Lebroba is a true union of seasoned talent; even the name ‘Lebroba’ is an amalgamation of the Leland/Brooklyn/Baltimore hometowns of the three principals involved in this special meeting. Andrew Cyrille leads guitarist Bill Frisell and trumpet maestro Wadada Leo Smith in a meeting of originative minds who were all breaking ground thirty years ago and continue to today.
Frisell and Cyrille first got together for Cyrille’s ECM Records debut The Declaration Of Musical Independence (2016), but Cyrille and Smith go way back to the early 70’s, eventually making records together as members of John Lindberg’s quartet at the turn of the millennium. Interestingly, Lebroba marks the first intersection of the iconic guitarist with the iconic trumpeter.
Frisell lends his song “Worried Woman,” which first appeared on his Beautiful Dreamers LP with a completely different kind of trio. Here, the wide open spaces provide fertile ground for Smith’s thoughtful ruminations on Frisell’s melody with Cyrille applying a time signature that’s only vaguely implied.
Smith’s “Turiya: Alice Coltrane Meditations and Dreams: Love” is one of his epic, multi-sectioned tributes to a musical hero. Cyrille’s tom patters on the second phase is subtly sublime, and Frisell’s tones perfectly compliment it, all this happening behind Smith’s pure, piercing trumpet lines. Later, Frisell assumes harmonic control, making a lot of impact with a lean footprint, something all three are masters at doing. But the apex comes when Cyrille is left alone to fashion timbres and beats that are wholly his own, turning his drum set into a tonal instrument of endless peculiarities.
A blues overhang pervades “Lebroba,” but also a jam-like atmosphere and the lack of bass puts the interaction between Frisell and Cyrille in sharp relief. “TGD” is the only song credited to all three participants and given the randy nature of it, it’s plainly a group improvisation piece. Frisell’s fuzz-tone and loop pedals come out, but leaves plenty of room for Cyrille to do his hit-hat/snare machinations; Smith spars for a bit but judiciously picks and choose his spots. With Smith’s opulent muted trumpet and the understated gracefulness coming from Cyrille and Frisell, “Pretty Beauty” is a spiritual sibling to the Miles Davis/Bill Evans classic ballad “Blue In Green.”
Credit producer Sun Chung for pulling Cyrille, Smith and Frisell together into a studio for this special date while they’re all still at the peak of their powers. Lebroba is a solid entry in Andrew Cyrille’s lengthy catalog, and could be considered the same for Wadada Leo Smith and Bill Frisell, too.
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