Colours Fulfilled

Mujician's fourth CD represents their first studio date without a live audience. Perhaps as a result of the studio environment, the dynamics range is perhaps a little more moderate on this release, without quite as many of the dramatic shifts in intensity which characterized previous efforts like Birdman and Poem About the Hero. For the most part, this is a high-energy date, with group members going full tilt on large portions of the four tracks and drummer Tony Levin getting a chance to really strut his stuff as he lays down a constant polyrhythmic barrage worthy of Elvin Jones at his most volatile. Reed player Paul Dunmall introduces a new (old) instrument on several tracks — bagpipes. He doesn't really solo on them, but he uses them to create a highly effective blanket of instrumental color and texture. Elsewhere, Dunmall is consistently and typically impassioned on soprano and tenor saxes and occasional clarinet. He's a musician who can wail convincingly without abandoning his intellect. "Part 3" revisits the energy music of the late Coltrane quartet, and yet maintains the unique Mujician personality, with a sensibility that is somewhat more playful, and less reverent, than Coltrane's. Keyboard artist Keith Tippett plays piano strings on "Part 4" behind Dunmall's bagpipes, suggesting a skewed world music orientation which perhaps represents new possibilities for Mujician. As usual, group members are almost prescient in their knowledge of each other's moves, and even though very little on this date is scripted, there is always an impression of common purpose. Simply put, this is spontaneous, interactive jazz at its best.