Russ Johnson - Still Out to Lunch! (2014)

Eric Dolphy's recording Out To Lunch is a masterpiece. Late 20th Century jazz every listener serious about music - or just after a mind-opening experience - should hear. Johnson, alto saxophonist Roy Nathanson, pianist Myra Melford, bassist Brad Jones and drummer George Schuller here approach a 50-year-old classic with reverence but also with regard for an imperative Dolphy would have undoubtedly endorsed - that if they choose to play his music they should be themselves. The players here are not Dolphy, Freddie Hubbard, Bobby Hutcherson, Richard Davis and Tony Williams, nor should they be. We have Eric Dolphy to thank for creating this work and his troupe of 1964 for realizing it brilliantly. Now we thank Russ Johnson and band for reminding us that really magical mysteries remain potent forever and that new visionaries can always refresh the once and future avant-garde. The music they've made is sometimes weird, wholly unpredictable, familiar but different. It's Still Out To Lunch.