''Door of the Cage'' is an album by trumpeter and composer Baikida Carroll. It was recorded on March 16 and 17, 1994, at Eastside Sound in New York City, and was released in 1995 by

Soul Note Black Saint and Soul Note are two affiliated Italian independent record labels. Since their conception in the 1970s, they have released albums from a variety of influential jazz musicians, particularly in the genre of free jazz. History Black S ...

. On the album, Carroll is joined by saxophonist

Erica Lindsay Erica Lindsay (born June 5, 1955 in San Francisco, California, United States) is an American jazz saxophone player and composer. Music career Lindsay's parents, both teachers, lived in Europe in the 1960s. She began her studies in composition w ...

, pianist Steve Adegoke Colson, double bassist

Santi Debriano Santi Wilson Debriano (born 1955 in Panama) is a jazz bassist. Debriano was raised in Brooklyn, having moved there with his family at age four. He studied composition at Union College in New York, then attended the New England Conservatory of Mus ...

, and drummer Pheeroan akLaff.

Reception

In a review for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

Scott Yanow Scott Yanow (born October 4, 1954) is an American jazz reviewer, historian, and author.Allmusic Biography/ref> Biography Yanow was born in New York City and grew up near Los Angeles. Since 1974, he was a regular reviewer of many jazz styles an ...

wrote: "The ten compositions are all Carroll's, and they cover a variety of moods and grooves. The music overall is more accessible than one would expect, making this an excellent introduction to Baikida Carroll's music." The authors of ''

The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings ''The Penguin Guide to Jazz'' is a reference work containing an encyclopedic directory of jazz recordings on CD which were (at the time of publication) currently available in Europe or the United States. The first nine editions were compiled by ...

'' called the album an "enormously impressive record," and noted Carroll's "line-driven, melodic approach" and soft, "plangent tone." They commented: "There is still a brassy bite on numbers like "King" and "At Roi", which was originally written for

ulius Col. Ulius Louis Amoss (1895–1961) was a US intelligence officer who wrote the original essay on Leaderless Resistance in the 1950s after he retired and was upset with what he wrote was bad operational practices of the Central Intelligence Agenc ...

Hemphill... in friendly revenge for some of the charts he gave the young trumpeter to play."

Track listing

Composed by Baikida Carroll. # "Door of the Cage" – 7:02 # "King" – 8:11 # "At Roi" – 7:14 # "Against Your Warmth" – 6:59 # "Speak" – 4:29 # "Legacies" – 6:27 # "I Thought You Knew" – 4:40 # "Hannah Pearl" – 5:07 # "I Need..." – 4:11 # "Spade Hearts in Clubs" – 6:44

Personnel

* Baikida Carroll – trumpet *

– tenor saxophone * Steve Adegoke Colson – piano *

– double bass * Pheeroan akLaff – drums

References

{{Reflist 1995 albums Baikida Carroll albums Black Saint/Soul Note albums