Tern

Originally released in 1983 on the tiny SAJ label (a subsidiary label of the cult fave European free-improv label FMP) but reissued by Atavistic as part of their Unheard Music Series in 2003, Tern is a live recording gathering pianist Keith Tippett, saxophonist Larry Stabbins (late of the jazz-influenced Young Marble Giants' spinoff Weekend and soon to form the long-running pop-jazz duo Working Week), and South African percussionist Louis Moholo, who doubles on cello at times. The album title refers both to a set of three, and to a small, pretty shore bird native to the U.K., and unlike many free improvisational performances, much of Tern actually falls under the general descriptor "small and pretty." All three players draw from a conventional jazz background as well as their more experimental excursions, and their interplay is largely free of the honk-blat-phwee, with only brief passages of the two-part title track edging towards cacophony. By contrast, the closing "The Greatest Service" is downright placid, a low-key end to an often-enchanting performance.