Jimmy Lyons looked in all directions, and even found motivation in the spirit of swing models like Jimmie Lunceford and Chick Webb in “Jump Up” (could Sunny Murray be Cozy [Cole]?; his strength is still his sound, his percussive line as individual as with Taylor, his cymbal work as insistent as with Ayler) as a spur to his Sufi-like soloing, and incanta- tion of repeated phrases that release tension by flying off into the unknown. Lyons inspired by and invoking Lunceford and Webb, no more or less than Taylor and Ayler, Elmo and Bird, Lindberg and Murray, all whirling together now in memory, in timeless Time, in this music. — Art Lange |