Fred Fred Anderson

Fred Anderson. Harrison Bankhead. Hamid Drake. For those in the know, that's practically a guarantee of a good performance and Timeless: Live at the Velvet Lounge doesn't disappoint. It captures the 75-year-old saxophone titan with his working trio, live on his home turf at Chicago's (and Anderson's) Velvet Lounge. Fred Anderson is a supremely melodic and patient improviser who is never short on ideas but is never in a rush to get them out. Combine that with an amazingly gifted and responsive rhythm section and you get pieces that are so inherently tuneful you might be surprised they're free improvisations. The whole performance is practically a non-stop series of highlights, although the title track alone might be worth the price of admission. The interplay between these players is simply amazing; improvised music doesn't get much better than this.

The Velvet Lounge was a door that Fred Anderson opened continuously for decades, an access point through which the human soul could enter and explore the organization and chaos of the cosmos. Through this door the spirits outside also came into our little system. When the exchanges happened, it made a sound of joy, like el: those of us who weren't there are lucky that recording devices were. It's a generation removed and still we can feel their presence from the record.

Blues on Blues has been defunct for quite some time, but Earwig restored Anderson's only album to digital print. It's a loose, informal affair, Anderson's raw vocals and swinging harp backed by an all-star crew: guitarists Robert Jr. Lockwood, Sammy Lawhorn, and Jimmie Lee Robinson; bassist Willie Black, and drummer Fred Below. Anderson only revived one Walter standard, having brought a sheaf of his own intermittently derivative material to the session (although he does take a stab at bluesifying Lester Young's jazz classic "Lester Leaps In").