Miles Davis Quintet; Antibes, July 1963

This is a liberated boot,"Côte Blues", featuring the Miles Davis Quintet at the Juan-les-Pins Jazz Festival in July 1963. The sound is excellent - it's from an FM recording - and the music is sensational, with the quintet in top form. Since picking this up from dime earlier this week (thanks to othmar1956 for seeding), it has been on constant rotation, and I hope it gives you some great music to enjoy over All Saints this weekend.

Miles Davis

George Coleman

Herbie Hancock

Ron Carter

Tony Williams

Recorded live at 'Juan-les-Pins Jazz Festival', Antibes, France

July 26, 1963;

So What

Stella By Starlight

Seven Steps To Heaven

Walkin' 

July 28, 1963;

If I Were A Bell

So What

THE TRIO "LIVE IN GÖTTINGEN, 1970"

Something special.. a wonderful concert by the Trio..One of the great post bop outfits of the late 60’s early 70’s.
Most people, will be familiar enough with the work of John Surman and Barre Phillips both of whom are by now elder statesmen of the European jazz and contemporary improvised music scenes.
Both have carved out significant careers and recorded prolifically coming to prominence among the general listening public through recordings on the ECM label.
Less is known about Stu Martin, who like Phillips was an expat American living in Europe at the time(Phillips lives in France and has done for nearly 30 years).

Stu martin started his career in the late 50’s first appearing with Maynard Ferguson’s Orchestra, by the 60’s he was recording with the likes of,Art Farmer and Lee konitz (a prime example being zo-ko-ma on mps also featuring Phillips,Atilla Zoller and Albert Mangelsdorff).

The trio formed in October 1969 and lasted about two years in which time they recorded the magnificent self titled dawn double lp , and in early 71 ‘Conflagration” still available on the Bgo label.
This concert features a lot of the material from the Dawn set…to my ears even more ferociously driving.
A stunning set in superb sound.
Many thanks to the seeders/traders Jazzrita and to B.


The Trio
1970-October-12
Göttingen, Germany,
Centre (later renamed Podium), 1970

John Surman, bs, ss, bcl
Barre Phillips, b
Stu Martin, dr
APROXIMATELY 2HOURS AND 10 MINUTES!!
ENJOy

Gérard Grisey - Les Espaces Acoustiques

Here is a performance of Gérard Grisey's Les Espaces Acoustiques from the Munich Bienniale earlier this year. The piece has six parts, starting with a prologue for solo viola and moving to groupings for 7, 18, 33 and 84 musicians. Quite apart from the numerological aspects of these groupings, this is Grisey's 'laboratory' for explorations in sound and what music represents. As chords resonate and morph, so the mood of the music also changes, from 'serious' one minute to comical the next. (At a performance of Partiels I was at last year, the audience was laughing out loud in the final moments). Its organic, flowing nature is quite the opposite of austere post-modernism - this is music that lives and breathes.

Part 1 (Prologue - Périodes - Partiels) (52.29)

Part 2 (Modulations - Transitoires - Epilogue) (42.16)

Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks

Conductor - Stefan Asbury

Herkulessaal, Munich Bienniale - 2nd May, 2008 (and broadcast subsequently on Bayern 4's excellent Horizonte programme).

Clarinet Summit In Concert at the Public Theater Vol. I/II

Clarinet Summit
In Concert at the Public Theater Vol. I/II
India Navigation 1062CD 1991

compiles both volumes released on vinyl as:
India Navigation 1062 (LP - 1984)
India Navigation 1067 (LP - 1985)

Recorded live in Spring 1981 at the Public Theatre, NY

Alvin Batiste (B flat clarinet),
John Carter (B flat clarinet),
Jimmy Hamilton (B flat clarinet),
David Murray (bass clarinet)

1.Introduction
2. Groovin' High 2:33
3. The Jeep's Blues 5:14
4. Mood Indigo (Duke Ellington) 2:06
5. Night Mist Blue (Jimmy Hamilton) 2:06
6. Waltz A Minute (Jimmy Hamilton) 1:11
7. Creole Love Call (Duke Ellington) 2:58
8. Honeysuckle Rose 7:48
9. Sweet Lovely (Murray) 5:59
10. Sticks and Bones 6:40
11. Solo and Ballad for Four Clarinets (John Carter) 12:45
12. The Washington Square Park Episode 6:52
13. Clariflavours (Alvin Batiste) 16:28

also on the vol. II LP (and not on the CD, or this post) 'Satin Doll' (Duke Ellington) 2:40



As a contribution to the new discography blog for India Navigation I thought I'd post this great CD which combines volumes I and II of Clarinet Summit. This is pretty much a clarinet version of the saxophone quartets which were in vogue in the 1980s. Led by John Carter, a featuring Ellington alumnus Jimmy Hamilton, in/out player Alvin Batiste, and David Murray who had taken up bass clarinet few years before.

The programme is an interesting mixture of original compositions from the group members and Ellington originals. The CD features sleeve notes by Stanley Crouch (doing a bit of historical contextualisation) and John Carter (explaining how the date came about). Crouch empaphasises the New Orleans origins of jazz clarinet, evoking Bechet and Barney Bigard as precursors, and rightly says that the music chosen owes much to the success of the performances. Honeysuckle Rose highlights Batiste and Hamilton, and Murray solos on his own Sweet Lovely. The lengthier tracks show John Carter's writing and arranging off to great effect, and are excellent examples of why I rate him as one of the master's of jazz.

Given the long careers of the other three, the much younger Murray acquits himself superbly, and without hesitation. The group practiced for three days before, but they sound completely at ease with each other. This inter-genreational approach was to be a common feature of Murray's later bands.

The recording stands up well after over 25 years, and it is one of the reasons India Navigation was such a collectable label. You'll find a full discographic listing of the label at http://indianavigation.blogspot.com/

Globe Unity Orchestra- improvisations 1978 (japo lp 60021)

In response to a recent request , here is another pristine rip by glmr.
just a quick post ..im supposed to be playing a gig later tonight and need to prepare.
i wont go on , but simply allow this magnificent document to speak for itself.
enjoy!!
if anyone on this board wishes to edit this post and add a write up OR BETTER COVER SCANS..please feel free.
check the archives for an earlier post of the companion lp "compositions " from a year or so later.
enjoy!!


details
IMPROVISATIONS: Globe Unity

1/ Improvisation 1 (Globe Unity) 10:14
2/ Improvisation 2 (Globe Unity) 6:31
3/ Improvisation 3 (Globe Unity) 6:20
4/ Improvisation 4 (Globe Unity) 23:14

Recorded at Tonstudio Bauer, Ludwigsburg (Germany), September 1977

Kenny Wheeler: trumpet; Manfred Schoof: trumpet; Gunter Christmann: trombo-
ne; Albert Mangelsdorff: trombone; Paul Rutherford: trombone; Gerd Dudek:
flute, soprano, tenor; Evan Parker: soprano, tenor; Peter Brotzmann: alto,
tenor, bass clarinet; Michel Pilz: bass clarinet; Derek Bailey: guitar;
Tristan Honsinger: cello; Alex Von Schlippenbach: piano; Peter Kowald: bass,
tuba; Buschi Niebergall: bass; Paul Lovens: drums.

1978 - Japo Records (Germany), Japo 60021 (LP)
???? - Japo/Trio (Japan), PAP 9184 (LP)

many thanks to Nuno for the cover photo!!
added oct 4th

Jerry Chardonnens,Leon Francioli ,Radu Malfatti-"Humanimal"(Hat Hut lp 8)1980

Here’s a wholly improvised set from master trombonist Radu Malfatti from way back, long before he became the eminence Gris,new school minimalist guru spawning a new generation of no input process orientated improvisers and composers.
The André Breton like,lofty eyed arbiter of the orthodoxies of the genre.

Actually it’s a collective effort, also featuring Frenchmen Jerry Chardonnens(the nominal leader) and the better known bassist Leon Francioli.. Who in the 70’s performed and or recorded with Mal Waldron, Alan Skidmore, Pierre Favre , Joe Mcphee



and countless others no doubt.
in fact he’s on the Michel Portal unit live in Hamburg posted below 10 days ago.

