Birth & Rebirth

Despite his reputation as a fierce, cerebral avant-gardist, Anthony Braxton has always loved and honored the jazz tradition, and Max Roach did much more over his decades-long career than just help create bebop; he was always looking (and moving) forward. So this duo album is very much a conversation between kindred spirits from two different generations. The seven tracks, improvised in the studio, flow seamlessly — the drummer always seems to know where the saxophonist is headed, and lays the perfect beat (which often manages to also function as a countermelody) beneath him, building the road they’re both driving on.