AVIDIGI

The album is a little like a trip through contemporary jazz - there are aspects of bop and free improvisation, as well as funk and fusion. 'The Major General', for example, is all whirling polyrhythms and virtuosity, while Vitous' 'Mirror Image' could be a 'Bitches Brew' outtake. Most intriguing, though, are the tracks where DeJohnette gives up the drum stool to Haynes and takes the lead on melodica. Infrequently, if ever, used in Jazz, the instrument's melancholic air lends an atmospheric sheen to tracks like the opening 'Equipoise'. Less successful are DeJohnette's attempts at new-age style ambience in 'Requiem Number 1 & 2'. The melodica is too exposed, sounds too fractured, and the supporting play too weak to cover Dejohnette's lack of melodic ideas.