We went to Paris because it made no sense to stay in Chicago after 1969. We were dying. And I had been reading about Europe for years. I thought there was a possibility people would be more interested in the music. I went on ahead of Leo and Leroy. I took a plane to Paris; I had a one-way ticket and fifty dollars in my pocket.
- from Graham Lock: Forces In Motion: The Music and Thoughts of Anthony Braxton
'Given that the methods used in contemporary art have changed (to say the least) I want to discuss the empirical aspects of that which we have realised, hopefully, that one who understands us will help a part of society that has normally (in contempt) moved up to reject its hatred towards our music. Since Ornette Coleman, the actual music, by the experience of 'jazz', broke the western chains (by extension) which had victimized it and we can now perceive the appearance of a new art that has a lot of promise.'
The snippet from Graham Lock's book, and the excerpt from the liner notes clearly show part of Braxton's motivation to be in Paris at this time. Equally, Braxton's composition 6G, or B-Xo/ N-O-1-47A, with performers being given balloons to do with as they see fit, shows a response to some of the ideas that had come from John Cage. Braxton's notes above are careful to put this in the context of what he sees as a much deeper musical tradition, although I think this is optimistic on his part - it would probably be truer to say that he was trying to understand what this approach could offer him and equally he was being scrutinised for what he might bring. There is an element of self-consciousness in this piece, and others from this period, which changes its character later (e.g. in some of the duos with Derek Bailey), and eventually disappears.
This was recorded on 10th September, 1969 for BYG Actuel, at the Saravah Studios in Paris.
Leo Smith (trumpet, flugelhorn, logs, siren etc.)
Anthony Braxton (alto sax, soprano sax, clarinet, contrabass clarinet, flute, sound machine, chimes etc.)
Leroy Jenkins (violin, viola, flute. mouth organ, hohner organ, harmonica, etc.)
Steve McCall (drums, darbouka, percussion, etc.)
1. The Light on the Dalta (Leo Smith)
2. Simple Like (Leroy Jenkins)
3. B-Xo/ N-O-1-47A (Anthony Braxton)
Here's the link;
ReplyDeletehttp://rapidshare.com/files/90365263/BraxtonBXNOI47.zip
thanks tantris! i haven't got either of the two bygs from this period (so if anyone wants to post *this time*, they won't hear any complaints from me...). shall be very interested to get to grips with this one, especially (of course) the brax composition.
ReplyDeleteit's interesting to see you using the term "self-consciousness" in the way you do. one regular around these parts has used precisely that term, and in the opposite way to you, i.e. has suggested that sometime around 1978-1980 b's music became "self-conscious" and never recovered... needless to say i don't agree with him! well, he knows who he is, let's see if he'd care to elaborate/debate the issue ;-)
Here is 'this time ...';
ReplyDeletehttp://rapidshare.com/files/82519758/Braxton_this_time_1.zip
http://rapidshare.com/files/82522184/Braxton_this_time_2.zip
I'm interested in others' thoughts on the question centrifuge has raised on self-consciousness, and will probably add a few more words on this later.
now that's what i call prompt service :))
ReplyDeletethanks very much tantris... i shall enjoy both of these albums a little later on. (jimmy giuffre's gonna have to wait...) too late for the braxtothon of course, but i like the idea of maybe covering both bygs in one article - i'll let you know if that ever comes about!
Hi tantris - many thanks for this and the "this time' links.
ReplyDeleteFor me rather spooky, as *the day before* you upped this, I pulled out and played my copy of B-Xo/ N-O-1-47A, for the first time in *15 years*. 15 years? Good grief!
(Mine's a 80s(?) Affinity re-issue.)
And not for the 1st time, I thought to myself - I've GOT to catch up with that "this time" - the "other" BYG.
And then this post, with same supplied swiftly to centrifuge request...
