This trio was a benchmark for the French jazz scene at the
end of the seventies.
Humair, in particular, may be considered one of the great
innovators among the European jazz drummers.
Rec. live at "Teatro Ciak", Milan, Italy, on November 1st, 1982
(mics recording)
Francois Jeanneau,tenor & soprano saxophones
Henri Texier,bass
Daniel Humair,drums
1. Track #1 (12:25)
2. Track #2 (12:21)
3. Track #3 (10:46)
4. Track #4 (11:27)
Total Time 47:00
I sometimes feel that this blog is turning into a series of commemorations, at least as my recent posts are concerned. We have posted on Rashied Ali and Sirone recently, and now is the time to commemorate another bassist who passed away on 18 November at the age of 72. Jeff Clyne was a regular on the UK scene and has played with many of the key figures in British jazz from the late 50s onwards; Tubby Hayes, Stan Tracey, Ian Carr, Keith Tippett etc. He was a founder member of Nucleus and had his own fusion group in the mid-seventies which we will come to in a later post. And he played with Amalgam on a couple of albums and with John Stevens as well which we have blogged before, namely here and here and here and here and here.
I have chosen the first album by Amalgam which sees the group working in a trio setting:
1. Tales of Sadness
2. Judy's Smile I
3. Judy's Smile II
4. Judy's Smile III
5. Prayer for Peace*
Trevor Watts - alto sax
John Stevens - drums
Jeff Clyne - bass
Barry Guy - bass*
Recorded on 20 May 1969
This is from a cd reissue by FMR records which seems to be out of print for the moment. The original album was out on Transatlantic, a label better known for folk music.
The album is a beauty - a elegiac, melancholy tone to the compostions - all by Trevor Watts. Three takes are featured of the same tune - showing that a tune can never be exactly reproduced, at least not as far as these musicians are concerned. Listen in for the deep, warm tone from Clyne's bass and the bitter-sweetness and passion from Watts' horn. This is a seminal album and I hope that our readers feel the same.
I don't normally request items, but I'd like to make an exception. If anyone has the Jeff Clyne, Ian Carr (again with Watts and Stevens) album "Springboard", recorded in 1966 and released in 1969 on Polydor, I'd love to hear it. Never reissued and the vinyl is way up in the three digit price range, and way beyond what I'm willing to shell out for any piece of vinyl, so if there are cheaper ways of making it accessible, I'd be very interested.
Meanwhile, enjoy!
Two founder members of the famous improvising group "Iskra 1903",
here without the third member (Derek Bailey) : "Iskra 1902" ?
Great music from the Seventies.
Rec. live at "Cineteatro Anteo", Milan, Italy, on November 22, 1979
(mix recording)
Paul Rutherford,trombone
Barry Guy,bass
1. Track #1 (25:00)
2. Track #2 (15:04)
3. Track #3 (09:10)
4. Track #4 (12:14)
Total Time 1:01:28
In January '79 Mr. Braxton played for a week at "Teatro Ciak" in Milan,
this is the recording of the second evening, while Leo Records has yet
published the third and the fourth evening : "Solo ( Milano ) 1979 Vol.
1 & 2". At the end of the concert, with a couple of friends, we made an
"interview" with Mr. Braxton, who was very helpful and kind with us.
I've added the "interview" as last track (low bitrate), thinking that could
be of some interest for someone.
Rec. live at "Teatro Ciak", Milan, Italy, On January 16, 1979
(mics recording)
Anthony Braxton,alto saxophone
01. Composition 999A (08:00)
02. Composition 999B (06:10)
03. Composition 999C (06:13)
04. Composition 999D (06:08)
05. Composition 999E (17:57)
06. Impressions (05:05)
07. Composition 77F (04:14)
08. Composition 999F (06:34)
09. Composition 999G (02:17)
10. Interview (34:24)
Total Time 1:37:06
The last evening of the 8th "Talos Jazz Festival" (2000) was
completely consecrated to the Great Cecil Taylor : first set
Cecil solo, second set Cecil & Italian Instabile Orchestra.
Here's (thanks to "Ilario") the first set, the second set was
published by Enja in 2003 with the title "The Owner Of The River Bank".
Now the evening is completely documented.
Rec. live in Ruvo di Puglia (Bari), Italy, on September 10, 2000
(mix recording)
Cecil Taylor,piano
1. Track #1 (41:44)
2. Track #2 (09:37)
Total Time 51:21
This performance took place just few hours after the group had finished
the recording of "Flat-Out Jump Suite" at Barigozzi Studio in Milan.
The Verona Festival programme quoted at the trumpet Baikida Carroll,
then worthily replaced by Olu Dara.
