For all his virtuosity as an "in" player – whether getting the funk on with Miles Davis or swinging his ass off with Keith Jarrett – drummer Jack DeJohnette has always had a wilder, freer side, simmering just below the surface. Here, in company with the men he learned with and from on the Chicago scene, DeJohnette lifts the lid and lets freedom reign, back up by masters of the art such as saxophonists Roscoe Mitchell and Henry Threadgill, bassist Larry Gray and, most particularly, pianist Muhal Richard Abrams (founder of the city's influential Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians). DeJohnette's Chicago summit reaffirms his own pre-eminence as a drummer for all seasons and his home town's importance to the development of creative music in America. propermusic. com