Elton Dean, Tony Bianco, Jon Wilkinson - Freebeat (Northern Lights) (2005)

Recording engineer: Jon Wilkinson
Produced for FMR by Trevor Taylor
CD design by Ewan Rigg
Liner notes: Tony Bianco
Elton Dean/Tony Bianco/Jon Wilkinson-Freebeat Really good, electric jazz album that is Tony's creation, but Elton is the main solistic voice and he sounds great here, in this electronic, post-Bitches Brew swirls of sound! There's no date as to when this was done, but if it's late period Elton, his declining health isn't noticeable on the playing! "The concept of Freebeat came through Tony Bianco’s realisation that time signatures are another way of phrasing. In Freebeat you will feel the pulse, it kind of feels like 4/4, but when you try to count you’ll find that you can’t count anything into it. It’s a combination of beats and phrasing, more like the way speaking occurs. Three of these pieces feature my bass parts looped (sometimes up to a hundred bars), then I play the drums to the bass track, afterwards adding keyboard chords, then Elton and Jon add their parts where I was able to open up the pieces into more of a free zone, while still feeling the pulse.. All tracks were first takes by all on board. The great work that both Elton Dean and Jon Wilkinson contributed is obvious. Straight and Free. Chaos and Order. Liberty and Responsibility combining for Freebeat." - Tony Bianco