# CD review: Decoy with Joe McPhee – AC/DC 2020: Video, CD cover

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2020/02/11/cd-review-decoy-with-joe-mcphee-ac-dc-2020-video-cd-cover/
- Published: 2020-02-11T20:22:37+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**Two totally infectious sets from Decoy — the trio of John Edwards, Steve Noble,
and Alexander Hawkins — reunited with pocket trumpet and saxophone player Joe McPhee
on the closing night of his four day residency at Cafe OTO. **

In the eight years between the recordings which make up AC/DC and their last release
Spontaneous Combustion (ROKU 002CD, 2014), Decoy and each of its members have been
practicing individually at the very top of their form. Coming together again in 
such celebratory circumstances and in the good company of a fantastic crowd set 
the scene for a very special night. As they begin, Alexander Hawkins casts a needling
surface between his Hammond organ and John Edwards’s loose splatters and slaps of
low-end bass. McPhee skitters over them with his pocket trumpet by way of introduction;
Steve Noble strikes his rims in anticipation. The first set sees moments of frenetic
free jazz peel off into weirdo soul territory and when switched to saxophone halfway
through, McPhee’s romantic lyricism is utterly beautiful. When a groove sets in,
Hawkins’s B3 ascension in harmony with an ever-powerful Edwards-Noble rhythm section
sees the room thicken and swirl to the point of giddiness. There is one unreal part
at 22:22 where we’re sure you can hear Edwards’s bass vocalizing. Regrouped for 
a second set, Steve Noble’s metallic textures meld with detuned arco bass to create
an unholy atmosphere, ripe for Hawkins to play out the eerier end of the Hammond.
When McPhee sounds a sax motif the band catches it quickly and it’s soon wickedly
morphed and stretched by each player, recurring to absurdity in a stoned-out funk
free for all. The whole recording bleeds enthusiasm and joyful imagination and is
a brilliant document of an unforgettable evening. Decoy are a limitless band who
play nowhere near enough.

**Tracks**

1. A/C 35:53
 2. D/C 43:14

**John Edwards – bass**
 **Alexander Hawkins – Hammond B3** **Joe McPhee – pocket
trumpet, alto sax, voice** **Steve Noble – drums**

⌊Image result for Decoy with Joe McPhee - AC/DC⌉⌊Image result for Decoy with Joe
McPhee - AC/DC⌉

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