Evan Parker, John Russell, John Edwards, Mark Sanders - London Air Lift (1997)

Recorded in 1996, London Air Lift features a quartet consisting of the ubiquitous Evan Parker, veteran acoustic guitar improviser John Russell, and two relative youngsters of the bunch in drummer Mark Sanders and bassist John Edwards. The members of this quartet have all played together in one form or another before, but until this recording they had never played as a group. There were no rehearsals; naturally, it is simply a show-and-blow date. Each member here was either directly or at best one degree removed from the group improvisation ideas put forth by John Stevens. Parker, who played with Stevens in those heady early days in the '60s, helped to create those foundations, and here with his cohorts extrapolates them. The album title is somewhat ironic. This is the reverse of the Berlin Air Lift in 1948: the Brits rely on a German label to release this date. Of the eight pieces here, four of them begin with unaccompanied solos by a group member. On the opener, "Fly Vision," it's Parker; on "Mayday," it's Sanders; Edwards is on the title cut; and Russell solos on "Half and Half." These four tracks are important in that they are distinct updates of Stevens' thoughts on group improvisation. He believed that the ensemble should always function as a whole, apart from individual soloing, and that all music should be spontaneous and without pre-arrangement. The only "pre-arrangement" on these sides is on the four tracks where an individual solos. Everything else is wide open, free, put down exactly as it was recorded, and wonderfully airy and energetic. There is a sense of communication here that is both intimate and extroverted in that humor, gentility, and interplay become not so much projective occurrences but more interpolative. Parker is unequivocally the "leader" here in that his instincts are so quick, so utterly refined, that he cannot help but direct most of these group proceedings simply by the volumes of ideas he puts forth -- even when he is reacting. The bass playing of Edwards is also quite remarkable. The instrument is not used rhythmically as much as tonally and texturally. It stutters, pops, hovers (as in the bowed solo in the title cut), floats, and inverts dynamic structures. His playing is not as an accompanist, but as a creator of platforms and ledges. London Air Lift is a brilliant example of British free improv done by a group; there is much excitement, and plenty of fireworks, but at no time is the music here inaccessible or overtly confrontational. Instead, it almost literally invites the listener into a series of deft, engaging conversations. - Thom Jurek, AMG