MIKE OSBOURNE (Osborne) – Outback (Turtle Records – TUR 300 / LP-1970)

Label: Turtle Records – TUR 300

Format: Vinyl, LP / Country: UK / Released: 1970

Style: Free Jazz, Free Improvisation

Recorded in London, 1970. Made in England.

Also CD released on FMR Records ‎– FMR CD07-031994 (Unofficial Release / 1994)

Artwork – John Eaves

Photography By – Geoff Collins, George Mallett, Jake Jackson, Tony Wimlow

Engineer – Robin Sylvester

Producer – Peter Eden

Executive-Producer – Mark Wastell

Matrix / Runout: (Side A etched) TUR 300 A-1

Matrix / Runout: (Side B etched) TUR 300 B-2

Notes:

Mike Osborne's name is printed as "Mike Osbourne" on this release.

A - So It Is ........................................................................................................... 24:44

B - Outback ........................................................................................................ 18:28

Personnel:

Mike Osborne – alto saxophone

Harry Beckett – trumpet

Chris McGregor – piano

Harry Miller – bass

Louis Moholo – drums, percussion

Mike Osbourne – Outback (Rare British jazz 1970 UK LP, released on the small independent free jazz label Turtle Records (home of similar rarities from Howard Riley and John Taylor) set up by producer Peter Eden, and packed with the super stars: Harry Beckett (trumpet), Chris McGregor (piano), Harry Miller (bass) and Louis Moholo (drums). The album soon is became know as an absolute classic and probably the most important record he made, with two tracks of impassioned playing of the finest order!

Absolutely major release in his short, but fiery career!

Early genius from British saxophonist Mike Osborne – his first session as a leader, recorded in the company of some of the greatest players on his scene! Osborne's got a strong vision here that's apparent from the first note of the set – a mixture of freedom and cohesive energy that resonates with the best modes of the ESP albums cut a few years before this one – stretching out with the new imagination that was setting the London jazz scene on fire at the start of the 70s. Osborne's alto is at the lead of a quintet that also includes Harry Beckett on trumpet, Chris McGregor on piano, Harry Miller on bass, and Louis Moholo on drums – and the sound is a mixture of some of the post-Blue Notes work of McGregor with bolder-blown trumpet/sax lines from Beckett and Osborne. The album features 2 long tracks – the stark, angular "So It Is", and the slower-building "Outback", which features some especially nice solos from Beckett.

_______ Out of print .   

© 1996-2016, Dusty Groove, Inc.

If you find it, buy this album!

OVARY LODGE – Ovary Lodge (LP-1976 / Ogun – OG 600)

Label: Ogun – OG 600

Format: Vinyl, LP, Album / Country: UK / Released: 1976

Style: Free Improvisation, Free Jazz, Experimental

Live recording at Nettlefold Hall, London SE27, 6 August 1975.

Composed By – Ovary Lodge

Design [Cover] – Liz Walton

Photography By – Franz Nager, Jak Kilby

Lacquer Cut By – DB

Recorded By – Keith Beal

Mixed By, Edited By – Keith Beal, Ovary Lodge

Producer – Keith Beal, Ovary Lodge

Sleeve Notes – Keith Tippett
Matrix / Runout (Runout A, etched): OG 600 A₁-2 D
Matrix / Runout (Runout B, etched): OG 600 B₁-2 B

A1 - Gentle One Says Hello ..................................................................................... 14:00

A2 - Fragment No. 6 ................................................................................................... 8:50

B1 - A Man Carrying A Drop Of Water On A Leaf Through A Thunderstorm ............... 5:10

B2 - Communal Travel .............................................................................................. 17:40

B3 - Coda ................................................................................................................... 1:10

Keith Tippett – piano, harmonium, recorder, voice, maracas

Harry Miller – bass

Julie Tippetts – voice, recorder [sopranino], erhu

Frank Perry – percussion, voice, flute [hsiao], sheng

Album mixed and edited in Hastings by Keith Beal and Ovary Lodge. All music composed by Ovary Lodge.

