*** Whit Dickey Trio

TRANSONIC

(AUM Fidelity)

The ghosts of free jazz's past hover around drummer Whit Dickey's latest session. Not just in the way his pitter-patter of little beats recalls Don Moyé of the Art Ensemble or the rippling undercurrents ridden by Coltrane and Coleman (and even Air), but through his overt invocation of the spirits of Thelonious Monk and tenor-saxist David S. Ware in his brief CD-jacket notes. Indeed, flashes of Monk-like melodicism crackle through Rob Brown's alto-sax and flute lines -- more so in opening tracks like "Planet One" and "Transonic" than in the flickering tapers of sound he ignites in textural explorations like "Tableau." Bassist Chris Lightcap's the right foil for Dickey's perambulations, holding the tunes together when the drums slip into frenzied dancing, and often pushing Brown into further elaborations of his hit-and-run themes. This is improvised music that -- like its great precedents -- thinks fast on its feet.

-- Ted Drozdowski