Consumer Guide Album

David Murray: Francesca [Intakt, 2024]
Eight tracks ranging between 6:09 and 10:54 featuring the greatest working tenor player and three sidepeople I'm not jazzed up enough to expatiate on. But they're all hyperactive and that's exciting not messy: Marta Sanchez on piano, Luke Stewart on bass, Russell Carter on drums. The music never stops moving around, and while I suppose it could be argued that Murray's virtuosity is too much an end in itself here, that kind of talk is for prigs. This kind of genuine ensemble is one of the things jazz is for. A-