Steve Lacy Quintet, Live April 9, 1977 - East Berlin

My buddy Mark tells the story of the time he called Steve Lacy so he could do a phone interview for the jazz radio program Mark and I co-hosted. He said he got Mr. Lacy to the phone (after a series of back and forth phonecalls to set up the interview) at the agreed upon time. So Mark turned on the tape recorder and began to ask his questions. But Mr. Lacy's answers became simple, one-word replies - the interviewer's nightmare. Then Mark said he heard the a bell ring. Lacy announced that the postman had arrived and that he must go to the door to retrieve the mail; he was expecting a cheque. That was the last he heard from Mr. Lacy. He never returned to the phone. Mark sat there for ten minutes waiting for Lacy but eventually came to the conclusion the interview was over.

The details for this recording are as follows:

Steve Lacy Quintet

April 9, 1977

Jazzbuhne, East Berlin, GDR

Steve Lacy - soprano sax

Steve Potts - alto & soprano sax

Irene Aebi - cello, vocal, violin

Kent Carter - bass

Oliver Johnson - drums

1. The Crust - 10:54

2. Papa's Midnight Hop - 7:49

3. The New Duck - 8:36

4. Revolutionary Suicide - 9:18

It's short but sweet!

Enjoy!

P.S. Steve Lacy died June 4, 2004 in Boston, Mass - less than a year after Mark's interview...

Nels Cline Singers Live, 2007...

A couple of years ago Nels Cline was everywhere. He led several bands, played in several others, conspired with Tom Rainey and Andrea Parkins, led his own recording that paid tribute to Andrew Hill and, to top it all off, filled in the role of lead guitar for Jeff Tweedy's Wilco. And that barely scratches the surface...

The other two members of the Singers - drummer Scott Amendola and bassist Devin Hoff - are busy musicians themselves, leading their own projects as well as being parts of other ensembles. Needless to say, they're busy.

The performance we have here was recorded at Safari Sam's in West Hollywood on Wednesday, December 5, 2007. There are six pieces and, no, there are no vocals. The Singers don't sing. Here's the playlist:

1. Squirrel of God

2. Sunken Song

3. Jackieing (Monk)

4. Attempted

5. Dedication (Andrew Hill)

6. Something About David H.

Enjoy!

Sunshine - An Even Break... Here's Sunny Murray...

Sorry for the absence...

Sunny Murray has been considered one of the most influential free jazz drummers for forty years. He helped define the role of the drummer when timekeeping percussion became redundant in the mid-sixties. This CD release easily combines two short Actuel recordings - Sunshine and An Even Break (Never Give a Sucker).

Enjoy!

Mulatu Astatke Plays Ethio-Jazz...

Many years ago I, like so many other music geeks, ordered vinyl records by mail. We didn't order them from a website. We ordered them by phone or by mail directly from the supplier. That's how I obtained this record. At one time I ordered regularly from Cadence Records in Redwood, N.Y. They has a sale on the PolJazz Records label and I ordered a bunch of them, knowing only one or two of the musicians cited. Mulatu Astatke was not one of them...

Sidetrack: My buddy Aidian and I made a trip to the Cadence Barn once, while on the way to a Syracuse University football game. We had to call in advance to book an appointment. We were given a series of directions/instructions which we were given and told to follow closely. When we arrived in Redwood we immediately got lost. We went into the Redwood Post Office to get directions figuring that would be the logical place to find someone who would know the "lay of the land". WRONG! They had no idea who or what Cadence was or where they were. We did eventually find our way there and spent an eye-opening afternoon with the amazing crew that runs the place.

The album is made up of five tunes on side A and four tunes on side B. The playlist is:

A1 - Addis Abba 3:20

2. - Gambrella 4:00

3. - Motherland 5:55

4. - Kulun Manqualesh 3:00

5. - Cruisin' "J" Town 3:55

B1 - Tizita 6:06

2. - Chic-Chica 5:20

3. - Yelb Lie Isat 4:00

4. - Lent 6:00

Enjoy!

Atomic Live in Malmoe, 2005

Atomic is a Scandinavian quintet that has fused the ECM sound with the sixties free jazz movement (as represented by Archie Shepp and Albert Ayler). Band members Paal Nilssen-Love, Ingebrigt Haker Flaten, Frederik Ljungkvist and Magnus Broo are closely associated with the current free jazz / improv scene led by Ken Vandermark, Peter Brotzmann and Evan Parker. What makes Atomic unique, in my opinion, is the fact that the band includes pianist, Havard Wiik. It's not that the band includes Wiik, in particular, but that the band has a pianist at all. Including a pianist in a band immediately focuses the concept and structure of the music created - the composition structure is effected, the solo structure changes and the overall tightness of performance. A piano just seems to change the game plan.

The ensemble has recorded several albums, such as:

The concert presented here originated on Swedish radio. The pieces are unnamed. It was performed in Malmoe in 2005.

Enjoy!

"What It Be Like?"...

This companion release, taken from the same August 8, 1992 performance at Yoshi's In Oakland, California is augmented on the final piece with Don Cherry. It was released on the Enja Records label in 1994, a year after the previous post.

Enjoy!

"What It Is?"...

It would not be an overstatement to say that Ed Blackwell is one of the most influential drummers in the history of jazz. He played with many of the important players from the 1960's onward, including Ornette Coleman, Don Cherry, Eric Dolphy, Mal Waldron, Anthony Braxton and Marion Brown (to name a few). But he never achieved the notoriety that several of the more flamboyant drummers earned (think: Art Blakey, Max Roach or Elvin Jones), despite being every bit as central to the development of the jazz after Bebop as those cited above.

I think it is important to remember that Blackwell was born in New Orleans because his style, it seems, was informed by the marching band ethos that originated in that city in the late 1800's to well into the twentieth century. His approach to drumming has been described as unpolished, rigid and, even at times, heavy-handed but that might be a bit hasty.

This post (and the next one) offers up Ed Blackwell's band performing live at Yoshi's in Oakland, California on the night of August 8, 1992. The two recordings were released on the Enja record label in 1993 and 1994 respectively. Blackwell's band includes Graham Haynes (son of drummer Roy Haynes) on cornet, Carlos Ward (most closely associated with Abdullah Ibrahim's band) on alto sax and flute, and (the ubiquitous) bassist Mark Helias. The band is billed as the Ed Blackwell Project and the first recording is titled Ed Blackwell Project Vol.1 "What It Is?" and the second is called Ed Blackwell Project Vol.2 "What It Be Like?".

Ed Blackwell died less that two months later on October 7, 1992.

Enjoy!

The Carmelites...

My infatuation with the music of Loren Mazzacane Connors happened fast and hard. In a former life, I frequented a wonderful record store in Montreal called Cheap Thrills (on Metcalfe) fairly often. That's where I found Connors' early recording, In Pittsburgh. I knew nothing about him except that he inhabited the musical fringe (I liked him already!), created what was considered by many to be "dark music", and he sounded like absolutely no one else. Naturally, I just had to hear him.

Man, his music hit me hard!

He played stark, haunting, introspective, blues-drenched guitar that was usually unaccompanied and unadorned.

With each trip to Montreal and Cheap Thrills I scoured their stock for any Connors discs I did not have. I now own 23 of his recordings, a mere drop in the LMC discographical bucket. This offering - The Carmelites - was recorded for a Japanese label, complete with Japanese linernotes, which are absolutely useless to me...ah, but the music...

If you like it let me know. I could post more...

Enjoy!

After the Dawn Has Risen...

I've been a fan of Ernest Khabeer Dawkins for many years. I've been lucky enough to see him perform live three time - twice with Kahil El'Zabar's Ethnic Heritage Ensemble and once with Hamid Drake's Bindu - but never with his own New Horizons Ensemble. Someday... I own several of his ensemble's recordings and enjoy them all a lot. What I love most about this ensemble's music is its intense joy - the joy they emit while playing and the joy the listener breeds inside while taking it all in.

This offering - my first for 2010 - is a 1992 recording on the German label Open Minds and was recorded live on October 25, 1991. The lineup includes a couple of the fine players who have been in Dawkins' ensemble for the duration of its existence - Steve Barry, Yosef Ben Israel - as well as one of my favourite drummers - Reggie Nicholson - whom I raved about in the Myra Melford post a while back.

OK, I thought it would be tomorrow but Now's the Time...

Enjoy!

Variations on Selected Themes For Jazz Quintet...

The late John Carter joins Ornette Coleman and Enrico Rava as the only artists (so far) to have multiple posts devoted to their music here at S&F. If this offering proves to be popular there'll be more...

I am still in the hunt for the fifth and final part of his "Roots and Folklore: Episodes in the Development of American Folk Music" called Shadows on a Wall. My dream is that some day some enterprising record company owner will acquire the rights to the four parts that originally were released on the Gramavision label (a label which no longer exists). I suppose the only sticking point to seeing this happen is the reality that the first part of this series of suites - Dauwhe - was (and still is) available from Black Saint Records. Hopefully, someday...

But, I digress...

This record was recorded in August of 1979 in Germany for the Moers Music label and features the stellar lineup of Carter on clainet, Bobby Bradford on trumpet, James Carter on flute, Bob Stewart on tuba and the late Phillip Wilson on drums. The album includes a couple of his more popular (relatively speaking) compositions - "Echoes From Harlem", "Woodman's Hall Blues", and "And She Speaks".

Enjoy! And let me know if you'd like to see more John Carter here. Thanks!

Sun Ra at the Village Vanguard...

It seemed "normal" enough (OK, a normal Sun Ra recording, what ever that means) when I first picked it up. His sextet playing live at the Village Vanguard; John Gilmore on bass and John Ore on drums and, of course, Sun Ra on synthesizer. So I read no further. So I put the disc in the player. So I started to listen... Huh? That sounds like a piano, not a synthesizer! And isn't that Monk's "Round Midnight"? So I look at the back cover of the CD a little more closely. No mention of a piano but they do interpret Monk's "Round Midnight" as well as Vernon Duke's "Autumn in New York" and the Gershwins' "S'Wonderful". Who de thunk it? Not me... Give it a listen... This recording is a lot like the game my daughter plays from time to time where "yes" means "no" and "no" means "yes". Only in this case "strange" means "normal" and "normal" means "strange" - if you know what I mean.

Enjoy!

How Time Passes...

Truth be told, I've never been a big fan of Don Ellis. No particular reason other than his music just never grabbed me. So why, then, did I get this disc? Because Jaki Byard is on it. I've been a huge fan of his ever since I first heard him playing in Mingus' band. I raved about him in a previous post and I'll rave about him again: listening to Byard is like taking a crash course on the history of jazz. Along with Ellis on trumpet and Byard on piano and alto sax (the instrument he played as a member of Earl Bostic's and Herb Pomeroy's bands) is bassist Ron Carter and drummer Charli Persip. It was recorded October 4 & 5, 1960 and released on the Candid label (another reason I bought this disc: I've never heard a bad recording from this small but influential record label).

And, oh yeah, is it just me or does the cover of this album seem remotely suggestive? Maybe it's just me...

Enjoy!

This is Billy Mitchell...

Tenor sax player Billy Mitchell was never considered part of the A list of jazz musicians, though he was considered influential within his circle. He came out of Detroit in the 40's and had stints with Count Basie's band in the 50's. He began to lead his own hard bop sessions in the 60's. This - his second recording as leader - was recorded at the end of October, 1962. What makes this session so interesting is the fact he has included a young vibraphonist, Bobby Hutcherson, in the band. The album was recorded in two days with Mitchell, Hutcherson, bassist Herman Wright and drummer Otis Finch for both. On October 29, Mitchell used organist Clarence "Sleepy" Anderson. On October 20, Mitchell used pianist Billy Wallace and trumpeter Dave Burns.

Enjoy!

Meet the Choir Boys...

It's funny how things converge without you even knowing it...

I was in a used CD store in Halifax, Nova Scotia - if you get to Halifax you MUST check out TAZ RECORDS - a while back and decided to root through a .99 cent bargin bin. As a rule, I avoid bargin bins in good record stores because they know what's valuable and what's not and their opinion generally coincides with my tastes, so it's usually a waste of time. But something - a niggling little voice - told me to peruse what was there. I did and I found this: The Choir Boys With Strings. Now, if I had done this a year earlier I probably would have overlooked this CD because I was not familiar with any of the players. But that previous year I had completely immersed myself in the music of Mark O'Leary (for my money, the most consistently surprising and exciting guitar player playing today) and had become acquainted with many musicians he had collaborated with on his fifteen or so albums that I had been unaware of to that point. Two of these players - trumpet player Jeff Kaiser (who appears on O'Leary's On The Shore) and bassist Steuart Liebig (who appears on O'Leary's Signs) - had left lasting impressions on me. The third player - guitarist G. E. Stinson - was on my radar because he was a member of Alex Cline's ensemble. So three out of four members of the Choir Boys were players I'd heard many times, though I had no knowledge of the Choir Boys. Naturally, I grabbed the disc and now you get to hear it. There are eight pieces but are, essentially, two suite-like pieces: tracks 1-5 and tracks 6-8. The music is quite free, incorporates electronics and tape loops and is recorded live in concert.

