Rova - Saxophone Diplomacy (1985)

The Rova Saxophone Quartet's 1983 tour of three countries behind the then still very erect Iron Curtain was indeed historic. The Eastern Europeans and the Californians had been exchanging not only music but literature (Larry Ochs' wife is poet, teacher, and publisher Lyn Hejinian). The sounds Rova was making at this time in its history -- Bruce Ackley was still a member -- connected deeply with the Eastern Europeans who were still soaking up Albert Ayler, Ornette, Cecil Taylor, and Coltrane. Rova was also in the stage of defining itself as an entity, creating the first of its long structured group improvisations for performance and recording. The result of the tour, as listeners get it here, is nothing less than awe-inspiring. From the near gospel call and response of Jon Raskin's "Flamingo Horizons," which becomes nearly hypnotic in its repetitive rhythmic structure, to Ochs' harmonic experiments in modalism in "Paint Another Take of the Shootpop," to his arrangement of vanguard jazz great Steve Lacy's "The Throes," all members were playing with an intensity and verve that could only come from being not only rehearsed, but nurtured by an audience. And they were. The applause sounds that come through are only rivaled by those that Moscow's Ganelin Trio received in its homeland. As an introduction to Rova, this is an excellent venture. As a recording that pinpoints the moment when the quartet's early, loose-operation freestyle improvising ended and real compositional pieces for group improvisation began, this is also where to begin. Indeed, were it not for Saxophone Diplomacy, Rova's classic "The Crowd" may never have been written, and the original Ganelin Trio may never have come to America. A very important record.