One symptom of the torrent of new releases in creative music is that you rarely have time to look back. There’s always too many new releases to ever stay current, which is doubly true when you look at the discography of a prolific musician like Ivo Perelman. I’m frankly not sure how many albums Ivo Perelman has released in total, but as of 2021, it was over a hundred. Who can keep up? Personally, my connection to Perelman has mostly been limited to his excellent (and frequent) collaborations with Matthew Shipp. I can always listen to another album by these two (for example don’t miss the most recent, May 2024’s Magical Incantation). But frankly, I’ve never spent much time with Perelman’s non-Shipp records, even though I remember buying 1991’s The Children of Ibeji at Tower Records when the album was new and being aware of Perelman since. Maybe the ever-present glut of new music is to blame for me not keeping up with Perelman, but whatever the cause, it’s long overdue for me to do a deeper exploration of the music of this great tenor saxophonist.
So I was very excited to learn that as part of Burning Ambulance’s reissue campaign of the huge Leo Records catalog, all 68 (!) of Perelman’s albums recorded for Leo are being rereleased, with the first 20 already having come out on April 4. The plan is to release another 20 on May 2, then another 20 in June, and the last 8 in July. If you go to https://ivoperelmanleo.bandcamp.com/music, you can track the progress of this project and preview the albums before you decide to buy. Exciting stuff!
So this was the perfect excuse for me to see what I’ve been missing. The first crop of 20 starts with Sad Life, a burning free jazz trio of Perelman with Rashied Ali and William Parker, released in 1997. The last of this first round of 20 is from 2012 with a classic Perelman/Shipp outing with drummer Whit Dickey, The Clairvoyant. The Perelman albums released on Leo (from these first 20) range from experiments with string writing, duets with drummers, trios with drums and guitar or bass, and even an album where Perelman plays cello instead of sax. What jumps out first while listening through this bounty is sheer variety – for example, none of these albums uses the same configuration twice. Even the one pair with the same personnel – the trio of Perelman with Gerald Cleaver and Joe Morris on both Family Ties and Living Jelly – sound vastly different from one another just by moving Joe Morris from bass to guitar for Living Jelly (more on this below).
The variety of settings is matched by the variety in Perelman’s playing itself. I think the key lies in at least two factors – first there’s Perelman’s command of his instrument. Perelman’s virtuosity takes his sound and ideas to wherever the music and his imagination lead – to me; it’s the real meaning of virtuosity – getting to the place where there’s no barrier between idea and execution. As a consequence, I don’t really hear Perelman repeating himself, which is another remarkable achievement when you document yourself so much. Also, Perelman shows throughout these records that he’s a great listener who treats music as a collaborative exercise – and I think that affects his sound too; sometimes his playing will go far “out” and stay there if that’s where his bandmates are at. Other times, there may be a setting that makes Perelman play in a melodic and sonorous zone, and all of a sudden, the tenor sound can be surprisingly reminiscent of Sonny Rollins. In many ways, I’m a new listener to Perelman, and these are just my subjective impressions, but I’m hearing both an authoritative command of his materials and the humility to let the music come first and put listening and collaboration before ego. That’s a mix that produces a lot of good music, and I have not heard a clunker in this bunch of Leo releases so far!
I admitted above that I didn’t know a lot of the non-Shipp Perelman material, and it turns out I had never heard any of these first 20 albums before, until now. I’m still listening, but I would like to share with you the ones that particularly impressed me and that I think you need to check out:
Ivo Perelman – Brazilian Watercolour
(Recorded at Systems Two Studio, Brooklyn, NY [duos with Matthew Shipp recorded 1/1996; balance recorded 1999; released 1999)
Ivo Perelman – Sad Life
(Recorded live to two-track June 18, 1996 at Systems Two, Brooklyn, NY, released 1996)
These two releases are classics, but there is no need for me to re-invent the wheel when Burning Ambulance head honcho Phil Freeman covered these in his Substack page. It’s remarkable how different these two albums are: Sad Life is roaring, flat-out free jazz, while Brazilian Watercolour is a fascinating hybrid that takes Brazilian songs and sounds and carries them to a new place of experimentation and free improvisation. Both are very highly recommended.
