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Live in Vilnius
Saxophonist David S. Ware’s monumental quartet — with pianist Matthew Shipp, bassist William Parker, and a string of drummers — was one of the most astonishing live forces in jazz during the 1990s and 2000s. This double LP documents a performance in Lithuania from 2007, with Guillermo E. Brown behind the kit. The set includes pieces from his two major-label releases, Go See The World and Surrendered, a new improvisation called “Lithuanian Whirl,” and a nearly half-hour version of Sun Ra’s “The Stargazers.” Ware’s absolute mastery of the tenor saxophone is on display throughout; he creates guttural, dinosaur-like roars as easily as he leaps into the horn’s uppermost register for extended, squealing harmonic exercises, and the band musters behind him like a tidal wave that rises and rises without ever crashing to shore.