Hal Russell NRG Ensemble "Linda Jazz Princess"

Hal Russell NRG Ensemble Hal Russell NRG Ensemble LP (Nessa Records, 1981)

Today's piece is from the debut album by the NRG Ensemble. Sure, on the cover it says Hal Russell NRG Ensemble, but I always think of them simply as the NRG Ensemble. I guess part of that is due to the fact that they dropped the "Hal Russell" part of the name when Ken Vandermark took over as leader after Hal's death in 1992. Then again, all the albums were credited to the Hal Russell NRG Ensemble prior to that. Anyhow! Wikipedia says the NRG Ensemble "could be broadly described as post-bop," and I'll agree, as I'm just terrible at discerning the various bops: be, hard, and post. It's all jazz to me. But it's not Greek, as they were from Chicago. They also could go pretty far into ferocious free abandon, when they felt like it. I like that, 'cause I like noisy stuff, man. I have no idea who Linda is, but Hal must've had a thing for her, as there's also a fine tune called "Linda's Rock Vamp," which first appeared either as a bonus track on the CD version of their third album (of nine), 1984's Conserving NRG, or their fifth album, 1992's The Finnish/Swiss Tour. I have no idea when the CD version of the former was released. So sue me. Or don't. Actually, no, please don't.