"RUMOURS OF AN INCIDENT"
Elton Dean Quartet + Roswell Rudd Dean saxes, Rudd trombone, Alex Maguire piano; Marcio Mattos double bass; Mark Sanders drums.
Recorded at The Vortex Jazz Bar London 26 Oct. 1996 SLAMCD 223
Bar Code 5 028386 022329
TRACKS
1 The incident 41m 15s
2 Goosebumps 16 23
"Take Bladik, remove the extra sax, add a swinging rhythm section and you get this surprising disc. It's jazzier than Bladik and the musicians back off a little more for soloing purposes (more traditional jazz structure but still free). While it took me while to get into Bladik (and I'm not knocking that disc—I love it), Rumours was an instant success with me. Other details: It's a live set, recorded 26th October 1996 at the Vortex in London. It's the complete first set and the last part of the second. It was recorded just before Bladik (the previous day? I don't have the other disc in front of me), which was done in a studio. Conclusion: Buy It!" Beyond Coltrane 2002 by Fred Barrett
Hi-Fi News & Record Review Elton Dean, famous for this sax work and Bluesology, Soft Machine and Brotherhood of Breath; here he drives his unsentimental, hard sound into the intereactive matrix of some of Britain's best players. Pianist Alex Maguire contributes township-sure rhythms and well as out flights: he and drummer Mark Sanders provide incredibly firm-yet-fine rhythmic scaffolding. On bass, Marcio Mattos is sinuous and exotic. Guest Roswell Rudd made his name with Archie Shepp: his trombone forays provide strikingly sympathetic parallels to Dean's figures. Both Dean and Rudd are rooted in 1960s blues and freedom, and this provides fertile common ground. Ben Watson
Jazzwise, May 1997 A rare UK visit last autumn by trombonist Roswell Rudd was marked by a number of concerts and recording sessions with his ex-Carla Bley Band compadre, Elton Dean. the pieces they recorded for Radio 3's Impressions were brilliant essays in freeform concision. This SLAM CD, recorded live at the Vortex, is more a rumbustious debate, with Rudd revelling in the music's turbulence. The quartet (Dean plus Alex Maguire, Marcio Mattos, Mark Sanders) kicks up a storm, but it's Rudd's show - from growls and honks to manic wails, he sounds like a man rediscovering the freedom of his voice.
