Echo In Blue - Music

A Powerful And Vastly Underrated Avant-Garde Alto Saxophonist Jemeel Moondoc Blended The Free-Form Melodic Thought Of Ornette Coleman And The Sharp Edge Of Jackie McLean Or Charles Tyler With The Sort Of Ferocious "energy Playing" Usually Reserved For Tenorists. Moondoc Began Playing Piano As A Child Studied Clarinet And Flute And Settled On Alto Around Age 16 He Subsequently Studied With Cecil Taylor At Various Colleges In The Early '70s. In 1972 He Moved To New York Where He Formed Ensemble Muntu With Trumpeter Roy Campbell Bassist William Parker And Drummer Rashid Baker. The Group Recorded For Its Own Muntu Label In The Late '70s And Moondoc Also Led Solo Sessions For Labels Like Soul Note And Cadence Through The Early '80s. However Financial Difficulties Forced Moondoc To Break Up His Large Ensemble The Jus Grew Orchestra And Essentially Retire From Music For Over A Decade Working As An Architect's Assistant. Moondoc's Career Was Revived In The Mid-'90s When The Eremite Label Coaxed Him Into Signing A Deal That Allowed Tremendous Creative Leeway. In 1996 Moondoc Recorded His First Albums In 11 Years The Studio Trio Date Tri-P-Let And The Live Fire In The Valley Performed At The Festival Of The Same Name . 1998 Brought New World Pygmies A Duo With William Parker From That Year's Fire In The Valley. Next Moondoc Revived His Jus Grew Orchestra As A Ten-Piece And Performed A Set Of Massachusetts Concerts Documented On 2001's Spirit House. Also Released That Year Was Revolt Of The Negro Lawn Jockeys A Quintet Performance From The 2000 Vision Festival That Was Acclaimed As Perhaps His Finest Album To Date And Whose Instrumentation Evoked Eric Dolphy's Out To Lunch. read less