Note:

All the music on this album is improvised. The sounds are acoustic and no electrics are involved. The music vocabulary of 'Ovary Lodge' has developed out of 'blows' as opposed to rehearsals. In the three years that the group has been in existence there has been no discussion between members as to musical direction. For those of you who are interested in other areas we explore, check out 'Blueprint' RCA SF8290 and 'Ovary Lodge' RCA SF8372.

During playback and mixing the members of the group were unsure at times who was playing what. So, in danger of sounding dogmatic, I suggest to the listener that he or she forgets there are four people on this recording and tries hearing it as an orchestra. K.T.

One of the almost mythical bands of early British free jazz history, Ovary Lodge was led by pianist Keith Tippett, although he would definitely stress that he was a figurehead-organizer rather than authoritarian boss. This is, after all, a collective that's dedicated to the most extreme form of improvising and abstraction, with no prior discussions allowed over the direction of each new piece. At the time, this was something of a departure for Tippett, but over subsequent decades, such hardcore improvisation has become the foundation of his work.

Beginning as a trio, in 1971, with percussionist Frank Perry and bassist Roy Babbington, they released an eponymous titled album in 1973. Ovary Lodge lost Babbington to Soft Machine, and he was replaced by South African exile Harry Miller. This is, confusingly, the band's second self-titled album, recorded in 1975, live at Nettlefield Hall, London. By this time, singer Julie Tippetts was becoming a regular guest, whilst Miller and Perry still remained with Keith.

There's absolutely no compromise with the opening 14 minutes of "Gentle One Says Hello," which certainly makes no attempt at being an easy path inwards to the group's minimalist sonic sphere. It has as much in common with Stockhausen territory as it has with any distant jazz memories, particularly when hearing Julie's high vocal acrobatics. Perry is singing too, up in a similar range. Much is made of drones and lashed cymbals, with the Lodge's chief influence being Far Eastern ritual music (...Buddhism...)

The next piece, "Fragment No. 6," is the one with which most bands would have opened the album, a jazzier pulse ensuing, with Miller's walking figures and Keith's rippling up and down the keyboard's entire spread. Julie's sopranino recorder sounds trillingly Chinese, but later, Perry whips out the real deal, with his sheng mouth organ. "Communal Travel" is another extended rumination, at nearly 18 minutes, and has the strongest Oriental sound, with Perry exploring his full spread of gongs.

It's possible to see how this album is very much of its time, and that some cynics might dismiss it as an aimless hippy happening. Even this reviewer, an avowed admirer of this band, and all music Tippettian, had such thoughts flitting past during some stretches, but the Lodge's high level of musicianship, careful listening abilities and philosophical bent, tend to overcome most of these uncertainties.

_ By Martin Longley

It’s hard to believe there are only four musicians at work here such is the density, richness and diversity of their sound. Ovary Lodge is without doubt a difficult, rigorous and demanding album. It’s also an exciting, dramatic rollercoaster ride in the company of some of the 70s UK jazz scene’s brightest players.

If you find it, buy this album!

BOB DOWNES – Open Music (LP-1970)

Label: Philips – SBL 7922, 844 253 BY

Format: Vinyl, LP, Album / Country: UK / Released: 1970

Style: Free Jazz, Avant-Garde, Jazz-Rock

Recorded at PHILIPS studio, 1969, England.