Well it seemed serendipity at the very least.....
thanks again!
nice... i love it when that (sort of thing) happens :)
ReplyDeletethese recordings are very interesting - and pretty dated, i think. tantris, i agree that some of the work from this early period (and well into the 70s in some cases) sounds self-consciously experimental. that would be entirely understandable (and indeed forgivable) of course... but it does mean that the music tends to date more.
still (as always!) fascinating though... but i tell you what, i don't know how no-one took that bloody harmonica off l.j. and rammed it somewhere - it's probably reassuring to know that such a talented musician was still capable of making awfully tuneless noises with the wrong instrument, but that consolation doesn't make those moments any easier to sit through ;-)
cent.. im not so sure
ReplyDeletei dont believe great music dates.
i have both of braxtons bygs... and they are among my favourite albums.
i love this band jenkins smith and mccall, a dream band (one of braxtons very best groups), and though they wern't particularly well recieved at the time and dismissed as dry and self conciously experimental(yes even then) those records are for me near perfect..
the aeoc 's contemporaneous records maybe infinitely more popular.. but dont begin to approach the special luminescent magic of these.
a pity hey couldnt have been better recorded,.
and have never had a proper remastered rerelease every reissue ive heard (all vinyl) the charly,affinity, the get back/ abraxas sounds like they were mastered from old 'clean' vinyl and not the source tapes.
the abraxas/get back facimile's are beautiful but the vinyl pressings sound atrocious my 'this time' has a pressing fault!!
and it cant merely be explained as coincidental, i have other abraxas lp's that sound like shit.
dissapointing that the only people willing to reissue this stuff cant press vinyl! and are unable to do the music justice.
those boots are 'nt cheap, and do the music no favors whatsoever!!
well, that's (obviously..!) very interesting :)
ReplyDeletesome of your favourite albums huh... thanks for joining in with your thoughts. i don't think i've ever really heard anyone talk much about these sessions before.
if i address the whole "does great music date" qn that just raises "what is great in the first place?" so i'd rather leave that to one side... but my initial impression was that the music was dated. ALL of b's early recordings (except maybe for alto) have a dated sound to the production if nothing else... but when i was listening very intently to them, they didn't sound dated at all because i went (more than) halfway to meet the music; these two didn't get my full attention, so i wasn't able to avoid the feeling that i might have left it a little late to be hearing them *for the first time*. that doesn't mean i can't learn to love them!
as regards the band though - in some ways one could not have dreamed of asking for better band mates than those three, yet precisely because they are at the very least b's full equals in music at the time, he is not able (or willing) to impose his status as full leader. what i suspect is that at this point, b. really needed a band to call his own, creatively, but was "safety-netting" it somewhat by having guys around him he knew to be 100% supportive (at a time when very few would have been)... like i say that's my initial feeling, gonna have to go back at some point soon and see if i still feel the same way :)
(i wasn't too happy to hear 6f broken up into pieces like that..! maybe if i'd heard that version *first*... bit late tho eh...)
To my ears, For Alto is a step change from both of these BYG LPs, but still has periods where it seems to me that Braxton is (self-)consciously borrowing language and phrasing which has come from somewhere else and which can now sound quite stilted, and even, dare I say it, pretentious. That's not necessarily a bad thing - most art is created from borrowed things, but at this time Braxton has not yet found his own voice, nor can he place in confidently in a tradition he feels comfortable with. I don't think he is quite sure of where he stands in respect of composed or improvised music, and whether he can allow the Western avant garde of the 1950s to overtly influence him, or whether he should hold true to a 'jazz' tradition. Much of this uncertainty is in his writing of the time, and you can hear it in the music - not least a piece like composition no.82.
ReplyDeleteIf you fast forward to something like the Iridium set, you can hear something that is much more secure and confident in itself, is firmly within a tradition and yet unlike anything heard before! But you can (I think) detect some of what allowed Braxton to create this, and in particular the influence of Derek Bailey and Marilyn Crispell - Ghost Trance Music has traces of the duos with DB, Company and the quartet with Crispell.
I'm a big Braxton fan, and generally love these BYG outings. Thanks again for a monstrous blog!
ReplyDeletetantris, i completely disagree with you guys.
