4 May 2008

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.

39 comments:

  1. mp3 version:

    http://rapidshare.com/files/112539596/Braxton_Paris69_mp3_.rar

    flac version:

    http://rapidshare.com/files/112542851/Braxton_Paris_69_flac_.part1.rar

    http://rapidshare.com/files/112543288/Braxton_Paris_69_flac_.part2.rar

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  2. tiny urls of the above:

    mp3 version:

    http://tinyurl.com/58yf8b


    flac version:

    http://tinyurl.com/6bvlfs

    http://tinyurl.com/56gd7y

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  3. Thank you for this - please post the CCC discs - I haven't seen them anywhere,

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  4. yes, thanks!

    i'll throw my hat in there for the ccc recordings. i picked up a version somewhere, but if you post them here in flac or 320 i'd definitely appreciate an upgrade.

    anyone looking at lewis' book yet? i'm through chapter one. the thing is responsible, thoroughly.

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  5. thanks for this k, and needless to say i am also interested in the other one you mention..!

    i think the two CCC discs were dropped into the comments on c#9 - not actually posted anywhere, so many people will not have seen them...

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  6. thanks a lot. your's is a great site

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  7. test |||¬\` --

    nice work fellers/thankz for this titbit, ahem: CCC vol 1 is currently online here, by the way:
    http://tinyurl.com/54pkdd
    erm .. . yep

    jolly good show
    x
    KK

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  8. test |||¬\` --

    nice work fellers/thankz for this titbit, ahem: CCC vol 1 is currently online here, by the way:
    http://tinyurl.com/54pkdd
    erm .. . yep

    jolly good show
    x
    KK

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  9. Both CCCs can be found here - that could be where I've seen them before. I haven't checked whether the links are still active, though ...

    http://thebrewingluminous.blogspot.com/2007/04/workin-for-ccc.html

    or

    http://tinyurl.com/4xduzf

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  10. cent,

    the other Braxton I had in mind is a pure sideman project - an album credited to Archie Shepp and Philly Joe Jones, released on the America label. Some other Chicago luminaries are on this disc as well. If you check the Braxton discography in the main post, you'll find it under the December 11th heading.

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  11. Interesting to note that the first CCC recording (Muhal) was recorded at the Washington Square Methodist Peace Church in New York - is this the same place as the David Murray Trio recording posted here a few days ago, or not?

    Here are a couple more Braxton pieces that I have picked up recently. First, a trio from Pisa in 1982 with Derek Bailey and George Lewis;

    http://rapidshare.com/files/104880370/BraxtonPisa1982.part1.rar
    http://rapidshare.com/files/104883359/BraxtonPisa1982.part2.rar

    and next a quartet (Braxton, Crispell, Lindberg & Hemingway) performance from Wuppertal in 1985, which is followed by a duet with none other than Peter Brötzmann;

    http://rapidshare.com/files/105022157/BraxtonQuartet-BraxtonBroetzmannDuo1985.part1.rar
    http://rapidshare.com/files/105026169/BraxtonQuartet-BraxtonBroetzmannDuo1985.part2.rar
    http://rapidshare.com/files/105029359/BraxtonQuartet-BraxtonBroetzmannDuo1985.part3.rar
    http://rapidshare.com/files/105031922/BraxtonQuartet-BraxtonBroetzmannDuo1985.part4.rar

    I hope this go down well. There are a few others in the 'to listen to' pile, including quartet performances from 1983 and 1985, which I will aim to get onto rapidshare, and here, before too long. A few other commitments getting in the way, however.

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  12. wow... thanks tantris! there are no prizes for guessing what *i'm* doing this afternoon ;-)

    that '69 piece is a bit of an enigma. how do they even know that braxton was the leader for that recording? it's very interesting though, jenkins especially is on excellent form - can't help with identifying the piece, so unless it's one of the (officially unrecorded) braxton early comps i guess it'll remain a mystery... doesn't really sound like a live recording, but i guess it could be... it's rather frustrating that the radio announcement is cut off, it might have shed light on all sorts of things - !

    jenkins plays chords on a guitar at one point..?

