Three Masters in Conversation
Cyrille, Dresser, and Ehrlich trade ideas with the ease of musicians who trust each other completely.
C/D/E was recorded as a live session with Andrew Cyrille on drums, Mark Dresser on double bass, and Marty Ehrlich on woodwind. The three players entered the studio with minimal preparation, letting the instrumentation itself guide what would emerge. Cyrille's approach to rhythm here isn't timekeeper work — it's conversational, responding and challenging rather than anchoring. Dresser's bass moves between melodic statement and textural support, sometimes anchoring, often floating. Ehrlich moves across multiple woodwind voices, shifting color and density across tracks.
What makes this session distinctive is how little preconception shapes it. There are no head arrangements, no predetermined structures beyond a rough understanding of where to begin and end. This creates a specific tension: players responding in real time to choices made seconds before, building ideas that might dissolve or crystallize into longer forms. The album has the immediacy of a conversation where everyone is listening hard. It's not free jazz in the chaotic sense — there's clear purpose and direction — but it refuses the comfort of a predetermined map.
For Cyrille, this sits alongside his other small-group work, though the emphasis here on genuine three-way dialogue makes it distinct from trio recordings built around a bandleader's vision. It's not a starting point for newcomers to his work, but it's essential for anyone wanting to hear him operate outside traditional rhythmic roles. The session captures something vital about how experienced improvisers think together.
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