Design [Sleeve] – Phil Duffy

Engineer – Roger T. Wake

Liner Notes – Richard Williams

Producer – Wendy Benka

A - Dream Journey ........................................................................................ 21:59

      (composed as the score to Ballet Rambert's "Blind Sight")

        baritone saxophone – John Warren

        flute – Jim Gregory

        performer [acetate paper] – Bob Downes

        tenor saxophone – Clive Stevens

        trombone – Chris Pine

        trumpet – Butch Hudson, Henry Lowther, Nigel Carter

        timpani, vibraphone, tam-tam [large], finger cymbals – Derek Hogg

        tam-tam – Dennis Smith

B1 - Birth Of A Forest ..................................................................................... 5:25

B2 - Integration .............................................................................................. 0:23

B3 - Contact ................................................................................................... 0:45

B4 - Ghosts In Space ..................................................................................... 8:14

B5 - Desert Haze ........................................................................................... 4:55

B6 - Electric City ............................................................................................. 6:28

Bob Downes – alto sax, flute [alto, bamboo], concert flute, tenor sax, 

                         saxophone [mouthpieces], bells [Chinese]

Chris Spedding – guitar

Harry Miller – bass, bass buitar

Dennis Smith – drums, percussion

John Stevens – drums, percussion

All the music was composed and arranged by Bob Downes.

Bob Downes and Ray Russell

Open Music was Bob Downes' debut album, recorded for the Philips label in 1969 (released 1970) and his impact on the UK scene was such that he was voted top place in the flute category of the Melody Maker jazz poll's British musician section for three consecutive years from 1972. This rare vinyl copies have attracted high sums in second-hand markets. Although Downes is best known for his flute playing, he is a genuine multi-instrumentalist, playing no fewer than seven instruments on this album, including the less conventional, acetate paper.

The recording's centerpiece is "Dream Journey." The piece — which received its premiere by Ballet Rambert on November 27, 1969 in London—runs just over twenty minutes. Divided into two parts, the first eleven minutes of the track are devoted to flute and percussion, with special emphasis on the sporadic, dramatic interspersions of timpani. The whole piece is very cinematic and reflects music of a more classical nature, but the second half is considerably more jazz informed. The ensemble sax sections are dynamically engaging, underpinned by acoustic bass and drums building to repeated crescendos with Downes providing an exciting flute solo.

The next five tracks are either solo flute, flute and drums, or flute, drums, and bass. These largely improvised tracks are predominantly quiet, ruminative pieces dominated by Downes' intricate flute. However, "Ghosts in Space" is more structured with a strangely hypnotic head defined by flute, arco bass, and drums, while the middle collective improvisation section is enlivened by Downes screaming in the noisier parts. The final track, "Electric City" which was to give its name to a succeeding album, recorded by Downes for Vertigo (1970), is effectively a jazz-rock piece. Again, Downes inserts some scat singing—or more accurately, shouting—all against a backdrop of ostinato bass guitar, Chris Spedding's unmistakable guitar work, and wild multi-tracked saxophones, all conjuring up an exciting mêlée of sound. This album surely explains Downes high-ranking in the Melody Maker polls. Open Music is an unusual and innovative collection of flute mastery.

Very rare LP UK pressing ORIGINAL PHILIPS / Stereo / SBL 7922 / 1970   

Matrix - Side 1:  844253 1Y/3 420  /  Side 2:  844253 2Y/3 420

Bob Downes was a well-known "studio rat" or a "session man" that played on many 60's records, from MANFRED MANN to ANDWELLA'S DREAM (and later on EGG); and his fantastic flute was second to JETHRO TULL's Ian Anderson only. By the turn of the decade, he had decided to try his own luck and 1970 was a particularly fruitful year for him: 2 full solo album and one collaboration. Released on the legendary Vertigo swirl label, Electric City was a strange album between avant-garde jazz and hard rock. The album failed to sell and by the time Bob Downes was ready to record his second album, Phillips had demoted him to their "normal" label (only GRACIOUS suffered the same treatment). Actually "Open Music" came out as his more successful release and has been a collector item for years, now.

The same year, Bob Downes also released a wild album called "Deep Down Heavy" (and its spectacular artwork) with poet Robert Cockburn reading out his text, making another unusual record.

