Alan Braufman - Infinite Love Infinite Tears (2024)

In hindsight, Alan Braufman's presence in New York's 1970s avant garde jazz community gives the appearance of a high profile. He played saxophone and flute on albums by Richard Landry, Cecil McBee, and Carla Bley. His only album as leader, until recently, was 1975's Valley of Search—released on India Navigations in the same era as classics by the Revolutionary Ensemble, Hamiet Bluiett, David Murray, Pharoah Sanders, and Arthur Blythe. Braufman's loft on Canal Street, and the pioneering music that emerged from it, received a positive Village Voice write-up from Gary Giddins in 1974.

Nonetheless, in the years before the 2018 reissue of Valley of Search, Braufman had a relatively lower profile than his peers and associates. He released a more straightforward album in 1988 under the name Alan Michael and also played on a couple of William Hooker records around that time. He moved to Salt Lake City, where he still lives, before a '90s resurgence in interest in '70s loft jazz brought attention, and prestigious new gigs, to artists who had remained active in New York.

Thanks to excitement around the Valley of Search reissue, Braufman began playing prominent gigs again, and has recorded two albums with mostly musicians who started in the field after he recorded his 1975 debut. Infinite Love Infinite Tears follows 2020's The Fire Still Burns, with a similar lineup and approach. Bassist Ken Filiano, tenor saxophonist James Brandon Lewis, and percussionist Michael Wimberly return, and vibraphonist Patricia Brennan and drummer Chad Taylor join the group here.

Valley of Search had its roots in the most chaotic and energetic '60s and '70s avant-garde jazz, with wailing saxophone timbres, prominent small percussion, and even a recitation on the literally-titled "Chant." Braufman did not purposely hide his Berklee College of Music background, but he also did not emphasize it. In contrast, on Infinite Love Infinite Tears, Braufman and his collaborators' technical skills move further to the foreground. The ensemble's closer playing resembles '70s albums by AACM pioneers Anthony Braxton or Wadada Leo Smith. Braufman's reliance on major keys, which bring levity and often a sense of joy, differentiates his compositions from their earlier influences. "Edge of Time," for example, uses major-key tonality similarly to how a more-contemporary group like Sons of Kemet might, in combination with an approach to arrangement that harkens back to an earlier era of the avant-garde.

TRACKLIST

1. Alan Braufman;Patricia Brennan;James Brandon Lewis;Chad Taylor;Ken Filiano - Chasing a Melody
2. Alan Braufman;Patricia Brennan;James Brandon Lewis;Chad Taylor;Ken Filiano - Infinite Love Infinite Tears
3. Alan Braufman;Patricia Brennan;James Brandon Lewis;Chad Taylor;Ken Filiano - Spirits
4. Alan Braufman;Patricia Brennan;James Brandon Lewis;Chad Taylor;Michael Wimberly;Ken Filiano - Edge of Time
5. Alan Braufman;Patricia Brennan;James Brandon Lewis;Chad Taylor;Michael Wimberly;Ken Filiano - Brooklyn
6. Alan Braufman;Patricia Brennan;James Brandon Lewis;Chad Taylor;Ken Filiano - Liberation