Free jazz is kind of intimidating -- or at least I think it is. Most of us don’t have an intuitive grasp of it: there’s no steady rhythm to relax into; the musicians play tricks with the melodies; often the whole point of a piece is to disorient you and spin you around until you’re so dizzy you don’t know which way is up. In the past year I’ve had occasion to take a harder look at free jazz, to really buckle down to it and pay attention to what’s going on in the seeming cacophony of sax-drum-bass. As a result, I’ve developed a healthy respect, if not quite an appreciation, for the music.

I was therefore a bit surprised to find Big Top as accessible and as enjoyable as I did. Dickey, an unusual candidate for band-leader (being a drummer and all), is my kind of drummer. He does a lot of cymbal work, punctuated with tom-bashing, that comes across as incredibly subtle, yet rich in texture. It makes perfect sense, then, that Dickey has brought in Joe Morris as Big Top's guitarist. Morris is hands-down my current favorite jazz guitarist; he has a tight, precise style that's both familiar and exciting. Morris’ style really complements Dickey’s shimmering cymbal work and makes it possible for timid listeners like me to loosen up and let Rob Brown’s expansive, occasionally jarring, saxophone work really take us somewhere.

Although each of the four songs here is vastly different, there is a real sense of swing throughout Big Top. Sometimes that foundation is laid by Chris Lightcap’s bass work -- particularly on "The Prophet" -- while at other times it’s Dickey’s drums (as in "Skippy") or Morris' guitar ("Big Top"). Brown’s sax on "Skippy," while certainly unfettered, still fits within a general framework of -- gasp -- a song! It's almost like plain old jazz, but more exciting. The rhythms aren’t all about explosion and fracture, which is perhaps another reason I found the album so appealing.