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Whenever I begin to think that there can be no more innovation in jazz (as opposed to compelling reiteration of styles already developed), along comes a concert performance or recording that dispels the notion. Such is the case with Four in One, a truly exceptional (indeed breathtaking) work.
Pianist Misha Mengelberg understands, first, his instrument. He can pose elegant, one hand single note lines; he can take the music out; he can appreciate Monk’s design mastery; and he can blend into a quartet’s ambience. And he also understands jazz history. Coupled with trumpeter Dave Douglas as the front line of this foursome, he begins by freakishly re-inventing bop on "Hypochristmutreefuzz," a piece redolent of (in name and setting) such strange bop titles as "Klaktoveesedstene."
But Mengelberg and companions (including the excellent percussionist Han Bennink) do more. They take advantage of free jazz on "Reef;" they rethink (with appropriate homage to the inventor and with delicious deviations) the music of Thelonious Monk on the title work which starts in a free-jazz frenzy of piano and percussion and then flowers into a slightly-bent Monkishness (Monk would have never selected the notes Mengelberg does, but Mengelberg’s selection process derives directly from Monk and Bennink’s drumming is nothing short of marvelous in its individuality). Likewise with two other Monk classics ("Monk’s Mood" and "Criss Cross") as they successfully cavort across the landscape/soundscape of modern jazz.
Throughout this, Douglas is the epitome of the modern jazz trumpeter—knowledgeable in jazz tradition, he uses that as a base for an expansive language filled with smears as old as jazz and as modern as today and with buzzing speed and varied tones, and with uncannily creative improvisation. And, simply evaluating the Monk pieces, two comments apply—first, that this is the most visionary rethinking of Monk to have occurred in the past fifty years; and, second, one could spend an entire essay dissecting the group’s varied approach to these classics.
This CD has excerpts where the musicians lapse into summer park bandstand motifs, a tongue-in-cheek portrayal of popular music that leaves this listener cold. But those moments disappear quickly, and leave this an outstanding work of modern jazz and the gold standard for 2002.
— Jules Epstein, April 2002
Release Date: 19 March 2002
Four in One (Songlines)
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last update 15 April 2002