ZETRO

ZETRO

Zetro by James Zetro, ESP-Disk Cuts: Freekin', Happy Pretty, Fourth. Personnel: Bert Wilson, tenor sax; Allan Praskin, alto sax; Warren Gale, trumpet; Michael Cohen, piano; Bruce Cole, bass; Zetro, drums.

Zetro. is insane. On Freekin' he has everyone play the same melody, but not at the same time— one horn lags behind the other and it’s really Weird. Zetro is avant-garde, which you could tell without listening to the music-from the album jacket, from the fact that it’s an ESP-Disk, from the titles and lengths of the songs. And Zetro’s a drummer, which means that if you don’t have a propensity toward that particular vehicle of music-making then you are going to be put off.

I’Ve never heard of any of the people on this record and it makes one wonder how many fellow madmen are being obscured in some musky loft in New York. Or Detroit^,Or any other Ghost Town,. USA.

Freekin' is doo-da music. Screaming your ass off and daring sQmeoner to ask you what it means. It means I’m alive, man. Isn’t if wonderful? It’s bizarre that both this and Miles Davis music is called “jazz”. It implies an almost instinctive need to" allow only a minimum ojf possibilites. Must catagorize. Though I suppose that all trumpets look the same when you hold them in your hands. Except Dizzy’£ v

Happy Pretty Sounds like one of those nameless things you hum when you walk down the street fancy-free and all. Only played very loud by six maniacs. It’s Wilson’s tune and he’s featured. He sounds a lot like Trane which is just fine. Trumpeter Gale rips through his “changes” like Dan Ayler; but his range seems wider, i.e., more contrasts in his phrasing. Praskin’s sax sounds alot like Wilson’s tenor, only higher and faster. But then we’re all basically the same inside, right? Only some of us are higher and faster. Pianist Cohen seems a bit more conventional; More normal references such as black chords, repetition of minute phrases to build tension. Zetro’s solo is a continuation .'.of' the barrage. Often when a drummer solos it seems like everything stops, or at least cools off a few degrees. But Zetro is a very busy.man. Toward the end, Happy \ Pretty reaches an even higher level than at the beginning. You could be busted for playing-this record too loud.

Fourth is by pianist Cohen, like the other two songs, if moves in many directions at once , as many dir e c t i on $ as th e re ar e typographical: errors., in this magazine. Almost as many. But Cohen seems more interested iri\ Coloring than chaos. It’s rather brief and at thC_.end yop hear a voice (C ohen’s?) s asking the engineer “Was thart five minutes?,” To which the engineer replies “About four and a half.” Tbe song is five minutes, five seconds/long.