6 March 2007

William Hooker-is eternal life 1977 (Incomplete)








This New York-based drummer has played a large part in forging a bond between the city's free-jazz and downtown rock scenes while — and this is the tricky part — refusing to compromise the purity of essence that's pervaded his music for nearly two decades. Hooker plays with enough power to steer combos suffused with post-punk guitar scree, while maintaining a terpsichorean grace (reminiscent of Rashied Ali, a John Coltrane sideman who has had ephemeral involvement with the avant-rock scene as well) that effortlessly demonstrates the limits of most "rock" percussion.Hooker's work is steeped in new age philosophy —
...Is Eternal Life resounds with intricate patterns that bring to mind aural recreations of Druid stone circles — but the burning intensity of something like the side-long duet with reedman David Murray would no doubt provoke convulsions among Windham Hill devotees who claimed the term as accepted nomenclature for their brand of holiday inn jazz.
the above is a trouser press review-by david sprague.

this album was first issued by reality unit concepts in 1977 ,though the material was recorded
in 1974-6 as far as i know(i may be wrong, does anyone know?) this is a very fine album,a must for hooker fans especially those whoprefer hooker in a setting approximating a classic free jazz situation.
whatever the context hooker's pulsating percussive waves seem irrevocably timeless ,another great drummerwho seems to me to have been influenced by Cecil Taylors pulsating , incandescent
rythymns.

this album features david murray,david s ware, mark miller(borbetomagus?),and two players i dont readily recognise les goodson,and hassan dawkins.
artwork and tracklist included.

PLEASE BUY WILLIAM HOOKER'S CD'S, MANY ARE AVAILABLE ON KNITTING FACTORY, ATAVISTIC AND OTHER LABLES.


enjoy!!

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

please check ware and murray sessionography....how are the tracks distributed...?

SOTISE said...

hi anon
as far as i know this was a short double album,all the tracks are condensed into three long tracks.
on the other hand ,i dont own the vinyl so im not absolutely certain.
let me know if you confirm either way.

The Ghost of Jerry Reed said...

thanks so much for the share...

HCM said...

This was recommended to me, so glad that found it. Thanks to you!

paul w. said...

hi dipmong,

many thanks for this rarity. the link is still o.k. this album is described in detail with great scans at discogs. there are 5 tracks there - 1 & 5 solo hooker, 2 -trio with david murray and mark miller, 3 - duo with david s. ware and 4 - trio with les goodson & hasaan dawkins. it seems that for david murray it was his second recording session after ted daniel - in the beginning.

best regards.

paul w. said...

hi there,

i finally succeeded in dl this file, but it took me 4 hours to do it (90 MBs)!!! however now we know what's there - the titles are incorrect. the tracks 1 & 5 (both with hooker solo) are missing. at first we have track 2 mistitled "the work" instead of the right title "soy: material/seven" - 27 min. trio with david murray and mark miller. he's not from borbetomagus (there was donald miller - guitarist there) but he played and recorded several albums with keshavan maslak. then we have track 3 mistitled "soypass" instead of the right title "passages (anthill)" - 19:45 min. duo with david s. ware. then we have track 4 - mistitled "pieces1 2 abo" instead of the right title "pieces I & II" - almost 19 min. trio with les goodson & hasaan dawkins.

the double album "...is eternal life" was released in 1978 or 1981 (the latter according to downbeat).
again many thanks for these rare recordings.

SOTISE said...

Received in a trade, years ago in the early pre net days , unfortunately
i only have sides 1,2,3
flac-pics
http://www60.zippyshare.com/v/81988172/file.html
http://www51.zippyshare.com/v/51387034/file.html
http://www55.zippyshare.com/v/10001477/file.html

Anonymous said...

I need this, someone please

Anonymous said...

Been wanting to hear this for a few years now any chance of a re-up?

Nick said...

Hi - I can post this when I have time to make a rip

Anonymous said...

That would be amazing thank you

Sam Berger said...

Just reissued on vinyl by Superior Viaduct.

Ernst Grgo Nebhuth said...

Yes - thanks Sam Berger for the heads up.
This LP and more from Hooker's early years was already released and is still availabe as CD box set.
Released by No Business in 2016.
http://nobusinessrecords.com/light.-the-early-years-1975-1989.html