The Byard Lancaster Unit - "Live at Macalester College"

The Byard Lancaster Unit - "Last Summer" (Porter 2008, originally Dogtown 1972)

The Byard Lancaster Unit – Live at Macalester College / Porter

Luke Mosling's upstart label Porter Records was one of our luckiest stumble-upons in 2007. His 1500 series provided my personal favorite reissue of the year: Birigwa's self-titled debut, recorded in 1972 for the tiny Boston imprint Seeds. The then 23-year-old Ugandan, joined by a tight class of New England jazz and funk musicians including Stark Reality's Phil Morrison, created a folksy brand of Afro-jazz that I still have trouble succinctly classifying. Think a less wacky Gilberto Gil with a central African upbringing. But this apparently was just the beginning. Mosling released just three discs in 2007, he already has eleven release dates secured so far for 2008 and another eleven on deck. And what's even more impressive is the stylistic range of the upcoming releases, which includes heavy free-jazz, outside European jazz, contemporary avant-garde composing, Southeast Asian folk and gamelan, and apparently even a little experimental electronic music from Mosling himself. But we'll cross those paths when we get to them, the matter at hand now is Porter 1502: The Byard Lancaster Unit's Live at Macalester College.

Byard Lancaster is not a household name. Despite his lengthy and diverse career – beginning at the age of four in 1946 and continuing to this day as a teacher in Kingston, Jamaica – I wouldn't even venture to say he is a relatively well-known avant-garde jazz name. The proud Philadelphian did run with a well respected group of second wave free jazz musicians in the late 60s/early 70s though, and his contribution to that era and sound is known to the people who care the most. Along with Sonny Sharrok, Dave Burrell and Eric Gravatt, Lancaster one of "John's Children," a generation of African-American "new jazz" players that followed John Coltrane's ideals and music with a spiritual reverence. Even in the recently written liner notes to this reissue does Lancaster refer to Coltrane with religious respect:

"In the Bible, John Coltrane is Moses. His vision demanded that we turn away from traditional, European classical standards – noise, feelings, duration, instrumentation, limited conversation and brotherly cementing. Instead, turn towards, world-wide attention, daily improvement, constant documentation and the blessing of our future generation. Sharing the vibe was his key to monumental success. Saint John!"

And the homage to the great tenor saxophonist reaches past just ideals, Lancaster's horn playing is as equally influenced. Listen to the marathon soprano saxophone soloing on "1324," Lancaster's soulful, sprinting riffs evoke the same bluesy undertones as Coltrane. His variation on phrasing definitely follow suit as he switches from driving statements of effortless scale-gliding to swinging melodic improvisations and eruptions of atonal assertions. And that's ignoring the impressive fact that he plays four or five different horns during the epic opener.

Coltrane was not Lancaster's only influence though. After studying at the Berklee School of Music, he moved to New York with Burrell and established a loft space for all-night jam sessions that attracted the likes of Archie Shepp, Elvin Jones, Bill Dixon and Rashied Ali among many others. A few years later he found himself in Paris studying under the heavily influential avant-garde drummer Sunny Murray and was featured on 1966's Sunny Murray Quintet on ESP. As the 70s approached, Lancaster became an in demand horn player – being requested by Sun Ra and McCoy Tyner as just two examples – with a style not unlike John Gilmore or Phil Cohran.

This is the point when Live at Macalester College was captured, though the title is a bit misleading. The first four tracks come from the original live album released on Lancaster's own Dogtown Records in 1972 and – according to the liner notes – is supposedly Philadelphia's first avant-garde album. Three of the four tracks were recorded live at St. Paul, MN's Macalester College in 1971, the aforementioned "1324" is from a date in Boston in 1970.

Unlike the brazen opening number, the other three tracks are rather subdued in comparison until the final moments of "Live at Macalester." "Last Summer" – taken from Lancaster's 1966 release It's Not Up To Us – is especially enchanting with its somber, reflective tone conjured by Jerome Hunters bowed stand-up bass and Sid Simmon's patient piano arpeggios echoing the melody of Hammerstein and Rodgers' "My Favorite Things." Lancaster's unconventional and playful improvisations on flute sound like a midpoint between Rahsaan Roland Kirk and Pharaoh Sanders. "War World" rides J.R. Mitchell's continuously driving and inventive drum work. Like Murray, Mitchell doesn't as much provide a beat or rhythm for the soloist to improvise over, but creates a dialogue between the two performers. "Live at Macalester" swings heartily with a good natured, soul-inspired groove before dismantling into atonal saxophone squawks from an agitated Lancaster.

The two bonus tracks included are from a Boston concert in 1973 by the J.R. Mitchell Experimental Unit featuring Lancaster on alto sax. Incorporated much more in these pieces are electric instruments including inventive work by an uncredited guitar player. "World in Me" is stark, unforgiving free jazz while "Thought" swings in and out of a discernable groove. Both are pretty good indications of their time with comparisons that could be made to the AACM, Sun Ra or Ornette Coleman's work during this period.

Live at Macalester College is substantially more far-reaching than Porter Records' previous reissues, but no less rewarding. For those piecing together the puzzle of jazz evolution in the 60s and 70s, this is a must listen with intriguing sonic nuggets at every turn. Lancaster – as well as Mitchell – are sorely overlooked musicians from that era outside of exceedingly knowledgeable circles, but probably not for too much longer as Mosling has four more releases from him on deck to be reissued. Porter Records surprised us in 2007, and with this strong 2008 debut, we're hip to the potential quality of each of their concurrent releases. Let's see if they can keep our oh-so-fickle attention.