James Zitro was the percussionist on Sonny Simmons’ 2d album on ESP. When he was invited to produce his own album for ESP, he chose Seattle native Bert Wilson, and Michael Cohen, who doubled as a lawyer in San Francisco.
For his debut as a leader, drummer James Zitro leads a couple of lengthy blowouts ("Freeken" and "Happy Pretty"), plus the dense "Fourth." With altoist Allan Praskin, tenor saxophonist Bert Wilson, trumpeter Warren Gale, pianist Michael Cohen and bassist Bruce Gale keeping the ensembles quite crowded, these mostly free-form performances will be seen as either fascinating or monotonous, depending on one's viewpoint. |