Freebop Now! is designed both as a manifesto for
Malachi Thompson's aesthetic principles and a 20th anniversary celebration of his
Freebop Band concept. But it's a rather disjointed disc jamming together two sextet sessions with different goals, one commemorating a 1998 trip to play in Senegal featuring
Billy Harper as
Thompson's front-line foil, and the second centered around a science-fiction short story by
Thompson with
Oliver Lake replacing
Harper. But "Cancerian Moon" is a 1993 track featuring
Thompson's old
Carter Jefferson/
Joe Ford sax tandem that only muddies the waters even more.
Wayne Shorter's "Black Nile" is a solid opener, while
Mae Koen's voice joins the horns to give "Flight to Senegal" a Brazilian tinge à la
Flora Purim as
Harper turns in a blazing tenor solo. The title track features vocal scatting and strong solos from
Steve Berry on trombone and
Harper over
James Cammack's free-ranging bass foundation.
Thompson's trumpet solo explores "'Round Midnight" using a spare,
Monk-like approach to the melody over
Cammack's anchor, and while "Just a Look" and "Cancerian Moon" are well-crafted and delivered pieces, they're also nothing particularly special. But the sci-fi pieces with
Lake are spottier and much less cohesive. "Jammin' at the Point" is ruled by a loping Caribbean-flavored groove fueled by
Hamid Drake's percussion, while "Worm Hole" leans to the free side of freebop with drummer
Dana Hall ripping underneath the horn harmonies. But the brief "Ancient African Horns" sounds like mouthpiece solos, "Black Hole" incorporates a spoken word reflection on black-on-black youth violence, and "Heathens and Space/Time Projection" is built around recitations by
Amiri Baraka and Larry Smith. The final four tracks are pretty scattered, and while that doesn't derail
Freebop Now!, it's not the strongest disc in
Thompson's consistently interesting catalog. And some of his liner note rhetoric here makes you wonder if
Thompson should attach so much conceptual baggage to what is the essential quest for any jazz musician -- a commitment to creating inventive music without being limited to prior models.