Superb album by a highly underrated player.
Blinding effort by Louisiana-born tenor man Fred Anderson recorded in 1979 and released in 1984 on the Nessa label. This quartet plays a mix of spiritual/avant garde with afto-cuban flavors, due to the percussion elements, and everything’s expertly led by Anderson, who I hadn’t heard of until a person on a YouTube video said it was one of the best jazz albums he had heard or something. I immediately looked it up, but it was nowhere to be found on Spotify or anywhere else, except for a one minute clip of a needle drop on a record store’s home page. That one minute was enough for me to be quite intrigued and I remember seeing this title posted a while back for sale on Instagram. I rushed to secure it and now I’m listening to it as I write, having received it this afternoon. What an absolute treat this album is.
Fred Anderson plays brilliant, with a wonderful big tone. It’s never screeching or abrasive, instead a beautiful timbre is created. He explores different textures and moods on his instrument, with a searching and explorative multifaceted panache. He is being backed by a rhythmically very interesting band. That band consists of Larry Hayrod on double bass, Hamid Hank Drake on drums and Adam Rudolph on percussion. I love this piano-less group, where the sounds and moods feel very organic and reveals the core of the music, which ultimately becomes more sensitive and exposed. And with the lovely percussion element the music takes on a very interesting style, where afro-cuban elements meets the spiritual/avant-garde. Quite special.
Favorite tune, without a doubt, is the 17 minute long ”The Bull”, where Anderson’s mastery is on full display.
The sound of this pressing is top notch. Never heard a Nessa title before. All in all this album is definitely one of my favorite discoveries of the year and it has already become a clear favorite in my collection. Seek this out, it’s fantastic.
