in the Army, he returned to his hometown and became involved in the Black Artists Group of St. Louis (BAG), a multidisciplinary arts collective comparable to the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) in Chicago. Through BAG, Carroll met many of the musicians with whom he has worked throughout his career. Along with Oliver Lake, Joseph Bowie, John Hicks, and others, perhaps Carroll's most notable association was with Julius Hemphill, who appears on the record at hand, Shadows and Reflections. Carroll also appeared on Hemphill's early masterpiece Dogon A.D. (Mbari/Freedom/International Phonograph, 1972).
Carroll has recorded extensively as a sideman. I first became aware of him through his outstanding work with David Murray's big band and octet. But Carroll's discography as a leader is quite small. Shadows and Reflections was the only album released under his name during the 1980s.
Despite his low profile, Carroll's albums as a leader are consistently excellent. I suppose it's not surprising that Shadows and Reflections is such a thrilling record, given the participants involved. This band could go anywhere and do anything. Rather than taking the music way out, the music is balanced between the avant-garde and the tradition. One reviewer compared the ensemble's sound to a classic Blue Note recording, saying their "squirrelly free bop" is reminiscent of "the Jackie McLean-Charles Tolliver front line of the 1960s."
If you're unfamiliar with Carroll, and that in-and-out sound appeals to you, I would encourage you to investigate his work further as well. Released twenty years after the record at hand, Marionettes on a High Wire (OmniTone, 2001) is another Baikida Carroll album that I would recommend without reservation.
Squirrelly free bop? Personally, I would not consider McLean/Tolliver to be squirrelly, and they don't sound much like Carroll/Hemphill to me. To me, Shadows and Reflections is unique due to the extraordinary musicians involved in the recording date. I hear a lot of the action coming from Holland and Hemphill, who played together at Joyous Lake as part of a 7-CD box set: THE BOYÉ MULTI-NATIONAL CRUSADE FOR HARMONY.
ReplyDeleteFYI: here is the full review published on the All Music website.
Shadows and Reflections Review by Bob Rusch
Trumpeter Baikida Carroll was once again in the company of alto saxophonist Julius Hemphill for a January 1982 recording with pianist Anthony Davis, bassist Dave Holland, and drummer Pheeroan Ak Laff for Soul Note called Shadows & Reflections. The material here sounded like it could have been a late Blue Note recording; in fact, there were times when the horns brought back flashbacks of the Jackie McLean-Charles Tolliver front line of the '60s. And for all their avant-garde credentials, this group sounded very comfortable and at home with the squirrelly free bop displayed here.