To say that Philadelphia-based pianist-composer
Hasaan Ibn Ali (1931-1980) is a fringe figure in jazz history is an understatement. During his lifetime his only recorded appearance was on 1965's
The Max Roach Trio Featuring the Legendary Hasaan; an album featuring his compositions, it was originally to be issued under his name. A second trio album with saxophonist
Odean Pope and drummer
Kalil Madi was recorded by
Atlantic but went unreleased and was lost in a fire. Finally, in 2021, that changed.
Omnivore issued
Metaphysics: The Lost Atlantic Album, the second trio set restored from a taped copy languishing in a vault for decades. Months later, the producers expanded
Ali's piano print by releasing the double-length
Retrospect in Retirement of Delay: The Solo Recordings offering informal recordings from 1962 to 1965 made by college friends
Alan Sukoenig (co-producer with
Cheryl Pawelski) and saxophonist
Dave Shrier on a portable Norelco tape recorder. Apparently, they weren't done. They unearthed 11 more tracks from the personal vaults of
Sukoenig and
Schrier, and released
Reaching for the Stars: Trios/Duos/Solos. They solicited liner notes from pianist
Ethan Iverson.
The first half contains six tunes from a 1962 live recording in trio with bassist
Henry Grimes and drummer
Kalil Madi -- four of these later appeared on
The Max Roach Trio Featuring the Legendary Hasaan. While the sound is somewhat dodgy, you can hear almost everything. Opener "Almost Like Me" is driven by
Grimes' slightly angular, two-bar bassline as
Ali runs the percussive scalar progression relentlessly before undertaking a solo. The ballad "Din-ka Street" is played at the same tempo as on the
Roach/
Ali/
Art Davis set, but
Grimes' woody, hard-swinging bassline frames
Ali's comps, accents, and solos. Unfortunately, you can't hear
Madi until the middle eight. "Pay Not Play Not" is slower than on the 1965 album. The dialogue between
Grimes and
Ali in the middle is canny, playful, and swinging. "Ad Aspera Ad Astra" was recorded for
Ali's second
Atlantic album, but it was lost. This trio's run jams together a march, a blues, and a gospel shout.
Madi's unwavering tempo leaves room for dazzling flourishes by the pianist. Vocalist
Muriel Winston, accompanied by
Ali, appears on three standards. The ten-minute "Stella by Starlight" is aggressive, unrestrained, and percussive as
Ali explores and fragments harmonies, tonal nuances, and driving dynamics. Perhaps the real set highlights are the long solo pieces. "After You've Gone" is dynamically dazzling and harmonically advanced as it juxtaposes dissonant bebop, hard bop, and even modal with cutting single lines and bass runs and accents. The closer, recorded in a women's dorm in 1962, makes use of ragtime, blues, bop,
Ellington, and
Ravel in a jaunty, slippery 4/4. While
Reaching for the Stars... is not quite as consistent as its predecessors, it is an invaluable document for its solo pieces and early trio performances. ~ Thom Jurek
