Misha Mengelberg - Change of Season: Music of Herbie Nichols (Soul Note, 1985)

 This post is by Dan

Misha Mengelberg (p); George E. Lewis (tb); Steve Lacy (ss); Arjen Gorter (b); Han Bennink (d)

Recorded July 2 and 3, 1984

Two years before the recording date for Change of Season, Misha Mengelberg participated in the session for Roswell Rudd's Regeneration, the subject of one of my earlier posts. Regeneration is a tribute to both Thelonious Monk and Herbie Nichols. Change of Season focuses exclusively on Nichols' compositions.

Nichols is often considered a neglected artist in the annals of jazz. Yet, tributes and reissues continue to this day. For instance, Blue Note's Classic Vinyl reissue series recently released The Prophetic Herbie Nichols, Vols 1 and 2, originally released as 10" LPs in 1955. Artists like Geri Allen often played Nichols tunes, and Rudd devoted two complete albums to his music: The Unheard Herbie Nichols, Vols. 1 & 2 (CIMP, 1997). Nichols himself died in 1963, long before his rediscovery. 

In the hands of Mengelberg and his bandmates, Nichols' music takes on dimensions that the composer probably would have loved. The translation from piano trio to quintet expands the music and makes it sound mature and modern, 30 years after it was written. Steve Lacy and George Lewis are masters of the loose ensemble style, and Han Bennink is always ready to disrupt any potential complacency. Mengelberg himself plays with an unexpected delicacy, as if to accentuate the compositions rather than his own improvisations. All five artists are named on the album cover, suggesting that this is truly a group album, with no one hogging the spotlight. 

The music of Herbie Nichols is the proper centerpiece of this wonderful record. Highly recommended!