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  13. I see the CCC only on my AB collection but digitally on net? No! never..if someone cutch it please just drop the link.

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  14. kinabalu - thanks (again!) for the info about the other recording, and for the link to that sessionog actually, very useful stuff, cheers :) i haven't really let myself get involved with the ongoing gigography project at all, that way lies madness...

    i'm still interested, especially in the second piece - of course - but i would expect the music to be pretty good anyway..?

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  15. tantris, that improv trio is fucking incredible, far too good to languish in the comments - it's as good as yankees (bailey/lewis/zorn), good enough that i would play it to ANYONE who doubted braxton was up to the job... if they couldn't get it i'd throw a drink in their face, ahem, sorry, i mean find a discreet way of wrapping things up and getting them out the door - ! b's "birdsong" seems like an unnatural match in this context, perhaps - to an open ear that sense of wrongness lasts, ooh, let's see, at least a second or two before it's apparent that the three of them are interested in exploring territories TOGETHER. and my god they cover some ground... anyway, that's enough outta me on this for now, i am gonna post an mp3 at my place in a few days time, i'll try and do something about the dropout (30.10) too, that sounds fixable to me.

    i will mention anyway that the flacs can be found here - but you guys may wanna make a main post out of it anyway, see what you think...

    gotta go listen to the quartet now :-D

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  16. centrifuge - I agree, it is remarkable (and I normally prefer the composed pieces).

    I'm quite wary about making main posts here after the response of PDF to the posting of Composition 113 here - he may be the legal owner, but I have this image of a remarkable piece of music trapped in a bird cage with a cover over it. I'd like to know AB's opinion on the ownership, not least given his less than complimentary comments on Moers and HatHut in Forces in Motion.

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  17. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  18. The Brewing Luminous links appear to be dead while the link provided by king kennytone does work. So I could put up the second CCC and just add a link to the earlier posting of the first.

    One side of the Archie Shepp - Philly Joe Jones record can be found here (towards the bottom)

    http://tinyurl.com/5qffor

    but not the other, so that could be reason enough for reposting it here.

    tantris, if you find time, don't hesitate to put up the Braxtons as a main post. I believe I have both of them (plus several other Braxtons), but I'll wait with the others till I get a chance to listen to them first. Just downloaded some Keiji Hainos, but that could be a bit wild for this place ...

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  19. OK, courtesy of the marvellous blackforest from dime, here's the Braxton Quartet (Anthony Braxton, reeds; George Lewis, trb; John Lindberg, b; Gerry Hemingway, dr) recorded at the Théatre de Montbeliard on 4th March, 1983;

    http://rapidshare.com/files/113039302/ABQMontbeliard1983.part1.rar
    http://rapidshare.com/files/113049431/ABQMontbeliard1983.part2.rar
    http://rapidshare.com/files/113053659/ABQMontbeliard1983.part3.rar
    http://rapidshare.com/files/113059565/ABQMontbeliard1983.part4.rar
    http://rapidshare.com/files/113063519/ABQMontbeliard1983.part5.rar

    I wonder if any of you can identify any of the compositions forming the collages - I'm sure that parts of 23, 40, 69 and 96 are present, but which parts I am much less sure, and I also suspect that some parts of the music from the Creative Orchestra have been used in this quartet format.

    More to come ....

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  20. thanks again!! just pls slow down a bit man - ! i'm back on r-share prem at the mo and i still have difficulty keeping up with you ;-)

    identifying the collage stuff is very very hard - ask me again in six months and i may be able to help... the wuppertal quartet sounded great btw, no time to say more than that - as for the improv, i will post the mp3s before the week is out, and yes, the dropout is perfectly fixable: it doesn't LOOK like a clean match in audacity but it turns out to be exactly that, remove those two secs of flat line and what's left plays with seamless continuity.

    thanks again and again..! to kinabalu also - right i gotta get outta here...

