Emphasis & Flight, 1961 (Live)

This double-disc reissue by Hat packages together the two 1961 German dates by the Jimmy Giuffre 3 with Paul Bley and Steve Swallow. Emphasis and Flight were both issued separately by the label in the 1990s. This collection has been 24-bit digitally remastered and released in a limited edition of 3000. The most remarkable thing about these shows is how nakedly they reveal the improvisational fearlessness of Giuffre's drummerless trio. While he did compose some of the music for the group — namely the first three movements of "Stretching Out (Suite For Germany)" — its fourth movement, like so much else here, is freely improvised according to wildly sophisticated notions of dynamic tension and counterpoint. Having both recordings together is a delight: we can hear how the group worked on these two nights. Recorded on the Thesis tour, preceding the sessions for Free Fall by a few months, this is the sound of a trio in full possession of their power of discovery, and willing to walk the edge on every single track. The two sets mirror each other on about half the selections, with the hinge-piece of each being the suite. In true vanguard fashion, the tracks that are duplicated feel alike but sound nothing alike, and Paul Bley's "Carla," and Carla Bley's own "Jesus Maria" and "Postures" offer the trio the opportunity to stretch out on warm, idiosyncratic themes where harmony is striated and inverted to great result. Highly recommended.