Leroy Jenkins - Mixed Quintet (1979/2024)

Recorded live for the famed Italian avant-garde jazz label Black Saint, the masterful free jazz player assembled a stellar lineup in John Clark on French horn, Marty Ehrlich on bass clarinet, James Newton on flute, and J.D. Parran on clarinet. What resulted on this date is one of the more classically inclined sessions Leroy Jenkins recorded which utilizes the small wind quartet, violin, and viola on a series of austere compositions that take queues from the titles "Shapes," "Textures," "Rhythms," "Moods of Sound," and "Quintet Number 3." Exploring the jazz language and improvisation in such an oblique manner, the recording bares many similarities to the work of avant-garde jazz composer Anthony Braxton. An interesting recording yet by no means a representation of the ecstatic peaks Leroy Jenkins was capable of achieving as a free jazz soloist. © Skip Jansen