Downbeat Review
(Down Beat 01/04)
This debut disc from New York’s Freedom Art Quartet swings from Monkish games to Ornette Coleman and Horace Silver with admirable proficiency. Drummer Lloyd Haber’s seven, neatly drawn songs are played in a sensible string, letting the tightly sheltered solos and easy architecture call up many corners of the music’s history.
Trumpeter Omar Kabir is a dark flittering presence, an expert at angular and edgy flights. Tenor saxophonist Abraham Burton thunders, although he sounds just as comfortable playing it cool. Bassist Jaribu Shahid favors a tone that’s thick and rough, which makes sense when Haber favors things simply put. Alto saxophonist Douglas Yates appears occasionally , with an especially exhilarating cameo on “Kimbunga”. The high point is “Love Of Illusion,” a medium groove that shakes and rattles, showing how easily Kabir and Burton can catch fire. Their solos are a marvelous examples of control, keeping a quiet frenzy just a step away.
Greg Buium