CCMusic.com

Spectacular work from one of the most groundbreaking groups of it's time - the legendary John Carter/Bobby Bradford Quartet - quite possibly the hippest thing going in the LA scene of the late 60s! The group includes Carter on alto and tenor, Bradford on trumpet - working together in these amazing lines that have both players running off together in a style that's free, but often quite rhythmic - spurred on to move past the new freedoms unlocked by the Ornette Coleman group a few years before! Yet the vibe here is very different than Ornette, too - given the bold, righteous power that comes through in the voices of both players - working here at a level that seems to blow away just about anything else going on in the American avant garde at the time. The group has just two more players to round out it's amazing sound - Tom Williamson on bass, and Bruz Freeman (brother of Von and George!) on drums - and all tracks are long and free, yet also fragile and intimate - with an almost painterly sense of beauty and emotion that stands in stark contrast to much of the avant work of the time coming out of the east coast. Titles include 'Domino', 'Abstractions For Three Lovers', 'Woman', and 'The Second Set'