3 December 2008

Milford Graves Trio - Festival Sons d'Hiver 2008


Milford Graves Trio
Festival Sons d'Hiver
Salle Gérard Philipe,
Bonneuil-sur-Marne,
France
17 february 200872:55

Kidd Jordan (tenor sax)
William Parker (double bass)
Milford Graves (drums, percussion, voice)

1. Unknow 6:51
2. Unknow 16:28
3. Unknow 5:59
4. Unknow 7:43
5. Unknow 14:40
6. Unknow 7:23
7. Milford speak 4:41
8. Unknow 7:30
9. Milford speak 1:40

Looking through Graves's discography on the net, I was surprised how relatively few commercial recordings he's made, considering he was one of the pioneers of freejazz in the 60s, so has been around a long time. I see he's a teacher and healer so maybe they are his main interests. It was great then to come across one of his rare performances on dime
.
Kidd Jordan was not a name I'd come across until recently. He's also a real veteran whose played with artists as diverse as Ray Charles and Cecil Taylor. Like Graves, he is also a teacher.
Not much to say about Parker that's hasn't already been said. You almost expect him to be present on these kind of gigs. He holds these pieces together brilliantly and has a few brief but inspired solos.
All the tracks are high-octane improvisational stuff. It's an audience recording (thanks to "cosmikd" for seeding), of resonable, but not excellent, quality, so I'll post MP3 version only.

38 comments:

  1. MP3 VBR

    http://rapidshare.com/files/168887754/Graves.rar

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  2. it's Christmas before time!

    thank you so much, Boromir.

    may I be so bold and take advantage of this post to make a request regarding a long OOP Milford Graves recording which also features (among others) Kaoru Abe.
    it's called MEDITATION AMONGST US.
    it was released as a CD by Universal some time ago and I haven't been able to locate a second-hand copy even at an outrageous price.
    was the thing so unsuccessfull that the whole run got "pulped down" at one point?

    thanks in advance to anybody willing to share it.

    and thanks to the host of this post for this live Milford Graves offering.

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  3. Thanks for your comments lc. I've never seen anything of the Abe recording you refer to. You never know, perhaps someone has it and will post. There is a recording from about that time that's around, with Arthur Doyle called BABI. You can get it at:-
    http://thechanging-same.blogspot.com/2008/02/milford-graves-babi-music.html

    Well worth a listen if you like it on the wild side.

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  4. Wow, thanks Boromir! I'm probably more excited to find something new with Kidd Jordan on it than I am about Milford Graves. Jordan's style is one of a kind and his recorded output is so slender. Many, many thanks.

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  5. I'll second that request for the Abe. Very tough record to find.

    Also excited to hear something by Kidd Jordan. I didn't really know him until I heard him speak at the Symposium preceding this year's Guelph Jazz Festival. He just gave a serious of impromptu remarks, not advancing any kind of argument, but I remember him being very thoughtful & funny. Wish I knew more of his stuff. Thanks.

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  6. My first impulse was to request Meditation Among Us, and I'm happy to see two folks beat me to it. I never could afford the import price that local stores charged for that CD. Also can't wait to hear Jordan in this context.

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  7. In case this of any help to anyone, these are a few top-class Kidd Jordan and Milford Graves performances which should still be in circulation:

    Alan Silva - "Emancipation Suite No. 1" on Boxholder 023.
    Trio - Silva on keyboards, Jordan and Parker. Rec. 1999.

    Alan Silva - "The All Star Game" on Eremite 044.
    Silva bass, Marshall Allen alto, Jordan tenor, Parker bass, and Hamid Drake drums. Rec. 2000.

    Graves' duet with David Murray "Real Deal" on DIW 867, rec. 1991.
    Graves' two solo discs on Tzadik.

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  8. thanks for the extra link, Boromir.
    I'll certainly put it to good use.
    as for the Graves at Tzadik, you're right glmrl.
    it certainly has been too long since I started postponing their purchase, taking for granted that they'll be available forever, which doesn't exist in this world, don't we all know.
    I can picture myself in a couple of years from now, complaining about them being OOP...
    time to do something about it!

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  9. looking forward to hearing this a lot...

    as for Graves, this reminds me to unearth my old video of the duets with D. Murray

    and Kidd Jordan did a great trio recording with Parker and Drake after Katrina, Palm of Soul on AUM (Jordan's home was destroyed - so more reason than usual to buy)

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  10. Also, Jordan did some very good recordings with the highly underrated Kali Fasteau. My only complaint about her records, which she produces herself, is that she often uses fadeouts to fit more music onto a CD, sometimes right when things are cookin.

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  11. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  12. Newk, you beat me on pushing Kali Z. Fasteau. The lady has a vision, and it's utterly compelling.

    In terms of Kidd Jordan recordings, the gold standard, to my mind, is "2 Days in April," the quartet with Fred Anderson and the usual suspects for a rhythm section. Glmlr might disagree. The counterpoint between the two horns is fantastic. I believe it's back in print on Eremite.

    And anyone who's ever around the U.S. Midwest should know that Kidd Jordan comes to Chicago Labor Day weekends for after-hour gigs at the Velvet Lounge. They are fantastic.