Ivo Perelman/Joe Morris/Gerald Cleaver – Family Ties
(Recorded at Park West Studios, Brooklyn, NY, November 2011, Released January 2012)
One of the biggest surprises for me was this date with drummer Gerald Cleaver and underrated guitarist/bassist (he plays bass here) Joe Morris. I’d never heard of this title before, but it’s killer. The first thing to do is set aside 25 minutes and listen to the tour-de-force track “Love.” Here, the sound of Perelman’s sax is just a bit more inside, all the better for inviting the listener into interactions where Perelman, Cleaver, and Morris share equal space and creative input. Over the course of close to a half hour, the material is generated and then developed spontaneously, though there’s nothing haphazard: the playing is both razor-sharp and open and loose, a place you only get to at the highest level. Words can’t depict this trio’s ever-changing and kaleidoscopic shifts and turns on “Love” – you’ll just have to hit play, but I guarantee by the last notes you’ll know you’re in a different place. While the rest of Family Ties does not quite hit the heights of “Love,” there’s consistently top-notch playing by three of the great avant-gardists of that time and ours.
Ivo Perelman/Joe Morris/Gerald Cleaver – Living Jelly
(Recorded at Park West Studios, Brooklyn, NY, December 2011, Released October 2012)
If you don’t know Joe Morris, after you’ve listened to Family Ties, it’s time to dive into Living Jelly. Sorry for the pun, but Morris’s guitar playing is the difference maker here, and the sound of Living Jelly is built around Morris’ clean but intricate lines. Morris gets plenty of room to stretch out, and this is a great place to appreciate one of the great guitar stylists of creative music. Each of the tracks takes a different approach with contrasting rhythmic and thematic approaches. My favorite is the closing title track, where Cleaver builds swelling polyrhythms on the whole kit, Morris locks into the web of percussion with bubbling intensity, and Perelman soars over the top. A rousing end to an effective and unique album.
The Ivo Perelman Quartet – Sieiro
(Recorded at Hillside Studio, March 1998; Released Nov. 1999)
Some of the most fascinating albums out of this first crop of 20 feature Perelman with strings. Phil Freeman also wrote a post spotlighting Perelman’s collaboration with the C.T. String Quartet called The Alexander Suite and The Passion According To G.H. with the Sirius Quartet. Those are both terrific for all the reasons that Freeman says, but I was especially taken with Sieiro, which has Perelman digging into his expressive middle range against Tomas Ulrich’s cello and stalwart bassist Dominic Duval mostly sticking to arco. Jay Rosen complements the higher-range sound palette by concentrating on cymbals. On standout tracks like “Rush Hour” and “The Link” the strings aggressively clash with Perelman’s high tenor, creating a vicious pent-up energy. Some of Sieiro sounds like the meetings of Julius Hemphill and Abdul Wadud, with sax against strings that are both bluesy and surreal. I’m not sure Sieiro is acknowledged as a late 90’s jazz masterpiece, but this is one I’ll be returning to often.
Ivo Perelman – Introspection
(Recorded at Systems Two Studio, Brooklyn, NY, July 2005)
Another big surprise in going through Perelman’s Leo discography from this period is some of the surprising gaps. While Perelman recorded 10 albums for Leo from June 1996 to June 2001, that outpouring is followed by a sudden pause; the next album for Leo comes four years later with Introspection, recorded July 2005. Then the next recordings for Leo are three years after that. Perelman did record a couple of albums for other labels in this period, but not much. A very unusual break from such a prolific artist! A clue as to why comes from a 2006 review for All About Jazz, which notes that Perelman was concentrating on painting (he’s also a visual artist, and the Leo albums largely feature his paintings on the covers).
