Frank Wright - Your Prayer

180-gram vinyl

After the sheer scorch of Frank Wright's debut album, The Frank Wright Trio, the sequel finds Wright fronting a whole new band and focusing on the strengths of each player. That's good, as this band contains some overlooked names who in fact were amongst the great innovators of this time. One is Muhammad Ali, who would become a valuable ally to Wright over a number of years, who was an exceptional drummer somewhat overshadowed by his brother, Rashied Ali.

Jacques Coursil was a compositional master and a truly unique voice on trumpet to boot. He'd just recorded a debut album on ESP that, unfortunately given the strengths of his two later Actuel albums, has never seen the light of day. He was working a lot with Bill Dixon yet was clearly his own player, and any opportunity to hear more works from him should be taken. Arthur Jones never even got a shot at an ESP disk, and his two albums (one a duo with Claude Delcloo) on Actuel are real treats. Here, he plays like he's about to own the world, and his opening composition, "The Lady," is something special, starting with the horns all gathered round and then leading outward into the solos. There's also an extraordinary bassist, Steve Tintweiss, who was never recorded enough, but who is a joy to hear throughout the album.

And at the front of it all is Wright himself. Make no mistake, this album continues with the debut's focus on fire, but it gets rearranged a bit here. For one, the album is divided between three seven minute-ish tracks on side one, and then a very long side two featuring tracks at 13 and 16 minutes, approximately. That opener, "The Lady," is easily the most composed track of the group, yet the sheer ability of the musicians means that there are a lot of dynamics. Also, everyone gets a turn.

Ultimately, Your Prayer continues down the free jazz road while also signaling that Wright was looking to be more expansive and utilize a greater range. All of this would come to pass once he and Ali teamed up with Bobby Few and, especially, Noah Howard, a partnership that would begin with the next record. Meanwhile, wander over here for almost an hour and let this pick up band melt your mind a bit.

Musicians:
Frank Wright, tenor saxophone
Arthur Jones, alto saxophone
Jacques Coursil, trumpet
Steve Tintweiss, bass
Muhammad Ali, drums

Side A

1. The Lady

2. Train Stop

3. No End

Side B

1. Fire of Spirits

2. Your Prayer

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