Echoes cover
Released

The sixth Fire! Orchestra release is their largest work to date, in every sense — sprawling across two CDs or three LPs and lasting nearly two hours, it’s performed by more than 40 musicians, mostly Scandinavian players as always but also including a guest appearance by American saxophonist Joe McPhee. The opening track, “I See Your Eye, Part 1,” features lush strings that could have come from an Isaac Hayes movie soundtrack, while “Forest Without Shadows” sets up an African-derived trance groove, and the closing “I See Your Eye, Part 2,” a reprise of the opener, McPhee delivers a poem about “the last of the late, great finger-wigglers” over Last Poets-style congas, with Fire! Orchestra leader Mats Gustafsson backing him on baritone sax. This is an epic musical journey, so settle in for the full two-hour ride.

Phil Freeman

Recommended by

Suggestions
Black Fire cover

Black Fire

Andrew Hill
Lebroba cover

Lebroba

Bill Frisell, Wadada Leo Smith, Andrew Cyrille
Sun on Sand cover

Sun on Sand

Joshua Redman, Brooklyn Rider, Patrick Zimmerli
The Music Of Wayne Shorter cover

The Music Of Wayne Shorter

Wynton Marsalis, Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra
Disrespectful cover

Disrespectful

Tim Lefebvre, JZ Replacement
Last Chance Disco cover

Last Chance Disco

Acoustic Ladyland
Away with You cover

Away with You

Mary Halvorson Octet
Inquatica cover

Inquatica

John Ettinger