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Haha, but seriously. Did y'all check out In Movement last year? DeJohnette, Ravi Coltrane, and Matthew Garrison trio album. Matthew Garrison is the son of Coltrane Sr.'s bassist Jimmy Garrison, and I think DeJohnette played with Coltrane Sr, but I'm not sure about on wax though. Anyway, it was my fav jazz album last year. There's something about free-jazz, drum-bass-sax trios that just gets me (Garrison plays electric guitar too on there and DeJohnette also plays piano on some joints). I don't know why.
But his discography as leader and sideman is a who's who of free/avant-garde jazz musicians, starting of course with Miles. Special Edition (1979), I think, is his critics-approved classic album as leader. I'd actually recommend starting with records with him as sideman, playing on records by Miles, Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard, Miroslav Vitous, Alice Coltrane, and Keith Jarrett (I'm not a fan of Jarrett but I know other folks are). There's a few straight-ahead jazz albums too that are dope with Bill Evans (there was only one recorded live album until some unreleased material from the Evans-Gomez-Dejohnette trio was put out last year and this year) and a more recent 2004 album, The Life of Song, with Geri Allen (RIP).
I discover new DeJohnette shit every now and then. I recently just found a string of late '60s Charles LLoyd-led records with DeJohnette on drums and Keith Jarrett on piano...some boundary pushing hard bop with beginning elements of free/fusion. So, I been playing those records on my iPod as of late.
He's my favorite jazz drummer of all time, if that hasn't come across to y'all yet. Does he get mentioned in conversations on Tony Williams or Elvin Jones? I don't think he does, but I'm not knowledgeable enough to know the answer. But it seems like the heights of his career came when playing fusion, so the critics haven't or don't talk about him the way they do Williams or Jones. A shame if my suspicions are true.
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