Mengelberg/Lacy/Lewis/Gorter/Bennink, Change of Season (side A)

Two years after they played Monk and Nichols tunes on Roswell Rudd's Regeneration LP, Mengelberg/Bennink/Lacy teamed up again to make Change of Season—7 Herbie Nichols tunes with Mengelberg as the nominal leader (it probably makes more sense to have a pianist the leader for a Nichols set than a trombonist). Change of Season is mostly a straight reading of the tunes, far closer in style to Regeneration than to 1987's Two Programs, where Mengelberg and Bennink radically rework Monk and Nichols tunes with their ICP Orchestra. The strangest thing for me is the contrast between the modern production style, with the bass and drums prominent, against the faithful performances of 1950s tunes. Hints of 30 years of freedom and evolution turn up, for example in the solos on "Hangover Triangle". The record mostly features great players paying fairly literal tribute to Nichols's work, which, despite its relative accessibility, remains overlooked 25 years after this LP came out. The cover art neither relates to nor flatters the music inside, and Arjen Gorter's first name is misspelled on the front cover.