Pianist Joel Futterman and saxophonist Kidd Jordan have recorded an album of energetic and explosive free improvisation in tribute to the respected free-jazz drummer Alvin Fielder following his death in early 2019.
Known for his experimental style and exploratory approach, Fielder was a charter member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), the Black Arts Music Society, and the Improvisational Arts band, and he was a founding faculty member of the Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong Summer Jazz Camp.
Futterman and Jordan were longtime friends and collaborators of Fielder. Joined by bassist William Parker and drummer Hamid Drake, the musicians recorded Tribute to Alvin Fielder live at the Brooklyn club Roulette during the 2019 Vision Festival in New York.
The improvisational, on-the-spot compositions “ably evoke Fielder’s loose, omnivorous approach to rhythm and time and run the gamut of the jazz lineage,” according to a media release. It’s a simmering, intense performance with 45 minutes of continuous and continuously shifting music, and a fitting tribute to a fallen comrade who had built his career on an in-the-moment philosophy to musical exploration.
Fielder died in Jackson, Miss., in January of 2019. He was 83.
Tribute to Alvin Fielder comes out Friday, June 19. Stream it below.