2002 release ** "With a curriculum vitae as one of the original New Thingers stretching back to 1960s membership in the New York Art Quartet (NYAQ) and an appearance on John Coltrane’s ASCENSION, reedman John Tchicai has never lacked for playing partners. Adapting orchestral sequencing plus variations on different ethnic musics to a formula that already reflected his Danish-Congolese background and American experience; Tchicai was a unique presence on the scene. Moving back and forth from Europe to the U.S., he was as apt to turn up on discs featuring Swiss pianist Irène Schweizer or South African bassist Johnny Dyani as Calfornian bassist Adam Lane or committed Asian-American improviser saxophonist Francis Wong. That’s why this temperate set of avant-bop is an anomaly. Recorded in 2001 in Denmark, it’s one of the few times in recent years that the saxophonist has hung with his homies. All of the 16 tunes, feature Tchicai on tenor saxophone and bass clarinet plus veteran associates bassist Peter Friis Nielsen and percussionist P.O. Jørgens, best known for their membership in the Pan-European Wild Mans Band with German saxophonist Peter Brötzmann and SKRÆP, a local experimental music forum. Half of the pieces pair the tenor saxophonist with multi-woodwind player Christian Kyhl, who in 1969 was part of Tchicai’s large Cadentia Nova Danica orchestra and who worked with Nielsen in the early 1980s. The other eight have a front line featuring Tchicai and alto saxophonist Laura Toxvæd, 41 years his junior, whose current reputation is limited to Copenhagen. In all, the CD showcases four generations of Danish improvisers.."