iSound

rue, there's a dearth of many of the elements that constitute mainstream styles. But the conversational, visceral, sometimes raw musical statements found on this CD can be just as essential to an honest jazz performance as a straight-ahead version of "Cherokee."

Bone & Horn is demanding, for both performers and listeners. (Had Ornette Coleman's band been unavailable for the soundtrack on "Naked Lunch," the movie version of William Burroughs' hallucinogenic and disturbing tale, Malachy Papers could have pinch hit perfectly.) But most of all, it's a courageous reminder that the house of jazz has many valid and diverse rooms.

And just because one of those rooms has some rubber-padding on the walls doesn't mean it's a bad place to hang.

-- Mike Metheny