Lebroba

In a striking follow-up to 2016’s The Declaration of Musical Independence, veteran drummer Andrew Cyrille joins guitarist Bill Frisell once again for Lebroba. But rather than a quartet with electronics, this outing features a sparse trio with no bass. It also sets a precedent as the first playing encounter of Frisell and avant-garde trumpet icon Wadada Leo Smith. Each player has his own history on the ECM label, and together they have a magical way of making those histories interweave: “Lebroba,” Cyrille’s bluesy, loping theme, is a portmanteau of Leland (Mississippi), Brooklyn, and Baltimore, the players’ birthplaces. The program is concise, with Smith’s multipart Alice Coltrane tribute being the most expansive piece. Frisell’s “Worried Woman,” originally from his Beautiful Dreamers album, opens in a tense minor key with floating rhythm, while Cyrille’s “Pretty Beauty” closes the set in a more pastoral and dreamlike mood.