Priestesses

This is a well-merited reissue of some Mussorgsky rarities by one of his most intelligent and forceful modern champions, Claudio Abbado. Four of them (orchestrated by the indefatigable Rimsky-Korsakov) are real collectors' items—an entrancing priestesses' chorus from Act 4 of Salammbo (they seem to have a drop of Polovtsian blood in their veins), a vehement chorus, Joshua, also originating in Salammbo and with a languorous middle section, The destruction of Sennacherib, and a less distinguished temple chorus which is all that survives of Oedipus in Athens.

The final version of drummer/composer Jack DeJohnette's Special Edition bands sports a unique sound, on the verge of M-Base, and artfully driven due to saxophonists Greg Osby and Gary Thomas. Their tart sweet sounds are as much a part of the identity of this group as anything, and DeJohnette adds his own personal brand of funk and swing to the proceeding, making for an exciting and vital original music. Bassist Lonnie Plaxico, straight off the bandstand with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, keeps things briskly moving along, while Michael Cain plays a lot of acoustic piano, and some modified electric keyboards, to further separate this Special Edition from the others.

Jack DeJohnette has played with almost all the architects of modern jazz history, from the members of the AACM to Coltrane, Miles, Rollins, Ornette Coleman and Bill Evans and is, of course, currently a member of the world's most celebrated piano trio, Keith Jarrett's "Standards" band. For a quarter-century the drummer has also been a bandleader in his own right. Oneness joins a line of distinguished groups that includes New Directions and Special Edition and is perhaps Jack's most all-embracing unit to date: its members share the leader's utopian vision of a multi-directional music that includes, but is not limited to, jazz. The heart of the band is the uncanny rhythmic alliance between DeJohnette and Don Alias, first tested on Miles's innovative On The Corner and revitalized on the road with Herbie Hancock's The New Standard project.