What a splendid and healing joy to listen to this CD! I just can't put it down, it's terrific and explosive stuff.

Even after five years of Bush and his cronies' systematic dismantling of our governmental system, there's been little overt protest music within the field of creative jazz. Along comes saxophonist Mark Whitecage with a healthy dose of indignation. The music runs the gamut from freebop to collective improv to straight ahead swing, and every player gets a moment to shine. When the dust has settled and these mad times are just a bad memory, 'BushWacked' will still be standing tall.

Apart from the obvious sociopolitical implications of the lyrics, the "jazz-and-much-more" raging authority unleashed by Whitecage (alto sax, clarinet) Scott Steele (guitar) Bill Larimer (piano) Rozanne Levine (alto & soprano clarinets) and Rober Mahaffay (drums) will curl up your toes: a show-stopping virtuosity does not waste an ounce of the pulsating conceptual energy of the group, whose components encapsulate hundreds of different artistic experiences, throwing them against the often disappointing aesthetics of today's swing/jazz realities with sardonic smiles and thoroughly irreverent musicianship. Archie Shepp and ragtime, Frank Zappa and off-Broadway, anarchy and democracy: it's all here for your mental and auditive pleasure - and your radio won't play it for sure.

Mark Whitecage and the Bi-Coastal Orchestra step up to the podium to deliver the statement of sanity many have been waiting on for five years. Bushwacked: A Spoken opera takes aim at the deadly dada debacle that has inexplicably passed for government and foreign policy in this country since the turn of the millenium. Whitecage and company surgically remove the masks from these gibbering ninnies and the slow brained zombies who support them with texts built of incisive previously published commentaries and pertinent constitutional quotes recited against a musical backdrop that emphasizes free jazz, while including elements of a century of American popular music. Whitecage's broad stylistic background is well represented by his ensemble, creating a lively listenable soundtrack equal to the seething passion in the composer's text. Rozanne Levine intones the first oratorio, "In Our Name", with dramatic urgency, supported by the ensemble's growing forte. Scott Steele's slippery guitar gives the scenario's inherent unreality the appropriate wiggle. "0 for 5000" refers to former Attorney General John Ashcroft's inability to prosecute anybody, and pianist Bill Larimer takes the opportunity to play tasty New Orleans licks that escalate to Cecil Taylorisms. Not to be left out of the fun, the ensemble jumps into a hot free blow followed by spare, ghostly electronics. Robert Mahaffay gracefully rains drum kit, as he does beautifully on each track. Whitecage and Levine on alto sax and clarinet respectively, duo with Steele's rubbery guitar. A pertinent constitutional quote from Whitecage ends the piece. Named for Deep Throat's most cogent phrase, the all-instrumental "Follow the Money" frees Whitecage to meditate on alto sax. A masterful statement ensues, followed by Larimer's atmospheric synth strings framing Whitecage's understated clarinet. Back on piano, Larimer's left hand initiates an off-kilter swing with Steele snaky on guitar. Levine and Whitecage again cross alto reeds to take it out. The group resurrects Jeanne Lee's still relevant lyrics for "Who's the War For?" Levine and Whitecage blow fire and Larimer throws ivory gasoline. When it cools down, the reedists switch to higher pitched instruments and converse as birds. This is not a newspaper set to music, but rather a quaint artifact of Jeffersonian Democracy involving an informed citizenry and open debate framed as art. At the beginning, Levine addresses the empty materialistic alienation that's brought us to this bleak point in our history: "I also feel the vacuum, the loneliness, the silence, the dehydration of the soul as people who want desperately to save our constitution, country and planet still wander the streets without even knowing how to say 'hi' to one another." Say hi to a clear picture of our shared predicament on Bushwacked.