Two hallmark studio recordings + a third previously unreleased live performance by Haynes' visionary quintet, 4 HORNS & WHAT? --- freshly remastered: 3 modern classics for the 'Hear & Now' (really!).
!!!! TRIPLE DISC SET !!!!
Collector's CD packaging available for this title via:
cornerstorejazz.com
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“I’m what!” declares Phil Haynes from the stage of Brooklyn Academy of Music at the end of this welcome new collection, concluding his introduction of his stellar but short-lived quintet 4 Horns & What?
Process of elimination could have told us that, given Haynes’ position at the drumkit, behind the titular quartet of horn players – in this instance, trumpeter Paul Smoker, brass player Herb Robertson, multi-reedist Andy Laster and tenor saxophonist John Tchicai (more on the band’s ever-shifting but always top-notch line-ups in a moment). But Haynes embodies the “What?” in this equation in more ways than just his role as the single non-horn player in the ensemble.
That question mark is all-important, representing the curiosity and challenge posed by the drummer’s approach throughout a constantly questing and adventurous career now in its fifth decade. Commingling elements of the traditional and anti-traditional spanning nearly the full history of jazz with the dexterity of a master juggler, Haynes seems to punctuate every phrase in the interrogatory:
“What else?”
“What’s next?”
“What about this?”
“Whatta ya got?”
The answers that Haynes receives back from his equally inquisitive bandmates throughout the three albums compiled here are consistently surprising and illuminating.
He conceived the band, as he explains in his original notes for their self-titled 1991 debut, using “the African conception of direct conversational interplay between rhythm and melody.” The repertoire sprang entirely from Haynes’ searching imagination, evolving a tailored vernacular from the collision of his rhythmic language with his blowing bandmates’ harmonic, melodic and architectural virtuosity. What results is a uniquely shape-shifting quintet, at one moment a monolithic wall of horns propelled by a ferocious groove, at the next a five-pointed star of discrete and minimalist textures.
4 Horns & What? released only two albums during its too-brief tenure, the aforementioned debut and the 1992 follow-up 4 Horn Lore. Both slipped into undeserved near-oblivion almost immediately, owing to the dissolution of the German-based Open Minds label in the mid-90s. The Complete American Recordings supplements the existing catalogue with Live at BAM, a never-before-released recording of a combustible, spirited concert that opened the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s “Alternative Jazz” series in 1995.
Curated by clarinetist Don Byron, “Alternative Jazz” was BAM’s first attempt to fully integrate the music into its annual Next Wave Festival. 4 Horns & What? opened the series, sharing a bill with Paul Bley’s trio featuring Steve Swallow and Paul Motian. Byron argued in the New York Times that the style of jazz that he termed “left of Lincoln Center” deserved its own home in the city’s landmark institutions. “The way I see it,” Byron told Peter Watrous, “jazz is a two-headed monster, with a Democratic and Republican side, and without the Democratic side, the beast dies.”
Haynes agreed, contrasting the support he received in Europe to the meager attention his music enjoyed at home, in the process forecasting the band’s imminent demise. “Here, if you’re not part of jazz’s top 40, you’re never on the radio,” he told the Times. “Without access to an audience, the music can’t reach new people.”
The “Alternative Jazz” performance proved to be the last for 4 Horns & What? and, unfortunately, their sole outing with the brilliant Tchicai in the line-up. Over the intervening decades Haynes seemed to internalize the band’s lack of success, harboring growing doubts about the merit of his musical efforts. As his 60th birthday loomed in 2021, he found himself struggling with depression and a degenerative joint malady affecting his hands and therefore his ability to play. He was contemplating retirement when the pandemic hit and he suddenly found the time to revisit his past efforts for the first time in many years.
The process proved revelatory, encouraging Haynes to recommit to his passion for music, put in the hours to heal his hands and discover a means to deal with his depression. The Complete American Recordings arrives in the midst of an unprecedented spate of activity for the drummer, with a string of new and archival releases coinciding with the publication of his enthralling memoir, Chasing the Masters.
Haynes’ explanation of the book’s title also captures the renewed feelings he discovered for his own music. “For a long time I felt like I hadn’t quite achieved my dreams,” he explained. “My models were Elvin Jones and Tony Williams and Jack DeJohnette – innovators. Maybe I never managed become an innovator like them, but I did my own thing. I have an identifiable sound, and I did play with masters.”
One of those masters was the late trumpeter Paul Smoker, a key mentor and collaborator who Haynes insists never received his just due. A large part of Haynes’ reinvigorated dedication to his own music was the responsibility of sharing Smoker’s singular genius to a wider audience. 4 Horns & What? is an ideal showcase for both of them.
“Revisiting this music, this band became a great joy for me,” Haynes shares. “Maybe we weren’t as far off as we thought. It turns out this was quite a striking ensemble, we just never quite received the attention I thought we warranted in America.”
Smoker was one of two constants among the 4 Horns, along with Andy Laster. For the band’s 1988 debut they were joined by tenor saxophonist Ellery Eskelin and trombonist Frank Lacy; by the time of the first album Lacy had joined Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and was replaced by Joe Daly.
