John Tchicai

On Moonstone Journey, John Tchicai is joined by the young Danish avant-gardists of OK Nok Kongo. (The Danish expression "OK Nok" roughly translates as "A-OK," and "Kongo" is the African nation from which Tchicai's father hailed.) Together, the group and Tchicai set out to explore the space between comfort and unfamiliarity, between the known and the unknown. Tchicai's pieces (he wrote all but one) range from the bright, Ornette Coleman-style swing of "Moonstone Journey" and "Climbing the Mountain" to the abstraction of "The Frog and the Snake" and "Finding the Path." Somewhere in between falls the relatively relaxed, quasi-Latin groove that animates "A Chaos With Some Kind of Order" and "Holy Coordinator." "Spirals of Ruby" reveals yet another of Tchicai's facets: funk that could almost be classified as M-Base.

Highlights include altoist Peter Fuglsang's growling, swinging solo on the title cut, and guitarist Niclas Knudsen's Sonny Sharrock-like romp on "Finding the Path." Bassist Nils Davidsen is erroneously given solo credit on "The Frog and the Snake," but does fine work on "Hypothesis," along with Fuglsang on clarinet and Tchicai on tenor.

Aside from a curiously long space in between tracks, there's little with which to find fault. This music swings, grooves, and goes "out" in just the right proportion. And there's humor, too, although hopefully not unintentional. Throughout "A Chaos," several band members deliver cryptic spoken-word passages: "Footprints going east, some west/Giant steps going south, nine million prints going north/A chaos with some kind of order/ patterns in the sand made by you, by me, by dogs, cats, birds and other creatures/A chaos with some kind of order." ~ David R. Adler, All Music Guide