Marionettes on a High Wire (OmniTone)
Thrill a Minute
A freebop session from an elder jazz statesman: Baikida Carroll
by Dan Polletta

            Trumpeter Baikida Carroll pulls the right strings on his first new album in six years, Marionettes on a High Wire. This "freebop" session is fresh sounding without being forced. The 54 year-old Carroll is as widely admired as he is woefully under-recorded. The trumpeter sharpened his skills playing jazz, blues and R&B in his native St. Louis.

            After serving in the military, Carroll returned home in 1968, where he became part of the Black Artists Group(BAG), a multi-disciplinary arts organization, similar to Chicago's Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). During his days in BAG, Carroll formed important musical alliances with saxophonists Julius Hemphill and Oliver Lake. Many listeners came to know Carroll through his playing on Hemphill's highly regarded album "Dogon A.D." As both composer and improviser, elements of hard bop, the sounds of the mid to late-60s Miles Davis quintet, free jazz, and the blues inform the trumpeter's work.

            To Carroll's credit, none of it ever sounds derivative. Two of the compositions, "Ebullient Spirits," which is dedicated to trumpeter Woody Shaw, and "A Thrill a Minute" are simple, unison themes that one could imagine Shaw playing. There are moments on "Ebullient Spirits," especially during pianist Steve Colson's solo, that reflect some of the sound of classic John Coltrane quartet. "A Thrill" features rapid post bop lines from both Carroll and saxophonist Erica Lindsay over bass player Michael Formanek's steady pulse and Pheeron AkLaff's drumming, which is active but not overly busy.

            Several of the pieces move into more experimental territory. The use of triplets on "Griot's Last Dance" builds tension which peaks as Colson splashes a dense and sometimes dissonant solo across the keyboard. The theme of the title piece is a quick sketch that moves into Aklaff drumming tight, occasionally march-like patterns beneath soloists who play abstractly. The improvisations evoke comparisons to Herbie Hancock's "The Egg." "Flamboye" is a tight dialogue between trumpet and tenor.

            The finest works on the album are those that demonstrate the trumpeter's gift for melancholy melodic lines as both composer and soloist. Carroll's pieces develop from simple motifs of just a few notes that stay in your brain. "Our Say" grows from a short pattern introduced by the pianist. As Aklaff lightly brushes the groove, Formanek plucks a solo that touches on the original melody several times before a seamless pass is made to Colson. The theme of "Velma" features a memorable bass riff and piano triplets that provide a framework for unhurried solos, with a particularly well constructed statement by Lindsay, whose breathy tenor has a bit of Benny Golson in its sound.

            In the early 90s, Carroll wrote music for a production of August Strindberg's Miss Julie , featuring Kim Cattrall in the title role. With her portrayal specifically in mind, Carroll crafts a piece of haunting, flowing beauty that showcases his burnished mute trumpet playing, which sounds at times like Don Cherry, but with more polish. Carroll's album provides a valuable lesson to those who think that jazz's future is in its past, be it neo-traditionalists or those reliving the early 70's loft scene. The rich history of the music is to be neither imitated nor ignored, but absorbed to help create a personal statement. Carroll and his band mates walk the tightrope between tradition and experimentation with perfect balance.

Dan Polletta is evening jazz host for WCPN-FM, Cleveland Public Radio.