Rec. live at "Teatro Romano", Verona, Italy, on June 5, 1980
(mix recording)
Julius Hempill,alto & soprano saxophones
Olu Dara,trumpet
Abdul Wadud,cello
Warren Smith,drums
1. Heart (16:46)
2. Body (24:46)
3. Unknown (14:07)
4. Unknown (09:41)
5. Unknown (17:01)
Total Time 1:22:22
The first reunion (after more than 30 years apart) between the two
avant-garde Giants took place at New York's Jazz Standard in 2000.
From that date, in the course of the years, the reunion became more
regular with frequent tours.
From the 2004 tour, here is the recording of the Roman concert.
Not only for nostalgics.
Rec. live at "Auditorium Parco della Musica", Rome, Italy,
on November 17, 2004 (radio broadcast)
Archie Shepp,tenor saxophone,vocals,piano
Roswell Rudd,trombone
Reggie Workman,bass
Andrew Cyrille,drums
Amiri Baraka,poetry
1. Keep Your Heart Right [R.Rudd] (09:40)
2. Archie's Intro (0:30)
3. Acute Motelitis [R.Rudd] (10:21)
4. Steam [A.Shepp] (08:38)
5. U-Jamaa [A.Shepp] (12:42)
6. Roswell Annonunces Amiri Baraka (0:38)
7. We Are The Blues [A.Baraka] (06:59)
8. Un Poco Loco [B.Powell] (06:54)
Total Time 56:27
During the end of the seventies and the early eighties A.Davis
was a usual presence on the scene of the avant-gard jazz : in
those years he was a member of The Leo Smith Ens., The
George Lewis Ens., The Leroy Jenkins Trio, co-leaded a
quartet with James Newton and his own Ens. Episteme.
From the half of the eighties he devoted his activity into
modern classical music, becoming an internationally known
composer of operatic, symphonic, choral, and chamber works.
Here you can listen to the world premiere of his new Episteme
Ensemble performing some new compositions and the old
(first rec. 1976) "Of Blues And Dreams". The encore (for trio)
is a wonderful version of Monk's Evidence to demonstrate how
still strong are his roots in jazz music. Great Concert.
Rec. live at "Crosscurrent", Botticino (Brescia), Italy,
on October 30, 2009 - World Premiere (radio broadcast)
Anthony Davis,piano
J.D. Parran,clarinet & bass clarinet
Mark Feldman,violin
Lisle Ellis,bass
Gerry Hemingway,drums,marimba & vibraphone
1. Of Blues And Dreams [A.Davis] (16:52)
2. Sudden Death [A.Davis] (19:09)
3. Loss [A.Davis] (21:55)
4. The Dream Of The Spider [A.Davis & D.Prieto] (14:02)
5. Evidence [T.Monk] (07:55)
Total Time 1:19:56
Here's a true golden nugget from the past: The Danish band Burnin Red Ivanhoe recorded in 1969 and featuring John Tchicai on most of the tracks. There seems to be a paucity of old BRI photos, so the above pic is the cover of their second album. There's also one on the inside of their third album, WWW, the band looking very laid back in the midst of scenic pastoral idyll. Typical of the times.
The main reportoire is from their first album, M144, which looks something like this:
(pic courtesy of Pius-rock who's asking a ridiculous price for this item - I haven't scanned my own copy)
BRI was among the first to mix rock with jazz inflections, well in evidence on these live numbers. Karsten Vogel was eventually to break out of the band and start a more direct jazz fusion outfit under the name of Secret Oyster, which made some albums during the 70s whereas BRI were to continue in a more straight rock direction.
As said, all numbers with the exception of "You Got Enough" are on their debut double album on Sonet. At this early point, the tunes are sung in Danish, but by their second album they had converted to English, though the instrumental prowess of this band is probably stronger than their texts. There does seem to be a kind of narrative structure to M144, related to knights and medieval times, but don't quote me on it.
Burnin' Red Ivanhoe + John Tchicai
1969-November-09
Berlin,
Philharmonie,
Jazztage 1969
Karsten Vogel,as,or
Kim Menzer,ts,fl,harm,voc
Steen Claesson,g
Jess Staehr,b,
Bo Thrige Andersen,dr
*John Tchicai,as
1 Announcement Speaker 0:30
2 Announcement 0:29
3 The Inner Landscape / Announcement 5:35
4 Purple Heart / Announcement 8:49
5* Saxophone Piece / Announcement 9:24
6* You Got Enough / Announcement 9:33
7* Ivanhoe i Brøndbyerne / Announcement 5:20
8* Medardus 10:14
total: 49:54
This was recorded off a Rundfunk Berlin Brandenburg radio programme back in 04, so thanks to omega 10 for sharing it via Dime.
I do have the first three BRI albums on Sonet, but I believe most of it is out on cd by now. If any can convince me otherwise, I could always blog 'em.
