Music Monday: Sorey, Roach, Benjamin and Something Pretty Free

This is our first day of work at Isthmia this season so everything is a bit topsy turvy. There was a time when I could switch from working on one thing to working on another with the alacrity of spec-ed our MacBook Pro, but these days, there’s a good bit of lag and the occasional blue screen. Fortunately, I’ve preloaded a few albums into the queue to enjoy while the pinwheel spins. First, check out the new Tyshawn Sorey album, Members… Don’t! (2026). It is fantastic with 25 minutes of “Equipoise” (parts 1 and 2) holding the entire thing together. I can’t find it on YouTube to embed here, but you can check out a couple of tracks on the album’s Bandcamp page. Sorey’s drums are fantastic and he manages to channel a lot of Max Roach. Adam O’Farrill and Mark Shim (who I don’t know) are fantastic on horns with O’Farrill stealing the show at times. Of course, the album is a reimagining of Max Roach’s classic Members Don’t Get Weary (1968) which one of the hardest post-bop dates. Charles…