26 May 2008

Braxton at Moers 1976



Yet more Braxton coming up!

This is a quintet recording from the Moers festival on 6 June in 1976. However, as has been said in the comments section of a previous Braxton posting, there is no record of this particular concert in the official archive. What was announced on this date was the Braxton Quartet with Kenny Wheeler, Dave Holland and Barry Altschul. The official archive also announced a Braxton - Leo Smith duo on the follwing day, but what eventually transpired was a Braxton - George Lewis duet, earlier documented on this blog.

Be that as it may, but what we have here is quite possibly a one-off with this very exciting line-up:

Anthony Braxton (sss, as, cl, bcl, fl)
Kenny Wheeler (tpt, flh)
George Lewis (tb)
Harry Miller (b)
Tony Oxley (d)

It's one contiguous piece lasting close to one hour, separated into four tracks by the poster. No titles, but from what I can hear, there is fairly distinctive theme right at the beginning of track three which is repeated at the end of track four and which might be recognisable for those well acquainted with the Braxton ouevre.

I do think the Miller - Oxley rhythm section really adds a punch to the three soloists in front. Another high is the extended Lewis solo at the beginning of track 4. The wonderful duet with Braxton was obviously not a one-off strike; this guy is top of the league, no doubt about it.

This is another grab off Dime, so thanks to the poster and the seeders and all.

I've taking the liberty of only doing this in high-quality mp3. Listening to the flacs on my 5+1 surround speakers, I can't notice any discernible difference. The recording is fair, but obviously not up to the standard of hi-fi freaks, so there.

Enjoy!

The next one from me won't be Braxton, giving people some time to absorb all the good B. stuff coming down the pike.

30 comments:

kinabalu said...

High-quality mp3s here:

http://rapidshare.com/files/117605408/Braxton_5t_Moers_19760606_mp3_.part1.rar

http://rapidshare.com/files/117606375/Braxton_5t_Moers_19760606_mp3_.part2.rar

kinabalu said...

Tiny URLs:

http://tinyurl.com/6luwkb

http://tinyurl.com/6el8sb

Anonymous said...

Hi Dudes!

first, thanks Kinabalu for sharing this one on Braxton! Wow! Braxton non stop!! Go ahead, brothers!

hey, another topic, but interesting too to someone here!
If you want some stuffs on John Zorn, please, take a look this post:
http://experimentaletc.blogspot.com/2008/05/john-zorn-etc.html

You can´t go wrong with this!

so, thanks one again for Braxton's post!

su amigo, Kike :)

Anonymous said...

"what we have here is quite possibly a one-off..."

Possibly the only time with Miller in the group, but...
"Oxley's first work with Braxton came in the early 1970s in Germany at the Moers festival, followed by a tour of Europe. He joined oft seventies Braxton group members George Lewis and Kenny Wheeler, plus bassist Raphael Garrett." (Harris Eisenstadt, "Tony Oxley: The Medicine Man Turns 60", Coda #286, July/August 1999, p.5)

centrifuge said...

thanks kinabalu... i've been looking forward to this! and thanks to jason for that info, which is very interesting. presumably there are other recordings kicking around somewhere :) now there's a thought.

i had no idea that wheeler and lewis had ever played together in a small group like this, never mind throughout a whole tour; evidently wheeler was not gone quite so quickly from the music as i thought. (but still, surely if the moers website claims that the quartet with wheeler played in '76, that has to be a mistake..?)

kike, thanks for drawing our attention to that little lot... there's a question for you on the previous post!

Anonymous said...

Dear Centrifuge

about the question, if i right understand, the recording is complete! Enjoy, brothers!

Other very interesting blogsite is:
http://jazzearredores.blogspot.com/

best, Kike :)

centrifuge said...

kike, it's NOT complete, hence the question ;-) dale has already confirmed that one minute is missing from the end of the first track... but never mind, i guess i got all the answer i'm going to get - ! thanks anyway.

kinabalu said...

Thanks for the additional info. Are there any official recordings of Braxton with Oxley?

cent,

I reckon the archives merely reproduce the official programme and don't take account of any last-minute changes (as I suppose there were).

Would be fine if you spot any titles, particularly the theme at the beginning of t3 and at the end of t4.

centrifuge said...

"Are there any official recordings of Braxton with Oxley?"

off the top of my head, just this one, much later: http://tinyurl.com/5bjrl5

(i posted glmlr's rip at c#9, last summer)

as for the titles on this live set, i'll let you know of course... this one is going to the top of the queue! i must admit that when you first dangled this little carrot in front of our noses, i assumed it would be a collaborative affair, not under b's leadership and hence not playing his music, but it's beginning to look as if that's totally wrong...

kinabalu said...

