Joe McPhee with Paal Nilssen-Love

Raised as a trumpet player, Joe McPhee didn't pick up the saxophone until his late 20s, though it's since become the instrument with which he's most closely associated. Heavily influenced by Albert Ayler, McPhee took his icon's free jazz ecstasies into even stranger territories (many bassists at the time reportedly refused to sit in with him, on the grounds that what he played wasn't even 'music'). Four decades on, he can still hold his own against musicians half his age, as in his ongoing collaboration with Scandinavian power jazz trio The Thing. That group's drummer, Paal Nilseen-Love, is joining McPhee on his current trip to Japan, which includes a group session at SuperDeluxe and these two dates at Pit Inn. See below for lineup details.