This isn’t a lost minor masterpiece, intriguing though it is.
One thing is certain; its eclecticism was fairly rare among “free improvisers” at the time.
Not unlike the above mentioned Portal concert it moves in and out of fixed tonalities, and more conventional harmonic terrain as well as pure sound. And sheer exuberant noise.
It all amusingly ends with a beautifully played (un- ironic) calypso.

Unfortunately the record was in far from pristine condition, when I bought it 20 years ago, and the first side features rather a lot of surface noise...all though at times its hard to differentiate from the closely recorded pops made by by spittle as air is forced through saliva clogged tubing (Malfatti’s progeny have capitalised on this releasing entire discs where the textural drama produced by collisions of air and spit have become the central focus of the music )


Humanimal is dedicated to Joe Mcphee.
Jerry Chardonnens-drums and percussion
Leon Francioli-db, pno
Radu Malfatti- trombone ,and devices
Recorded live at willisau’79.. sept 1st 1979

MICHEL PILZ "CELESTE" (TRION, 1979) & JAMABIKO (M.P., 1983)

(The following text is by Sotise - the rips might be mine or from glmlr)
A couple of wonderful records from Glmlr , including a promised rip of jamabiko.
celeste is much closer in style to Pilz's F.M.P classic Carpathes, an incredibly richly textured and lyrical free -jazz album.
while jamabiko features joyously upbeat more conventionaly swinging song forms peppered both rythmically and melodically with a township flavour.

GLMLR says
"There's not a lot known about Michel Pilz.
He was born in Germany, but has lived all his life in Luxembourg. Still does. He's probably about 70 today. He's a close friend and collaborator of Manfred Schoof. Unlike most players, e.g. tenor sax players who also play the instrument, bass-clarinet is Pilz's main instrument. He rarely plays anything else, though of course he plays sax if needed. He joined Globe Unity in its very early days in the 60's, then along with Schoof he left the band in the late 1970's, and played a lot with Schoof's own quintet (those three Japo albums, if you remember). Since then, he's kept a low profile teaching and working in Luxembourg. But he's still active."
beautiful stuff
thank you glmlr

"Celeste"Rec. Frankfurt March 1978
Trion 3901 LP

Michel Pilz, bass-clarinet
Buschi Niebergall, bass
Uwe Schmitt, drums.

Side A
1. CELESTE
2. PROMPT
3. MIRA
Side B
4. TELEP
5. MERGANSEE
6. LINDE

JamabikoRec. Frankfurt 1983
M.P. 841 LP

Michel Pilz, bass-clarinet
Itaru Oki, trumpet, flugelhorn, cornet
Buschi Niebergall, bass
Muhammad Ali, drums.
Side A
1. JAMABIKO
2. QUARTETT
3. NASU NOHANA I I
4. DOWN BEAT

Side B
5. SUMANO ULA
6. PON PON TEA
7. PILI PILI

Michel Portal Unit in Hamburg 1974 (NDR Jazz Workshop No.99)

Michel Portal is one of those multi-instrumental, multi-genre musicians it seems impossible to pin down. He's adept in the classical music world, he's at home in the world of contemporary music and free improvisation, he's attached to folk music in Europe (hailing from Bayonne in the Basque region of France) and abroad and he was in the first generation of people to introduce free jazz to audiences in his native France and elsewhere in Europe. So what to make of him? Who knows and who cares? He sees himself as an anarchist and why not?

In the 1970s the Michel Portal Unit made a couple of records for French labels. First was one called "No no but maybe" recorded at Chateauvallon in 1972 and released on the Chant du Monde label. Later came the "Chateavallon 76" record on the L'Escargot label. I've got both of those, but the first one has been rereleased on cd and should be fairly easy to obtain. The second one remains out of print. The picture above is taken from the inner sleeve of the first Chateauvallon record.

The line-up on the first Cahteauvallon record is the same as the one we will hear here.

The basic info:

MICHEL PORTAL UNIT

8-Mar 1974
NDR Funkhaus, Hamburg, Germany

Michel Portal: as,ts,cl,bandoneon
Bernard Vitet: tp,vln,frh,p
Beb Guérin: b
Léon Francioli: b,cello
Pierre Favre: dr,perc

1. La Guepe (Vitet) 09:31
2. Nolilanga (Francioli) 15:59
3. Kronenche (Portal) 16:49
4. Splendid Yzlment (Portal) 35:18

Most likely recorded from FM radio to tape and then transferred to a digital medium.

The unusual feature of this line-up is the presence of two bassists, Francioli and Guerin. I believe they can be heard as they are positioned in the above picture with Francioli in the left channel and Guerin in the right. Their presence gives the performance a strong rhythmic propelling force and an added depth. Both Favre and Vitet add to the percussive punch of the ensemble.

Another feature of the Unit is that there's no clear sense of a leader or lead instrument. Each throws their lot into the ring and all sorts of interplay pop up in the course of these extended pieces. There's no marked sense of tunes being played either as a recognisable melody might turn up anywhere from any of the Unit members at any point in time. Yet it never sounds like an unstructured blow-out typical of free jazz ensenbles at the time. A feeling of space is kept throughout for quiter interactions between two or more.

Portal heads off the set with what sounds like an emulated didgeridoo or an accidental meeting of aboriginals during a walkabout and rounds off with an Argentinian tango on the bandoneon. In between, lots of things are happening on a multitude of instruments and not according to any thought out scheme either. All in all, highly unpredictable, highy enjoyable and highly entertaining!

This was upped at Dime by .......................so a tip of the hat for this and other Portal goodies. There shall be more Portal in the time to come!

Ahmad Jamal with the Assai Quartet

Ahmad Jamal with the Assai Quartet

Roesch Records RR0042

Ahmad Jamal (Piano)
Ephriam Wolfolk (Bass)
Arti Dixson Drums

Assai Quartet
Suzanne Lefevre (Viola)
Peter Biely (Violin)
Jaroslaw Lis (Violin)
Claude Giron (Cello)

Recorded at Morese Recital Hall, Sprague memorial Hall, Yale University (tracks 1-3), Horizon studios (4,5 & 10), and Jamal's house (6 to 9).

1 Temple Court
2 Comp Time
3 Feast
4 Patouche
5 A Short Piece
6 Pots En Verre - No. 1
7 Pots En Verre - No. 2
8 Pots En Verre - No. 3
9 Pots En Verre - No. 4
10 Everybody Knows

I think this is a remarkable album. It's unlike anything else in Jamal's distinguished discography. This makes it even stranger that this is currently OOP.

There are three different performances here. On the first five tracks Jamal's trio performs original integrated compositions with a string quartet, the next four are solo piano improvisations recorded in Jamal's living room, and the final piece is a ballad by producer David Mills with piano and violin. The first three tracks are live, while 4, 5 and 10 were studio recordings.

The tracks seem to have resulted from David Mills' notion that the virtuosity of European art music and jazz could be integrated. Mills teaches improvisation for string players at the Neighborhood Music School in New Haven, CT USA, and seems to have concocted the idea from his work here. Of course the idea of a clasical-jazz fusion has a long tradition, there was a whole Third Stream thing going on in the 1960s. Here, though, Mills took a classical string quartet made up of conservatoire students at Yale university and put them though some cultural training in African American and African-derived physicality and music from dancer Yaa Johnson and musicologist Richard Harper. He gave the quartet cool amplified instruments, made them improvise in rhythmic settings, and then put them into a live concert with Jamal's trio. There's a short PSB video documentary on this process here

The exuberance of all players is a pleasure to behold, and the music is genuine and unforced. A real joy.

Ahmad Jamal Digital Works

Ahmad Jamal Digital Works

Atlantic Records 781256-2

1. Poinciana
2. But Not For Me
3. Midnight Sun
4. Footprints
5. Once Upon A Time
6. One
7. La Costa
8. Misty
9. MASH (Suicide Is Painless)
10. Biencavo
11. Time For Love
12. Wave

Ahmad Jamal - piano, keyboards
Herlin Riley - drums
Iraj Lashkary - percussion
Larry Ball - bass

I just love the music Ahmad Jamal produced over his fifty-seven year (and counting) career of recording. This album is interesting in the way it tried to harness Jamal's distinctive sound to the then new digital recording techniques and CD format. The cover proudly claims "this is a full digital recording", and the promotional push reminds me of those early 1950s attempts to place jazz at the centre of the hifi and stereo innovations in recording and playback.

If you listen to Jamal's music it is easy to see why Atlantic thought it was ideal for digital recording. The pianist's deft touch and idea of space influenced Miles Davis, and he has always gone to great lengths to produce percussive and precise music with a strong balance to all the instruments in his basically trio format. Here, as was the case for much of his later career, he also uses a percussionist, and like other albums of this period he plays both a Steinway acoustic and electric keyboards (a Fender Rhodes, I think). Larry Ball plays electric bass in a fluid style much suited to Jamal's style, and if the instrumentation and arrangements try just a little to hard to update the Jamal classic sound, it does work.

The tracks are mostly re-recordings of numbers that must have sustained his career, and are a mix of originals, standards, and pop and theme tunes. I'm a real sucker for Poinciana which was probably the first Jamal recording I heard in the 1970s when his records were very hard to find indeed. At least that was true in the UK. This is a great updating (the second it has to be said) nearly thirty years after his initial success. It's hard to imagine that players like Jamal had pop success, but the pianist's early career was supported by Okeh and Chess, although he was also on Impulse!

I know this is a little different from the usual IS shares but give it a listen. This is the first of a few OOP Ahmad Jamal's that I'll make available to add to the close to comprehensive list you can find at Never Enough Rhodes Thanks to Simon for his stirling efforts. I hope you enjoy this one.

Morton Feldman - Neither

Neither is a one act 'opera', for soprano and chamber orchestra, using a 'libretto' from Samuel Beckett. The words are indecipherable - they hang in the air and never resolve, complementing the music which shifts, flows and ebbs. According to Feldman, every line of Neither "is really the same thought said in another way. And yet the continuity acts as if something else is happening." It's interesting to compare this to Boulez's idea of the text which is constantly changing and which never ends the same way.

to and fro in shadow from inner to outer shadow

from impenetrable self to impenetrable unself by way of neither

as between two lit refuges whose doors once neared gently close, once away turned from gently part again

beckoned back and forth and turned away

heedless of the way, intent on the one gleam or the other

unheard footfalls only sound

till at last halt for good, absent for good from self and other

then no sound

then gently light unfading on that unheeded neither

unspeakable home

Eirian Davies (soprano)

SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg

Conductor - Kwamé Ryan

Salzburg Festival, 1997

Lester Bowie - African Children

There was a little exchange of comments on Bowie 70s albums recently, so I thought I put up this one which has not been rereleased since it first appeared on the Horo label in 1978. That year was quite a productive one for Lester. "The 5th Power" came out on Black Saint with the same line-up and a duet with Phillip Wilson also came out on the Improvising Artists label. I haven't checked the general availability of these two, but I do have them both on vintage vinyl. I've also come across a live set at Willisau, again with the same line-up which I'll put up here a little later on, once I got a chance to listen and upload.

The facts:

Lester Bowie - trumpet
Arthur Blythe - alto sax
Amina Myers - piano, organ, vocal
Malachi Favors - bass
Phillip Wilson - drums

1. Amina (Bowie, Blythe, Myers, Favors, Wilson)
2. Captain Courageous (Lester Bowie)
3. Tricky Slicky (Bowie, Blythe, Myers, Favors, Wilson)
4. Chili MacDonald (Bowie, Blythe, Myers, Favors, Wilson)
5. For Fela (Lester Bowie)

Recorded in Rome on April 16, 1978 at Mama Dog Studio and produced by Aldo Sinesio

"Amina" is a slow, mournful, gospel-tinged piece strongly featuring Myers (as could be expected). Slow, grand and beautiful. "Captain Courageous" is a Bowie exercise in strangled trumpet(er) as we have come to know (and love) over the years. "Tricky Slicky" is a fairly straight and light-mooded jazz piece. "Chili MacDonald", again a collective piece, has a strong flavour of the Caribbean and of gospel (which is also very apparent on the Willisau set, mentioned above). Last, but not least, and my favourite on this record, "For Fela", dedicated to legendary Nigerian saxophonist, big band leader and rebel against government and international capital (dig out "ITT"), digs into deep funk with one of those organ-bass riffs that never quit. In line with African records at the time, this brew cooks for about twenty minutes. All in all, this record shows up the rootedness of Bowie in the great African-American music tradition which winds back to Africa ultimately, hence the title.

Thanks to "horse" in the very fine lossless jazz group on Usenet for posting this one. I do have my own copy, but finding a lossless digital copy saves up a lot of time and work. And a splendid copy it is. There was a technical fault with the first track, which meant it had to be digitally rerecorded, but I don't think it'll be noticeable on this upload.

BONUS. As mentioned above, this line-up made an appearance at the Willisau jazz festival in 1978. There was a little discussion on Dime about the exact date of this appearance and the consensus seems to be September 1 1978. The piece is entitled "God has smiled on me" - at the outset a gospel song with vocals by Amina Myers, but the song is all but a point of departure for extended improvisation clocking in at over 40 minutes in all. Links in comments. Thanks to "blackforest" for upping this one.


Michel Portal and more Aki Takase up next ...

Stockhausen Day - 2008 Proms

Karlheinz Stockhausen - Stockhausen Day
Royal Albert Hall, London
Saturday 2nd August, 2008

BBC Prom 20
----------------
Details from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/2008/whatson/0208.shtml#prom20

One of the most influential composers of the 20th and 21st centuries, Karlheinz Stockhausen would have turned 80 this year.

Aside from the performance of Punkte ('Points') by the Gürzenich Orchestra under Markus Stenz on the actual day that would have been the composer's 80th birthday (Prom 48), this Stockhausen Day offers a fuller immersion into the work of this uniquely uncompromising creative force. This early-evening Prom contrasts a pair of Stockhausen's early works - Gruppen ('Groups'), which passes ideas between three spatially separated ensembles, and Kontakte, referring to 'contacts' between instrumental and electronic sounds - with two recent works - both of them excerpts from Klang, the large-scale sequence on which Stockhausen was working at the time of his death last December.

Disk1 (79.54)

24.36 Stockhausen Gruppen
02.54 Announcer
32.04 Stockhausen Klang, 13th hour - Cosmic Pulses (for electronics) (UK premiere)
02.45 Announcer
16.10 Stockhausen Klang, 5th hour - Harmonies for solo trumpet (world premiere) (BBC commission)
01.24 Announcer

Disk2 (79.12)

02.47 Announcer
34.58 Stockhausen Kontakte
14.07 Announcer > Stockhausen interview
24.45 Stockhausen Gruppen (repeat performance)
02.33 Announcer

Marco Blaauw trumpet
Nicolas Hodges piano
Colin Currie percussion

BBC Symphony Orchestra
David Robertson, conductor
Martyn Brabbins, conductor
Pascal Rophé, conductor

BBC Prom 21
----------------
Details from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/2008/whatson/0208.shtml#prom21

In this Late Night Prom comes Stimmung for six amplified voices - the first work of Western music to be based on the harmonics, or overtones, that make up the sound-spectrum of a single note. Stimmung is a hypnotic piece for 'six singers and six microphones' that takes on a unique
atmosphere in live performance. Among the many influences which Stockhausen acknowledged when composing the work was a month spent wandering among the ruins in Mexico.

The Theatre of Voices - as adept in music of the Middle Ages as in new music - have made
something of a speciality of Stimmung, and Hillier's long association with the piece includes his
participation as one of the singers at a Proms performance 30 years ago.

Disk3 (79.57)

05.57 Announcer
71.54 Stockhausen Stimmung
02.02 Announcer

Theatre of Voices
Paul Hillier, director

This is a follow up to the Licht post made here earlier in which there has been much interest, judging from the number of downloads. Everything I have heard from Klang so far is sublime, not least Cosmic Pulses included here, and I have some other episodes if there is continued interest. I'd like to thank Tom Phillips who made this very high quality recording (demonstrating that digital radio can often exceed FM in quality) and seeded it on dime.

Phil Minton, Freddy Studer,Christy Doran and Amin Ali- play jimi hendrix- 1993

Heres something in the spirit of the recent Aki takase and crew playing Fats Waller.
another bunch of free improvisers paying tribute with tongue firmly in cheek.
phil minton singing..i dont live today is something to hear!!


heres a an amusing and entertaining amazon fan's review
"I can understand why this album earns the hatred of those unfamiliar with the names of the musicians & who thus buy it on the strength of Hendrix's name without knowing what they're getting into. The band is an odd mixture of players from several countries & from a variety of backgrounds. The guitarist Christy Doran is a fine jazz-rock guitarist, born in Ireland but living most of his life in Switzerland. He recorded a lot of albums for Hat Art: I'm especially fond of a trio with Han Bennink & Ray Anderson which recorded _Cheer Up_ & _Azurety_, the latter album a perfect combination of delicate free improvisation, heavy rock workouts, a blues tribute & Ellingtonia. The drummer Fredy Studer is a frequent companion of Doran's, with a wide experience of rock, jazz & free-improv musics but basically a rock drummer. Keyboardist & occasional horn player Django Bates is best known for his work with the English group Loose Tubes. Electric bassist Amin Ali is the brother of Coltrane's drummer Rashied Ali; he's done brilliant work with James Blood Ulmer's Music Revelation Ensemble. Phil Minton is the oddest inclusion here: he's an English vocalist (& also a trumpeter, though he doesn't essay any playing here) whose work tends to split into two kinds. First, the rather "literary", lyrics-based work he's done with Mike Westbrook (e.g. his performance of William Blake poems on _Bright as Fire_) & Lindsay Cooper (_Oh Moscow!_) & in some of his own projects (the _Finnegans Wake_ performances on _mouthfull of ecstasy_). Secondly: free-form vocal performances which often contain as much "noise" (burps, gurgles, shouts, gargles, clicks, groans...) as pitched notes--a good example is his work on _dada da_ with Roger Turner. He is truly an astonishing vocalist--besides using throat-singing techniques, he also can distort his vocal cords in order to produce two notes at once. Still, I tend to mentally class him with Eugene Chadbourne & Han Bennink as one of those musicians who inspires a rabid cult following about some people (the Ben Watsons of this world) while to my mind his effectiveness can greatly vary depending on the musical situation. Sometimes he's just a trickster figure, verging on the annoying--on other occasions, as in _mouthfull of ecstacy_, I think he's done something truly remarkable.
OK: so what about this disc? There's a long tradition of jazz musicians paying homage to Hendrix, going back to Gil Evans & Miles Davis in the 1960s & 1970s. This tribute is not radically revisionary--the treatments are floridly psychedelic rock renditions of the tunes, though with the odd disruption (notably the bizarre, hilarious acapella Minton solo in "Manic Depression"). The treatments are fresh ("Manic Depression" kicks off with a nice new guitar riff, while "Hey Joe" is one of the album's high points in its slow, cooled-down arrangement), while not radically departing from the originals--that's to be expected, I suppose, given that the instrumention isn't too far from that of the original Experience albums, except for the keyboards. That said, the album's take on psychedelia is deliberately campy, especially in Minton's completely over-the-top renditions of the lyrics & in Bates's cheesy keyboards.

The main problem here is that the album doesn't seem to be able to make up its mind about how seriously it wants to interrogate the Hendrix canon. It would really have benefitted from more unconventional instrumentation & arrangements (cf. the fashion for Hendrix arranged for string quartet, e.g.); instead, Minton sticks out like a sore thumb because of his parodically overwrought vocals, while Christy Doran plays things absolutely straight. Too much of the album is simply self-indulgent--virtually every track is in the 7-8 minute range, rather than keeping to the pithiness of the original versions. That said, it's nice to hear Doran's take on Hendrix, & the album is at least memorably odd. It'll appeal to those with a strange sense of humour--probably more Zappa fans than Hendrix fans will like this. "

review by
N. Dorward "obsessive reviewer"

pretty sure this has appeared elsewhere in mp3's
i love this record and thought someone might like it lossless.
however if theres demand i'll rip it to mp3 too
cheers

Kahil El'Zabar with Lester Bowie and Malachi Favors at Saalfelden 1987

Regular readers of this blog may recall that we posted two albums by Kahil El'Zabar back in August, both of them released on the Sound Aspects label. They may also recall that due to an intervention by the label proprietor, the links to the files of these recordings disappeared.

Kahil El'Zabar made at least one more album for Sound Aspects called "Sacred Love" which featured Malachi Favors (who was also on the album with Billy Bang) and Lester Bowie. I do have the album, but since we're under restrictions, I'm not going to post it. The pictures appended to this post are from the back sleeve of the album, though.

Instead I propose to post something even better, a live recording from the Saalfelden jazz festival in 1987 with the same line-up. Here you'll get 20 minutes of extra music as compared to the album.

Those familiar with the other recordings will know the basic structure by now. El'Zabar starts out on earth drum, switches later to a regular drum set and finally settles in on the thumb piano. Malachi Favors stays close to El'Zabar, using the bass as a second rhythmic-percussive instrument, leaving Lester Bowie free to extrapolate on the top. The African rootedness of this set is strongly present throughout.

Two-thirds of the trio are no longer with us, but El'Zabar is still active, releasing records on the Chicago-based Delmark label. He's a long-time member of Chicago's AACM and was voted Chicagoan of the year in 2004 by the Chicago Tribune, also thereby crediting his wider work as an educator and community leader.

Basic info:

KAHIL EL'ZABAR perc,voc
LESTER BOWIE tp
MALACHI FAVORS MAGHOSTUT b,perc

Saalfelden Jazz Festival, Saalfelden, Austria
Aug 28, 1987

01 part one 45:37
02 part two 14:57
03 encore 07:37

Three pieces somewhat artificially separated, but in reality one contiguous piece with an encore at the end.

Most likely recorded from radio. There is a noticeable hiss in the quieter passages.

Another Dime, no longer on the tracker, so I've no idea who recorded/upped this one, but in any case, a tip of the hat for making this available.

ADDENDUM: It has been brought to my notice that there is another posting of this set here: http://ubu-space.blogspot.com/2008/06/kahil-elzabar-lester-bowie-malachi.html. These were posted as flacs. To save server space, I'll delete the flacs from this post, but keep the mp3 file. Those wanting the flacs are advised to seek out the other posting.

Mp3 file here:

http://tinyurl.com/3ha3k4

AMM

Two concerts from AMM, at once similar and contrasting. 

The first is an FM recording from WDR of a 1994 concert in Bielefeld, from a series entitled "Mobil - Offene Form mit Variations", and features the cellist from the Arditti String Quartet;

16th May, 1994

Ravensberger Spinnerei, Bielefeld, Germany

Eddie Prevost - drums & percussion

John Tilbury -  piano, announcements

Keith Rowe - electric guitar

Rohan de Saram - cello

The music includes;

Cornelius Cardew - Solo with Accompaniment for 2 instruments ad libitum

Christian Wolff - for 1, 2 or 3 people, any sound producing means

John Cage - Variations III for arbitrary number of players and arbitrary sound originators

Howard Skempton - for strings (waves, shingle, seagulls)

Cornelius Cardew - February pieces for piano (#2)

AMM - improvisation for piano, guitar, violoncello and drums

A very good quality recording - thank you very much, Owombat, for making this available.

The second concert is AMM as a duo, from earlier this year, and was a concert recorded at Aula Magna dell'Università La Sapienza di Roma on 11th March, 2008 (and broadcast on RAI3 on 6th September). The music is similar, but the interpretation has moved on.

John Tilbury - piano 


Eddie Prevost - percussion


Cornelius Cardew; Piano Solo with Accompaniment

Cornelius Cardew; Unintended Piano Music

John Tilbury/Eddie Prevost; Improvisation AMM

Aki Takase's Fats Waller project - live in Hamburg 2008

Continuing with the bass clarinetists, the time has come to have a listen to Rudi Mahall. Actually, he's a sideman for this project, which is headed by brilliant Japanese pianist Aki Takase.

This is a delightful way to appropriate the jazz tradition, in this case Fats Waller. One might think that this group of Berlin avantguardists might not be the right people to do so, but thinking it over, there is a legacy of collective improvisation linking the early practitioners to today's free jazzers so if this project might sound odd on paper, in practice it comes off very well.

A motley crew on this one:

Nils Wogram,tb
Rudi Mahall,bcl
Aki Takase,p
Eugene Chadbourne,g,banjo,voc
Paul Lovens,dr
Fats Waller,comp

All in all, Fats' Boys (well, almost). The added outsider chap to this crew of Berlin residents is of course lovable eccentric Eugene Chadbourne who gets to do the vocals on a couple of tracks and proves that the banjo is perfectly OK in this setting.

The tunes:

1 Lookin' Good, But Feelin' Bad 5:56
2 Handful Of Keys / Announcement AT 7:39
3 Jitterbug Waltz / Hold Tight (Want Some Seafood Mama) 7:53
4 Viper's Drag 8:55
5 Medley: Ain't Misbehavin' / Way Down South Where The Blues Began (W.C.Handy,comp) / Honeysuckle Rose / Announcement AT 14:50
6 Announcement Speaker 1:08
7 Two Sleepy People (HoagyCarmichael,comp) / Lookin' Good, But Feelin' Bad 2:27

Recorded live on February-21, 008 in Hamburg, Germany, at NDR, Rolf-Liebermann-Studio,
2008. Top sound from FM radio.

The cd version received the German jazz critics' award in 2004.

Another golden Dime. It has dropped off the tracker, so I've no idea who taped/uploaded this one.

They played here two years ago, but I wasn't there. I keep wondering where my head was at at the time.

If this one catches on, we do have some more Aki Takase up our sleeve.

Fun is guaranteed for all!

Steve Swell "Slammin' The Infinite" - Live NYC 2007

September 18,2007
SLAMMIN' THE INFINITE

Steve Swell: trombone, composition
Sabir Mateen: reeds
Matthew Heyner: bass
Michael Wimberly: drums

track01 -37:40
track02 -20:34

The Living Theatre
21 Clinton Street
New York NY

Perhaps not a household name, but Steve Swell has played with many of the greats such as Braxton, Cecil Taylor, William Parker and particularly with his influencer Roswell Rudd. Veteran multi-instumentalist Sabir Mateen needs no introduction from me. Steve has played previously in his bands.

Very good quality audience recording. My thanks to taper and uploader.

The Original MEV-1968 (reissued 1996)

for tantris who posted a great live MEV show some months back.
Heres the 2nd MEV,album from 1968..theres nothing quite like this in the free improvised canon..early AMM is about the only plausible comparison.
this is magnificently raw..the sort of thing that fumblers like sonic youth..do in their spare time when they aren't making lame ass corporate rock albums.
the galling thing is that they have become famous for feedback /noise noodling..and can get highly paid gigs at noise and improv festivals.
while thoughtful and amazing records like this languish in obscurity.


Credits:
Cello [Amplified] - Jon Phetteplace (tracks: 1 to 4)
Percussion [Amplified], Vocals - Frederick Rzewski* (tracks: 1 to 4)
Synthesizer [Portable] - Allan Bryant
Trumpet, Percussion - Alvin Curran (tracks: 1 to 4)
Notes: Track 1 to 4 recorded live in London in 1968.
Tracklisting:
1 MEV* Part I (11:23)
2 MEV* Part II (5:40)
3 MEV* Part III (9:05)
4 MEV* Part IV (15:15)
5 Allan Bryant Bug Get Tgethr, Stomp N Flash Dans (11:49)
the last track is a synth solo.

not much evidence of this online ..save for a few second hand copies.


please note , our friend Volkan ..has provided rome cansrt ,from the same year check the comments.
thank you Volkan

Diamond Curtain Wall Trio (Anthony Braxton, Taylor Ho Bynum, Mary Halvorson): Tivoli, July, 2008

An excellent audience recording from this summer's European concert schedule; the music from this trio, in a set lasting just over one hour, is quite simply superb, with a sustained concentration and very effective use of electronics. (Recordings from some of the other concerts (Moscow & Besançon) were posted earlier on this blog);

14th "Along Came Jazz" Festival

Chiostro di Villa d'Este

Tivoli, Italy

2nd July, 2008

Extended improvisation (composition number not known) - 63'35"

Anthony Braxton - as, ss, sopranino, cb-cl, electronics

Taylor Ho Bynum - tp, flugelhorn, cornet

Mary Halvorson - el-g 

This comes from dime - many thanks to sdro for the recording and the interesting story that accompanies it.

Athens [GA] Creative Media Festival April 1-5, 2004 Joe Maneri & Mat Maneri duo

Joe Maneri & Mat Maneri duo

Athens Creative Music Encounter

40 Watt Club,

Athens, GA

April 4, 2004

lineage: AUD > DAT > Tascam standalone > CDR > EAC > FLAC FRONTEND > FALC

1.

2.

3.

Joe Maneri - sax

Mat Maneri - viola

This is the final performance of the series. I hope you've enjoyed these posts, there's more great  stuff which I'll post when I return from touring in November.

Gus

Athens [GA] Creative Media Festival April 1-5, 2004 - School Days

School Days

Athens Creative Music Encounter

40 Watt Club,

Athens, GA

April 4, 2004

lineage: AUD > DAT > Tascam standalone > CDR > EAC > FLAC FRONTEND > FLAC

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Ken Vandermark-reeds

Jeb Bishop-trombone

Kjell Nordeson-vibes

Ingebrigt Haker-Flaten-bass

Paal Nilssen-Love-drums

Athens [GA] Creative Media Festival April 1-5, 2004 - Joe Maneri Trio

Joe Maneri Trio

Athens Creative Media Encounter,

40 Watt Club,

Athens, GA

April 3, 2004

linage: AUD > DAT > Tascam Standalone > CDR > CDR > EAC > FLAC FRONTEND > FLAC

1.

2.

Joe MAneri - reeds

Matt Maneri - viola

Randy Peterson - drums

Athens [GA] Creative Media Festival April 1-5, 2004 - Vandermark 5

Day 3.

The Vandermark 5 was formed during the spring of 1996. Since that time it has been a major outlet for the compositional and improvisational ideas of Ken Vandermark, whose thinking has been developed through years of work with groups like the NRG Ensemble, AALY, the Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet, the Free Music Ensemble, School Days, Free Fall, and the Territory Band.

Trying to organize a small unit with the capabilities of a large ensemble, he needed and chose four exceptional musicians to join him on the project: Jeb Bishop: trombone/guitar, Kent Kessler: bass, Tim Mulvenna: drums, and Mars Williams: saxophone. During the past decade the quintet’s line-up has evolved and now, in addition to original members Vandermark and Kessler, it includes the extraordinary saxophonist Dave Rempis; Tim Daisy and his powerful work on percussion; and the cello/improvisation master Fred Lonberg-Holm.

Each of the current members has years of performance experience working with a wide variety of music. This, coupled with the range of instrumentation and stylistic potential held by the ensemble, allows Vandermark to compose material that runs the gamut of musical possibilities; he incorporates elements of jazz history, contemporary composition, funk and rock into the group’s music. Even so, the band’s focus remains on improvisation. Each piece is arranged to allow ample room for the members to interpret and reinterpret the writing; this creates an environment where they are constantly interacting and utilizing their unique ideas in a spontaneous way.

In the spirit of the great bands scattered throughout the history of jazz, the Vandermark 5 has concentrated on live performance as the means to hone its skills and develop its concepts. For several years the quintet played on a weekly basis at the Empty Bottle in Chicago. Now the ensemble has shifted their concert schedule to focus on the road, and they tour in North America and Europe on a regular basis.

Their most recent work included a trip to Europe in November of 2006 to support the release of its newest album, A Discontinuous Line. After this, the band recorded a new set of material that will be released by Atavistic in the coming year. In February of 2007 the quintet will tour in the United States and Canada, performing music developed in the year and a half since Lonberg-Holm joined the group in the summer of 2005. Despite its longevity this musical unit continues to develop, while creating new methods for the investigation of composition and improvisation. With their history together and the current possibilities at their disposal, the Vandermark 5 will clearly remain “a modern-day band for the jazz ages.”—Penguin Guide To Jazz on CD.

Athens Creative Media Encounter,

40 Watt Club,

Athens, GA

April 3, 2004

linage: AUD > DAT > Tascam Standalone > CDR > CDR > EAC > FLAC FRONTEND > FLAC

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2.

3.

4.

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6.

Tim Daisy: percussion

Dave Rempis: saxophones

Kent Kessler: bass

Fred Lonberg-Holm: cello

Ken Vandermark: reeds

Athens [GA] Creative Media Festival April 1-5, 2004 - BROTZAMANN TENTET (WITH 9 MUSICIANS...!!!)

Peter Brotzmann Tentet

Athens Creative Music Encounter,

40 Watt Club,

Athens, GA

April 4, 2004

lineage:  AUD > DAT > Tascam standalone > CDR > CDR > EAC > FLAC FRONTEND > FLAC

1.

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Peter Brotzmann - reeds

Ken Vandermark - reeds

Mats Gustafsson – reeds

Jeb Bishop - trombone

Joe McPhee - cornet/sax/valve trombone

Fred Lonberg - Holm-cello

Kent Kessler - bass

Paal Nilssen-Love - drums

Michael Zerang - drums

Athens [GA] Creative Media Festival April 1-5, 2004 - Joe McPhee solo!!!

Athens Creative Media Encounter,

40 Watt Club,

Athens, GA

April 3, 2004

linage: AUD > DAT > Tascam Standalone > CDR > CDR > EAC > FLAC FRONTEND > FLAC

1.

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Athens [GA] Creative Media Festival April 1-5, 2004

DAVE REMPIS has emerged, over the past few years, as one of the most active young players on Chicago's improvised music scene. His work with the Vandermark Five has been noted in the Chicago Sun-Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Reader, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and Down Beat, as well as the Boston Globe, in which noted jazz critic Bob Blumenthal referred to him as the band's "primary firebreather." It has also given him the opportunity to perform extensively in clubs, concert halls, and festivals throughout the U.S., Canada, and Europe. His own work, most intensively with Triage (with Jason Ajemian and Tim Daisy) and The Rempis Percussion Quartet (with Anton Hatwich, Tim Daisy and Frank Rosaly), has been called "ever more impressive" by Lloyd Sachs of the Sun-Times, and pushes him in directions which his work as a sideman does not approach. In addition to these two groups, Rempis plays regularly with The Territory Band, The Crisis Ensemble, The Chicago Improvisers Group, and The Thread Quintet, and has worked with Paul Lytton, Axel Dörner, Hamid Drake, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Michael Zerang, Jim Baker, Kevin Drumm, Paal Nilsson-Love, Chris Jonas, Tony Buck, and Joe Morris.

Since April 2002, Rempis has curated a weekly concert series of improvised music at 3030, a performance space situated in a former church in the Humboldt Park neighborhood of Chicago. With over 100 concerts and two annual festivals, the series has become an essential part of the city's improvised music scene.

Triage

Athens Creative Media Encounter,

40 Watt Club,

Athens, GA

April 3, 2004

linage: AUD > DAT > Tascam Standalone > CDR > CDR > EAC > FLAC FRONTEND > FLAC

1.

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3.

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Dave Rempis-reeds

Jason Ajemian-bass

Tim Daisy-drums

Athens [GA] Creative Media Festival April 1-5, 2004

Day 3 First concert:

Peter Brötzmann has led a number of internationally renowned, large group improvising ensembles since the late 1960s. The latest, called the "Chicago Tentet," is one of his best. First organized in that city during January of 1997, the band has toured extensively throughout North America and Europe in the last decade, and has released nine albums containing a huge variety of music. In 2007, the ensemble celebrates its ten years of work together with a tour in Europe during June, a festival performance in Molde, Norway, in July and an engagement (their only North American appearance) in Chicago, at the Museum of Contemporary Art.

The Chicago Tentet is a veritable "Who's Who" of contemporary improvised music and includes many of the most significant members from that scene's cutting edge. Since its inception, the group has had a rotating line-up and past versions of the band have included William Parker (bass), Toshinori Kondo (trumpet/electronics), Roy Campbell (trumpet), and Mike Pearson (a renowned actor, who participated in a special project integrating Brötzmann's music and the texts of Kenneth Patchen for the Chicago Humanities Festival in 2004). All of the musicians connected to the ensemble, past and present, have contributed their distinctive voices to the group, making each concert appearance of the Tentet a truly exceptional experience. For the concert schedule in 2007, the group's size will be expanded to include both Johannes Bauer and Jeb Bishop on trombone.

Though the Tentet is clearly directed by Brötzmann and guided by his aesthetics, since the band's outset he has been committed to utilizing the ideas of everyone involved. Initially, this meant allowing the other musicians to contribute their compositions; since 2005, however, the ensemble has been a total improvisation unit, foregoing scores in order to explore their music with complete spontaneity. This shift in approach has allowed the group to explore an outstanding range of material, and the Tentet employs almost every organizational strategy available to an improvising ensemble while developing their music for each concert. The scope of conception, plus the diversity in each individual's approach to playing, has helped the band to cultivate an extremely multifaceted performance style. As the Tentet improvises from moment to moment, it can explore musical intensities that move from spare introspection to raging walls of sound, using open-ended rhythms or those of a hard-hitting groove.

Since the late 1990s, the main work of the band has been done in concerts on the road. Though the economics of sustaining a large ensemble are a struggle, the Chicago Tentet has continued to find innovative ways to keep performing their music for audiences around the world. Through this ongoing effort they've been able to advance a sound and depth of communication impossible to find in any other contemporary music group, no matter what size or style. 

http://tentet.umbrellamusic.org/about.html

Peter Brotzmann Tentet

Athens Creative Music Encounter,

40 Watt Club,

Athens, GA

April 3, 2004

lineage:  AUD > DAT > Tascam standalone > CDR > CDR > EAC > FLAC FRONTEND > FLAC

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Peter Brotzmann - reeds

Ken Vandermark - reeds

Mats Gustafsson – reeds

Jeb Bishop - trombone

Joe McPhee - cornet/sax/valve trombone

Fred Lonberg - Holm-cello

Kent Kessler - bass

Paal Nilssen-Love - drums

Michael Zerang - drums

Athens [GA] Creative Media Encounter Festival April 1-5, 2004

 Over the course of the past three years, several of the world's most renowned and influential improvisational jazz musicians have found in Athens a haven for their forays into uncharted sonic territory.

Appropriately enough, it all started on an open-minded whim. In 2000, local musicians Julie Powell and Erik Hinds attended a concert performance in Atlanta of the Vandermark 5 featuring preeminent saxophonist and clarinettist Ken Vandermark, a new-school free jazz luminary and the 1999 recipient of the prestigious MacArthur ''Genius'' grant. 

  

''I had no idea who the Vandermark 5 were, but Erik suggested we go see the show in Atlanta,'' says Powell, a correspondent for Marquee and the Athens Banner-Herald. ''I think I had some sort of awakening that night, and the one thing I was sure of was that what Ken and his ensemble were doing was the answer I had been looking for - not so much the style of music, but the passion with which they were innovators.''    After seeing that performance in Atlanta, Powell invited Vandermark to do a residency at the University of Georgia School of Music in Athens. He brought his DKV Trio for three days of workshops and concerts which were a great success, Powell says. 

''Although Athens had not been a stop on the avant-garde circuit up to that point, the enthusiastic reception of the attendees led to a veritable who's who of free jazz players coming to Athens over the next two years,'' Powell says.  In fact, Vandermark himself returned to play the 40 Watt a year later. At that point, Powell says she met with Vandermark and the idea of a doing a larger scale festival in Athens was born. ''The discussion started with the Black Mountain residencies in which Merce Cunnigham, John Cage, Martha Graham and a ton of other artists from all disciplines gathered to create new art. The whole idea was that Americans were just copying the Europeans as far as 'high' art went,'' she explains. ''When you look at how American art changed after Black Mountain, you can really see the value of bringing all these artists together for synergy. Basically, we just thought it was time to try to do something like that again. Athens is such a creative place with so much support for new art, it really seemed like a logical place to do it.''

And so the Athens Creative Media Encounter Festival was born.

For the first time in the U.S., ACME, under the guidance of Vandermark, brings together 22 international musicians and two journalists for a week of collaboration and dialogue. Starting today, the inaugural ACME Festival will include concerts, lectures, workshops and seminars and bring its lineup of world class performers to the 40 Watt Club and ATHICA: Athens Institute for Contemporary Art.

Although the festival this year features only music and journalism, the goal in the future, Powell says, is for the festival to be multi-disciplinary with artists collaborating over a longer period of time, hence the name Athens Creative Media Encounter.   Meanwhile, through ACME, Hinds, Powell and Vandermark hope to attract not just free jazz die-hards, but anyone interested in exploring a form and approach to music that challenges preconceptions and never promises to be mainstream-palatable, but also holds infinite rewards for those willing to make the leap.

  

Sure, the obstacles to overcome might seem intimidating at first.

Josh Love.

[Athens [GA] Creative Media Encounter Festival April 1-5, 2004]

Concert Program Day 2:

Friday, April 2

  

   8 p.m. - Joe Morris solo

   9:30 p.m. - The Thing & Joe McPhee

   11 p.m. Atomic/School Days

  

Ray Russell - Rites and Rituals 1971 LP rip

When I bought this LP, thirty odd years ago, I'd never heard of Ray Russell. I bought it primarily because it featured Harry Beckett, who was, and still is, a big favourite of mine. Funnily enough, all these years later, I've still heard little of him, though apparently he is a cult figure in some quarters, and has made numerous recordings. His style on this recording is akin to that of John McLaughlin at the time, and is accompanied my some stalwarts of the British 70s jazz scene. Runswick is also a bit of an enigma to me. This is the only example of his work I've heard, but he really is excellent on both accoustic and electric bass.

I've included quite a lengthy resume of Russell's career in the rip for those people who can be bothered to read such stuff. Somewhat surprisingly, he's composed and recorded a number of TV theme tunes, including one which will be familiar to Brits - "Bergerac", the 80s detective series set in Jersey, that hotbed of crime, starring John (Barnaby) Nettles.

Details:

Ray Russell - gt
Tony Roberts - reeds
Harry Beckett - flg
Nick Evans - tb
Daryl Runswick - bass
Alan Rushton - dr

Tracks
Sarana
Rites and Rituals
Abyss
Cradle Hill

Recorded De Lane Lea Studios August 1970
Relased on CBS 64271

MP3 and Flac links in comments. Sorry no covers, no scanner at the moment.

Brotherhood of Breath in Altena Castle, Germany, 1972

There's been an encouraging spate of Chris McGregor and Brotherhood rereleases lately, some of which has been featured on this blog before. Just around the corner is a Blue Notes box set containing all of their four releases on the Ogun label. One of them has also been posted here previously.

But what's on offer here and now has not been officially released yet at any rate. It's an excerpt from a concert inside Balver Höhle in Germany in 1972.

The info given is as follows:

Call 8:44
Andromeda 9:13
Think Of Something 14:19
Track 4 4:14

Lineup:

Harry Beckett
Marc Charig
Malcolm Griffith
Nick Evans
Dudu Pukwana
Mike Osborne
Gary Windo

The first three pieces are announced as such by the radio presenter, but "Call" sounds uncannily like "Ismite is Might" off the Willisau album and features most likely Nick Evans on the trombone. The second piece is "Mra" leading into "Andromeda". The third piece is "Do It" leading into "Think of Something", the latter featuring Mike Osborne on alto, Gary Windo on tenor and either Mark Charig or Harry Beckett on trumpet. The last piece is quite clearly "The Serpent's Kindly Eye", also on the Willisau album (which was the first ever release on the Ogun label).

The sound's fair on the first three, but a bit grimy on the last, though. The band is at its ramshackle best as ever. Some may find the BoB cacophonous at times, but to these ears it's beautiful cacophony.

Mp3 and flac versions in the comments section. Another golden dime.

Stockhausen - Licht-Collage

 The German radio station SWR2 had a long association with Stockhausen, and broadcast over several years extracts from his enormous opera cycle - Licht - which has an opera for each day of the week. On 22nd August, it would have been the 80th birthday of Karlheinz Stockhausen, who died last year, and SWR2 broadcast a sequence of extracts from each opera, interspersed with commentary from Stockhausen himself in interviews with Reinhard Ermen. So, in the space of about 3 1/2 hours, a condensed version of this enormous cycle could be heard, including some of the more well-known episodes, such as Welt-Parlament and Helikopter-Quartett.

The commentary is in German, but is conversational and easy to follow, starting with an explanation of how the idea for the cycle came to Stockhausen in a temple in Kyoto after he had completed Sirius. Many of the ideas and themes which make up the mythology of Licht receive extended commentary. Moreover, I think you can get a sense of how Stockhausen began this with an idea rooted in a compositional framework he controlled, how a surrounding mythology emerged and entered his dreams and very being, his struggle with and acceptance of that and a final sense of weariness, relief and transcendence.

The picture above is Max Ernst's Birth of a Galaxy, which seems appropriate for something on this scale.

Brötzmann/Portal/Bennink in Paris 1977

Continuing with the bass clarinet theme (after the previous posting of Michel Pilz), here are two in one go.

In particular, Michel Portal has made the bass clarinet his primary instrument, but here he picks up the sax and a bandoneon as well. Peter Brötzmann is mostly known for his tenor work, but here he switches to bass clarinet and a bunch of other instruments. And even Han Bennink dabbles on the clarinet in between hammering the kit and the bass drum.

So, all in all, about 40 minutes of anarchical merriment, recorded in a Paris studio in 1977, and broadcast on radio, though details are scanty. The announcer butts in at about the thirty minute mark to tell what's going on, but no titles to the piece.

Brötzmann and Bennink are mates of 40 years standing, but the presence of Portal adds another dimension to this set. I leave it to the listener to figure out who is who, but I find Portal adds a melodic touch to the fierceness of Brötzmann, but Portal can be as screechy as the other guys when the fancy takes him.

Basic info:

BRÖTZMANN / PORTAL / BENNINK
16-Jun 1977
unknown, Paris, France
source/lineage: FM


Peter Brötzmann: bassclarinet, clarinet, tenorsax, altosax, mouthpiece

Michel Portal: bassclarinet, clarinet, altosax, "double clarinet", contrabassclarinet, bandoneon, voice

Han Bennink: small drum set, "soft trumpet", clarinet, viola, xylophone, whistle, piano, various percussion, etc.

1. untitled improvisation 30:09
2. untitled improvisation 10:16 (at start with voice over by radio host)

Another Dime download ...

There'll be more bass clarinetists coming up shortly ...

John Zorn, "Big" John Patton - Live Austria 1988

Looking back through the blog, I see that no Zorn recordings have been posted, which is surprising considering all the Masada and Bladerunner stuff that was upped at Church #9. I can't say that I like his more esoteric stuff, but this concert really swings.

Details:-

Special OlympiansSaalfelden Jazz Festival
Saalfelden, Austria
August 28, 1988
01 Unknown
02 Unknown
03 Unknown
04 Unknown

John Zorn - alto
John Patton - organ
James 'Blood' Ulmer - guitar
Bobby Previte - drums

Patton seems an unlikely partner for Zorn, being a veteran of numerous 60s and 70s Blue Note albums in the company of people like Grant Green. Ulmer was a member of Patton's trio in the 60s so maybe that's where the introduction to Zorn came about. However it happened it certainly was a worthwhile combination. Nothing too wild or adventurous about this, but it sure hits the right spot

Links in comments. Many thanks to moretoonz for seeding. Lineage uncertain, but excellent sound quality.

Maarten Altena octet with Dagmar Krause (new movements in jazz, netherlands radio transcription lp BOX 87.073/076) disc 4

hey ,having some problems with volume 3 of this set so heres the final volume..possibly the most adventurous grouping in the set.
though Dagmar's vocals wont thrill everyone , ( me im an old Henry Cow/ art bears fan).

enjoy!!!

info- personnel

new movements in jazz
radio netherlands transcription service lp87.073/076
disc 4

Program 4
Maarten Altena Octet
Special guest Dagmar Krause (vocals)

George Lewis trombone
Wolter Wierbos trombone
Paul Termos altosaxophone
Peter van Bergen tenorsaxophone
Maartje ten Hoom violin
Guus Janssen piano
Maarten Altena double-bass/leader/composer
Michael Vatcher drums

Side A 23’02”
Schor (Husky) 8’22
Improvisation 7’45
Goody two-shoes 6’03

Side B 26’51
Improvisation and
Points Congealing 8’22
Haai (shark) 4’05
The Feathers and
Klaroen (Clarion) 9’13
Uncle Jimmy’s 4’05

All compositions by Maarten Altena
Recorded on September 27th 1985 at the Meervaart
In Amsterdam

Circle - Gathering

Recorded in the studio in NYC 17th March 1971. 

