PERELMAN, IVO/SHIPP, MATTHEW/PARKER, WILLIAM/KAPP, BOBBY - Ineffable Joy (Sealed) (CD)

Prolific tenor saxophonist Ivo Perelman wanted to be on ESP, because ESP's 1967 Gato Barbieri album In Search of the Mystery was an important record for Perelman, both being South American tenorists of an avant bent. So it is no coincidence that the drummer on In Search of the Mystery, Bobby Kapp (who's also on Noah Howard's second ESP-Disk', At Judson Hall (1968)), mans the kit for the present album. For that matter, the bassist, William Parker, made his recorded debut on ESP as well, playing on Frank Lowe's Black Beings (1973). And Perelman has a twenty-three year /thirty-three-and-counting-albums collaboration with pianist Matthew Shipp, who's been associated with ESP since 2015. Kapp and Shipp are on Perelman's 2017 Leo album Tarvos, Parker and Shipp have made multiple albums with Perelman, and this is even the second time out for this quartet, after 2017's Heptagon (Leo). Somehow, though, their interplay remains fresh. Of course each player has particular gestures and general textures that recur from time to time, but like a kaleidoscope, each turn finds familiar elements recombinating into new patterns. Parker, Perelman, and Shipp frequently interweave spontaneous melodies of dazzling complexity. The free-bop of the rhythm section introduction to Jubilation is an unexpected delight. Kapp's skittering accents throughout are a lesson in setting a pulse without being obvious about it, with Bliss being a prime example. Exuberance crowns the album in particularly ecstatic fashion, the four players' unique and distinctive styles coming together in an exultant expression of creative freedom that's communicative and accessible.