1996 · Album
The October Revolution
Recorded October 22, 1994 · Evidence Music · Venue: Fez Room under the Time Cafe, New York City · Format: Live recording
Four Voices Honoring a Festival's Legacy
A quartet of musicians who had never played together before created something surprisingly coherent and full of energy.
On October 22, 1994, four musicians entered the Fez Room under the Time Cafe in New York City to honor Bill Dixon and the October Revolution in Jazz festival on its 30th anniversary. Rashied Ali on drums, Borah Bergman on piano, Joe McPhee on saxophone, and Wilber Morris on bass had not rehearsed together. This was a real-time collaboration built on mutual respect and deep listening, the kind that only works when everyone in the room understands how to give space and take it.
The two long tracks that dominate the album show a quartet moving through open, searching terrain. McPhee's saxophone refuses easy answers—jagged and direct one moment, lyrical the next. Bergman's piano works in counterpoint, sometimes sparse, sometimes thick with chords that ground the exploration. Ali and Morris lock in tight, the rhythm section giving the horns room to breathe without drifting. AllMusic reviewer Scott Yanow noted the music was "quite coherent, full of energy, and worth a few listens" given that these players had never met before. The album closes with a shorter piece featuring the Myra Melford Trio, with Lindsey Horner and Tom Rainey, a different energy entirely—tighter, more composed, but still rooted in the same spirit of looking forward.
This is a live document without pretense. The recording captures musicians doing what jazz demands: listening, responding, building something together in real time. It matters less as a polished statement and more as evidence of what happens when skilled improvisers gather to celebrate a legacy.
Who's playing
Wilber Morrisbass
Lindsey Hornerbass
Borah Bergmanpiano
Myra Melfordpiano
Rashied Alidrums
Tom Raineydrums
Joe McPheewind instruments
Where next?
More by Rashied Ali
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Duo Exchange 1973
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Brazilian Watercolour 1999
Swift Are the Winds of Life 1975
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N.Y. Ain't So Bad: Ali Plays The Blues 1975
The musicians on this record
Their own records, close in time
