Exit! cover
Released

On Friday the 13th, 2012, saxophonist Mats Gustafsson, bassist Johan Berthling, and drummer Andreas Werliin, aka Fire!, already plenty powerful as a trio, decided to see what they could accomplish as a 27-member improvising big band: two dozen musicians (six reeds, five brass, three guitarists, three keyboardists, four bassists, four drummers) and three vocalists, performing a 45-minute epic split into two side-long chunks. There are some fierce solos, but this is no mere slab of blare; it’s a slow-burning groove orchestrated like a 1970s Lalo Schifrin movie score, with poetic lyrics (delivered by Sofia Jernberg) and a four-bass, four-drums pulse like a whale’s heartbeat.

Phil Freeman

Recommended by

Suggestions
Levels and Degrees of Light cover

Levels and Degrees of Light

Muhal Richard Abrams
Medusae cover

Medusae

Nicole Mitchell, Fabio Paolizzo
Saltash Bells cover

Saltash Bells

John Surman
Ofamfa cover

Ofamfa

Children of the Sun
I've Known Rivers cover

I've Known Rivers

Anthony Davis, James Newton, Abdul Wadud
Comicopera cover

Comicopera

Robert Wyatt
At The Center cover

At The Center

Meat Beat Manifesto
Polyhymnia cover

Polyhymnia

Yazz Ahmed
Tales of the Algonquin cover

Tales of the Algonquin

John Surman, John Warren
Mandance cover

Mandance

Ronald Shannon Jackson & the Decoding Society