ReplyDeletethere's nothing in the whole of jazz history remotely like braxton's for alto.
being the first to record a double album of saxaphone, has nothing to do with its freshness.
to me there is a tension created by the collision in for alto between the so called jazz tradition and , braxton's love of 1960's aleatory music, stockhausen's klavierstuke, john cage ,earl browne etc.
the tensions linger longer than one is used to on some of the pieces, perhaps generating a feeling of stiltedness.
but everything is delivered with such an agressive spontaneity, that is breath taking and far from emotionless.
braxton the first black musician identified with the jazz 'so called avant guard of the time, to bring those influences to bear.
others like gunther schuller, guiffre ,john lewis, george russell had attempted so called 3rd stream synthesis of jazz and an earlier more conservative modernism.
but without for the the spontanaety and vigour, that braxton brings to for alto.
theres to my ears very little of the jarring dichotomous , feeling of mere superimposition that affects most of the above (to my ears).
braxton's for alto brings those influences to bear with such an exiting combustible
energy, as well as a clarity and precision that mystified critics.
braxton was very far from being the first, black jazz musician to be interested in the contemporary classical/euro art music of the day.
but he really is the first to bring ,those more radical interests to bear in such improvisational vigour, and at the time ,that society was incredibly racist.
the whole notion of a studious looking, pipe smoking intellectual
negro, must have seemed inconcievable, an affront.
how can this nigger be into this stuff.. incorporate those systems and make it sound so much fresher than the real-deal( say stockhausen's klavierstucke).
wearing tweed smoking pipes, making no bones in declaring his taste for so called white jazz.
im not a composer ,so im not prepared venture into an analyses of the actual compositions.
for alto is a powerful emotive experience, one ill never forget first being subjected to, and it sounds as natural, fresh and valid to me now as when i first heard the album.
i squirmed when 10 years after for alto ,i decided to subject myself to ,stockhausen's pre cycle of the 7 days music.
things like klavierstucke.
i tried to immerse myself in it for weeks at a time.
finally giving up and accepting it was never going to move or stimulate me.
wheres the evidence for braxtons early work being unsucsessful, dated, pretencious and stilted.
compare for alto to , klavierstucke
and ask yourself which is dated!!
i first heard *for alto* on my "tinny" ipod ear buds (long since trashed in favor of some sennheausers) while walking around campus. i got to the lecture hall & the other teaching assistant asked me what was wrong. apparently i looked completely stunned. frankly i'm surprised i got to the classroom on time. & that was through EARBUDS, mind you! 160 kbps!!!
ReplyDeletespeaking of bitrate, though, can someone tell me what the kbps is on these braxton bygs? i own them on cd at home, but i'm on fellowship for another few weeks & can't get to them. if the bitrate is higher than 160 i'll have to grab these.
pardon: "sennheisers"
ReplyDeletesorry about the repetion , grammatical and spelling errors in that last post.
ReplyDeletespontaneous effusion, , no editing, spell checks etc.
atrocious i know.
im interested in peoples thoughts and feelings on for alto, a durable favourite.
no sense of diminishing return ever for me, renewed facination, and a perpetual freshness, even if some of the individual pieces do appear a little laboured.
tantris generally posts 320 kbs, 1009.
ReplyDelete"there's nothing in the whole of jazz history remotely like braxton's for alto. being the first to record a double album of saxophone, has nothing to do with its freshness."
ReplyDeleteCan you get an amen?
Yeah, you will from me.
Like you sotise, I find For Alto rewards and resonates still - and is a powerful, wonderful, spellbinding 4 sides of music.
Is it worth mentioning that For Alto PRE-dates these BYG titles? 1968 on Delmark (for alto), 1969/70 in Paris(B-Xo/ N-O-1-47A and 'this time').
And while For Alto still has the power to monster me sideways, I too really like these BYG's.
Yeah I think they are kind of "developmental" (or something) - but I'm perhaps not sufficiently serious enough myself, to find them pretentious or "flawed" in the sometimes 'transitional nature' of the musical material.
In compositional / ensemble effect, they sound to me way more AEOC-like than anything subsequent led by Braxton.
But being far from an expert, and possibly missing some of the pieces of the puzzle (recordings-wise), I'm hesitant to opine too heavily on any but the most subjective matters.
centrifuge is right though - Leroy Jenkins' harmonica - ha! it IS pretty redundant.. ;o) And he just blows and puffs in a diatonic chordal crudity - like that guy you see busking sometimes who you don't know whether to give money to because he's just standing there with the hat out, doing nothing more than breathing in and out - with a harmonica in his mouth.
Though i did (on a blog such as this) find mild amusement in centrifuge's stated objection couched as "awfully tuneless noises" Uh-oh!... No tune? A bunch of "noises, not music"? Whoaha! I've a lot of records to get rid of ;o) . . . .