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  21. WHOA! I'm definitely having trouble keeping up. I'm a free RS user which explains that. But the Pisa stuff and the duo with Brotzmann are phenomenal! Keep em coming. I personally can NEVER get too much Braxton....having said that...

    One suspects that there are a trail of Braxton tapes - maybe hundreds of them - from live performances throughout the world. Hell, I even have a couple live (and never released) performances (soundboard tapes) of Braxton in the Pacific N. W. One from 1978 (with Thurman Barker, Ray Anderson, and Brian Smith) and one from 1989 (same group as on the Eugene '89 Black Saint). Both are really terrific but I would NEVER throw a drink in the face of a dumbo who couldn't 'get' them. NOW, with the Pisa thing I might consider it. Probably I'd only roll my eyes and turn the sound up.

    Thanks for all this Kinabalu and Tantris. You ARE hardcore!

    Dale

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  22. dale, i might be sorely tempted, but don't worry, i would never actually do it ;-)

    kinabalu - yeah, half an album... that's reason enough to share the whole thing some time i reckon! not that i'm expecting it to be essential listening from a brax fanatic's pov, but still... gotta be hot stuff i'm sure.

    some comments will follow on the montbeliard set posted above in due course - tantris, the first number played is comp. 6a, let's start with that...

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  23. In attempting to download pt 4 of Braxton's Théatre de Montbeliard I'm getting an error message from RS. The msg reads something like "We're having a hardware problem. We're working on it. Try later." Other links at RS ARE working. No error messages. Anybody else experiencing this problem with pt. 4 of Théatre de Montbeliard?

    Dale

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  24. dale, i had no trouble (or no more than usual...) downloading the whole thing yesterday, but right now i can't get into r-share at all, so i can't check for you..!

    ok, so... i fared a bit better with this '83 set than i did with the wuppertal '85 quartet, but i could still only identify four of the primary territories... this business of trying to spot the pieces is all very frustrating, frequently the themes sound naggingly familiar... anyway, the music is great! how anyone can complain about lack of spirit/emotion/freedom/whatever in this stuff is beyond me, but there we go...

    suite 1 begins with comp. 6a, and continues with comp. 40(o) (clearly identifiable around 12 mins)... didn't get the rest of it :(

    suite 2 begins with comp. 105a, and concludes with comp. 40b (the approach of which is clearly signalled by hemingway, long before the theme itself is stated by the group).

    the encore especially is very familiar, but... damn!

    less than a week after this concert, the same band went into the studio in milan to record comp. 105a (and three others) for black saint: http://tinyurl.com/35j5m5

    - that studio version is a long one, so it's possible that those two are the ONLY primary territories explored in that second piece. the first one, though - not only are there at least two numbers i couldn't identify *after* the rep. series, i'm pretty sure that even i'm missing some details between 6a and 40(o) - not a primary territory, but a partial one more likely. there are times when it sounds as if hemingway could be playing a pulse track, but i'm not even sure if these were being used until the following year..?

    as i say, in a few months' time (i.e. when i reach that period in the braxtothon) i would hope to have more details

    that's it... anorak corner is now closed for the day ;-)

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  25. OK, next instalment is from the Pumpwerk, Wilhelmshaven in 1979 - two hour long sets from the quartet with Anthony Braxton, Ray Anderson, John Lindberg and Thurman Barker;

    http://rapidshare.com/files/113276410/ABQWilhelmshaven1979.part1.rar
    http://rapidshare.com/files/113282919/ABQWilhelmshaven1979.part2.rar
    http://rapidshare.com/files/113285783/ABQWilhelmshaven1979.part3.rar
    http://rapidshare.com/files/113288684/ABQWilhelmshaven1979.part4.rar
    http://rapidshare.com/files/113291414/ABQWilhelmshaven1979.part5.rar
    http://rapidshare.com/files/113296394/ABQWilhelmshaven1979.part6.rar

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  26. ... Dale - it would be great to be able to compare the Wilhelmshaven concert with your 1978 recording at some time.

