Sunday, November 1, 2015

MILTON MARSH – Monism (Strata-East / LP-1975)




Label: Strata-East – SES-19758
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album / Country: US / Released: 1975
Style: Post Bop, Avant-garde Jazz, Spiritual, Free Jazz
Recorded 3rd July 1973 and 23rd May 1974 at Media Sound, New York.
Arranged By, Composed By, Producer – Milton Marsh
Artwork [Graphics] – Carole Byard
Published By – Milton Marsh Publishing Co.
Matrix / Runout (Side A Etched Runout): SES-19758-A e
Matrix / Runout (Side B Etched Runout): SES-19758-B

A1 - Vonda's Tune (part 1 of "Earth, Home Of The Mortals") ........................ 2:14
A2 - Community Music ................................................................................... 6:43
A3 - Monism ................................................................................................... 8:49
B1 - Metamorphosis ....................................................................................... 5:57
B2 - Ode to Nzinga ........................................................................................ 7:18
B3 - Sabotage, 3 preparations ....................................................................... 9:15

alto saxophone, conductor, voice [spoken text]  – Milton Marsh
piano – Cedric Lawson
alto saxophone – Joseph Ferguson, Rene McClean
baritone saxophone  – Reynold Scott
tenor saxophone  – Bill Cody, David S. Ware
trombone – Charles Stevens, Bill Lowe, Bill Campbell
trumpet – Kamal Abdul-Alim, Sinclair Acey, Bubbles Martin, Frank Williams
tuba – Bill Davis
double bass – Don Pate
drums, percussion – Greg Bandy

One of the harder to find records on Strata East, and a beautiful set of spiritual/free jazz tracks composed and arranged by reed player Milton Marsh.

Recorded in 1973 and 74 and released in limited quantities in 1975. Six song album of free jazz mixed with African rythmns! Personnel include: Rene McClean, Joseph Ferguson, David Ware, Bill Cody, Reynold Scott, Frank Williams, Sinclair Acey, Bubbles Martin, Kamal Abdul-Alim, Bill Campbell, Charles Stevens, Bill Lowe, Bill Davis, Cedric Lawson, Don Tate, Greg Bandy. ULTRA-RARE!!

 arranged, composed, producer – Milton Marsh

In 1975, Milton Marsh released his first album "Monism" for the Strata-East label. Marsh, a composer, arranger, saxophonist and flautist, recorded the album in New York City, and the musicians on "Monism" represent some of the finest living in NYC at the time: pianist Cedric Lawson, bassist Don Pate, along with two rising stars at the time, David Ware on saxophone and Greg Bandy on percussion. Ironically, all of these artists would go on to record several volumes of music in their careers except for Marsh, who recorded only one additional album, 1985’s Continuum, after a decade long absence.

Marsh composed and arranged all of the album’s six compositions, each of which featured between nine and 17 players. This sizable headcount explains the album’s ability to soar from quiet, minimal moments to robust, dissonant explosions, depending upon the track.

“Vonda’s Tune”, the album’s opener, begins with a brief solitary and somber horn solo, which later opens up to the more “avant” sounds of “Community Music”. The title track is where Marsh’s compositions reach their most unpredictable and exciting moments, however. “Monism” closes out the A side with a free jazz jamboree, complete with a spoken word delivery of a Sufi poem from Marsh himself. The album’s B side is relegated to more traditional structures, and features some of the most driving piano, drum and saxophone playing. Nice stuff, and one of those that you hardly ever see!

An incredible album from Milton Marsh on Strata East. Essential.



If you find it, buy this album!

13 comments:

  1. MILTON MARSH – Monism (LP-1975)
    Vinyl Rip/FLAC+Cover

    1fichier:
    https://1fichier.com/?5hv877130d

    ReplyDelete
  2. @Vitko:

    An incredible rip! Deeply appreciated!

    Best

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  3. Chiquilicuatre y ZappaNovember 2, 2015 at 5:43 PM

    wov ,many thanks for the fabulous album in flac

    ReplyDelete
  4. A heartfelt Thank You, Vitko!
    This was on my wishlist of unknown musicians (unknown to me as I've never heard a sound from them) for a long time (about 14 years or so).
    Great!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Many thanks for the upgrade to FLAC

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  6. What a gift! This has been on my wish list. Thank you very much.

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  7. Manufactured Recordings is reissuing this amazing album on LP and CD soon! It should be significantly more affordable than an original pressing, and the LP will also include a digital download.

    Pre-order info is not yet posted, but you can find more info about it all here (some of the text looks very familiar, in fact!)
    http://manufacturedrecordings.tumblr.com/post/129807314627/coming-soon

    For future updates, you can subscribe to our email newsletter here: http://eepurl.com/bvNr_X

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  8. I am very curious what kind of sound will have the album when he finally appears.
    Colour Sound Strata-East label is so specific and unique.

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  9. Listening to this today and I was really impressed. It is a beautiful record. I am happy to hear that a reissue is in the works. I also wanted to thank you for posting this. If not for you, I would never have heard this. Great stuff.

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  10. Huge thanks for filling a gaping hole in my Strata-East selection, Vitko. Like several other friends here, I've been waiting a while to hear this one!

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  11. I was kinda holding out for a follow-up by the Musketeer on a reissue, but since there are no updates from Manufactured Rec., I think I'll gladly check out your offer, Vitko. Thanks!

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  12. a wonderful surprise...thanks for the turn on...

    ReplyDelete