None of the three albums sold enough for Downes to keep trying out his solo stint. Comes then a gap where I guess he returned to studio sessions for the next couple of years, most likely appearing on avant-garde jazz albums. This in turn led him to be noticed by some Modern Artistic Dance companies and in 72, he was commissioned for two "dance" project. Forming his own trio OPEN MUSIC, named after his more successful album, "Diversion" proved an interesting release where jazz-rock alternated with free form music, while the catastrophic "Episodes At 4AM" (74), which was a Welsh project, filled with obtuse free-form music. The following year saw Downes release "Hell's Angels", then later "Dawn Dreams", "South American Journey" and "Inside Stonehenge", before taking a long break.

Bob Downes moved to the continent in the late 80's and is now currently based in Germany, and continues to perform as a solo artiste, playing during the execution of paintings and art exhibitions running flute workshops and releasing the odd album now and then, such as 93's "Dreams of Nature".

_written by Hugues Chantraine

If you find it, buy this album!

THE MIKE WESTBROOK CONCERT BAND – Marching Song Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 (2LP-1969/2CD-1998)

Label: Deram – 844 853-2

Format: 2 × CD, Compilation / Country: UK / Released: 1998

Originally released in 1969 as two separate LPs: Deram SML 1047 and Deram SML 1048

Style: Big Band, Contemporary Jazz

Recording Dates: 31st March, 1st April, 10th April, 1969.

Engineer – Bill Price

Executive-Producer – Bernard Lee

Leader [Musical Director] – Eddie Harvey, John Surman, Mike Westbrook

Producer – Peter Eden

Amazing jazz masterpiece from 1969, originally released in two parts on Deram and presented here as a double- CD at a single price. Double album featuring Westbrook with Alan Skidmore, David Holdsworth, John Surman and a wild collection of brass-wielding legends. An anti-Vietnam piece that takes a remarkable journey from civilisation to war and its inevitable results. A powerful and evocative piece that features some excellent performances and magnificent solo-ing as the tension mounts...

