1980 · Album
Black Paladins
Recorded 1979 · Black Saint · Personnel: Joseph Jarman (saxophone), Don Moye (percussion), Johnny Dyani (bass)
Two Masters in Urgent Conversation
Black Paladins was the Jarman/Moye duo's most successful effort, one of the most rewarding projects either was involved with outside of the Art Ensemble.
Black Paladins opens into sparse, deliberate space—Joseph Jarman's saxophone emerging from silence like a question posed in real time, while Don Moye's percussion enters not as rhythm section but as equal voice, sharp and architectural. This is not ensemble playing in the traditional sense. It's two musicians listening so hard to each other that the air between them becomes part of the music. Jarman moves between angular free playing and passages of surprising melody; Moye responds with texture, resonance, and surprising melodic sensibility of his own—vibes, marimba, and percussion layered to create harmonic depth you don't expect from a drummer. The presence of bassist Johnny Dyani anchors these conversations without constraining them, adding warmth and forward motion when needed.
Recorded in 1979 but released by the Italian Black Saint label, Black Paladins feels like a deliberate step away from the Art Ensemble's density and orchestration. Jarman and Moye strip down to essentials and find more space, not less. AllMusic reviewer Brian Olewnick awarded the album four and a half stars, calling it "a delicious recording"—and that word choice matters. There's pleasure here alongside the searching and the risk. The music swings when it wants to, disassembles when it needs to, and never settles into formula.
This is among the strongest work either musician made outside the Art Ensemble. If you know Jarman primarily through that context, this reveals him as a soloist with genuine curiosity and humor, unafraid of silence or strangeness. Start here if you want to hear what happens when master improvisers trust their ears completely.