4 Horns & What? begins with “A’lil Iowa Get-Down,” which would become the band’s unofficial theme song (it also pops up early on Live at BAM). It’s as good a mission statement as any, an avant-Midwestern fusion of Eric Dolphy and Aaron Copland that mutates into a hydra-headed blast of free improvisation as full of good humor as it is exploratory fervor. As much as Haynes and company were game to experiment, the music they craft together is far from daunting; there’s an embraceability to it, whether in
the chorale-like lushness of “Ballad for Heike” or the blustery New Orleans swagger of “Corner Store Strut” (named for Haynes’ long-defunct Brooklyn storefront rehearsal space).
Daly had exited the band by the time of 4 Horn Lore, replaced by Downtown linchpin Herb Robertson. This second outing digs deep into the roots of the music, as is Haynes’ wont, with the field holler-inspired “Holler 4 Horns,” followed by the tumultuous “Out of the Bowels.” The composer offers “Goofus’ Step” as a catch-all political satire, penned under the first President Bush and updated on Live at BAM as a “Bill Clinton / Bob Dole two-step.” Modern listeners can choose from a despairingly long list of potential Goofuses (Goofi?).
Live at BAM is the most astounding discovery of this set, however. Not only had Haynes not heard the music in 30 years, let alone anyone else – he had long since forgotten that he’d even asked engineer John Rosenberg to record the date. With Eskelin having left the band to focus on his leader career in Europe (one among many inspirations for Haynes’ above-cited lament). the bandleader invited the Danish saxophonist John Tchicai into the ranks, having discovered a thrilling chemistry during their one prior meeting, on a gig at the Vancouver International Jazz Festival.
Tchicai proves a perfect fit, deftly infusing his bristling energy into Haynes’ off-kilter themes and igniting the band with his elusive, quicksilver soloing. “He absolutely inspired the band, as you can hear,” Haynes exults. “He surely inspired me.” For proof, just check out the album’s closer, “Eclipse,” as blistering a sprint to the finish line as any band can claim. If 4 Horns or What? had to come to such a premature end, at least it arrived with this most gleeful of self-immolations.
The Complete American Recordings implies that there are further discoveries to be made from beyond these shores, and in fact Haynes knows of long-shelved recordings made during European festival dates. The trick now is to track them down, but if the jazz detectives out there need the proper incentive to set them on the hunt, it’s surely contained within this captivating collection.
Shaun Brady
Philadelphia, December 2023
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"When I first considered forming a new band in late 1986, I was trying to reconcile an interesting set of aesthetics: I wanted a band that would play most situations without amplification, a band that could whisper one moment and turn around to raise the roof the next, an ensemble built around the intimate dialogue that happens in a good duet, a small group of improvisors with wide instrumental color, a big band inspired contrapuntal ability, and a concept where I would be challenged to assume equality with the front line players.
After more than a year of struggling with my puzzle, the prospect of combining two brass players with two saxophonists and drums became an intriguing, irresistible solution. By signing on the strong, diverse leaders, like Joe Daley, Ellery Eskelin, Andy Laster, and Paul Smoker, the collective music was able to transcend a multitude of idioms. The only remaining obstacle was to focus the quintet with a cohesive approach to group interaction.
To achieve such focus, 4 Horns & What? uses the African conception of direct conversational interplay between rhythm and melody. By excluding other rhythm section players, the intimacy of drum/horn dialogue becomes the norm. Each musician has the freedom to realize a compositions’ harmonic structure in their own way, simultaneously with the other player’s conceptions. In this format, harmony returns to its polyphonic roots as a natural extension of collective blowing. The result is a wide-open, acoustic, improvisor’s band where everyone shares equal responsibility for solos, counterpoint, accompaniment, and time keeping.
The first incarnation of 4 Horns & What?, which utilized Frank Lacy in Joe Daly’s chair, premiered at a now defunct downtown club, First on First, June 6, 1988. We had so much fun that night, it was never clear whether the band or the ravenous audience enjoyed themselves more. Three days later when the New York Times’ Peter Watrous proclaimed that the quintet “used neither a bassist nor a pianist, and either would have destroyed the debut of an extremely promising band … an ideal band.” I felt elated knowing that it was possible to be effective as a “solo” rhythm section.
Several months later, while preparing to record this album, Joe Daley joined the band when Frack Lacy began touring with Art Blakey. In order to feature Joe’s tuba, I wrote Atmospheres to accompany A ‘Lil Iowa Get Down, Point Period, Corner Store Strut, and Blues for Israel as a work specifically composed for the 4 Horn band. I also adapted several pieces written for other collaborations to highlight the continuity between my various projects. Ballade for Heike was first recorded in 1986 on my quartet Continuum’s compact disc The Passing (Owl Time-lines). Alone is the title selection from Paul Smoker’s second trio recording for Sound Aspects (sas 018), whereas El-Smoke originates from the collective Join Venture’s 1987 eponymous debut (Enja 5049).
4 Horns & What? Recorded these eight compositions, along with two unreleased originals, one evening in early 1989. What you hear on this document are complete unedited versions of these tunes (except two bars of Blues for Israel), so as to accurately capture the free-wheeling nature of this unique band.
I hope much of the quintet’s spirited rapport is communicated to all of you who lend us an ear. As for Joe, El, Andy, and Paul, who devotedly brought this music to life, may I simply say 'you guys are the baddest!'."
Phil Haynes
Brooklyn NY
October 1990
