6 November 2007

Elvin Jones - Live at The Lighthouse 1972


Elvin Jones is not often posted on blogs. He may not have had the artistry of Sunny Murray or Max Roach, but he was one of the greatest rhythmic drummers of all time. Famous of course for his 6 year stint with Coltrane, after which he was replaced by Rashied Ali, Elvin embarked on a career as leader of his own bands. I had the good fortune to catch a live concert in London, slightly earlier than this recording, and with Joe Farrell instead of Liebman.

This recording was released as a double LP by Blue Note. For some unexplained reason they never re-released it on CD. I have seen reference to a Japanese import, but I've never seen it. The highlight of the set, for me, is the opening tune "Fancy Free" which has some fantastic soloing from Liebman on soprano and Grossman on tenor.

Details:

Elvin Jones - drums
Steve Grossman - tenor sax
Dave Liebman - tenor and soprano sax
Gene Perla - bass

Tracklist
01 Announcement
02 Fancy Free (Donald Byrd)
03 Sambra (G Perla)
04 The Children, Save The Children (D Garcia)
05 Happy Birthday
06 Sweet Mama (G Perla)
07 New Breed (D Liebman)
08 My Ship (I Gershwin)

Vinyl ripped at VBR quality 0. Links in comments.

NOTE. On average, the posts on this blog are downloaded about 100 times. About 4 or 5 comments are left by you. That means an awful lot of people are just taking. If you don't like the music, please say so. If you do, please let us know. I've seen a lot of blogs disppear because the bloggers become dispirited. Thank you.
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39 comments:

  1. Boromir6 November 2007 at 11:32:00 CET

    Links

    massmirror.com/a5c376a52496bb4881e48b44e6d80eb8.html
    massmirror.com/fec2ef931f24bef1671baaa0d638db90.html

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  2. Anonymous6 November 2007 at 11:43:00 CET

    ok let me be the first to comment then - thanks for this one - i had a copy back in college and look forward to some noisy flashbacks. . one thing - it wasnt quite clear that it was 2 parts to download - maybe label the links ?

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  3. Anonymous6 November 2007 at 11:56:00 CET

    Another fine post! OK, I've had this for a long time, but that doesn't change the fact that it's darn good music!

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  4. Anonymous6 November 2007 at 13:52:00 CET

    thanks, boromir--as usual, a new one for me and knowing the consistent quality of posts here (and elvin and liebman) am sure I'll dig it

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  5. Anonymous6 November 2007 at 20:46:00 CET

    A thought - how about making the comments section more visible, or more easily accessible, by showing them all right under each post on the main page? Perhaps some people just don't have the time or inclination to go looking for them, but if the comments jumped right out and bit them on the nose, perhaps they'd react!

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  6. Anonymous6 November 2007 at 23:35:00 CET

    Boromir you're right. We use to download all these records in complete silence.
    Write in english isn't easy for me. But I think that every people know these two words: thank you.
    But please, dont't talk about leave us without your posts. That means another music desert.


    Thanks for all these forgotten records.

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  7. Anonymous7 November 2007 at 00:50:00 CET

    boromir - thanks for this. elvins last release, the truth - heard live at the blue note, I thought was one of the better releases of the year (2 years ago? 3? can't remember). a wonderful version of wise one on that disc. anxious to hear this earlier disc, 2 saxes no piano. . .
    as for comments in general, I'm new to the site but I try to leave one when I hear the discs. It takes me a little time to get to them, so sometimes the comments are left a little late. hopefully you still get to see them. you have posted some really wonderful music. and the little that I've heard so far has been excellent. the suisse sir disc, for example, is stunning. thanks for all of the music.

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  8. kingpossum7 November 2007 at 01:37:00 CET

    Thank you boromir! I've known little of Elvin Jones's releases under his own name, so it's especially good to hear this live one. Never knew it existed.

    Though the Lighthouse is no longer the jazz mecca that it once was, it's great fun to hear this and get a taste for what it was like at the time.

    Regards,

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  9. Anonymous7 November 2007 at 05:51:00 CET

    This is great stuff. All the music here actually was reissued on compact disc — twice. First as two separate CDs in 1990 (vol.s 1 & 2), and then again on the Elvin Jones Mosaic. All the CD issues, however, are out-of-print.

    I've heard legend (and maybe it's just myth) that Grossman, partly because he was nervous to be playing with Jones and partly because he'd had a little too much to drink, threw up in his saxophone case after one of the night's gig. While Liebman is always fine, Grossman is what makes this session for me.

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  10. Boromir7 November 2007 at 10:18:00 CET

    Gimir,

    Good point. I don't know whether it's possible to do this. Perhaps sotise knows.