    Cheers, Tantris

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  27. May I please drop a non-Braxton Cat Among The Pigeons?

    Courtesy of, and thanks to, http://grapewrath.blogspot.com/2008_05_01_archive.html we find Iraqi oud master Munir Bashir improvising solo, "The Art of the Oud" (Ocora 1971). The link is: http://sharebee.com/eaba2552

    I can hardly believe that any free jazz lover will not be enthralled by this grippingly spontaneous, and totally beautiful, music.

    Dedicated to every evil politician and ignorant serviceman who has wrecked Munir Bashir's country.

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  28. tantris, my god, i can only barely keep up with you :-S i don't know when these two sets will get heard, but thanks (yet again) for posting them..! what an amazing *week* this is turning into...

    ... and thanks to glmlr also, i will check that one out over the weekend...

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  29. Please do, Cent. It's only a single download, and in mp3 too just for you.

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  30. There's another Braxton from the early period which I thought about posting here. It's a trio with Günter Hampel and Jeanne Lee, taken from a Paris concert in 1972. Called "Familie" on the Birth label, it's one very long piece of intense improvisation where Jeanne Lee manages to blend her voice in with the instruments to an amazing degree. Very dense. However, it turns out that that Hampel is selling this record himself from his website, so it would be wrong to put it up here. It's strongly recommended, though.

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  31. One more quartet performance - this time from Nickelsdorf in June 1985, with Anthony Braxton, Marilyn Crispell, John Lindberg and Gerry Hemingway. Not far away from the 'Forces in Motion' quartet that toured the UK later that year - according to Graham Lock, Mark Dresser replaced John Lindberg after a row in the middle of the European tour - probably around the time of this concert.

    http://rapidshare.com/files/113132709/ABQNickelsdorf1985.part1.rar
    http://rapidshare.com/files/113255094/ABQNickelsdorf1985.part2.rar
    http://rapidshare.com/files/113258916/ABQNickelsdorf1985.part3.rar
    http://rapidshare.com/files/113265996/ABQNickelsdorf1985.part4.rar
    http://rapidshare.com/files/113267384/ABQNickelsdorf1985.part5.rar

    I hope this doesn't push you into overload, centrifuge - like around 6' into this, if you know what I'm sayin' ;-)

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlfcF1I5e_g

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  32. thank you tantris. thank you anthony braxton.

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  33. ha :))

    well, not quite *that* extreme, but maybe just a bit of overload - i have grabbed the files but shan't even attempt to listen to them (or the '79 sets) until later this week..! thanks yet again, tantris... i can't believe that all this treasure lies buried in the comments, let's hope readers are clued up...

    - and kinabalu, shame about familie but like you say, if hampel is still selling that one then it's only fair to steer clear of it... thanks for the tip anyway.

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  34. just posted the mp3 version of the pisa trio at IYKWIS:

    http://tinyurl.com/4zzzex

    y'know, just in case anyone is still reading this page ;-)

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  35. all you contributors ...

    Thank you - thank you - thank you

    Been here after ten days or so - and: what a surprise! such a bunch of unheard and unknown recordings.

    Don't know when i'll find time to listen to all of it ...

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  36. This is awesome!! Thank you so much for all these postings!! I'm behind...just now listening to the Braxton/Mitchell duets...so lots of fun listening ahead!

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  37. Wow, this is an epic thread! I hope everyone lived through to the end! All this material looks very interesting, and a re-up of any part of it would be super welcome! Thanks!

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  38. These posts happened before I joined Inconstant Sol - so no reup possible from me.
    But maybe .... especially the trio with Bailey looks tasty....

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