These BYG recordings are never going to be acclaimed as "the best Braxton you can get". But I don't think they're "dated and dispensable" - I like them both (Steve McCall is not less than wonderful, for a moment, anywhere)
About all those crappy LP pressings sotise - I think it amy be a case of continually sampling the wares of a particular pie-man over and over again. BYG_Actuel>Charly>Affinity - same central geezer concerned. (Quality record pressings so NOT an issue -ha!) Abraxas - same attitude - unsure of ownership. Get Back? - ditto..
Have read at least a few times that it is not possible to re-master, as ALL the BYG-Actuel tapes have "disappeared".
So - ah.. we have what we have.
And .. ah.. we'll make of it what we will.
serviceton.. im with you there, i love jenkins sheer daring (and thats hugely central to the aacm's early music)the acceptance of triteness and banality if need be (and make the triteness poignant)to create aural tapestries without imaginative peer, in late 20th century music.
ReplyDeletesometimes sure its ragged ,but the sheer beauty lies therein, and becomes posiyively sureal when juxtaposed by moves with real or parodic slickness.
steve macall's a spellbinding ,totally gripping master whom i think really is crucial to the success of the two braxton bygs, i love the man and would urge anyone to listen to his collaboration with fred anderson, air, marion brown and others.
this music with its emphasis on subtle textural shifts, is slow , sane and vital,the great escape ,a perfect counter to oppressive reality, i feel cushioned from lifes implacable ferocity while listening to it.
it is a vitalised transformative mediated, slow, sinfree,thoughtful benevolant,truly sentient hyper reality.
look sorry... just kidding those last two paragraphs were half parodies , of fanciful reviews.
that other half though...umm
yeah ..its fucking great life affirming music.
i just wrote a long comment... and accidentally lost it {doh}
ReplyDeletethe gist of it:
1. just to clarify, i didn't say a word against for alto! that's the only one of the early braxtons which i DON'T think sounds fairly dated... i only heard it for the first time recently, and i'm about to post my thoughts over at my place actually... if anyone is interested in debating all this still further ;-)
2. sotise, maybe our different reactions are at least partly because i have a specific interest in braxton, whereas for you he is just one of several aacm musicians of equal personal importance (to you, i mean)..? so maybe for you having them all together like that is heaven, whereas for me it stifles b's attempts to establish himself as a leader... anyway, as i said, my opinions on the BYGs could well change, over time..!
3. tantris, you are very free and easy with your chronology in what you say above ;-) it sounds as if we agree about the self-consciously experimental tendencies of some the late 60s work, but i certainly *don't* extend that to cover the 70s as well... also, in the case of comp. 82 in particular, the only version we have in the discog is one so laughably underrehearsed that one third of the score had to be thrown out in the editing room... i'd be wary of citing that recording in *any* arguments! (except those regarding the lack of time and money being made available for such projects...)
centrifuge , just one last brief response my reading about the aacm and in particular the early recordings from the late 60's is that there are no leaders... so youre quite correct in a way.
ReplyDeletebraxton was the nominal leader, creative construction co ,was so thoroughly a group of equals.
the aim of this group music was not to provide braxton with an exclusive vehicle within which to develope his compositional identity.
or impose his neronic will.
i doubt that he would agree that his efforts to establish himself as leader in any hierachical sense was stiffled by the other equally strong identities in this music
that just isnt what this music is about, and for me that fact is very evident,indeed pervasive.
I took the time to listen to the BYGs and For Alto again before adding any further comment; I'm pretty much sticking to what I wrote above. I think the BYGs are interesting, but my view is that you see artfulness and cleverness from Braxton in these (especially in 6G which is really annoying), rather than something of real enduring interest. For Alto is a step change from these (as I said above). It was indeed recorded earlier than the BYGs, and before Braxton went to Paris. IOW, I am suggesting that he was less successful there - because he is trying to be clever beyond his means at that time - than many of the others who recorded for BYG at that time, and that these recordings are a step backwards from For Alto.
ReplyDeleteI always mix up the date for 82, thinking it is 72 rather than 78 - probably transposing the composition numbers with the dates. No question that it is not very successful, imho.
