The presumed last recording of the late, great percussionist Billy Higgins is an uneven though thoroughly creative two-disc affair recorded during the final months of Higgins' life. His longtime friend and compatriot, the saxophonist Charles Lloyd, convinced Higgins to expand his offerings to other instruments to coincide with the personal flavor of the album. What we often get is something much different than we have gotten before from one of the most respected musicians in the world.
After all was recorded, the material was ordered into eight "suites" with thematic titles like "What Is Man," "Desire," "Devotion," and "Surrender." Each section features four separate compositions in which, for the most part, the musicians are pared off. In the items that will appeal to jazz buffs, Lloyd sometimes plays alto sax, a change from the Coltranesque tenor he usually plays, perhaps to signify a "higher" sensibility on this album tinged with Eastern spirituality. Meanwhile, Higgins does what he did best--accompany and drive his mate's music. In this case, though, Lloyd is careful not to become the driving soloist; he seems to allow Higgins to dictate the music at crucial times using a wide assortment of percussion.
In other places, Higgins (for the first time) demonstrates his abilities on exotic percussion, guitar and voice--symbolizing this master's late-growing recognition of artistic freedom in the face of fatal odds. Those who have enjoyed the music each of these players have presented over the years will be challenged to appreciate the wider culture offered here, but may link to it emotionally as they respectfully allow this fine man one last musical statement before he met his God whom he searched for in his final years.
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