101. Hooray! . . . 6:24

        trumpet solo: Dave Holdsworth

        alto solo: Mike Osborne

        crowd sounds: Bill Price

102. Landscape . . . 15:25

        flute solo: Bernie Living

        bass duet: Harry Miller, Barre Phillips

        sax duet: John Surman, Mike Osborne

103. Waltz (for Joanna) . . . 5:50

        soprano solo: John Surman

104. Landscape (II) . . . 0:39

105. Other World . . . 8:23

        trombone solo: Paul Rutherford

106. Marching Song . . . 11:30

        tenor saxes: Nisar Ahmad Khan, Alan Skidmore

Composed By – Mike Westbrook

201. Transition . . . 5:12

202. Home . . . 7:35

        trombone solo: Malcolm Griffiths

        bass duet: Harry Miller, Chris Lawrence

203. Rosie . . . 6:36

        trumpet solo: Dave Holdsworth

204. Prelude (Surman) . . . 4:43

        woodwind: Bernie Living, Mike Osborne, Alan Skidmore

205. Tension (Surman) . . . 4:33

        saxophone duet: John Surman, Alan Skidmore

        trombone solo: Malcolm Griffiths

206. Introduction . . . 5:58

207. Ballad . . . 2:26

        alto solo: Mike Osborne

208. Conflict . . . 10:44

        tuba solo: George Smith

209. Requiem . . . 0:52

210. Tarnished (Surman) . . . 5:56

        soprano solo: John Surman

        alto solo: Mike Osborne

211. Memorial . . . 2:22

        drums solo: Alan Jackson

Composed By – Mike Westbrook except traks 204, 205, 210 by John Surman

Mike Westbrook – Piano

Dave Holdsworh – Trumpet, Fluegelhorn

Kenny Wheeler – Trumpet, Fluegelhorn

Greg Bowen – Trumpet

Tony Fisher – Trumpet

Henry Lowther – Trumpet

Ronnie Hughes – Trumpet

Malcolm Grifiths – Trombone

Paul Rutherford – Trombone

Mike Gibbs – Trombone

Eddie Harvey – Trombone

Tom Bennellick – French Horn

Martin Fry – Tuba

George Smith – Tuba

John Surman – Baritone, Soprano Saxes

Mike Osborne – Alto Sax, Clarinet

Bernie Living – Alto Sax, Clarinet

Alan Skidmore – Tenor Sax, Flute

Nisar Ahmad Khan – Tenor Sax

John Warren – Alto, Baritone Saxes, Flute

Brian Smith – Tenor Sax

Harry Miller – Bass

Barre Phillips – Bass

Chris Lawrence – Bass

Alan Jackson – Drums

John Marshall – Drums

The first time I had a chance to hear this album before about thirty years.  I was blown away then and nothing has changed in the meantime. If you like free blowing big band jazz give this a listen. You will not be disappointed.

If you find it, buy this album!

MIKE OSBORNE: TRIO / QUINTET – Border Crossing (1974) + Marcel's Muse (1977) – CD-2004

Label: Ogun – OGCD 015
Format: CD, Compilation, Digipack; Country: UK - Released: 2004
Style: Free Jazz, Free Improvisation
"Border Crossing" recorded live at the Peanuts Club, held at the "Kings Arms", Bishopsgate, London, E.C.2 on 28 September 1974.
"Marcel's Muse" recorded in London on 31 May 1977
Executive-Producer – Hazel Miller
Mastered By – Martin Davidson
Mixed By, Edited By – Keith Beal (tracks: 1 to 4)
Producer – Keith Beal (tracks: 1 to 4), Ron Barron (tracks: 5 to 8)
Recorded By – Ron Eve (tracks: 5 to 18)

The saxophonist Mike Osborne is pungent, sweet-and-sour, occasionally anguished tone might twinge some teeth, and almost all the material here represents a spiky, free-jazz exploration of idiosyncratic originals.

 

In his heyday from the late 1960s to the end of the 70s, alto saxophonist Mike Osborne was one of the most distinctive saxophone voices in Brit-jazz (and when you are talking about a school that included Elton Dean, Evan Parker, Dudu Pukwana, Alan Skidmore, etc., that is really saying something). This is two of his five albums as a leader for Ogun together and complete on one CD. "Although having retired from the music scene for well-documented health-related reasons over 20 years ago*, Osborne is still the greatest alto saxophonist ever to come out of Britain (that of course being separate and distinct from all the great alto players who came into Britain, such as Bertie King, Joe Harriott, Dudu Pukwana, Bernie Living, Ray Warleigh and Ntshuks Bonga) and this album of highlights from one of the trio ’ s many continuous performances at Stockwell ’ s Peanuts Club of the early-to-mid ‘ 70s is the unassailable proof of that assertion. He came out of Jackie McLean and Eric Dolphy via Ornette, but Osborne quickly found and established his own level of intensity, never better documented than here. As the three musicians move from tune to tune, the intensity of the music is stoked up to such a degree that side two of this album in particular is an emotionally exhausting adrenalin rush of music, easily up there with Ornette at the Golden Circle, Osborne, Miller and Moholo existing in absolute and blissful telepathy as they threaten to break all manner of sound and space barriers. This record, more than most in the Ogun catalogue, is urgently in need of reissue.
– (Text is from 2004)

*Note: Illness prevented him working from 1982. He died on 19 September 2007.

...Despite his illness and an increasing spiral of drinking and drug-taking, Ossie was able to hold things together for periods, largely due to the emotional, and financial, support of the ever-loyal Louise. Schizophrenia is perhaps the most destructive of any mental illness. Over time, the personality and the individual’s capacity to function deteriorates usually to the point where long-term care is required. That would prove the case with Mike Osborne. And yet, from 1975 even into the early-80s, Ossie produced some of his most remarkable work. Working with Hazel and Harry Miller and their Ogun record label resulted in Border Crossing with his trio with Harry and Louis and three years later in the quintet album, Marcel’s Muse, featuring Marc Charig on trumpet and the highly talented Jeff Green on guitar. There were also two albums with Stan Tracey, at the time in his most experimental phase. Both Tandem and Live at Bracknell are exceptional pieces of work and better yet are planned for reissue soon...
_ By Duncan Heining



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HARRY MILLER'S ISIPINGO – Which Way Now (1975, Re-2006)

Label: Cuneiform Records – Rune 233
Format: CD, Album; Country: US - Released: 2006
Style: Free Jazz,  Free Improvisation, Contemporary Jazz
Recorded at Post-Aula, Bremen, Germany on November 20, 1975.
Coordinator [Release Coordination] – Steven Feigenbaum
Design [Cd Package] – Bill Ellsworth
Painting [Cover Painting] – Ellie Payne; Photography By – Jak Kilby
Producer [Concert] – Gisela Steppat, Volker Steppat
Recorded By – Dietram Köster, Jürgen Kuntze, Klaus Schumacher, Peter Schulze
Remastered By [Tube] – Michael King, Miki Dandy
Technician [Transfer From The Original Tapes] – Christoph Romanowski

Which Way Now features over 70 minutes of music from a beautifully recorded radio concert from November 20, 1975; it sounds as if you are in the room right with the band!
Since Isipingo only released one album during their lifetime, this release dramatically extends their legacy and like Cuneiform's important and historical work with the Brotherhood of Breath, brings this important, hugely enjoyable, nearly-forgotten music to a new audience.

The remarkably large and intersecting jazz and progressive rock community of late-'60s and early-'70s England is enough to give any discographer nightmares. But within that group a few key players came together more often than most, including a contingent which had escaped South Africa's apartheid. Harry Miller was one such artist, an in-demand bassist who appeared on albums by King Crimson, saxophonist Elton Dean's Ninesence and pianist Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath. Miller is underrepresented as a leader, so Which Way Now is a particularly welcome rescued archival live recording, highlighting Miller's considerable skills as composer and bandleader.

Recorded for Radio Bremen in 1975, Which Way Now features Miller's Isipingo sextet. It's a refreshingly vibrant acoustic jazz album, recorded at a time when most of his peers were pursuing the carrot of fusion. Combining traces of his African roots with a more open-ended improvisational aesthetic, it also strongly reflects the influence of jazz icon John Coltrane. Four extended pieces ranging from 15 to 21 minutes show Miller's ability to provide maximum freedom and avoid compromise. Pervasive rhythms that only occasionally dissolve into total freedom also keep them completely accessible.

The performance was recorded less than a month before another South African ex-pat, trumpeter Mongezi Feza, passed away in December, 1975 at only 30. A sharp-toned player who left a small but fine body of work, Feza is perhaps best known for his work on singer/songwriter Robert Wyatt's early records. Here he's at his best on the mid-tempo, modal "Eli's Song, where his own sense of construction combines with a certain abandon. He's matched by Mike Osborne, who may be an altoist, but is clearly informed by Coltrane's assertive stance.

The spirit of Coltrane may loom over this session, but the presence of pianist Keith Tippett takes it to a different place entirely. The best-known and certainly the most prolific player of the bunch, Tippett has always leaned towards more complete freedom. Here he isn't exactly reined in, but he remains within a sphere of smaller diameter, creating an outré space underneath the soloists that, oddly enough, meshes perfectly with Miller and South African drummer Louis Moholo's insistent pulse.

Trombonist Nick Evans' solo on the fiery title track interacts boldly with Tippett's sparse accompaniment, manifesting the kind of chemistry that's honed from years of working together. This shared chemistry amongst the entire sextet is, in fact, what makes Which Way Now so exciting from beginning to end. Whether acting as a tag-team rhythm section partner with Moholo and Tippett or delivering provocative solos, Miller clearly had the makings of a musical giant—which makes it all the more sad then that, like Feza, Miller's life was cut short prematurely in 1983 at the age of 42. Still, Which Way Now is a welcome reminder of just how vibrant the UK improvising scene was—and continues to be.

_ By JOHN KELMAN, Published: August 12, 2006



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CHRIS McGREGOR'S BROTHERHOOD OF BREATH – Travelling Somewhere (Live-1973) – 2001

Label: Cuneiform Records – Rune 152
Format: CD, Album; Country: US - Released: 2001
Style: Free Jazz, Big Band
Recorded January 19th, 1973 at Lila Eule, Bremen, Germany.
Coordinator [Research And Release Coordination] – Steven Feigenbaum
Design – Bill Ellsworth
Engineer – Dietram Köster
Liner Notes – Mike Fowler
Mastered By [Premastering], Edited By – Matt Murman
Photography By – Jak Kilby
Producer – Peter Schulze

Travelling Somewhere consists of a concert recorded by Radio Bremen (Germany) on January 19, 1973, one week before the Chris McGregor & the Brotherhood of Breath show in Switzerland that would be released on Ogun in 1974 as Live at Willisau.

Personnel : Harry Beckett: trumpet; Mark Charig: trumpet; Nick Evans: trombone; Mongezi Feza: trumpet; Malcolm Griffiths: trombone; Chris McGregor: piano; Harry Miller: bass; Louis Moholo: drums; Mike Osborne: alto sax; Evan Parker: tenor sax; Dudu Pukwana: alto sax; Gary Windo: tenor sax.


BBC Review:

Ex-pat South African pianist McGregor made an immeasurable contribution to British and European jazz in the 1960's and 70's with his Blue Notes, a group of black South African jazz musicians whom the white bandleader hand-picked after hearing them perform at the 1962 Johannesburg Jazz Festival.

Opportunities for a mixed race group in South African being limited, to say the least, McGregor and his crew left their troubled homeland in 1964, and did most of their performing and recording in voluntary exile during the next twenty-five years. Several years after arriving in London with the Blue Notes, McGregor also assembled the Brotherhood of Breath, an ambitious avant garde big band which incorporated various members of the Blue Notes, along with the best of Great Britain's young jazzbos. McGregor struggled to keep the Brotherhood of Breath alive, and it performed sporadically over the years, with a revolving cast of musicians.

This CD documents an exceptional early live performance of the band, when they were at their creative peak. Perhaps because the United States has always been considered the ultimate repository of jazz talent, drummer Louis Moholo, alto saxophonist Dudu Pukwana and trumpeter Mongezi Feza have never really received critical attention commensurate with their abilities, but they were arguably as good as many of their more famous American counterparts. Put them together in a band with the young Evan Parker, Mark Charig, Gary Windo, Mike Osborne, Harry Beckett and Malcolm Griffiths (among others) and give them the energetic direction and compositional abilities of McGregor, and you have something very special.

Later editions of the Brotherhood might have been more sleek and refined, particularly in their studio incarnations, but there's an exuberant energy and density to these 1973 performances, recorded for Radio Bremen in front of a live audience, which at times reaches an almost ecstatic intensity. It's almost as if the Sun Ra Arkestra had been reconstituted in a parallel African reality.

Several pieces, particularly Pukwana's "MRA" and McGregor's "Do It," have the infectious and distinctive township highlife sound, the product of the cross-pollination of jazz and African dance rhythms. A seemingly simple, riff-based piece like "MRA' allows group members considerable latitude, as they improvise against the dominant riffs and develop counter-rhythms and melodies seemingly at will. The ragged collective improvisation periodically dissolves into chaos, only to reinvent itself and rise triumphantly from its own wreckage.

McGregor's "Restless" opens with the leader stating the quirky, Monkish theme on piano, and then showcasing Harry Beckett's eloquent trumpet and later, Pukwana's fiery alto sax. McGregor's "Ismite is Might" has the whole band wailing a slow, sonorous gospel dirge, which soon segues into "Kongi's Theme," a march-like piece with a stomping, second-line New Orleans beat. McGregor's "Wood Fire" starts with another Monkish figure, but soon extends into a freeform harmolodic mingling of multiple melody lines and patterns, making it clear that McGregor had absorbed some important ideas from Ornette Coleman. The title piece, another of McGregor's compositions, is primarily Pukwana's vehicle, as the band establishes a traditional swing groove with Pukwana's alto skittering and screeching over the top. Imagine Jimmy Lyons holding down the first alto chair in the Count Basie band, and you'll have some idea of this track's peculiar charms.