Yeah, I was going to suggest (or is that confirm?) that the idea that you guys *are* looking from different perspectives *does* change the way you feel and respond - to some small extent anyway.
ReplyDeleteWhat if Braxton was the Arthur Jones (or whoever) of his time - and *this was it* - a couple of aural documents on a French label from the very late 1960s - and *no more* ?
Would not knowing that he was to become "a leader" with a unique compositional & improvisational stance and aesthetic, change our perceptions of the music we hear on the 'importantly crappy'(tm) BYG-Actuel label?
Yes, I think so - to some extent at least.
But, REALLY LOTS and lots (+lots!) of documented music came later and we have a part-parabola of that curve - in the mention here (above) of 'for alto' (1968), 'composition no.82' (1978), 'Iridium set' (2006).
That's nearly FORTY YEARS of recorded music-making!! - and ya wanna come down on some 'self-conscious experimental tendencies' - the 24 year-old didn' do no masterpiece this time!... (sheesh)
How do you respond to the music though?- emotionally , and cerebrally too if you like...
I don't mean taken as a "Piece within a body of work" basis - but more on a "as it comes" basis.
And here's where you quickly hit the glass wall of subjective appreciation.
Or - the "Question Of Quality" if your interests run to Zen and motorcycle maintenance.
And then you're really into the realm of arguing aesthetics (I think you are anyway..) - and that's interesting but it's tough too
Apologies if my wandering thoughts are less than coherent here.... :o) Um.. I "mean well".. Ha yes, that's it!
sotise, if this truly is your prose
"music with its emphasis on subtle textural shifts, is slow , sane and vital,the great escape ,a perfect counter to oppressive reality, i feel cushioned from lifes implacable ferocity while listening to it.
it is a vitalised transformative mediated, slow, sinfree,thoughtful benevolant,truly sentient hyper reality"
- then you should perhaps be writing for wire magazine. (I'm not sure I mean that as a compliment). ;o)
On the other hand, I hear the voice of the dedicated life-long critic in the crafted cadence of
"its fucking great life affirming music" - and approve wholeheartedly.
Oh, and what is "neronic will" sotise?
Is it something to do with the emperor Nero, or should I just go and look it up?
tell you what, I'll shut up, stop typing, and go and look stuff up for a bit.
maybe i'll listen to some records.
:-D most entertaining...
ReplyDeletehow did i respond? by thinking "hmm, this sounds a bit dated"; also i was surprised that at times (esp. early in the first of the two BYGs) i had to struggle a bit to find braxton in the mix, since i'm used to his being an excpetionally clear and confident voice, on whatever instrument. smith and jenkins almost overpower him at times. otherwise - some of the music delighted me anyway, some not so much, but (once again) i'm perfectly willing to give it time!
sotise, yeah, i want to dig out the CCCC (creative construction co concert!) and listen to all of it before i go back to the bygs. it's all jenkins' music iirc, be interesting to see whether there's much palpable difference... of course there are two extra players as well.
tantris, comp. 25 was recorded in '72 (ie the first creative music orch)... poss getting confused with that?
serviceton, man yes exactly a parody of a wire magazine article... though it started out sincere.. what does the name thom jurek conjure up( i know he does'nt write for wire)
ReplyDeletenero.... yes as in the cd burning software.
I don't think anyone has a monopoly on the emotional response to music, seviceton. I spend a lot of my time listening to music from this period, and Braxton more generally, and to other contemporary music, and in reading about it, and can only say what I feel and think. Don't forget how Braxton himself chose to represent and explain this music - some of which is in the original post.
ReplyDeleteMuch of what I read elsewhere on Braxton seems odd - i.e. he is master who cannot put a foot wrong. There is much of his music I am passionate about, but if you suspend critical judgement, you end up with a one-dimensional picture. The Penguin Guide is quite perceptive, both on the BYG releases, and also some of the Braxton audience.
the bygs are in the penguin guide? which edition?
ReplyDeletei haven't got mine to hand anyway... in a box somewhere! but after hearing what brian morton had to say for himself on jazz library, i would take his opinions on braxton with a pinch of salt!! i know he is genuinely enthusiastic but he clearly has done the classic critic thing of forming an opinion about a lot of stuff years ago, then just remembering his own opinions rather than relistening... of course he is expected to have opinions on everyone so this is probably inevitable, but it's one reason why i myself have *no* aspirations to the status of "jazz expert" :-S
I just love reading blogs by bloodless, pompous pontificating middle aged geeky nerds tripping over each others oh so precious egos.
