Jack DeJohnette’s Special Edition
Album Album

John Purcell alto and soprano saxophones
David Murray tenor saxophone
Howard Johnson tuba, saxophone
Rufus Reid bass
Jack DeJohnette drums, keyboards
Recorded June 1984 at Power Station, New York
Engineer: David Baker
Produced by Jack DeJohnette

Jack DeJohnette’s Album Album, an exercise in exuberance in memory of his late mother, opens with one of his most sophisticated compositions ever committed to disc: “Ahmad The Terrible.” With an engaging klezmer-like joie de vivre and fantastic soprano sax work from John Purcell, it’s a sheer delight from start to finish. The first of five DeJohnette originals, it leaps from the speakers like a body in motion. As if that weren’t jubilant enough, “Festival” stirs up a crowd’s worth of enthusiasm, made all the more inspiring through some notably spirited drumming. “New Orleans Strut” makes tongue-in-cheek use of drum machine as DeJohnette plays a synth lead (his pianism in the opener is also worth noting). Over this bubbly layer the punchy stylings of both reedmen work their way from the groove in most visible fashion. Such is also the case in “Third World Anthem,” another sophisticated peak. Playful whoops from horns add a strong emotional undercurrent toward the elegant staccato finish. “Zoot Suite” makes a welcome cameo, cut in half from its first appearance on Special Edition. The present rendition is delicate, but with no loss of groove to show for it. The one compositional outlier is “Monk’s Mood,” in which horns and bass dance cheek-to-cheek as if in an old Hollywood black-and-white. It also engenders the album’s only blatant lapse into unrequited joy through the baritone of Howard Johnson.

The glorious verve of DeJohnette and his band mates keeps us anchored amid a flurry of sonic activity and, alongside the tight bass work of Rufus Reid, allows little time for sadness. Here is a space in which mourning must wear a smile, where the self is always secondary to those one loves.