27 June 2008

Jack DeJohnette's Special Edition - Live FM broadcast 1980


Details:
Jack DeJohnette's Special Edition
Left Bank Jazz Society
Famous Ballroom, Baltimore
May 4, 1980

Jazz Alive NPR FM Broadcast


01 Zoot Suite
02 One for Eric
03 Announcements
Jack DeJohnette-drums, percussion, melodica
Arthur Blythe-alto saxophone
Chico Freeman-tenor and soprano saxophone,bass clarinet
Peter Warren- bass, cello

Special Edition has been one of JDJ's projects that started out I think with an LP on the ECM label in 1979 entitled, not very originally, Special Edition. That album features David Murray on tenor/bass clarinet. This role seems to have rotated between him and Chico Freeman, who can be found on this recording, alongside the excellent Arthur Blythe who seems to have been a mainstay of the band. I don't know when their most recent gig took place.

This set features extended versions of JDJ's compositions that appeared on that first album, and very good they are too.

Sound quality is excellent. Thanks to taper and seeder.
MP3 and Flac links available in comments.

11 comments:

Boromir said...

MP3

http://rapidshare.com/files/125138415/JDJSE_MP3.rar

Flac

http://rapidshare.com/files/125153684/JDJSE_FLAC.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/125166104/JDJSE_FLAC.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/125181358/JDJSE_FLAC.part3.rar

Anonymous said...

thanks, boromir!

always loved the first incarnations of dejohnette's "special edition". the debut album has been issued under the leader's name, with 'special edition' as album title - i guess he just kept the term for his groups (like tony williams used the mid-60s album title 'lifetime' for his famous group).

cheers!

p.s.: thanks for the mp3's, too - it's nice to get the tiny option 1st ;)

SOTISE said...

thanks B , I LOVE THIS BAND TOO , AND THIS IS a superior sounding concert.. exhilirating stuff!

Anonymous said...

always wanted to see these guys live but never had the chance thank you !!!

dalemcbdnl said...

I've seen Dejohnette several times over the years but my favorite show was around 75 - 76 when he swung thru Oregon with a trio. Peter Warren and Alex Foster were his co-conspirators. They were all on fire that evening! And the best part was that they seemed to be having a blast playing with each other.

I had not seen Bennink at that point so when DeJonette came out alone and started off by squeaking his stool and drumming on the boards of the rickety old stage as the muse for improvising. I was taken aback because I didn't expect this kind approach to "jazz" from this particular group. This went on for a few minutes while Warren and Foster waited in the wings. When Warren finally strolled out he casually picked up his beautiful bass violin began bowing and tapping on the sides of the instrument more or less emulating the sounds and concepts initiated by DeJohnette. Then Foster came out, grabbed his alto and hopped off stage. He got into the audience (maybe 20 feet from the stage) watched what the other two were doing for a few seconds then launched into a series of pecks, screeches and over blown scales echoing what Warren was up to. They were playing with accidental sounds and relating them to more conventional notions of tempo and melody; but what they were up to was a new kind of music vocabulary for me. That felt like a new concept in improvising and it was kind of surprising coming from Jack DeJohnette.

It's long enough ago where I couldn't possibly give you a blow by blow report on the whole concert but I will say that Warren and Foster were "with" DeJohnette all the way - whether they were doing "sounds" or "tunes." And Peter Warren has never sounded better. That is what this whole comment is about. Peter Warren! I was glad to see/hear another concert with Warren in a DeJohnette group.

Thank you Boromir for this concert with Peter Warren. It brings back memories.

Dale

dalemcbdnl said...

Oh yeah, a couple comments about this particular concert. Chico Freeman stands out and is at his best in this outing. He sounds especially strong as he works his way into the 9 minute tenor solo on "Zoot Suite." And I feel his bass clarinet solo on "For Eric" is a worthy tribute to the master on the instrument, Eric Dolphy. Thanks again boromir!

Dale

PS My last attempt at posting this comment looked like a failure (I got another damned error message)-I hope this is not a duplicate - D

Captain Hate said...

I thought this was DeJohnette's best group and the compositions are inspired, holding your interest the whole way. Chico was blowing hot then and this unfortunately shows what we've lost with what he's playing now. Blythe was playing ingenious lines as well. Whatever happened to Peter Warren? This was a great time to be a new fan of this type of music.

The Canhão-de-Luz Power!!! said...

Sem palavras, excelente!!!

Anonymous said...

woah an oldie here long gone - any chance of a revival ?

looking for earlier pre-1980 Chico recordings too

DRONSZ said...

Could somebody reup this one, please?

本田珠也 said...

could you please reupload again?