The odds are slim that a better historical jazz release will surface this year than The Jimmy Giuffre 3 & 4 New York Concerts (Elemental Music), a mind-bending double CD collecting two previously unissued live performances by the reedist from 1965. The music dates from Giuffre’s lost decade, a period of time when almost no documentation of his playing exists. His fortunes took a tumble following the release of the brilliant 1963 album Free Fall (Columbia), a paradigm-shifting trio set made with pianist Paul Bley and bassist Steve Swallow that pushed the leader’s obsession with contrapuntal composition and improvisation to its apotheosis. The music was very much ahead of its time—drummerless, austere, and decidedly abstract—and the intervening years have shown how profound Giuffre’s ideas were; his brand of chamber jazz continues to endure in all sorts of contemporary projects. Ken Vandermark even named one of his groups—with pianist Håvard Wiik and bassist Ingebrit Håker Flaten—Free Fall; clarinetist James Falzone has referenced Giuffre’s music in his group Klang; and recently trumpeter Dave Douglas explored those chamber-like sounds in his new Riverside project.
Today’s playlist:
