Louis Moholo, Larry Stabbins, Keith Tippett - Tern (1984)

Tracklist

01. Tern (First Part)
02. Tern (Second Part)
03. ManiaDance
04. The Greatest Service

Originally released in 1983 on the tiny SAJ label (a subsidiary label of the cult fave European free-improv label FMP) but reissued by Atavistic as part of their Unheard Music Series in 2003, Tern is a live recording gathering pianist Keith Tippett, saxophonist Larry Stabbins (late of the jazz-influenced Young Marble Giants' spinoff Weekend and soon to form the long-running pop-jazz duo Working Week), and South African percussionist Louis Moholo, who doubles on cello at times. The album title refers both to a set of three, and to a small, pretty shore bird native to the U.K., and unlike many free improvisational performances, much of Tern actually falls under the general descriptor "small and pretty." All three players draw from a conventional jazz background as well as their more experimental excursions, and their interplay is largely free of the honk-blat-phwee, with only brief passages of the two-part title track edging towards cacophony. By contrast, the closing "The Greatest Service" is downright placid, a low-key end to an often-enchanting performance.

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