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  13. Milford Graves-Meditation Among Us
    Kitty 1021 J rec Tokyo, Polydor 1st Studio 7/28/77 by David Baker

    Milford Graves-d,perc,p,voc Mototeru Takagui-ts
    Kaoru Abe-as,sopranino sax Toshinori Kondo-tp,alto-hn Toshiyuki Tsuchitori-d,perc

    http://rapidshare.com/files/170712657/MGraves.part1.rar.html

    http://rapidshare.com/files/170713742/MGraves.part2.rar.html

    http://rapidshare.com/files/170718270/MGraves.part3.rar.html

    http://rapidshare.com/files/170719922/MGraves.part4.rar.html

    http://rapidshare.com/files/170721704/MGraves.part5.rar.html

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  14. Thanks wightdj!!! Can't wait to listen, although I've been having curious problems with RS lately that I need to resolve before even being able to dl it.

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  15. Thanks very much for this wightdj.

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  16. Huge thanks for this Wightdj! I'd never even got a sniff of it. It must be some of the earliest Toshinori Kondo ever on record, no? Anyway, it's an important listen.

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  17. I'll add to the thanks, Wightdj. This is one I've been trying to track down for a while but that always (even on CD) fetches pretty high prices on ebay etc. This seems to have been produced around the same time as those Derek Bailey sets (with, I think the same players). I'll be curious to see if the liner notes have any information. (Is it possible Bailey played with Graves in Japan? That must have been big. In Japan.)

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  18. Dear all,
    I have from Abe:
    Trio 1970.3.15
    Solo 1972.1.21
    Solo 1972.7.13
    Last Date 8.28.1978
    Nord
    Jazz Bed
    Overhang Party
    Mass Projection
    Gradually Projection
    winter 1972
    akashia no ame ga yamu
    Studio Session 1976.3.12
    Partitas
    Kaitai Teki Kohkan (Deconstructive Sympathy)
    Mort A Credit

    and from Graves:
    Stories
    Meditation Among Us
    Grand Unification
    Dialogue of the Drums
    Live at WBAI FM, NYC
    Nommo
    Mohawk
    live at Mary Hope Christian Church, NYC
    Black Dada Nihilismus
    50th Birthday Celebration Vol. II (w/ Zorn)
    if anyone of you ask please let me know. I will immediatley share any oop of them.
    thanks

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  19. Volkan --

    This is incredibly generous, & I'm sure most people who frequent IC would be interested in most if not all of these. I have a handful of the Abe's but not (most of them) at very high bitrates, so I'd probably snap up any of that stuff.

    As to the Graves, is that WBAI set the *Babi Music* that was up at Church #9 in the day? That would be nice to see again. Nommo, too, is a great set.

    But that's just me. Thanks for the offer!

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  20. Wightdj: I've been having trouble trying to convert the Graves Meditation download from .aiff files to .wav. I use a PC not a Mac, and in the past, I've happily converted aiff to wav (or flac or mp3) using either dbPoweramp or Switch. However, each time I convert these aiff files, and burn the result to CDR, all I hear is a wall of white noise. Can you or anyone else help please? I'd be most grateful. Thank you.

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  21. glmlr --

    Do you use itunes? You ought to be able to just import the files there & burn them straight to CDR w/out going through the WAV step. (.aiff is a native format for itunes, I think (?))

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  22. Glmlr
    I used Audacity successfully. You can d/l it for free. You have to import your file and export as two separate processes, but it's quite easy.

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  23. Many thanks to 1009 and Boromir for the tips. I don't have Itunes but I do have Audacity, so I'll give it a whirl!

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  24. Wonderful - Audacity did the trick. Many thanks indeed gentlemen.

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  25. thank you so much, wightdj!
    'just downloaded the thing and 'about to give it a listen at last!
    I thought that this day would never come.
    thanks again!

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  26. I was giving the Braxton/Parker/Graves album Beyond Quantum some deep listening time last night, and I swear there is something about the recording (the mix?) that doesn't sound right. Graves' drums almost sound compressed, and to my mind there seems to be some sort of aural gap between the reeds and the rhythm section. It's the sensation you might get if someone is playing electric guitar right in front of you, but the monitor is way on the other side of the room. Are my ears deceiving me? Does anyone else have this issue?

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  27. wightdj,
    thank you very much for that Graves-Abe collaboration.
    for me Kaoru was one of the first who makes me said yayks and leave that kind of music for i guess two years
    but after that i was really amazed by his sound

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  28. hey. that rapidshare of Meditations Among Us Was limited to 10 downloads and they're all gone. anyone else willing to put it up???
    Volkan Terzioglu ?

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  29. Thank you! Been hearing about Jordan for years--great to finally have a listen.

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  30. Could anyone do a REPOST?

    Thanks a lot

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  31. I'm getting a "This download has been reported as unsafe" message. Should I heed this warning?

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  32. I am not getting any warning downloading this file. I have done it twice, so it should be OK.

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  33. Newk - I have listened to Beyond Quantum several times and agree the recording is not up to snuff, in particular Milford Graves being mixed so low and with a bizarre presentation of the sound stage. Was a rookie used as the engineer? What should be a tremendous listening experience sounds like someone cut the balls off it.

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  34. This is an updated version that trumps the original post.

    https://mega.nz/file/2tpSQBrK#VNj2Wg6rAc-nJ9XfOfHWM7YObr4tLIebjJHGBvGJPfI

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  35. thank u volume S.
    wish mr graves was still with us
    roberth

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