ReplyDeleteWho never having actually created anything of cultural value scavenge over the work of revered little idols all the while desecrating their memories by robbing them of their financial due, and attempting to stamp great music with their own irrelevent mediocre interpretations.
Sotise, centrifuge, tantris, serviceton how does it feel to be frivolous little minds, with no creative energies of your own to expend other than the dank laxity required to be armchair amateurs, picking over others cultural products with the sincerity and acuity of eager schoolboys.
You are fooling no one
Thirst’n more
Hey Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteLove a little, vent a little yeah?
I too love reading blogs by bloodless, pompous pontificating middle aged geeky nerds.
I feel that it's the best use of my time after a hard day at the office.
Though (contrary to your conjecture)I am not middle aged really myself.
Of course, not having met them, I'm unable to speak for sotise, centrifuge and tantris.
But geez it'd be great if they WERE middle-aged
Y'see I would DESPERATELY LIKE TO BE MIDDLE-AGED [have done for years and years], though I can see no other way to get there other than waiting.. for quite a while..
But all your adjectives excite me with a thrill of empathy, whilst your final noun (that nerd word) kinda makes me feel, I dunno, 'called-out but proud'.
Let's imagine I have painted, composed, written, & sculpted for the last decade, and issued 7 albums of original music.
How would you know?
But you're right - and I've got to thank you warmly and sincerely for pointing out that I've never created anything of cultural value.
Cheers friend. I appreciate the warmth of your approach.
(That's aside from your perspicacity)
You , I have the inkling, are some sort of a 'true & proper' cultural value-adder. I get that vibe.
I believe you may be 'a righteous dude' in this particular area. I'm reading between the lines I know, but for me, "no creative energies of your own" was setting off the alarm bells - mostly in the sensitivity/creativity plane..
Speaking only for myself, you're quite right to perceptively notice my proclivity for scavenging over my revered idols.
And surely you must have access to my banking details to so precisely finger my enthusiasm for 'desecrating their memories by robbing them of their financial due'.
Just between you and I, the deader they are, the more I enjoy the desecration of the memory - financially speaking only of course.
Naturally, I am having difficulty desecrating Anthony Braxton's memory though, as he's not yet dead.
But you know me "Thurst'n" - AND you know those other guys too of course- the moment AB pulls up the curtain invisible, I'll be there (or here, or somewhere) giving my frivolous little mind free run of the course, scavenging and snuffling and sounding as sincere and acute as a schoolboy.
An eager one.
You get 2 1/2 points for the term "dank laxity", along with a teacher's annotation in red pen "Your own work?"
You DO NOT get the job at The Wire - sotise has this nailed as far as I can see - He combines some evident passion for the subject with heavy wordsmithery.
You take "dank laxity" down there and even their 'most serious' of journalists are going to be looking at you funny...
Look you can't finish a post by saying "You are fooling no-one" and then sign it 'Thirst'n more'
It just looks lame.
tantris -
ReplyDelete"I don't think anyone has a monopoly on the emotional response to music, seviceton"
"...and can only say what I feel and think"
Totally agreed - absolutely - never thought otherwise .
Yes.
Ahh - just what I was trying to say actually - or at least reference.
I think I have expressed myself poorly previously - apologies.
I do try to have some sort of crack at serious subjects, whilst hopefully retaining a pinch of humour here and there - sometimes people think it's taking the piss...
I dunno..
All we're all left with in the end (and the beginning) is what we think and feel - about music or any other artform.
And the qualitative assessment of artistic creation is what is devilishly tricky to assess or nail down.
Thus my attempt previous to reference Persig's 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance' with its apparent discussion of "The Metaphysics of quality."
The principles being much simpler that the high-falutin' "Named Concept"
For what it's worth, I think that For Alto eclipses anything anywhere remotely near it - in the braxton 'canon' and maybe beyond, for the time
I like the byg's though (the 2nd of which I only just heard for the 1st time) - they are better than 'dated and unfortunate' i reckon by a long haul.
