Braxton in Paris 1969

Continuing with the AACM and backing up some years from the previous one, this is a fairly obscure recording of the quartet of Braxton, Leo Smith, Leroy Jenkins and Steve McCall from Paris 1969. It has the same line-up as on the first Braxton album for Byg Actuel which was recorded on 10 September in Studio Saravah in Paris.

This, however, is reportedly recorded on 25 October the same year, presumably from a live concert. It is an excerpt of about 20 minutes, presumably from radio as one can hear a brief snip of the French presenter right at the end of the piece.

Further discographical information here: "There are a number of additional "little instruments" including bells, chimes, bicycle horn, toy flute, possibly toy piano, whistle, and woodblock. The private recording reportedly came from a reel-to-reel tape bearing the info Paris, October 25, 1969. The sound is good enough that this could be a radio broadcast, and this may be a recording from Amougies on October 26, but there is no significant crowd noise."

See http://www.jazzdiscography.com/Artists/Braxton/brax-1969-1970.html

Not entirely consistent, in other words.

Though billed as a Braxton recording, this is very much a collective, collaborative effort with all four chipping in. Good sound, though a bit heavy on the reverb, IMHO. Quite a free-wheeling exercise, but lots of atmospherics and mood changes along the way. One to savour, I would think, considering the relative paucity of Braxton material from this period. I've got another Braxton rarity from the Paris period, but we'll get to that in due course.

I suppose the logical follow-up to this one would be the two CCC records on Muse, but I have a feeling they have been posted elsewhere already. We'll see.