Gary McFarland & Steve Kuhn - The October Suite

Besides the odd album by Gil Evans in the mid-60's, one does not normally expect to stumble across a third stream classical-jazz experiment on the Impulse! label. Arranger and composer Gary McFarland's collaboration with introspective pianist Steve Kuhn The October Suite is one such exception. Most of the pieces were written specifically for Kuhn to improvise on, utilizing a piano trio accompanied by a small chamber music group. The first half of the album finds the trio enhanced by a string quartet. The second half features a woodwind quartet and harpist. While the first half of the disc is more tentative and searching, the second half has freer elements that border on an almost Tristano-esque kind of dissonant formalism. Not a typical album for either the label or the artist, but still a fascinating gem in its own right.