John Carter/Bobby Bradford
Mosaic Select No 36
(Mosaic, 3 CDs)
Saxophonist/clarinettist John Carter and trumpeter Bobby Bradford were close acquaintances and kindred spirits of free jazz iconoclast Ornette Coleman. Like Coleman, they were rooted in Texan rhythm and blues and used tricky themes and boppish rhythms to launch free improvisations.
But while Coleman took his quartet to New York, Carter and Bradford stayed in unjustifiable Californian obscurity, leaving a handful of sought-after albums. This recommended posthumous set collects the two CDs-worth of assured small-group recordings they made for Revelation and adds a somewhat abstract, previously unissued, later duet.