For the 24th Mosaic Select box set of reissues from the Blue Note vaults, series producer Michael Cuscuna has chosen five recordings in a seven-year span from 1985-1991 by drummer/bandleader Tony Williams. Note that this is not the complete Tony Williams on Blue Note, excluding his sessions after having left the Miles Davis Quintet, especially Life Time, Spring, and his sideman work with Jackie McLean, Eric Dolphy, and Sam Rivers. The complete latter-period group recordings included are Foreign Intrigue, Civilization, Angel Street, Native Heart, and The Story of Neptune. All are solidly in the modern mainstream post-bop mode, featuring the forceful, driving drumming of Williams, and all the sets feature the brilliant pianist Mulgrew Miller with Miles devotee trumpeter Wallace Roney. Tenor and soprano saxophonist Bill Pierce is paired on the sides except Foreign Intrigue. Ron Carter, Charnett Moffett, and Ira Coleman are the bassists, with Robert Hurst making a cameo on three tracks. These are individualistic, solid players, giving Williams the opportunity to not only jam with the best, but write music geared toward their personalized sounds and stances. Four of the five sessions were done in New York City; only Civilization was done elsewhere, in Los Angeles. Of the 38 selections, four are unaccompanied drum solos, and three are covers or standards. There are a few waltzes and no ballads as one might expect, though Miller's piano rhapsodically introduces two tracks. The remainder are original compositions of Williams. Give the drummer some credit, as a total musician and composer. The recordings are programmed in chronological order, starting with Foreign Intrigue, which likely is overall the best of the lot. Williams introduces some of these compositions and utilizes his acoustic kit with a drum machine and electronic drums. There are some classics on this one, like the title track, the hard bopper "Clearways," the cool bluesy "Takin' My Time," and the loping by-now standard "Sister Cheryl." Bobby Hutcherson's presence on vibes truly uplifts this session, as does Donald Harrison's alto sax, the only alto on the compilation.
Civilization also uses a bit of drum machine, but not much. The happy, cartoonish melody on "The Slump" is a melodic standout. "Mutants on the Beach" (part of the repertoire of Herbie Hancock's V.S.O.P. quintet tribute to Miles Davis that included Williams) and a hard bopping "Warrior" deliver Williams and his band at full force. The gorgeous, serene "Soweto Nights" is a piece everyone should revisit. Angel Street includes three of the solo drum pieces, while the highlights are the urgent "Dreamland" and the now-standard "Pee Wee" (written before Williams was exiting the Davis Quintet in 1967 and on the V.S.O.P. set list). Native Heart and The Story of Neptune fall off some in quality and ideas, the former lacking somewhat in compositional depth, and Neptune being more of an attempt at the conceptual. The title cut of Native Heart swings easily and is tunefully attractive, but the record generally meanders melodically and is static rhythmically, save the slight time changeup on "Juicy Fruit." "The Story of Neptune" suite is thoughtful and provocative, but it isn't all that cohesive or memorable. Neptune does includes the non-Williams compositions -- a cover of "Poinciana," Lennon and McCartney's "Blackbird," and the Freddie Hubbard powerhouse "Birdlike," all well done. Williams was quite proud of this music and these bands in a period of his life six years before he passed away. Though not as virile as the jazz-rock he produced with the Lifetime band, nor as fresh as when he was with Miles, it is an evolution in his career and his true coming out as a composer of jazz. The booklet, unlike the documentary liners of most Mosaic sets, includes an extensive interview of Williams by Ben Sidran, where he speaks on his reclusiveness, the lack of live concert playing time for these groups, and his love of the American Bandstand TV show, and offers some insight on his fellow drummers as bandleaders. Cuscuna also offers a postscript.