Don Pullen - New Beginnings (1989 US Blue Note Vinyl LP)

Don Pullen - New Beginnings | Vinyl LP - 1989 US Blue Note (B1-91785)

Pullen had one of the most identifiable techniques in jazz piano. He played clusters with the backs of his hands and his knuckles, rolling them across the keys in a way that turned the instrument into something closer to percussion. What separated him from most players working in that territory was that he never abandoned the other side of his playing. He had come up studying with Muhal Richard Abrams in Chicago's Experimental Band, made his recording debut with Giuseppi Logan in 1964, cut free duets with Milford Graves, and then spent years playing organ behind Big Maybelle and Ruth Brown in R&B bands. He worked with Nina Simone at the start of the 1970s, joined Charles Mingus's group, and co-led a quartet with George Adams for most of the 1980s. All of that is audible here.

"Jana's Delight" opens with a groove that would not frighten anyone, and then Pullen starts pulling at it. "Once Upon a Time" is the ballad. "Warriors" closes side A at the album's most intense. The title track on side B is the most immediately melodic thing here. "At the Café Centrale" follows, and then "Reap the Whirlwind" ends the record with the avant-garde flourishes fully unleashed. Peacock and Williams are perfectly cast for this. Neither is a timekeeper, both spent careers responding rather than accompanying, and Williams in particular pushes at Pullen throughout in a way that a more deferential drummer would not. Pullen went on to record Random Thoughts in 1990 and then formed the African-Brazilian Connection, and his final project before his death in 1995 attempted to fuse jazz with traditional Native American music.

This is the 1989 US pressing on Blue Note B1-91785.