We Don’t / We Don't

Not released until more than 20 years after it was recorded, this major find should not be missed. The sound quality of this studio release is surprisingly good, but more importantly Jemeel Moondoc and Denis Charles are in outstanding form, with the saxophonist wailing passionately for the length of the album and the drummer egging him on with characteristic panache. While the total time is too short, especially for a CD, each of the four cuts exhibits the sort of stimulating, hardcore blowing that listeners have come to expect from Moondoc. The uncanny similarity in sound to early Ornette Coleman is unmistakable, yet Moondoc, of course, is no clone. Yet he has the same cry imbedded in his voice, a prayerful yearning, a call from the inner depths of being that strikes an emotional chord. Not many horn players could play for 40-plus minutes with only a drummer and keep the listener enthralled the way Moondoc does, a tribute to him and to the exquisite drumming of Charles. Although each of the tunes hovers around the ten-minute mark, there is not a moment of diminished joy, as the power and forcefulness of the moment infuses every note. Some of the best work of each of these artists can be found here, marking this recording as an important discovery and a fine example of free jazz at the highest levels.