Whatever the reason, the album Introspection is a fascinating document of a time when Perelman was recording a lot less. This album also continues the theme of strings because the album’s highlight is the interactions with violinist and vocalist Rosie Hertlein. She’s new to me and is fantastic here – the main draw is the creative language of the sax and violin – sometimes Perelman will introduce an idea, sometimes Hertlein will, and each time they will shape, echo, and transform those ideas in real-time, each time sending the music into another direction. All the tracks of this album are dominated by this sort of active listening, and again Perelman’s process of centering dialogue and collaboration is very apparent. Introspection is a great one that you might overlook. I’d be remiss not to mention that the always-wonderful Dominic Duval is once again the bassist, and Newman Taylor Baker plays drums on a few of the tracks.
Ivo Perelman Quartet – The Hour Of The Star
(Recorded at Park West Studios, Brooklyn, NY, September 20, 2010)
Maybe I saved the best for last. I mentioned above the Perelman/Shipp discography is one of the glories of modern improvisation, but there’s actually no Perelman with Shipp recorded for Leo until 2010’s The Hour Of The Star (the Shipp tracks on Brazilian Watercolor were extra material recorded for the 1996 Cadence Jazz release Bendito of Santa Cruz but not issued at the time). A contemporaneous review calls this a “newly formed quartet,” and everything that makes Perelman and Shipp special when they’re together is in place on the four tracks where Shipp plays. The other two tracks are the same trio as Family Ties – Joe Morris on bass and Gerald Cleaver on drums. If anything, these bandmates sound even more definitive here. The music is amped up and intense throughout – everybody is active and interactive, and all of the musicians, whether in trio or as a quartet, contribute to the well of sound and ideas at a breathtaking pace. Naturally I’m keen on the tracks with Shipp – the title track has Shipp contributing his trademark rumbling block chords (he sounds like he’s just taking this piano apart), and it drives Perelman to an absolute fever pitch, with Morris and Cleaver stoking a fire underneath. “The Right to Protest” and “Whisting In the Dark” are quieter but no less distinctive, with Perelman and Shipp probing and listening, taking asides and circling back around, and constantly in dialogue. It’s simply iconic music and an incredible date.
Of course, that’s just seven of the first twenty Perelman Leo albums to be rereleased, and we’re on the eve of another twenty to come – Burning Ambulance has announced the following twenty Perelman/Shipp titles available for pre-order on Bandcamp. I hope you find great music here, and like I said, that’s just the beginning to a whole lot of listening.
While you’re absorbing these great albums recorded a couple decades ago, keep in mind that Perelman continues to be on a tear of putting out new and fascinating music. One release to note out June 20, 2025, on TAO Forms is Armageddon Flower, which is Perelman with the Matthew Shipp String Trio (Mat Maneri and William Parker). I can’t wait for this one – Shipp has made some of my favorite music ever with his String Trio (the group debut on Hat Hut is a classic), and the addition of Perelman is sure to be great. I plan to cover Armageddon Flower, other recent Perelman albums, and more of the Leo rereleases soon. I hope you’ll evaluate, re-appraise, or simply enjoy some great modern music from the fabulous improviser and collaborator – Ivo Perelman!
Listen to Ivo Perelman on the Radio!
On my WVKR Vassar College radio show, “Where Is Brooklyn?” I’ll be playing the music I discussed in this post and more, which I plan to do over three shows. So tune in if you can – I know it’s a bit challenging at Eastern Standard Time because the show airs in the early AM on Tuesday morning (5AM) and Saturday morning (2AM). If you can join me, WVKR is 91.3 FM on the radio in the Hudson Valley near Poughkeepsie, or wvkr.org everywhere else. Here are the shows I have planned and when they will air:
1) Ivo Perelman on Leo Records, Part 1: Saturday, May 3, 2025, at 2AM.
2) Ivo Perelman on Leo Records, Part 2: Tuesday, May 6, 2025, at 5AM.
3) Recent music by Ivo Perelman: Saturday, May 10, 2025, at 2AM.
If you can’t make it, I’m looking into a way of archiving these shows for listening in the future. Thanks for reading and listening!