April 2006

Thomas Tedesco
Thomas Tedesco and Ocean
Clarion Jazz

By Bill Milkowski

Like Bern Nix, James "Blood" Ulmer, Joe Morris and other Ornette Coleman-influenced guitarists, Thomas Tedesco has his own unique vocabulary that falls well outside the realm of your typical Berklee College of Music grad. Originally recorded in 1981, this raw, free-blowing affair by Tedesco and his band of West Coast renegades is bristling with interwoven lines between the guitarist and the wonderful trumpeter Bobby Bradford, and is underscored by a shifting, polyrhythmic pulse provided by drummer Onaje Sherman Ferguson and the humungous-toned bassist Roberto Miguel Miranda. Highlights include "The Doubleness of Three," which pits 5/4 against 7/8 with Tedesco's and Bradford's quicksilver lines dancing on top, the purely harmolodic showcase "The Azzier The Izz" and the extended three-part suite "Morning Tide," which features both Tedesco and Bradford stretching out into some daring territory. Devotees of "out" will want to check this one.