    Thanks to Frank for that insite. It must be awesome for a young guy to step up and play with these legends.

    I have a few more recordings of Elvin that are OOP. If people enjoy this sort of stuff I'd be more than happy to up them.

    Thanks for your contributions.

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  11. Anonymous7 November 2007 at 13:17:00 CET

    This is great, intense, music. And yes, it was reissued in the 90's in two volumes ( although I never saw the second although I tried hard to get it as it appeared to be a urscript for postcoltrane sax). Thanks, and plese, more of it, whenever.

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  12. Boromir7 November 2007 at 15:09:00 CET

    For all you Elvin fans, Pharoah's Dance blog posted a classic some months ago, Poly-Currents with George Coleman and Joe Farrell.
    http://pharaohs-dance.blogspot.com/2007/03/elvin-jones-poly-currents-1969-cd.html

    Link is still active.

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  13. Tantris7 November 2007 at 16:59:00 CET

    I've only recently discovered this blog, and have been mining it for a couple of weeks. There is some stonkingly good material on here - Cecil Tayor's 'Praxis', the Marion Brown Septet's 'Juba Lee', Carla Bley's 'Jazz Realities', and a real stand-out with Anthony Braxton's 'Music for 4 orchestras'.

    It's great - please keep going, and I will add comments when I can.

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  14. Anonymous7 November 2007 at 22:16:00 CET

    In Memoriam Elvin Jones.

    One night in 1976 or 1977, I went to hear the Elvin Jones Jazz Machine live in San Francisco's Keystone Korner. At the end of the evening, after two steaming sets, the music was over and the crowd began to thin out. I hung back, waiting for people to leave so that I could get to the club's toilet before walking back uphill to my then apartment, atop Russian Hill. Now in the KK, to get to the toilet, you had to push a door, you then found yourself in one square metre of space, and you had to close that door behind you, so that you had space enough to push open a second door in front of you, which opened up to reveal a grim urinal. I pushed the second door, and promptly hit someone on the shoulder. "I'm terribly sorry", I said politely. Slowly, a black hand with exquisitely pink cuticles appeared around the edge of the second door, and gently began to pull it open in front of me. In an moment the door opened fully, revealing the gleaming, sweat-drenched face of Elvin, standing in front of the urinal. "Come on in, man!!" he said, revealing the biggest smile and the most beautiful set of teeth I had ever seen. I laughed and said, "Sorry, Elvin! But man, that was fantastic music!". He edged the door completely open with his left hand, all along holding you know what in his right hand, and doing you know what into the urinal. He then curled his left arm around my shoulder, hugged me close to him, hauled me up in front of the urinal with him, and said … immortally … "Yeah man, let's piss TOGETHUH" !

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  15. Nuage fiché qui rêve7 November 2007 at 22:50:00 CET

    That's a great record, Boromir. Notably the opening Fancy Free, as I recall.

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  16. SOTISE8 November 2007 at 01:29:00 CET

    yes thanks for this b, looking forward to hearing it!!

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  17. Kevin8 November 2007 at 03:08:00 CET

    Hi. Thanks for this very rare and amazing record. I feel that Elvin Jones is one of the most underrated Jazz drummers out there. Of course his stint with Coltrane was amazing but let's not forget his incredibly prolific period fronting the Elvin Jones Jazz Machine where he showcased the talents of other cats like Frank Foster, Joe Farrell and Sonny Fortune. I hoped that I would be able to see Elvin in a live setting before he died but this record will have to suffice. Can't wait to hear it!

    If you are interested in checking out some rare free jazz among other interesting gems, please check out my site called Eclectic Grooves. I recently re-upped an Evan Parker live show that was recorded in Portland Oregon. I'd love to know what you think.

    Peace, Kevin

    http://eclectic-grooves.blogspot.com

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  18. Anonymous8 November 2007 at 03:26:00 CET

    thanks for this one. i've been trying to track down elvin's blue note stuff. there's some really cool stuff on the 'poly currents' and 'coaliltion' albums (if you can find them). for someone with a decent amount of name recognition, it's puzzling as to why blue note hasn't been quicker to re-issue his late '60s output.

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  19. Anonymous8 November 2007 at 03:32:00 CET

    wait a minute; you peed with elvin jones?

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  20. Anonymous8 November 2007 at 07:04:00 CET

    ... yes indeed, pgw! With his other arm around my shoulder ...

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  21. Boromir8 November 2007 at 09:31:00 CET

    Hope his aim was good gimir.

