''Counterparts'' is a live album by the

Revolutionary Ensemble The Revolutionary Ensemble was a free jazz trio consisting of violinist Leroy Jenkins (1932–2007), bassist Sirone (Norris Jones, 1940–2009) and percussionist/pianist Jerome Cooper (1946–2015). The group was active from 1970–1977, and reuni ...

, violinist Leroy Jenkins, bassist

Sirone Sirone ( Brianzöö: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Lecco in the Italian region Lombardy, located about northeast of Milan and about southwest of Lecco. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 2,270 and an area of .Al ...

and drummer

Jerome Cooper Jerome Douglas Cooper (December 14, 1946 – May 6, 2015) was an American free jazz musician. In addition to trap drums, Cooper played balafon, chirimia and various electronic instruments, and referred to himself as a "multi-dimensional drummer," ...

. It was recorded in November 2005 in Genoa, Italy, and was released in 2012 by Mutable Music. It documents the group's last live performance, and is dedicated to the memory of artist

Frederick J. Brown Frederick J. Brown (February 6, 1945 – May 5, 2012) was a New York City based visual artist originally from Chicago. His style ranges from abstract expressionism to figurative. His art work was influenced by historical, religious, narrative a ...

Reception

Critic Tom Hull awarded the album a grade of "A–", and commented: "it's more than nostalgia that lifts this release of the group's last live performance." Writing in 2013,

Francis Davis Francis Davis (born August 30, 1946) is an American author and journalist. He is best known as the jazz critic for ''The Village Voice'', and a contributing editor for ''The Atlantic Monthly''. He has also worked in radio and film, and taught ...

awarded the album a grade of "A", and stated: "it was released only this spring, and I swear it's more vital than almost anything else I've heard in 2013. An apt comparison might be the Modern Jazz Quartet, except that the instrumentation is sparser... and what was permissible in the name of either jazz or classical, or in the name of both, had changed drastically... Though recognizably jazz... this music is post-Webern as well as post-Parker, on the outskirts of microtonality when not forthrightly microtonal." Davis remarked that Jenkins was "in top form," and praised his "masterful display of extended techniques." He described Sirone as "propelling things forward with a low rumble or the barest semblance of a bass walk," and depicted Cooper as a "one-man-band," "not just supplying color on traps but greatly expanding the palette with bell-like balaphone, chiramia... and electric-keyboard washes that are never just backdrops." The editors of

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

Music included the album in their "Best Music of 2013" feature, and noted: "it's understood that by the time Sirone and Jenkins got together with percussionist Jerome Cooper in 1972, jazz no longer necessarily meant riffs and changes, and modern classical in no way still meant rondos and fugues."

Track listing

# "Configuration" (Sirone) – 7:00 # "Rumi Tales" (Jenkins) – 5:41 # "Usami" (Jenkins) – 6:46 # "My Birds" (Cooper) – 16:06 # "Berlin Ertarhung" (Sirone) – 6:32 # "Fulfillment" (Cooper/Jenkins/Sirone) – 4:38

Personnel

* Leroy Jenkins – violin *

– bass *

– drums, balaphone, chiramia, keyboards

References

{{Reflist 2012 live albums Revolutionary Ensemble live albums