Regular followers of this blog will have noticed that we have blogged the John Tchicai Cadentia Nova Danica in the past, and a perusal of the sleeve notes finds that both Vogel and Menzer participated on that record and there is a mention of this particular Berlin concert there, too.
So, a nice historical document, then. Suffice it to say that they were regulars in town and I saw them several times back in my late teens. Ah, memories ...
To jog the memories, a couple of vintage videos here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLu8730w8HE&feature=related
(Purple Heart)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UC49cvahcmE&feature=related
(Gong-Gong, the Elephant Song - excerpt)
A reunion of the mid-'60s P.Bley's trio : a rare occasion for
listening again the great Kent Carter together with P.Bley
and B.Altschul.
(i've titled track 1 "Ictus", but this is clearly a medley)
Rec. live at "Teatro Giardino Scotto", Pisa, Italy,
on June 28, 1979 (mics recording)
Paul Bley,piano
Kent Carter,bass
Barry Altschul,drums
1. Ictus (18:57)
2. King Korn (37:19)
Total Time 56:16
The new Sam Rivers Trio (best
known as Tuba Trio) was the
real winner of that 1976
Summer : only in Italy about
twelve concerts and always with
great response of public and
critics. This concert was taped
the last evening of the Pescara
Festival (07.11), but was held in
Penne, a little town near Pescara.
(i hope the great Rick Lopez read
this post)
Rec. live at "Pescara Jazz Meeting '76", Penne, Italy, on July 11, 1976
(mix recording)
Sam Rivers,tenor and soprano saxophones,flute,piano
Joe Dailey,tuba,euphonium
Sidney Smart,drums
1. Improvisation (46:56)
i've got this recording from "Ilario" some days ago, apparently one
of the many Dolphy tributes, in fact one of the best of the last years,
together with that by Otomo Yoshihide's New Jazz Orchestra.
The group was formed in March 2008 for a concert in homage to
E.Dolphy's album at Merkin Concert Hall,NYC, and, during March
2009, they did a short tour in Europe.
Rec. live at "Festival Banlieues Bleues", Paris, France, on March 8th,
2009 (radio broadcast)
Roy Nathanson,alto & soprano saxophones
Russ Johnson,trumpet
Myra Melford,piano
Brad Jones,bass
Georges Schuller,drums
1. Hat And Beard [E.Dolphy] (13:17)
2. Something Sweet, Something Tender [E.Dolphy] (07:36)
3. Gazzelloni [E.Dolphy] (06:57)
4. Out to Lunch [E.Dolphy] (11:53)
5. Straight Up And Down [E.Dolphy] (11:52)
6. Blue Devil [G.Schuller] (09:56)
7. So Long, Eric [C.Mingus] (11:21)
8. Love Suite [E.Dolphy] (02:57)
Total Time 75:48
We posted a little while back a concert with Rashied Ali, Charles Gayle and Sirone to commemorate the passing away of Ali. Now the news have reached us that Sirone has also passed away, thus providing us with an opportunity to commemorate his musicianship, though obviously not the most happy occasion for doing so.
The Ali concert was from last year and this one goes back 31 years to 1978. Both have one thing in common - performed and recorded in Germany. Sirone - Norrie Jones - settled more or less permanently in Berlin in the late 80s, finding a more conducive environment for his composing skills and perhaps a more receptive audience as well.
As with Lateef, Sirone is not a player who wants to be pigeon-holed: "I know that this music that has been labeled free jazz but nothing is free and this music free jazz certainly isn't free. As a composer, I put a definite attention towards the composition merely as a path of reaching the point where we can find that magical moment when you understand...that to reach that point of that freedom is discipline and that discipline is a study, this is why that word doesn't sit so well with me because it has been abused, the music has been abused by that word 'free'. sometimes you get a lot of noise" - from an online interview with All About Jazz.
This line-up is certainly among my favourite CT Units:
CECIL TAYLOR UNIT
Cecil Taylor (piano)
Jimmy Lyons (alto saxophone)
Raphe Malik (trumpet)
Ramsey Ameen (violin)
Sirone (bass)
Ronald Shannon Jackson (drums)
Date: June 10th, 1978
Place: Köln
Venue: Großer Sendesaal, Funkhaus
Track 1: Third part of one (23:19)
Track 2: Third worlds making (34:08) (inc)
or, alternatively
Third World Makings: 1 I, Part 1 5:48 2 I, Part 2 28:25 3 II, Part 2 23:17
This is a very dynamic and forceful combo, so the listener is in for an hour of hyper-intense interplay. It ends rather abruptly, indicating that there might have been more, but as this was a radio broadcast, I suppose that's what there was time for. Off that wonderful Dime, so thanks to posters and seeders and reseeders etc.
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