Tuesday, June 23, 2015

The Known Unknown: Ira Sullivan and Horizons


Ira Sullivan is one of those artists who’s best known for being unknown: praised by critics but never a big name. Sullivan, still going strong at 84, is a multi-instrumentalist, playing tenor and soprano sax, flute, trumpet and flugelhorn. He splits his time between Chicago and Miami, which, in this Big Apple-centric music, may explain why he’s not a bigger name.  He’s also not content to be pegged as an adherent of a particular school. He played with Charlie Parker but also heard and assimilated the sounds of John Coltrane and other free and spiritual players of the 60s and 70s.

A case in point is Horizons, recorded in 1967, a year full of non-Western musical ideas. Except for a fine interpretation of the standard Everything Happens to Me, on which he plays trumpet, flugelhorn, as well as tenor, Sullivan sticks mostly to tenor and soprano.  He shows a lot of Coltrane influence on that hard-to-play horn while still adding his own touches, as on Nineveh  and Adah. The title track has that uplifting late 60s Blue Note sound, with Sullivan on tenor. E Flat Tuba G features some strong free playing from all hands. Just to break things up, Oh, Gee!, a composition by trombonist Matthew Gee (I need to blog about him one of these days), takes us back to the 50s for a bluesy bebop romp.  

I’m not familiar with the rest of the band, but they make a real contribution to the overall group sound. Pianist Dolph Castellano doubles on electronic harpsichord on a couple of tracks, bassist William Fry provides strong, individual lines, Lon Norman adds color and depth on trombone, and Jose Cigno furnishes strong rhythmic support on drums and percussion.


A while back I blogged about Herbie Mann’s Middle Eastern-tinged The Wailing Dervishes album, with a focus on his version of Norwegian Wood. Sullivan’ version has that same feel. Check out Fry’s bass intro and bass drone, Cigno’s polyrhythms, Castellano’s harpsichord, and Sullivan’s passionate, grasping for the infinite solo. This is my kind of music!


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