TEST
Live/Test
Eremite
MTE021

Test is free jazz and free jazz is Test. You won't find any other recording that embodies this loosely defined musical style more than Live/Test. This doesn't mean that product of Tom Bruno, Daniel Carter, Matthew Heyner, and Sabir Mateen on this disc is greater or less predictable than anything ever heard before. There have been more radical recordings in the past and there will surely be even more in the future. But what this recording does due is impeccably utilize the kind of musical energy that only this music seems to be able to create.

Part of me wants to say, "if you have to ask, you wouldn't understand" and leave it at that. Such poetics are a disservice however, as this recording is the kind that can reach the novice ear. Consisting of one track lasting just over 54 minutes and another that clocks in at twelve and a half, these performances come Test's November 1998 tour. The opening and longer cut comes from a Baltimore show and opens with the band sounding like they are just messing around. There is no reason to think that what you hear for a couple of minutes is anything other than four musicians warming up before they get ready to play as a quartet. That will begin to change without a single cue from any podium. The four organize themselves to begin a path of improvisation that is sometimes quite tight and focused while appearing aimless at others. There are slow moments as well as onslaughts of fury coming from each member of Test and several points could be appropriate endings although the band charges on. The communication and interplay between Carter and Mateen on their miscellaneous horns deserves both mention and study. A particularly striking period is just after the 15 minute mark when, after a beautiful bass solo, the two horn players pay homage to the beyond legendary John Coltrane recording "A Love Supreme."

The second track is a snippet of the group's performance in Boston and starts out fare more aggressively. Carter and Mateen wail away on their saxophones while Bruno and Heyner deliver brutal patterns. The fury does not end and mid way through the track, the members of Test encourage the audience to get rowdy and start yelling "yeah" which they do. The communal nature of this music is thus reaffirmed. After a few more minutes of wild improvisation, the band stops playing and asks the audience "which way to New York?" Laughter and applause come from the audience and so ends Live/Test. If you have any interest at all in free jazz, this recording should be in your collection.

Micah Holmquist

Track Listing: 1. Baltimore 2; 2. Boston 2.

Personal: Tom Bruno, drums; Daniel Carter, flute, alto and tenor saxophones, trumpet; Matthew Heyner, bass; Sabir Mateen, clarinet, flute, alto and tenor saxophones.