CD Reviews

Trio Beyond

Saudades | ECM

By ADAM J. GOLD | June 13, 2006

3.5 Stars

SAUDADES: a perfect title

The Portuguese name of this two-disc live concert recorded in London in 2004 and dedicated to the music of former Miles Davis drummer and jazz pioneer Tony Williams means feelings for something — or someone — you’ve loved and lost and probably won’t get back, and it’s a perfect title. Guitarist John Scofield, organist/electric-keyboard man Larry Goldings, and drummer Jack DeJohnette pay tribute to Williams’s ’60s Miles-era work on “Seven Steps to Heaven” and “Pee Wee,” but more often they conjure the harder-edged electric sound of Lifetime, a progressive trio Williams later formed with organist Larry Young and guitarist John McLaughlin. DeJohnette’s propulsive, syncopated drumming morphs from straight-ahead swing to rock and funk fusion as Goldings and Scofield circle and dodge each other’s rhythmic and harmonic patterns. Original jams round out the disc, and if Coltrane’s “Big Nick” doesn’t project the same velocity and fury here as the Lifetime version, it has its own poise.