As part of
Delmark Records' 50th anniversary celebration, the label has been issuing budget-priced compilations of some of its stellar offerings. Earlier in 2003, there were double CDs of
jazz and
blues followed by a host of single-disc compilations. This is one of the most satisfying, a single-disc overview of the Windy City's vanguard tradition as it bridges the passing and new centuries. Nothing on this set was recorded before 1993 (
Kahil El'Zabar's
Ritual Trio's
"Trane in Mind") and some was recorded as late as 2002 (guitarist
Jeff Parker's
"Holiday for a Despot"). In between are offerings from leader like
Ken Vandermark and his
Sound in Action Trio,
Ernest Dawkins' New Horizon Ensemble,
Malachi Thompson (who began to come into his own in the 1990s), and
Rob Mazurek with the
Chicago Underground. In addition, many of the leaders here -- such as
Mazurek,
Parker, and
Vandermark -- are part of other ensembles. From the smoking,
jump blues and
post-bop of
"Stranger" by the
Dawkins ensemble that clearly echoes the tradition while extending it beyond its imagination to the loping, Latin-tinged exotica of
Mazurek's
"Ostinato," to the
Afro-blues modalism of
El'Zabar's
"Trane in Mind" and
Thompson's
"An Elevated Cry," as well as sonic extrapolations aplenty when
Vandermark,
Parker, and the
NRG Ensemble use
jazz as a platform for a world of musical ideas, this collection is provocative, riveting, and quite accessible. If you are a looking for a way into the outside in general, or to survey the breadth and depth of Chicago's
jazz vanguard, this compilation is for you. ~ Thom Jurek
![Pharoah [Expanded Edition]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0680899800822_p0_v2_s90x140.jpg "Pharoah [Expanded Edition]")
