Inside Chicago Vol. 1

A very loose live date recorded at Chicago's Jazz Showcase in 1995, featuring only four tunes, two of which ("Speak Low" and "Straight No Chaser") exceed 20 minutes in length. Sharing the spotlight are local tenor hero Von Freeman and one of his mentors, trumpeter Brad Goode; they're joined by pianist Joan Hickey, bassist Sherman Davis, and drummer Michael Raynor. The recording quality isn't top-notch by any means, and the final track — Wayne Shorter's "Footprints" — ends after six minutes only because the tape ran out. A determination was made to release the truncated performance, on the logic that Von Freeman's playing ought to be heard rather than not. His urgent choruses on this cut are indeed worth hearing, as are his unaccompanied passages on the ballad "You've Changed." ~ David R. Adler, Rovi