Tusques, Francois -& Noel Mcghie-
Topolitologie
Pianist Francois Tusques was the first musician to introduce European jazz to Free music, as evidenced by his landmark, genre-defining album Free Jazz in 1965. Following the steps of Ornette Colemans legendary quartet, whose cornet player Don Cherry was soon to be his associate in Paris in the late 1960s, he developed a highly original blend of free improvisation (yet never relinquishing the heritage of Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk), world-music and folklore, and protest songs. Over the years he has appeared with Barney Wilen, Sunny Murray, Jacques Coursil, Alan Silva and the like. "Topolitologie", his first album in eight years, finds him with Jamaican drummer Noel McGhie revisiting these trends. The highlight of the album is the eponymous suite opening the album: in the course of thirty-six minutes, the duet conglomerates waltzes, Biguine, serial abstractionism, "The Internationale" and swing, in a strongly politically conscious attempt to tell the tale of the XXth Century through its musical memories.