A largely overlooked duo
improv date recorded on July 11, 1978, by the Danish
jazz impresario
Nils Winther,
Visions matches
Walt Dickerson's cool vibes with
Sun Ra's idiosyncratic piano in a way that shows both men's contrasting styles to surprisingly cohesive effect. This was not the first time
Dickerson and
Ra had recorded together; producer
Tom Wilson had used the duo on the
soundtrack of the 1966 film
Impressions on a Patch of Blue. This was their first extended series of duo
improvs, however, and each seems to know exactly when to let the other hog the spotlight for a while, as during the moment toward the end of the opening
"Astro," when
Dickerson lays out and lets
Ra launch into a two-fisted free solo. Similarly,
Ra leaves the extended opening of
"Utopia" almost entirely to
Dickerson, adding only a few explosive thumps and some
Paul Bley-style picking and strumming of the piano's strings to
Dickerson's graceful and melodic playing. Fans of
Sun Ra's outer space mythology and chanting lyrics will have to look elsewhere for their fun, but fans of
Ra's exceptionally gifted and distinctive
free jazz piano playing should be fascinated.
Dickerson, one of the few
jazz vibraphonists to have little audible debt to
Lionel Hampton, also plays with his characteristic exploratory but controlled style. The 1988 CD adds two bonus tracks from the LP sessions,
"Light Years" and
"Prophesy." ~ Stewart Mason
