Which Way Is East

One of Higgins’s last recordings before he died, made with longtime collaborator Charles Lloyd. The sound ranges from African chants to modal jazz, but there’s a relaxed, friendly vibe throughout that works well with ECM’s warm fuzzy production. Excellent stuff.

The 30 tracks here are laid out in 6 groups of related songs. The groupings seem to be more thematic rather than compositional so feel free to mix and match.

Disc 1
1. Med tribal feel
*2. Searching strings and sax
3. Fast improv
4. Melancholy piano solo
*5. Plaintive ballad
6. Nice jazzy improv
*7. Interesting take on the swing
*8. African sounding guitar and vox
9. Quiet sax explorations
10. African vox and guitar
11. Tribal oboe and hand percussion
*12. More traditional med tempo jazz
13. Wistful melancholy piano
*14. Sparse blues vox
*15. Soft-spoken tribal sound
Disc 2
*1. Mellow sax over rolling percussion
2. Moody piano solo
*3. Upbeat bop-like conversation
4. Deep melancholy flute solo
*5. African percussion and singing
6. Bouncy swing
7. Slow, bluesy piano
8. Quiet Spanish vocals
9. Plaintive sax cry
10. Quiet love ballad
*11. Coltrane sounding
12. Exotic middle eastern mood
13. Light bossa nova with vox
*14. Flowing marimba under tribal flute
15. Light jazz scatting over guitar

Ben Bostwick 5/12/04