Ah, I see. I do have that one, as an mp3 download, if there's an interest in having it up again ...

centrifuge said...

i wouldn't be surprised... there were several hundreds downloads of it last year, but there must still be plenty of people who didn't get it..! it's an excellent album.

well, i finally managed to download your new offering on the third attempt (bloody fileshares) and it sounds fascinating. not actually listened to it properly yet, probably shan't get the chance until tomorrow now, but it's an all-braxton set all right, and it's very interesting indeed to hear the extra possibilities opened up by the second brass player. also, wow, that lovely bass..!

only three pieces are interpreted, by the sound of it... the opener is infuriatingly familiar, but i can't place it, see if i do any better tomorrow... the second piece is the evergreen comp. 6f, the original repetition series (given a new slant by miller's arco drones).

and the third - which as you say is spread over two files, with an unnecessary index in the middle of lewis' solo - is comp. 6i, a favourite of mine, first heard on the complete braxton 1971... it's the piece which (i reckon) clearly inspired dave holland's "see-saw" a little later, and i'm delighted to have another version of it! apart from the studio recording, the circle hamburg concert (unreleased) includes a 20+ min version of it, and it was also the encore at graz, oct '76 (same concert which yielded the "four winds" on *news from the 70s*). i'll be covering the latter concert in the braxtothon, and i'll post the sound files when i do... some time within the next month or so...

kinabalu said...

Cripes! The answer has been right under my nose, as it were. The Complete Braxton 71 is on top of the pile of stuff to listen to. Having read your post, I went down to check it, and sure enough. I would be highly interested in the Hamburg if that is accessible, one way or the other. It's a lovely tune!

BTW - just scored three Arista Braxtons at that auction place (New York Fall 74/Five Pieces/Creative Orchestra 76). All killers! Still in the 70s, as you can see, but slowly moving ahead ;-)

sambeck2001 said...

Great posting here, thank you very much.
I'll be off for the next four weeks.

Have Fun

sambec

centrifuge said...

have fun too, sambec, hope you're doing something enjoyable.

kinabalu - yeah, i saw those on there, good for you :)

1009 said...

kinabalu:

the circle hamburg set (i think this was the one cent referenced?) can be found here:

http://tinyurl.com/4dzryp

centrifuge said...

guys - that *is* the same set, but that's only a short version of it, as fredito listed on the front page: just the last two numbers. i later got hold of a much longer recording, stretching over two cds, and including (to my surprise) almost an hour's worth of b's compositions (! one certainly would not know that this was standard practice for the group, from their official releases)... the longer version includes comp. 6i as mentioned above, also comp. 6a, and it's STILL not complete btw (fades in). i will have to see what i can do about sharing it, but that will definitely take a while i'm afraid... meantime i think most people probably have enough to be getting on with ;-)

kinabalu said...

Thanks for the info and the pointer to the download. Yes, as said by cent, this has only the last two numbers, so I would still be interested in the complete version (or as complete as possible). ANY additional versions of comp.6i will be welcome. I can't get that tune out of my head!

Anonymous said...

1009 / Kinabalu: The Circle 71 set posted on H&H runs for only about 30 minutes. I have a different version of the same broadcast which runs for 110 minutes, and includes Braxton's 6A / 6I and 6F, plus a number of other Circle staples. The date is variously given as 3 or 4 or 5 March 1971.

centrifuge said...

110 mins - yes, that's the one... atanase copied it for me when i was there in november - i presumed he'd got it from dime, but it could've been a trade i suppose...

1009 said...

i had no idea there was anything more to fredito's post. of course i'd love to hear the rest if it's deemed postable. thanks for the info!

Volkan Terzioglu said...

merhaba,
kinabalu, first thanks for this great set, I can not stop listening.
and glmr, will it be possible to get the 110 min version of fredito's posted concert?
and dear kike, cent, jason and all, sorry that I am really away and stayed far from here... but my ghost is still wandering here to meet you anonymously sometimes.
love from istanbul

Anonymous said...

The gods willing, the Circle March 71 Hamburg concert (the full 110 mins.) will appear here hopefully within a week or so.

centrifuge said...

merhaba volkan bey

siz nasilsiniz?

i have a review ("moers" 76, not circle!)on the way at my place within a week or so too :)

hope things are going well for you!

centrifuge said...

long-winded review is up at IYKWIS... http://tinyurl.com/4uc5an

hulaboy said...

Wow! Thanks for your generosity.

Anonymous said...

Can anyone re-up this gem preferably in flac ?

also looking for the out of print Ring Records release Anthony Braxton Quartet ‎– At Moers Festival

Anonymous said...

and I'm trying to find the Anthony Braxton ‎Seven Compositions 1978 moers release in flac...

mew23 said...

Re-up of kinabalu's original link

john said...

Thank you! missed this first time round, sounds like a fabulous gig.

Brewing Luminous said...

Thank you