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  22. Anonymous8 November 2007 at 10:20:00 CET

    <<"Come on in, man!!" he said, revealing the biggest ... >>

    I read up to this point with anticipation and trepidation, and was slightly disappointed when the next word turned out to be "smile".

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  23. centrifuge8 November 2007 at 15:27:00 CET

    ha!

    the question is, glmlr, did elvin tap out a polyrhythm on your shoulder?

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  24. Anonymous8 November 2007 at 18:03:00 CET

    Fortunately he didn't, Centrifuge. The results would have been widely-flung!

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  25. Boromir8 November 2007 at 18:35:00 CET

    Nice one, gimir.

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  26. centrifuge8 November 2007 at 23:53:00 CET

    :-D

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  27. Anonymous9 November 2007 at 02:03:00 CET

    that's the coolest story i've heard in a long time.

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  28. SOTISE9 November 2007 at 05:44:00 CET

    glmlr , thanks for the mazing anectdote which probably deserves a post or at least postscript of its own.

    kevin
    ive visited your blog often,
    grabbed that evan parker concert months ago, and the great suncity girls show, great blog
    ive linked you
    cheers

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  29. ag10 November 2007 at 18:09:00 CET

    Make peace not piss! :)
    I think I would have wet my pants if I were in glmlr's... pants :] No offence ;)
    I always liked Elvin, but some ambivalence crept in of late, cause I started to think some of his stuff was somehow made from a wrong angle. If you've heard the sets he's made for the Blue Note, you may have noticed how his trio with Farrell and Little sounds - there's something missing there. I can't say how, but these records are in my opinion flawed.
    But whenever the band was augmented, it started to sound a lot better (which prompted my thought that Farrell is to blame).
    I never heard this quartet, but I think the very idea of doubling the saxophonists is definitely a step forward. Liebman has always been great, though not always fantastic, and Grossman had probably had the time of his life back then, barely out of his teens and already playing with some of the best musicians in jazz history.
    Well, all I can say is - thank you. Any of Elvin's albums, especially live and in a more-than-just-a-trio setting, are always welcome.

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  30. brooding bird24 November 2007 at 09:58:00 CET

    hello, and thank you so much for posting this double lp! a friend helped me start a blogspot, and i'd be glad if you checked it out and found something to your liking. the blog has sort of fizzled, but i think it came out pretty clean.

    abacussundial.blogspot.com

    thank you again for the elvin.

    ReplyDelete
  31. brooding bird24 November 2007 at 09:59:00 CET

    hello, and thank you so much for posting this double lp! a friend helped me start a blogspot, and i'd be glad if you checked it out and found something to your liking. the blog has sort of fizzled, but i think it came out pretty clean.

    abacussundial.blogspot.com

    thank you again for the elvin.

    ReplyDelete
  32. brooding bird24 November 2007 at 10:06:00 CET

    hello, and thank you so much for posting this double lp! a friend helped me start a blogspot, and i'd be glad if you checked it out and found something to your liking. the blog has sort of fizzled, but i think it came out pretty clean.

    abacussundial.blogspot.com

    thank you again for the elvin.

    ReplyDelete
  33. A Little Parallelogram of Sky3 January 2008 at 21:45:00 CET

    I grabbed this vinyl a while back, but it does my heart good to see it promoted like this. Thanks for preserving a vital legacy here.

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  34. Anonymous4 March 2008 at 14:56:00 CET

    Thank you so much for all your hard work and your generosity. The world is a better place with this extraordinary music in circulation where it belongs!

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  35. SOTISE26 December 2008 at 21:39:00 CET

    fresh links in flac
    http://rapidshare.com/files/176817710/evn_l_lgtouse.part1.rar
    http://rapidshare.com/files/176817573/evn_l_lgtouse.part2.rar
    http://rapidshare.com/files/176817585/evn_l_lgtouse.part3.rar
    http://rapidshare.com/files/176817630/evn_l_lgtouse.part4.rar
    http://rapidshare.com/files/176851942/evn_l_lgtouse.part5.rar
    http://rapidshare.com/files/176817676/evn_l_lgtouse.part6.rar

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  36. sasha1 February 2009 at 13:14:00 CET

    Wow! You appear to have opened the genie's bottle!! What a deluge of comments..Seriously though your work on this blog is very,very much appreciated..Don't get dispirted and please keep 'em coming.

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  37. Félix18 December 2010 at 02:46:00 CET

    Thanks! I've been looking for it for a while.

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  38. Anonymous21 March 2016 at 19:03:00 CET

    This is a really well-played concert led by Elvin. Thank you and thanks for the great blog site.

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  39. Anonymous24 January 2017 at 19:13:00 CET

    the links are dead, but the music lives on...

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