Enjoy!

Art of the Duo, Another View...

George Adams and Don Pullen were perfect collaborators. Pullen was a fluid, lightning fast pianist and George Adams was a bluesy, big-toned tenor player. They recorded together many times over their career. They co-led a quartet with Dannie Richmond and Cameron Brown that produced several excellent recordings for the Timeless label. With this recording (also from the Dutch label Timeless) we hear Pullen and Adams in duet setting.

Enjoy

Featuring the Bari...

In a previous post I mentioned I was sucker for the baritone sax provided it was played with tenderness and passion (not expressions that are mutually exclusive as far as I'm concerned). I also mentioned I was not a big fan of Gerry Mulligan but was first turned on to the big horn by Serge Chaloff. I'm also a huge fan of Pepper Adams, Nick Brignola as well as newer players such as Rodrigo Amado. One baritone sax player I came across years ago who has stood the test of time for me is Per Goldschmidt. But I came to him because of who he was playing with as opposed to any reputation that preceeded him. The Frame - the recording offered up here - included Jack DeJohnette, Lonnie Plaxico and pianist Niels Lan Doky. It turned out to be a gem. Listen to it and be the judge.

Enjoy!

More Ted (by request)...

My apologies to the person who asked for the entire Ted Curson album, Cattin' Curson. I just plain missed the comment! Sorry about that but I guess better late than never...

I've been quite pleased with the response to the Ted Curson post. I was blown away by him when I first heard him and I hoped others would be too.

Anyway, here it is!

Enjoy!

No Wave, 1980...

I've been a big fan of James Blood Ulmer, David Murray, Amin Ali and Ronald Shannon Jackson for many years. I've seen them all play live, though not together. It's interesting to see how both Blood Ulmer and Murray have evolved their sound over the years - from a raw, intense sound to a more mainstream sound (in the case of Murray) and a more fundamental, blues sound (in the case of Blood Ulmer). This record find them both building on their early tendancies with Ali and Jackson driving them forward. This is a short but sweet recording.

Enjoy!

The Start of a Beautiful Friendship...

In August of 1990, the Village Voice devoted an entire section to a summing up of the previous decade in terms of the cream of the crop of jazz. David Murray was deemed the tenor sax player (and, indeed, jazz artist) of the 1980's. That was not a surprise to any jazz fan. What was a surprise to many jazz fans (including myself) was the fact that along with recordings by such heavy hitters as World Saxophone Quartet, David Murray, John Carter, Ornette Coleman, Jack DeJohnette, Henry Threadgill and Cecil Taylor was a record by some guy named Edward Wilkerson Jr. In fact, his record, 8 Bold Souls, was situated at the number three position, just behind WSQ's Revue and John Carter's Roots and Folklore: Episodes in the Development of American Folk Music! I had no idea who this person was, what instrument he played or where he was from.

Now I know. You should, too.

Enjoy!

When Five Was Four...

I came to the Vandermark 5 through a buddy who was deep into the music of the Chicago improv scene. Thanks, Mark!

Once upon a time a young Ken Vandermark made his way to Chicago from Boston. He just wanted to play. So he started his own band. That was back in the early 90's - before Atavistic, before the McArthur Genius Prize, before the Vandermark 5 (and the other countless bands he plays in). He formed the Vandermark Four and recorded Big Head Eddie for the Platypus Records label in February 1993. The group was made up of Ken Vandermark on reeds, Todd Colburn on guitar, Kent Kessler on bass, and Michael Zerang on drums.

The playlist is:

1. Kiss the Plow (4:53)

2. Exploding Note Theory (6:44)

3. Dog Cliches (4:35)

4. Jack Kirby Was Ripped Off (5:31)

5. Last Date (6:27)

6. Blue Coffee (3:56)

7. Ingrid's Napkin #29 (12:06)

8. Courtesy Desk (5:15)

9. Sinner Sinner (7:29)

10. Not Actual Size (3:56)

It's interesting to hear how Ken's concept of composition and group interplay has developed over the years...

Enjoy!