Quartet (Santa Cruz) 1993
Released
Braxton formed this quartet — with pianist Marilyn Crispell, bassist Mark Dresser, and percussionist Gerry Hemingway — in the mid ’80s; a UK tour was documented in Graham Lock’s Forces In Motion, one of the best books about a jazz musician ever written. Close to a decade later, the four were still making incredible music together, combining his complex but evocative compositions into 30- to 40-minute collages/medleys that’ll spin your head around but good. There’s nothing dry or intellectual about this music; it’s raucous and exultant, and Hemingway’s drums boom like depth charges.