Paris Review
There are albums that impress, albums that challenge, and albums that defy classification
altogether. First Dance, the latest release by the Freedom Art Quartet, falls into the rare
third category, a project so daring in conception, so wildly inventive in execution, that it feels
less like a jazz album and more like a journey through the untamed frontiers of musical
thought.
From the opening bars, the ensemble lives up to its name with unapologetic flair. Rooted in
a post-Miles Davis bebop sensibility, the quartet immediately pulls the listener into a sonic
landscape that feels simultaneously familiar and foreign. What begins as an elegant dance
with acoustic jazz soon gives way to something more volatile, more exploratory, music that
tiptoes on the edge of free jazz, refusing allegiance to any one genre, except perhaps that
of pure creativity.
Formed in 1991 and co-led by founding members Lloyd Haber and Omar Kabir, the
Freedom Art Quartet stands as a testament to artistic conviction. Haber, a percussionist and
composer, and Kabir, a multi-instrumentalist who moves effortlessly between trumpet,
conch shell, and didgeridoo, have built a group that operates as a think tank for
improvisation. “Our goal is to explore and create in depth, within the infinite dimensions of
this art form,” they say, and this record is perhaps the most compelling proof yet.
First Dance doesn’t seek to please jazz traditionalists. Instead, it invites listeners to
surrender themselves to a kind of organized chaos, where rhythmic foundations may
appear deceptively simple, but the real architecture lies in the tension between layered
motifs and overlapping solos. The effect is hypnotic. Even the most attentive listener may
find themselves lost—pleasantly so, amid themes that rise, clash, dissolve, and return with
renewed intensity. It is music that demands presence, rewards attention, and lingers in the
mind long after the final note fades.
For those lucky enough to witness the group live, whether at a club, a gallery, or a university
stage, the experience is even more immersive. The quartet has performed extensively
across the United States and abroad, with appearances at major festivals such as the
Heineken Jazz Festival, Fire Wall Festival, UVA Jazz Festival, and, more recently, the
Hamptons Jazz Festival in 2022. They’ve left their mark on legendary stages: Smalls, the
Knitting Factory, Jazz Standard. Over the years, the group has collaborated with luminaries
like Ornette Coleman, Fred Hopkins, Ravi Coltrane, Roy Campbell, and Patience Higgins,
further solidifying their place in the vanguard of modern jazz.
What makes First Dance so striking is not just its execution, but its philosophy. This
is music made not to decorate a moment, but to interrogate it—to stretch time,
expand emotion, and pose questions that cannot be answered in words.
When an album concludes and your mind continues to drift, still hearing echoes and
fragments long after the final track, you know you’ve encountered something rare. That’s
what First Dance delivers: a flood of extravagant propositions and improvisational
adventures that challenge, thrill, and ultimately move the listener.
If beauty in art needs a name, then strangely, perhaps appropriately, that name might
just be Freedom Art Quartet.
Thierry De Clemensat
Member at Jazz Journalists Association
USA correspondent for Paris-Move and ABS magazine