Test

NYC free jazz cooperative TEST was literally an underground favorite -- as part of the Music Under New York program in the 1990s, TEST was out on the street and subway platforms year-round, playing long-form unadulterated free jazz with an energy and creativity rarely encountered. Even on a scene known for strong personalities, these guys were renegade cats. Eremite heard and recorded TEST many, many times over a ten-year period; Always Coming from the Love Side, a two-CD set from TEST's 1999 US tour captured live by Malachi Ritscher at Fred Anderson's Velvet Lounge just weeks before Y2K (on November 13, to be exact), is right up there among the band's strongest and most memorable performances. The cover photo, for those who don't recognize it, is of the Velvet Lounge's legendary wallpaper. Other images include a portrait of Fred Anderson in front of the club (shot November 2005 by Peter Brötzmann just months before the building was destroyed by the city of Chicago to build a parking garage) and Tony Getsug's photos of TEST tearing up the bandstand there, as well as art and photography by Joshua Abrams and TEST bassist Matthew Heyner. Tom Bruno, drums; Daniel Carter, winds; Matthew Heyner, bass; Sabir Mateen, winds. Edition of 550 copies. Presented in a tri-fold Stoughton sleeve.