Thirsty Ear
2005
At The Center
About This Album
Jazz composer/arranger/theorist George Russell used to explain his piece "Dimensions" as "a sequence of freely associated moods indigenous to jazz." Same could be said about At the Center but this time the person doing the free associating doesn't come from the world of jazz, at least not as far as his previous records have let on. As Meat Beat Manifesto, Jack Dangers has been responsible for some of the most in-your-face dance music available, recorded for the seminal industrial dance label Wax Trax, and paved the road for the garish sound of big beat. Dangers doesn't have the downtown pedigree that made DJ Spooky such a shoo-in for Thirsty Ear's Blue Series, but as At the Center displays, he's up to the series' "pushing the jazz envelope" challenge. Hearing jazzers Peter Gordon (flute), Dave King (drums), and Craig Taborn (keyboards of all types) interact with Dangers' soundtracky and experimental constructions stops just short of being compelling, but it's refreshing that no one is reduced to being a session musician. On "United Nations Etc. Etc.," Gordon finds plenty of inspiration in Dangers' groove, and Taborn is always contributing, adding funky fills, fluid improvs, and stabbing soul-jazz.
Track List (try tracks 4,6 and 8)

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