DESCRIPTION:
The Real Cool Killers: Parades and Saints. The eponymous opening track. John Doheny on saxophone, Geoff Clapp on drums, Rob Kohler on bass.

The Real Cool Killers (the name is taken from a novel by African-American crime novelist Chester Himes) had originally intended to record some compositions by bassist Rob Kohler and tenor saxophonist John Doheny and in fact had actually rehearsed them. But when Kohler, Doheny and drummer Geoff Clapp convened at the recital hall at Tulane University on the night of November 8th, 2009, the original plan was scrapped and the band agreed to "play free" for this initial session. Nothing was discussed; saxophonist Doheny set up the six-four groove of "Parades and Saints" and the trio played uninterrupted for 20 minutes. After a short break, they did it again, in fact the only preconceived music on the CD is the final track, Theolonius Monk's "Rhythm-a-ning." Everything else was in the grand tradition of New Orleans collective improvisation. And while on first listening the music may appear to be "free jazz," further perusal reveals a more holistic approach to the music, one containing hidden re-compositions of funk tunes (the Meters "Cissy Strut," James Brown's "I Feel Good"), standards ("Stella By Starlight"), the harmonic and sonic approaches of 20th century composers Krzysztof Penderecki and Darius Milhaud, and allusions to mid 20th century tenor saxophonist Booker Ervin. The titles of the individual tracks were actually dreamed up by Doheny at a later listening, and the tracks themselves were created in the mixing process by producer-engineer Kohler. The music itself stands on its own, a whole and complete thing, born of the special circumstances of a special night in New Orleans in 2009.