by Steve Koenig

This disc sounds even more like a classic ESP-disk than her original ensemble The Sea Ensemble, circa 1970. This is a compliment. The opening track finds Kali on piano, and Mixashawn Rozie's tenor sounding rough and ready, like the ESP-era Gato Barbieri. This is followed by a piece using "harp piano and keys", which I take to mean playing in and out of a standard piano. On "Elephant's Dance", Mixashawn plays djembe drums, and Marvin Bugalu Smith regular drums, while Kali plays a marvelous instrument called a mizmar. I have no idea what it is, but it sounds part kazoo, part accordion, part clarinet. I'm guessing it's a form of panpipe.

All sixteen tracks average three to five minutes, giving this disc the feeling of a suite of composed improvs, a jazz version of, say, George Harrison's delightfully varied and coherent Wonderwall Music. Kali also plays saxes and ney, and Newman Baker tackles the drums, and on one track, a theremin. There are no electronics listed. At first I thought some of the vocals were through ethnic voice modifiers (often tubes do this), but the echo on "Counterpart" is clearly electronic.

This disc, utilizing many "ethnic" instruments for brief cuts, performed in various locations, easily jumps the sampler and new age hurdles: its a cohesive work of improv that holds up over many listenings, and the sound textures are different than your standard ensemble. The liners note that Kali has lived in India, Turkey and Africa. She has absorbed these influences, rather than wearing them on a world-music sleeve. Perhaps only Rahsaan Roland Kirk has made sounds like some of these before.

Cellist Okkyung Lee appears on just one track, but she is someone you will be hearing much more about; since moving from Boston to New York, Lee has performed in dozens of ensembles and she can play very tough, winning many fans on the way, including this writer.

Tracks: Beyond Words/Grand Kanun/Elephant's Dance/Leap/Silverfish/SOund
and Silence/Whale's Reverie/Some Peace/Tomorrow?/Strange Times/Night
Canoe/Advice and Dissent/Counterpart/For New York and Jenin/Appreicating
People/Coming Together Time: 57:36

Personnel: KALI Z: piano, soprano & alto saxes, voice, nai flutes, mizmars and drums; LEE MIXASHAWN ROZIE: tenor sax, bamboo flute and djembe; NEWMAN TAYLOR BAKER: drums, djembe, Theremin and talking drum, MARVIN "BUGALU" SMITH: drums and djembe; OKKYUNG LEE on cello; RON McBEE: djembe and African percussion.