Gerry Hemingway Quintet - The Marmalade King (1995)

Because he uses space so effectively, Gerry Hemingway was the perfect drummer for Anthony Braxton. Like Braxton, Roscoe Mitchell, and other Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) explorers, Hemingway isn't the type of avant-garde player who wants to be blistering 100% of the time -- far from it. The Marmalade King has its moments of intensity, but like so much of the music that has come from AACM and AACM-minded artists, this CD favors outside playing that is oddly reflective more often than it is forceful. Space is the key, and Hemingway uses it to his creative advantage throughout The Marmalade King, which he describes as "a suite of five works that are organized like chapters of a fanciful children's tale." That's an accurate description, for in its own eccentric, abstract, left-of-center way, The Marmalade King does feel like the avant-garde jazz equivalent of a children's tale. If Albert Ayler could bring to mind a marching band and Henry Threadgill can be influenced by circus music, there's no reason why one cannot draw parallels between The Marmalade King and children's tales. Joined in the Netherlands by alto saxophonist/clarinetist Michael Moore, trombonist Wolter Wierbos, cellist Ernst Reijseger, and bassist Mark Dresser, Hemingway has no problem keeping our attention on this intriguing Swiss release.