Violinist
India Cooke has long been a major improviser living in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her playing can be quite free and avant-garde, but she also loves to caress a strong melody. On her debut recording as a leader, she leads a group full of all-stars that consists of trombonist
George Lewis, tenor and sopranino saxophonist
Larry Ochs (from
Rova), bassist
Lisle Ellis, drummer
Donald Robinson, and percussionist Lee through six of her compositions. Actually, the music is almost continuous and the individual pieces are much less significant than the music on a whole, just as the individual soloists are less important than the constantly stimulating interplay in the ensembles. The music is challenging but ultimately logical, with
Ochs in particular adding fire to the performances while
Cooke's playing is consistently impressive. An excellent outing. ~ Scott Yanow