Braxton is one of the few musicians to have bothered to build on the achievements of the Tristano school. And, although he has paid as much attention to the later work of Coltrane and Dolphy, his music has always been among the most accessible of contemporary sounds. But this session is particularly accessible, exploring familiar territory, much of it freshly and invigoratingly. His links with Lee Konitz in particular are most clearly defined on the wispy My Funny Valentine. The other standards – a sharply-etched What’s New?, and the tumbling Body And Soul – blossom more boldly. The improvisations fly along passionately, sewing sharply contrasted rhythmic and melodic contours together with intoxicating confidence.
The other cuts are less successful. Miles Davis’s 1947 line, Half Nelson, is incomplete, entering in the middle of a freewheeling extemporisation. Donna Lee – another 1947 composition (but by Parker) – finds Braxton humping the heavy plumbing. But he explores only the depths of the instrument, producing a sound like an angry bee trapped in a galvanised drainpipe. This muttering, mumbling monotone renders the performance shapeless. One constant, running throughout the album like a vein of gold, is the work of the rhythm trio, Pedersen particularly probing propulsively and breathing vigour into every bar.
This music confirms Braxton’s talent for striking a fine balance between the purely experimental and the more conventional. All titles, incidentally, are first takes, and complete the session begun by Volume One (SCS-1015).
Discography
(a) What’s New?; (c) Duet; (a) Body And Soul (24 rnin) – (b) Donna Lee; (a) My Funny Valentine; (a) Half Nelson (19 rnin)
(a) Braxton (alt); Tete Montoliu (pno); Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen (bs); Albert Heath (dm). Copenhagen, 29/5/74.
(b) same. Braxton plays contrabass-clt.
(c) Braxton (contrabass-clt); Pedersen (bs). same date.
(SteepleChase SCS 1045 £3.75)
