Beat Degeneration

An OM and a wink

     

This album's just fantastic - it generates a real spontaneous flow, in the sense of the recent book by that name. Close your eyes while listening to it and you'll picture yourself at an underground club somewhere late at night, deep in the East Village. Or maybe Paris, or Berlin, or Barcelona - you get the picture. A big OM runs through this set, a kind of ecstatic background hum. And a wink - a sideways glance, a hint of irony, a big joke or cosmic giggle or goof. You might note my language here - this album is well titled. I might even compare the feeling of it to early-70's Grateful Dead - a kind of revelatory spontaneous combustion that generates a spiritual feeling without laying it on too thick, and always with a sense of humor. I might also compare it to the blissed-out feeling of late '60s Miles Davis, whose "In a Silent Way" is quoted extensively in the second track. But those comparisons are based on the feelings the music generates, not the forms or harmonic structures, which are obviously way more complex than the Dead, and quite different in character than Miles. The main point - this album is a true late-night groove that will provide deep satisfaction to two audiences: serious jazz listeners on the one hand, and jam-band enthusiasts on the other.