Marion Brown

Featuring: Rashied Ali, Stanley Cowell

1990 release (light wear) ** The second ESP-Disk' statement, 1966: Marion Brown with a killing band including Stanley Cowell at the piano, deepening everything the debut promised. The writing is stronger, the group interplay more spacious, and Brown's alto - that singing, speech-like sound, closer to a voice than almost any horn of the era - moves through the material with total assurance, balancing fire and lyricism phrase by phrase. The mid-sixties ESP sessions caught a whole generation at the exact moment of self-discovery, documented raw and trusted completely; Why Not? is among the most purely musical of all of them, free jazz you could play for a skeptic without apology and watch the skepticism dissolve in real time. Cowell's presence adds harmonic depth that points toward both players' rich futures. CD edition on ESP-Disk'. Brown remains underrated by the general narrative and treasured by everyone who actually listens - join the second group, it has better records.