29 November 2010

Carman Moore (feat. Sam Rivers): Four Movements for a Fashionable Five-Toed Dragon (repost)



Due to requests, here is a repost of an album posted last year. The links appear to have been deleted, so new links have been posted.

This one was supplied by inamorata who wrote a little intro to the record. Links in comments.

1 Overture 2:44
02 1st Movement - Pastorale 11:22
03 2nd Movement - Urban Walk 14:58
04 3rd Movement - Colours 14:27
05 4th Movement - Folk Energy 12:47

This is a rather peculiar record, and a strange context for Sam Rivers to appear in. It may not be exactly rare (there is a copy on offer at *bay right now for USD 19.95) but definitely has not left many traces on the WWW. Here's what Rick Lopez in his amazing Sam Rivers Sessionography (http://www.bb10k.com/RIVERS.disc.html) says about it, quoting Anthony B. Rogers (I included the whole entry with the files):

"This is an LP produced by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council and released in celebration of the American Bicentennial. The music was first presented at the 9th Hong Kong Ready-to-Wear Festival... The music was composed by Carman Moore and performed by members of the American Symphony Orchestra with... soloists."

The soloists are Sam Rivers, Elliott Randal, Kenneth Bichel, Richard Davis, and Warren Smith. The score by Carman Moore is played by members of the American Symphony Orchestra conducted by Isaiah Jackson. Although it has a jazzy tinge, it is not at all what one would expect from the list of soloists or, more specifically, the presence of Sam Rivers. I find it strange and fascinating and quite nice, but judge for yourselves.

The LP was recorded on February 29, 1976 (again according to Rick Lopez), right in the middle between what I consider the absolute high points of Sam Rivers prolific oeuvre: the IAI duo sessions with Dave Holland (February 18), and the Quest session with Holland and Altschul (March 12--13), both featuring the most intense and intimate musical communication I can think of.

I was lucky enough to find a well-kept copy and ripped and cleaned it very carefully (all remastering was done in 24bit resolution). I'm glad to share it here with the kind help of kinabalu. To him and to all other contributors here I wish to express my gratitude for the amazing amount of fine and rare music I got from this blog. I am mostly too busy to leave a comment, but this (and , hopefully, some future indirect contributions) is my sincere thank you to all of you.


Kind regards,
inamorata

21 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  2. А! Wow! Merci! J'ai toujours voulu écrire quelque chose dans mon site comme ça. Puis-je prendre une partie de votre post sur mon blog?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh! Here we are...
    Thanks again, gamilan

    ReplyDelete
  4. There is obviously a lot to know about this. I think you made some good points in Features also. Keep working ,great job!.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi, please could you re-up this, i would be very greatful, thanks a lot

    ReplyDelete
  6. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  7. In celebration of the American Bicentennial, I will play this album.
    Thank you, Hong Kong.
    Thank you kinabalu for pinning this back up. Warren and Richard are certainly orchestra-ready, as was Sam's imagination...
    curious, curious, curious

    ReplyDelete
  8. To SamRivers D: I trust that you had Mr. Rivers consent to use his name as a blogger or that your name is close to your blogger name. If not, I am concerned that this is appropriation of the name and identity of a great jazz musician.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I agree. I think one ought to be cautious in using the name of actual persons, living or dead. My moniker is a mountain on the island of Borneo, and mountains don't talk, as far as I know, so I should be on the safe side.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I am grateful for your thoughts, gentlepersons. It is indeed a coincidence that was never a problem until I started to speak of music matters. I was once the fourth "samrivers" on a list, hence the "D." My wife said not to worry about it, but perhaps I'll use another name, as there are indeed so many mountains in this great world!
    Thanks & Love

    ReplyDelete
  11. May I suggest Pinatubo?

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Pinatubo

    ReplyDelete
  12. It's known to be eruptive, just like Sam Rivers' music.

    ReplyDelete
  13. If you are also a Sam Rivers, I think you shouldn't worry about it.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Being true to my ancestry, it's Salmonthal Rivansky. Sam is so much easier. My creativity has been spurred though! You may be witnessing the birth of...
    BULKANG U. ANTIBOP!!!
    Heehee
    Cheers

    ReplyDelete
  15. @SR D: Approved without hesitation!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Can I ask for a re-up for this gem? Thanks in advance!

    ReplyDelete
  17. very kind of you(as usual)...
    BIG THX!...

    ReplyDelete
  18. Thank you. Very intrigued by this and grateful to find your post

    ReplyDelete
  19. Could you please reupload, thank you!

    ReplyDelete