Ghosts of the Sun

Personnel: Bill McHenry (tenor saxophone); Ben Monder (guitar); Paul Motian (drums).
Audio Mixer: Peter Rende.
Recording information: Avatar Studio B, New York City (12/20/2006/12/21/2006).
Avant-garde jazz tenor saxophonist Bill McHenry turns in a fairly typical set here in recordings made five years before their release in 2011, working with longtime compatriots Ben Monder (guitar), Reid Anderson (bass), and Paul Motian (drums). McHenry is a free jazz player in the mold of Ornette Coleman, although his approach is calmer and less abrasive. Nevertheless, the quartet states its free bona fides up-front on the slow eight and half minutes of "Ms. Polley," as Motian makes his drums stumble through beats, while Anderson goes off on unrelated rhythmic runs and nominal soloists McHenry and Monder play bursts of notes connected neither to each other nor to any linear progression. "La Fuerza" is, if anything, even freer, but on "Anti Heroes," the group pulls back into a more deliberately cohesive unit as McHenry plays a recognizable melody with variations. The alternation between free playing and more organized arrangements continues throughout the disc, with, for instance, the brief "Little One" being another melodic, almost pop-oriented piece and "Lost Song," ironically given its title, a cooperative, if slow performance. In keeping with the title Ghosts of the Sun, McHenry and his associates seem determined to suggest possibilities of order without actually submitting to the strictures of order for very long. ~ William Ruhlmann