26 February 2009

Sam Rivers - The Quest




Responding to a request from Frank Wells, this is Sam Rivers - The Quest, a record out on the Red Record label in Italy and on the Pausa label in the US (both covers above), released in 1976. This is a trio recording with Dave Holland on bass and Barry Altschul on drums and percussion, old Braxton alumni, as it were, and here teaming up with Rivers. Recorded on 12-13 March 1976 in Milano, Italy. This is a mp3 download, ripped from vinyl, so no flacs for this one.

Only four pieces on this record:

1. Expectation
2. Vision
3. Judgement
4. Hope

Rivers shifts from soprano to flute to piano and tenor on the four tracks. He does a splendid job on both soprano and tenor saxes, fills in a lot of colour atmospherics on flute, though perhaps less of a chance to really shine here. I'm less sure about his piano playing. To me, it comes off a bit stiff and contrived and doesn't really gel with the two other guys, but that's just my opinion. It'll be interesting to know if others hear differently. Holland and Altschul are superb throughout. In my view, the first and the last tracks are the definite ones.

I've got some more Rivers in the archives, "Hues" from 1975, one live concert in Foggia, Italy, 1980 (no further info on who's playing - LYM - any idea?), and one live concert from Warsaw in 2000. Let me know if there's an interest in any or all of these - and I'll post them.
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20 comments:

  1. kinabalu26 February 2009 at 11:58:00 CET

    Link:

    http://rapidshare.com/files/201702998/Sam_Rivers_-_The_Quest.rar

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  2. hulaboy26 February 2009 at 13:34:00 CET

    Thank you for this rarity from the master, and your live material is intriguing - please do post.

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  3. 100926 February 2009 at 16:49:00 CET

    *Hues* is especially interesting -- one I've never seen or heard in the internets. But thanks for this meanwhile!

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  4. 8mmbolex26 February 2009 at 16:56:00 CET

    fantastic! i consider this to be the historic trio lead by SR. (it was the trio WKCR reunited as the climax of their sam rivers festival, a triumphant performance). this was the group that seemed to anchor the scene at studio rivbea and was among the quintessential forces of the vibrant loft jazz scene in '70s NYC. the rarity of their recordings mystifies me so and i am extremely grateful for the post. more sam please. he is one of the most humble and one of the greatest.

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  5. Anonymous26 February 2009 at 21:07:00 CET

    Thank you, you always have good taste, and I appreciate the MP3's. Question, what's the best method for changing flac to MP3's. I'm new to this area. Are there shareware programs out there designed for this? Appreciate the shares. ~Mysterious Traveler

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  6. Anonymous27 February 2009 at 20:34:00 CET

    Thank you for honoring this request! This session along with "Contrasts" from the new I Forgot Clifford blog has me happily filling in the gaps in my Rivers' 70's collection. As much as I like Rivers' Blue Note work, it's his 70's recordings that I most cherish. So, thank you!

    Mysterious Traveler — the best (free) conversion software I've found is called Max. Right here:

    http://sbooth.org/Max/

    It converts nearly any type of sound file to high quality mp3 using LAME encoding. I can't hear a difference between .flac files and converted files using this software. I highly recommend it.

    Once more, my thanks to Inconstant Sol for letting me hear this great record again! And, for those interested, check out the Nothing Is blog to hear Rivers' wonderful trio recording entitled "Paragon."

    FW

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  7. kike27 February 2009 at 22:55:00 CET

    Dear Kinabalu

    thank you very much for sharing this Sam Rivers's rare recording.

    best regards, Kike.

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  8. Anonymous28 February 2009 at 05:50:00 CET

    Original (?) Pausa cover here:

    http://tinyurl.com/b7ol8l

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  9. Anonymous28 February 2009 at 11:42:00 CET

    No, not the original cover who was the one exposed first here. The original records was produced by Red Records (Sergio Veschi, Alberto Alberti) and publish under licence by Pausa in USA. I think than Pausa has never publish an original record.
    LeMo.

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  10. kinabalu28 February 2009 at 13:09:00 CET

    I've checked the Discogs entry and it's listed there as a Red Record release (VPA 106). So it looks as if this one was licensed for US release by Pausa. I'll put both covers in the main post.

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  11. SOTISE1 March 2009 at 14:08:00 CET

    Kinabalu... should you or anyone else need this in flac..let me know i have the record..cheers
    M

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  12. kinabalu1 March 2009 at 15:58:00 CET

    sotise, that would be very much appreciated. You can mail me the links or put them here, whatever you prefer.

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  13. Anonymous1 March 2009 at 19:30:00 CET

    Thanks a lot for this!

    For the occasional Mac user out there: I'm using xAct for all my flac and shn dealings. Works like a dream and is free. It can be found on versiontracker.com

    Cheers!

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  14. 10092 March 2009 at 15:48:00 CET

    I'll second the request for FLACs of this one. I'll also second the recommendation of xAct. I know it's sacrilege to convert FLAC to mp3, but if you're already damned for other things you might as well.

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  15. Anonymous3 March 2009 at 01:22:00 CET

    Sam Rivers -the Quest FLACS

    http://rapidshare.com/files/204276354/SRiver__sQuest.part1.rar
    http://rapidshare.com/files/204276397/SRiver__sQuest.part2.rar

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  16. Anonymous3 March 2009 at 14:26:00 CET

    Thank you for the FLACs! This has been a favorite of mine since it was introduced to me at Church Number Nine. I hope it gets reissued someday...

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  17. Anonymous5 March 2009 at 22:57:00 CET

    kinabalu,
    Thanks for this and all you do here... this is my favourite Sam Rivers recording in terms of communication and musicality. (I did a uncompressed and cleaned-up rip of the LP but I see it has been offered here already.) All further Sam Rivers is much appreciated.
    - inamorata

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  18. soyo12 April 2009 at 06:34:00 CEST

    thank you for this and congratulations for the blog.
    I would like to invite you to my blog Jazz en la Web, that not contains rarities, only the music that so much I like.
    http://jazzparadescargar.blogspot.com/
    Regards.

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  19. Anonymous8 January 2010 at 21:59:00 CET

    Got it, lost it, and getting it again! Many thanks.

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  20. David6 April 2017 at 12:23:00 CEST

    Can this be reposted please? Thanks!

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