Tyshawn Sorey
Members...Don't!
An invitation recently showed up via email to participate in a Best Albums of the First-Half of 2026 poll. The request was appreciated, as it came from Tom Hull, now the steward of the Francis Davis Memorial Jazz Poll, for which this mid-year tally is a close relation. But I declined.
Not because of any objection to the poll, but because I don't feel like I have the mental wherewithal to cull a list of 10 albums that deserve such a distinction yet. Have I even heard that many new albums?
Besides, I've been locked in on this album for quite awhile.
A quick search of this blog will indicate that I've followed the recordings of Tyshawn Sorey for quite a while and find them fascinating, whether he's creating thoughtful original compositions or reimagining other people's work. (Rather than repeat details yet again, just follow this search.) Members...Don't takes the bold factor up several levels, as it reimagines Max Roach's entire album Members Don't Git Weary. The quintet on that album featured relative newcomers Gary Bartz (alto saxophone) and Charles Tolliver (trumpet) on the frontline with pianist Stanley Cowell and Jymie Merritt (bass) joining the leader in the rhythm section. Cowell, Bartz and Merritt all contributed compositions, along with Roach.
Members Don't Git Weary didn't pull any punches, coming from the man who, a few years prior, had released We Insist! Mas Roach's Freedom Now Suite. This one come out during the tumultuous year of 1968, when we lost both Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King and witnessed numerous protests. To say that Members...Don't! has reached us during another intense time is an obvious understatement.
But Sorey's project has just as much depth although it reaches us a different way. While Roach's album lasted a little more than 30 minutes, this one is spread over two discs, in a performance that lasts three times as long. Originally kicking off with Cowell's funky "Abstrusions" - in which Merritt played an electric Ampeg bass that had the thump of a bass guitar - this one begins with an extended duet between pianist Lex Korten and trumpeter Adam O'Farrill, mixing tranquility and uncertainty. Sorey joins them after about six minutes, with bassist Tyrone Allen II also sliding in eventually, and while things don't get funky, that's not exactly the point. A jagged stop-start cue brings in tenor saxophonist Mark Shim, who blows like he's been waiting anxiously for this moment.
The original album's running order also gets switched around as well, helping to make this album more of a personal statement. "Effi," Side One's closer, comes up next, with the quintet stretching its length to 18 minutes. After Shim and O'Farrill joust together, Korten gets fired up by the explosive playing of Sorey, whose powerhouse technique never flags and continues to earn him the mantle of one of most unique drummers in modern music.
Merritt's "Absolutions," which the bassist also recorded with Lee Morgan at the Live at the Lighthouse set, begins with more arresting work by Korten, beginning with spastic single notes in the upper register. Also a groover in its original former, the Sorey quintet touches on the original theme, while moving between parts, but still sounds focused throughout. O'Farrill uses electronics on his horn here, to keep the intrigue going.
The whole set's centerpiece has to be Cowell's "Equipoise." It begins on Disc One, locking on a looped piano line that gradually gets more distorted as it fades away, sounding like a fleeting AM radio signal, which picks up right where it leaves off on Disc Two. After a tenor solo in the first part, marked by some sharp growls, Part Two includes a bass solo from Allen that has some spiritual elements as it builds in energy, leading to another Korten solo and, eventually, trade-offs between the pianist, Shim and O'Farrill. Considering the song's title means "a state of perfect balance or equilibrium," it describes what the group achieves.
Following the Bartz tune "Libra," the group is joined by vocalist Fay Victor on the triumphant "Members, Don't Get Weary," Roach's adaptation of the spiritual "Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning." Whereas the original included vocalist Andy Bey bringing depth to the band, Victor brings her own intensity. She settles in with the frontline and frequently acting as a third horn, as she honks along with Shim in addition to singing the words, which include a references to "We're Going to Sit at the Welcome Table," expressing hope for the future amidst the original song's directive.
The album was recorded live at New York's Jazz Gallery last year and cheers and applause are noticeable between tracks. (Which begs the question as to whether this was one continuous performance or if stealth editing makes it sound that way.) Once Victor sings her last note, there is no final audience response to close the album. The disc ends there. But that closure makes total sense. After that rousing set, any other sound would be superfluous.
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