AB (for mine) is NOT a 'master who cannot put a foot wrong' - I have heard records of his that I've found unengaging, even boring. There are great gaps in "his chronology" where I simply haven't heard the records.
Plus the guy's made about 96 thousand recordings . . .
But I think he IS 'a master'...
Who cares what i think - It doesn't matter a damn
Just didn't want to accidentally project the opposite view to that I have
Highly entertaining discussion, this one, though I'm not sure to which extent it leaves me any the wiser. Braxton does seem to evoke the passions for sure.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I'm not a position to make any overall judgement on his huge ouevre, so to keep it manageable, at least for the time being, I'm sticking to his 70s output and trying to familiarise myself with it before moving on, as it were.
On the subject of which, I've just managed to grab a copy of this one on Ebay (for a nice price) and wondered if any of the resident expertise has some further info on it:
Anthony Braxton
Four Compositions (1973)
Denon YX-7506-ND (LP, 1977, Japan); Nippon Columbia NCB8504-N (LP, Japan)
1. {Comp. 23 N} (dedicated to Richard Teitelbaum)(Braxton)[11:30]
2. {Comp. 23 P} (dedicated to ichard Abrams) (Braxton)[8:24]
3. {Comp. 23 M} (dedicated to Warne Marsh)(Braxton)[9:49]
4. {Comp. 23 (O)} (dedicated to Laurent Goddet) (Braxton)[10:21]
Anthony Braxton (sss, cbcl, scl, fl, as)
Masahiko Sato (p)
Keiki Midorikawa (b)
Hozumi Tanaka (perc) on #4
1973 – January 11
??
Tokyo (Japan)
Fave AB things on the Ipod at the moment: "New York Fall 1974" and "Five Pieces" (and I've gotta admit, Braxton's rendition of "Afro Blue - as a base for comparison with Coltrane's version). I do have a weakness for his Standards Quartet.
that japanese album is a cracker. further info - like what? if you have a copy of the album, you already know more than me ;-)
ReplyDeletei reviewed it (sort of) in the braxtothon... the close-up photo of the double train tracks...
glmlr bought it when it came out i think - we never posted his rip on c#9, but someone did post it somewhere 'cos mine's a rip... actually... sotise, was it you?? could well be back in sol's own archives :)
serviceton - no need to waste your "breath" next time... just ignore these anonymous trolls and they usually go away.
ReplyDeletecent,
ReplyDeletething is I just "won" it on Ebay and haven't received it yet, hence the request ...
kinabalu.. lucky you man.
ReplyDeletecent , no i dont have that record it was posted by chaamba in the comments to ch#9 as a response to a request, only at 160 kbs though and it doesnt sound too good.
great record though!
i have a friend who has it , but we aren't so close that he'd lend me the record .. he has no way of transfering vinyl and does'nt own a computer.
thirst'n ... you must be truly fuckin' bored.
framed a little less harshly ,i might be somewhat more sympathetic to y'r gist.
Thank you, Mr. Thirst'n less, for your grace, your charm, your dignity, your subtlety of insight, your generous spirit, your uplifting soul and your evil cynicism. Music needs people like you - like a hole in the head.
ReplyDeletethere are sound issues with the rip, it's true... but that didn't stop *me* enjoying it... :))
ReplyDeleteglmlr's own vinyl rip is sort of in blog limbo - i expect i could rescue it, but kinabalu may yet beat me to it, we shall see - i don't have it myself but i could get it, just not as a matter of urgency...
k, i reckon you'll like it!
This brings tears to my clown eyes. The world could use a lot more tapes of the early AACM,Birth, FMP<ICP<INCUS,ESP,COTW type stuff
ReplyDeleteis it possible to reup in lossless this gem???
ReplyDeletethanks in advance
alex
@Alex,
ReplyDeleteI have this one on lp and also on mp3. As you're asking for a lossless rip, it might take a while, knowing myself. Perhaps someone else may step in? I also have the other Byg album This Time on lp, in case there is an interest out there for it.
i also inerested for THIS LAND lp
ReplyDeleteI would very thankful if in a chance upload these two BYG lp s
thanks again
Alex
Kinbalu - I'm also interested in this one on lossless...
ReplyDelete