''The All-Star Game'' is a live album by saxophonists

Marshall Allen Marshall Belford Allen (born May 25, 1924) is an American free jazz and avant-garde jazz alto saxophone player. He also performs on flute, oboe, piccolo, and EWI (an electronic valve instrument made by Steiner, Crumar company). Allen is best ...

and

Kidd Jordan Edward "Kidd" Jordan (born May 5, 1935) is an American jazz saxophonist and music educator from New Orleans, Louisiana. After completing a music degree at Southern University in Baton Rouge, he relocated to New Orleans. He taught at Southern Uni ...

, bassists William Parker and

Alan Silva Alan Silva (born Alan Lee da Silva; January 22, 1939 in Bermuda) is an American free jazz double bassist and keyboard player. Biography Silva was born a British subject to an Azorean/Portuguese mother, Irene da Silva, and a black Bermudian fat ...

, and drummer

Hamid Drake Hamid Drake (born August 3, 1955) is an American jazz drummer and percussionist. By the close of the 1990s, Hamid Drake was widely regarded as one of the best percussionists in jazz and improvised music. Incorporating Afro-Cuban, Indian, and Afr ...

. It was recorded in December 2000 at the ICA Theater in Boston, and was released in 2003 by

Eremite Records Eremite Records is an independent American jazz record label founded in 1995 by Michael Ehlers, with early involvement from music writer Byron Coley. Ehlers was a student of Archie Shepp's at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. After college, ...

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 ...

, Thom Jurek wrote: "before you surrender to the erroneous notion that this is just some blowing session where skronk is the name of the game front and back, get real. These men are all improvisers of a different sort. All of them have played in very disciplined units and know how to make the most of dynamic, harmonic interplay, tonal dexterity, and (of course) group interplay as well as solo improvising... this music swings -- albeit in an entirely new way -- as hard as it blows." 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 ...

'' awarded the album 3½ stars, and stated: "The real interest of this date is how subtly and strongly the two bass-players work together, developing an involving discourse as the set continues and almost pushing the saxophones into an accompanying role in places." Bill Shoemaker, writing for

Jazz Times ''JazzTimes'' is an American magazine devoted to jazz. Published 10 times a year, it was founded in Washington, D.C. in 1970 by Ira Sabin as the newsletter ''Radio Free Jazz'' to complement his record store. Coverage After a decade of growth ...

, commented: "''The All-Star Game''... manages to split the difference between a convivial homerun hitting contest and a soul-baring gestalt session... Not only do the musicians get ample opportunities to jack a few out of the park, they are also able to team up in various combinations and create inspired collective statements. Like the best midseason classics, ''The All-Star Game'' renews one's love of the game." An

All About Jazz ''All About Jazz'' is a website established by Michael Ricci in 1995. A volunteer staff publishes news, album reviews, articles, videos, and listings of concerts and other events having to do with jazz. Ricci maintains a related site, ''Jazz Near ...

article by Jeff Stockton stated: "Each of these players is an expert musician in every conceivable form of group interplay, from duos and trios to big bands, and ''The All-Star Game'' touches on all of them through improvisational creativity, disciplined restraint, or simple flat-out energy... The unifying vision here is hard blowing matched to equally hard swing, with the occasional relaxed passage to give us all a chance to catch our breath. For nearly 75 minutes they have at it, and not a single note is wasted." Dan Warburton, in a review for Paris Transatlantic, wrote: "The combined age of these five gentlemen may be well past 300, but any one of them could go the full fifteen rounds with the young cats and probably floor them with a hook to boot."

Track listing

All compositions by Marshall Allen, Hamid Drake, Kidd Jordan, William Parker, and Alan Silva. # "I" – 9:54 # "II" – 12:06 # "III" – 13:34 # "IV" – 11:16 # "V" – 11:33 # "VI" – 16:58

Personnel

– alto saxophone *

– tenor saxophone * William Parker – bass *

– bass *

– drums

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:All-Star Game 2003 live albums Marshall Allen albums Alan Silva albums William Parker (musician) live albums Hamid Drake live albums Live free jazz albums Eremite Records live albums