For years, AACM tenorist Fred
Anderson labored in obscurity – playing the better part of the 70s and 80s with little or no recognition of his strong inventive talent, and of his never-ending committment to expanding his horizons as a musician. Fortunately,
Anderson's been greatly rediscovered in the past decade – and the past few years has seen the reissue and first-issue of material that was recorded during
Anderson's "lost years", but never properly handled before. This session is one of those "first issue" sets – as it was recorded in Milwaukee in 1980, yet lay in the can for years, due to lack of interest. The set's fantastic – and features
Anderson playing in a quartet with trumpeter Billy Brimfield, bassist Larry Hayrod, and drummer Hamid Drake. What's most notable about the material is that it has kind of a mellow spiritual quality to it – showing the more soulful sound of the AACM, one that didn't always make an appearance on
Anderson's other recordings. The strongest case of this is the fantastic track "Bombay", which features tablas by Drake, and some wonderful extended soloing by Brimfield and
Anderson. All tracks are great, though – and titles include "Black Woman", "Ballad For Rita", and "The Bull".
(Out of print.)