Grass Roots

A quartet made up of some of the hardest working members of NYC's spirited free-jazz scene, Grass Roots take their moniker to heart. This collective of sax (Darius Jones on alto and Alex Harding on baritone), bass (Sean Conly) and drums (Chad Taylor) are all about egalitarian music making, incorporating the diverse backgrounds of the individual players yet striving to achieve an organic, soulful music that transcends singularity. On the surface, this is expressed in the tunes chosen on this, their debut release. Each player is credited with at least one track, while the group share credit on a pair of songs. Digging deeper, we bear witness to the hive mind in the music itself. A shared ecstasy shines forth in each second of this recording — these guys literally enjoy making music together and demonstrate such a powerful idea through the sounds they produce. What an amazing thing to celebrate.