Chick Corea, piano, flute, percussion

Anthony Braxton, alto, flute, sopranino, clarinet, contrabass-clarinet, percussion

Dave Holland, bass, cello, guitar, percussion

Barry Altschul, drums, kalimba, percussion.  

The second of two Circle releases which were inexplicably issued only in Japan, initially on vinyl and later on CD.  As before, if anyone can throw some light on why this music was never issued in Europe or the US, the information would be very welcome.  This rip is taken from the original Japanese vinyl, CBS Sony SOPL 20-XJ.  

The performance is a single two-sided composition credited to Corea alone, and if any listener can sense a line drawn between one man's composition and four men's improvisation, he's a better man than I.    The piece opens with much of the heat and intensity associated with the free jazz of 1971, with Altschul especially taking few prisoners, before the quartet veers off into extended flute and percussion workouts, a certain amount of navel-gazing and a question-mark of an ending.   Perhaps Corea's own words, from the liner notes, best sum the piece up:  "Our music is a focal point, constantly created anew, with each playing. … It is our opinion that creativity will play an important role (maybe the important role) in lifting our consciousness about ourselves and others. …  When we are alive in the fullest sense of the word, we are creating".  

Enjoy.  
 

glmlr 

Circle - Live in German Concert

Recorded in Germany, 28^th November 1970, location not specified.

(The record is indeed grammatically mis-titled, as above).  

Chick Corea, piano

Anthony Braxton, alto, flute, sopranino, percussion

Dave Holland, bass, cello

Barry Altschul, drums, percussion.  

The first of two Circle releases which were inexplicably issued only in Japan, initially on vinyl and much later on CD.   Why this music was never issued in Europe or the US is a mystery to me.  Can anyone throw some light on this?   This rip is taken from the original Japanese vinyl, CBS Sony SOPL 19-XJ.  

By early September 1970, Corea and Holland had both left Miles' adventurously electric band, and quickly settled into acoustic free jazz territory.   After a brief studio fling which  month which produced "The Sun" LP (with Liebman, Grossman, DeJohnette and others),  they cemented themselves with Braxton and Altschul, and Circle became the focus of their joint activities over the following 9 months.  This concert features two side-long Circle staples:  Dave Holland's "Toy Room - Q&A" and the standard "There is No Greater Love".  Both pieces will be familiar to Circle fans but, as ever, these interpretations are intriguingly different. Classic Circle trademarks are all here in good form:  Corea's propulsive piano, Braxton's Chicago-inflected blues, Holland's melodic hold on the roots and Altschul's meticulously tuned percussion.   And there's a little "fly in the ointment" - on side B behind Braxton's alto solo, either Corea or Holland double up with him on …  flute?  oboe?  musette?    A teaser for your ears.  

Enjoy. 
 
 

glmlr 

TTT featuring A.R. Penck "Aspects of the NY.NY.NY. Situation" (no info) FLAC & MP3-320

After a little interruption, here's the follow up to the Penck series. Double album this time. As usual, info via Rick Lopez's discography :

TTT featuring A.R. Penck: Aspects of the NY.NY.NY. Situation

A 0032 (2LP)

Date ? / Venue ?

Aspects of the NY.NY.NY. Situation
1. 1 [:]
2. 2 [:]
3. 3 [:]
4. 4 [:]
5. 5 [:]

Frank Wright (sax)
Butch Morris (cornet)
Frank Wollny (guitar-1,2,3; bass-4)
Heinz Wollny (bass-1,2,3; guitar-4,5)
A.R. Penck (piano-1,2,3,4; flute-4; drums-5)
Dennis (sic) "King" Charles (drums-1,3; percussion-2,3,5)
Coen Aalberts (drums-2,3; percussion-1,4,5)


P.

Kahil El' Zabar Ritual Trio: Another Kind Of Groove

Kahil El' Zabar Ritual Trio: Another Kind Of Groove
Sound Aspects CD016

Recorded May 26th 1986 in Germany.

Billy Bang (violin, bells)
Malachi Favors (bass, percussion)
Kahil El'Zabar (drums, earth drum, bass bamboo flute, berimbau, sanza, ankle bells)

Here's a share from drhotte that he (?) posted in the comments of my last El' Zabar posting. I wouldn't want you to miss this one. No essay this time; but enjoy the music.

Kahil El'Zabar with David Murray Golden Sea

Kahil El'Zabar with David Murray Golden Sea

Sound Aspects Records 027
Recorded January 28,1989 in Chicago

Kahil El'Zabar (traps, earth d, ashiko d, mbira, sanza, ankle bells, vc)
David Murray (ts, bcl)

1. Golden Sea (Kahil El'Zabar) 10:50
2. Dreams (Kahil El'Zabar) 5:55
3. Sunrise Serenade (Kahil El'Zabar) 7:55
4. Sweet Meat (Kahil El'Zabar) 7:40
5. All Blues (Miles Davis) 10:10
6. Song For A New South Africa (David Murray) 4:45

Kahil El'Zabar and David Murray seem to bring out something special in each other. They've been consistent collaborators: El'zabar has been in a couple of Murray's quartets (including the excellent, but hard to find, People's Choice) and a couple of Octets; while Murray's been on four duo albums under El'zabar's name. All the duo recordings are worth owning, but this (for me) is the strongest. It's also sadly the hardest to get hold of; and I'm not sure it even got a CD release.

El'Zabar and Murray share an interest in Afro-centric music and pan-African culture, and this is apparent in much of the music here. The very title of Murray's 'Song For A New South Africa' is an index of this. However, the orientation is surprisingly best achieved on their interpretation of Miles Davis' 'All Blues'. Murray is at his plaintive best on Bass Clarinet, while El'Zabar plays the Mbira or Sanza (which the LP lists as separate instruments, but which I've always understood them to be two names for the same Shona 'thumb piano' instrument). The track reaches its peak with Murray playing and El'Zabar singing. This is, perhaps, my favorite piece of Murray Bass Clarinet 'ballad' playing. He seems to take a perverse pleasure in playing a bass instrument beyond its usual highest frequencies, and draws upon the textures of gospel playing to create a sound I find deeply affecting. A haunting and beautifully realised cultural and musical fusion. 'Sunrise Serenade' features El'Zabar alone on Mbira/Sanza with ankle bells and a wordless vocal and rhythmic chants. It's one of the best tracks on the LP for me, though regular visitors to this blog may find it a step too far beyond jazz sensibilities.

Each track has a distinctive texture, achieved most often by El'Zabar's use of different percussion instruments (Murray has never made major changes to playing style across his whole career, let alone an LP). 'Dreams' features a hand drum (I'm guessing it's the Ashiko drum) and a more meditative and gentler start for Murray on tenor before his characteristic gospel-rich style kicks in. I'm also speculating when I say this sounds like a total improvisation from Murray; a notion backed up by the fact that none of the pieces credited to El'Zabar have strong melodies (a Murray characteristic). I think the balance (on this track and the whole LP) works very well overall, though, giving a sax and percussion duo album a lot of variety. For Sweet Meat El'Zabar plays conventional jazz traps with lots of cymbal ride and rhythmic work on the tuned drums while Murray's ecstatic tenor runs build in intensity. This is possibly the most conventional duo piece, but executed with panache. 'Song For A New South Africa' features a poly-rhythmic hand drum and ankle bells textual bed, and a fairly straight-forward rendering of the strong melody riff by Murray. They clearly liked this number because the duo repeated the piece on record three years later on A Sanctuary Within, and thirteen years later on Love Outside Of Dreams with very similar, if slightly more complex renderings.

1989 was a classic year for Murray, and his work made available in that twelve moths is remarkably wide. Albums released in that year included a James Brown-tribute funk project (Cold Sweat), a challenging piano-sax duo with Dave Burrell (Daybreak), an attempt at the jazz mainstream through the Columbia-released Ming's Samba, four other jazz quartet albums under different group names and for different labels (I Want To Talk About You, Last Of The Hipmen, Lucky Four, The Fo'tet), and a WSQ collection of soul covers (Rhythm & Blues). This one fits in the eclectic moment comfortably. I hope you enjoy it.