The Missing Link (Fred Anderson album)

The Missing Link
The Missing Link
Studio album by Fred Anderson
Released	1984
Recorded	September 17, 1979
Studio	Pierce Arrow Recorders, Evanston
Genre	Jazz
Length	47:40 (LP); 62:28 (CD)
Label	Nessa
Producer	Fred Anderson, Chuck Nessa
Fred Anderson chronology

The Missing Link is an album by American jazz saxophonist Fred Anderson, recorded in 1979 but not issued until 1984 by Nessa Records.

Background[edit]

Originally scheduled as an Anderson's working quartet recording, trumpeter Billy Brimfield was in California unable to make the session, and Anderson decided to go ahead with the date, adding percussionist Adam Rudolph at Hamid Drake's suggestion. Larry Hayrod was then a newcomer to the quartet, replacing bassist Steven Palmore, who had left for New York after a trip to Europe with one of Anderson's ensembles.^[1] ^[2] The CD reissue adds a bonus track, Drake's composition "Tabla Peace".

Reception[edit]

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[3]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz	^[4]

In his review for AllMusic, Thom Jurek states that "Anderson is pushing the blues; however elongated and angular, they are recognizable as such and are the spiritual conscience of all the music he plays here."^[3] The Penguin Guide to Jazz says that "if he is a missing link, what he's bridging is the gap between the spare, blues-soaked sound of early Ornette and the clean-sweep radicalism of AACM."^[4]

Track listing[edit]

All compositions by Fred Anderson except as indicated

"Twilight" - 16:37
"A Ballad for Rita" - 13:52
"The Bull" - 17:11

Bonus track on CD

"Tabla Peace" (Hamid Drake)- 14:48

Personnel[edit]

References[edit]

^ The Missing Link original liner notes by Neil Tesser
^ The Milwaukee Tapes vol. 1 original liner notes by John Corbett
^ ^a ^b Jurek, Thom. Fred Anderson – The Missing Link: Review at AllMusic. Retrieved February 25, 2014.
^ ^a ^b Cook, Richard; Brian Morton (2002). The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD. The Penguin Guide to Jazz (6th ed.). London: Penguin. p. 43. ISBN 0-14-051521-6.

[Liner_notes-1] The Missing Link original liner notes by Neil Tesser

[Milwaukee-2] The Milwaukee Tapes vol. 1 original liner notes by John Corbett

[Allmusic-3] Jurek, Thom. Fred Anderson – The Missing Link: Review at AllMusic. Retrieved February 25, 2014.

[Penguin_Guide-4] Cook, Richard; Brian Morton (2002). The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD. The Penguin Guide to Jazz (6th ed.). London: Penguin. p. 43. ISBN 0-14-051521-6.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

v t e Fred Anderson
Years given are for the recording(s), not first release, unless stated otherwise.
Studio albums	The Missing Link (1979) Vintage Duets (with Steve McCall, 1980) Black Horn Long Gone (1993) Birdhouse (1995) Fred Chicago Chamber Music (1996) Fred Anderson / DKV Trio (1996) Back Together Again (with Hamid Drake, 2003) From the River to the Ocean (with Hamid Drake, 2007) Staying in the Game (2008)
Live albums	Dark Day (1979) The Milwaukee Tapes Vol. 1 (1980) Destiny (with Marilyn Crispell and Hamid Drake, 1994) Live at the Velvet Lounge (1998) Fred Anderson Quartet Volume One (1998) 2 Days in April (1999) Fred Anderson Quartet Volume Two (1999) Duets 2001 (with Robert Barry, 1999) Birthday Live 2000 (2000) On the Run, Live at the Velvet Lounge (2000) Back at the Velvet Lounge (2002) The Great Vision Concert (2003) Blue Winter (2004) Timeless, Live at the Velvet Lounge (2005) Live at the Velvet Lounge Volume III (2007) A Night at the Velvet Lounge Made in Chicago 2007 (2007) 21st Century Chase (2009)