Ezz-thetics

AOTY Recommended Albums #3 (1961)

For the next algorithm recommended album, we remain in the New York jazz sphere, this time checking out Ezz-Thetics by the George Russell Sextet. While the name George Russell didn't ring any bells for me, it's worth mentioning that he formed a pretty star-studded sextet here, most notably including Eric Dolphy, well-known for his 1964 opus Out to Lunch!

Ezz-Thetic is a fantastic song, and really the only one worth writing home about on here. Punctuated by some incredible saxophone playing by Eric Dolphy, this is a hectic and bustling piece, but it'll become pretty clear why this track is the namesake of the album.

Nardis—a Miles Davis composition—is a much slower, meandering piece with some great trombone playing, but it's certainly not as good as Ezz-Thetic. The rest of the album is honestly just boring, where apart from a few fleeting moments, the album fails to build on itself.

This is a decent album, but there's not really anything about it that stands out among other jazz albums of the time. George Russell really just seems content with having his album be just OK. The musicianship is great (especially the sax and bass), just seems held back by the uninsipired and undaring composition. It's unengaging, but not even in an interesting way. Where some other jazz albums can wow me with their experimentation, even if it does feel a little boring, this album has basic ideas without the composition to back it up. Just kinda lounge jazz.