Which Way What / Scissor Bump / Covert / Circumspect / Spin / Wide Meander / Round Square / Which Way What. 73:34.

Brennan, as; Rachiim Ausar-Sahu, b; Acacio “Salero” Cardoso, d. 7/31/95.

There’s little to say about this album other than to recommend it very highly, which, I suppose, says a lot in itself. This is a lovely album. Brennan is a free altoist heavily under the influence of Ornette Coleman in his sound and phrasing, though with a more studied technique and less tonal harmonic conception. He’s an abstract expressionist with chops; Brennan passes my test of what constitutes a successful free player, mainly in that he’s utterly coherent in his free associative improvisations, and he imbues his music with a great deal of timbral and rhythmic variety. His compositions are fresh and quite original, giving direction to the group interplay, providing focus for the loosely swinging improvisations. Brennan’s trio-mates are fine players, as well - equal partners in the music’s egalitarian construct. Bassist Rachim Ausar-Sahu functions as the music’s fulcrum much of the time, as on the lengthy “Circumspect”, where he valiantly maintains the apparently very demanding odd-time vamp beneath the turmoil of Brennan’s solo and drummer Acacio Cardoso’s free accents. A lesser bassist might come unglued in the course of such a differently-structured, unrestrained improv, but Ausar-Sahu keeps things straight, absolutely. His solo later in the tune is a paradigm of improvised song. Drummer Cardoso is on the same very high level as the others, creating a vibrant rhythmic base above, below, and all around, doing an exceptional job in reading down Brennan’s spacious, enjoyably quirky tunes. Patrick Brennan’s a first-class saxophonist and composer, and his trio is one of the most interesting I’ve heard in some time.

Chris Kelsey
Page 87 Cadence - September 1996
Reprinted with permission from Cadence Magazine