15 September 2009

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



Here's a very interesting item supplied by "inamorata" who agreed to write a little intro to this record:

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

01 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

19 comments:

kinabalu said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Wallofsound said...

Intriguing. I have learnt not to have a fixed expectation of Sam Rivers. Thanks for sharing.

SOTISE said...

I, SECOND THAT SENTIMENT ,RIVERS HAS BREADTH!!.. THANKS FOR THE INTRODUCTION TO CARMAN MOORE.. I LIKE NOT KNOWING WHAT TO EXPECT!!!

hulaboy said...

Thanks, kinabalu! I've wondered about this album and thought I'd never get to hear it.

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry to bother and complain, but here's again the problem with RapidShare: 'The file can be downloaded 10 times'.
Would be possible to fix it ???
Thanks for other shares, anyway!
Specially Carla Bley, AEoCh, 80/81...

gamilan

Calisan said...

Hii but the same problem again!! Rapidshare links
Would be possible upload in other server (Megaupload, Mediafire, etc.)
Thanks for all your work!!

Calisan said...

Can anybody out there re-up this beauty? For god's sake!!!! Please!

kinabalu said...

I wasn't aware that the links were gone. I'll try to see to it. Remind me if I don't.

Anonymous said...

Hello, please please please reupload this if you can. :)

Thanks in advance.

kinabalu said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

there is no link????

kinabalu said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

pretty unusual and interesting one, thanks much, kinabalu!

Igor

sikes said...

Hi kinabalu, could you please put up new links for this, thanks a lot

kinabalu said...

@sikes: This was posted twice, so you'll find links here in response to your earlier request.

Rick Lopez / bb10k said...

Just a detail. I'm in touch w/ Moore, who tells me the recording was done a year after the Hong Kong date (The premiere). He says "'77", but it's been noted that there is an ad insert for the recording dated 1976 in the silk version LP ('84) ... Still sorting this out. :-)

Ernst Grgo Nebhuth said...

Thanks Rick - appreciate your 'details'!

Rick Lopez / bb10k said...

ALSO: The LP was handed out at the performances in Hong Kong, NYC, and LA, which of course means that it was likely recorded October/November 1975. Or thereabouts. I'm updating all of the entries on this piece. More to come... :-)

75.10.00 / 76.02.29 / 76.03.18 / and 76.03.24

Doug S. said...

Brother kinabalu, by any chance would it be possible to re-up this marvelous item? I'm shocked that I missed it the first time around. Having a strong compulsion to listen to every possible shred of Carman Moore available. Thanks for considering. Peace and love.