Cuneiform is to be commended for rescuing these tapes from the Radio Bremen archives, as the band's performance here is not just an important historical document, but even thirty-some years after the fact, a representation of some of the most vital and life-affirming big band jazz ever played by anyone, anywhere.

_  By Bill Tilland, 2002
http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/2bdp



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KEITH TIPPETT'S ARK – Frames: Music For An Imaginary Film (2LP-1978)

Label: Ogun – OGD 003 / 004
Format: 2 × Vinyl, LP, Album; Country: UK - Released: 1978
Style: Free Jazz, Fusion, Big Band, Jazz-Rock
Recorded 22, 23 & 24 May 1978 at Wessex Studios, London N5.
Design [Sleeve], Photography By – Dick Whitbread
Engineer – Gary Edwards
Engineer [Assistant] – Jeremy Spencer-Green
Executive-Producer – Keith Beal
Producer – Hugh Hopper
This music was commissioned by Ogun Publishing Co. and was first performed at The Roundhouse, London on 21 May 1978.
(Vinyl Rip)

Keith Tippett's Ark - Frames: Music For An Imaginary Film

Keith Tippett - Piano, Harmonium
Stan Tracey - Piano
Elton Dean - Alto Sax, Saxello
Trevor Watts - Tenor & Soprano Saxes, Alto Flute
Larry Stabbins - Tenor & Soprano Saxes, Flute
Mark Charig - Trumpet, Small Trumpet, Tenor Horn, Kenyan Thumb Piano
Henry Lowther - Trumpet
Dave Amis - Trombone
Nick Evans - Trombone
Maggie Nicols - Voice
Julie Tippett - Voice
Steve Levine - Violin
Rod Skeaping - Violin
Phil Waschmann - Electric Violin, Violin
Geoffry Wharton - Violin
Alexandra Robinson - Cello
Tim Kramer - Cello
Peter Kowald - Bass, Tuba
Harry Miller - Bass
Louis Moholo - Drums
Frank Perry - Percussion

Julie Tippett,  Keith Tippett, Maggie Nicols

Tracklist:

Side A
1 Frames Part One  (20:07)
Side B
2 Frames Part Two  (19:06)
Side C
3 Frames Part Three  (23:52)
Side D
4 Frames Part Four  (20:37)


Several years after his great success with the huge ensemble Centipede and its Septober Energy release, pianist Keith Tippett returned to the large-group format with his newly formed Ark. This band, a mere 22 strong, was less rock-influenced and arguably more "mature" musically, that is, quite capable of handling the diverse demands placed on it, which covered ground from richly arranged written portions to incisive free improvisation. One of the motifs tying this work (which is a single composition spread over four sides of the original LP) is the dual presence of vocalists Maggie Nicols and Julie Tippetts (the latter possessing one of the truly beautiful voices in avant-garde jazz), their twinned vocal lines serving as fine structures around which to erect woollier passages. Also as before, Tippett deploys small groups within the larger ensemble, for example a percussion duet that's soon joined by violin and soprano saxophone. These little "nuggets" within the orchestra provide a healthy degree of differentiation as well as connecting nodes between more fully massed sections. As such, "Frames" is essentially suite-like, with anthemic melodies like the one that begins side three abutting jagged, free lines that dissolve into group interplay standing alongside pulsing minimalist patterns. It's not really so much about the soloists, although there is much fine individual playing to be found, notably the leader's piano (and that of Stan Tracey), the alto work of Trevor Watts, and the bass playing of the late, great Harry Miller. Listeners who have enjoyed Barry Guy's London Jazz Composers Orchestra or Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath will find themselves right at home here. Recommended.

_ By BRIAN OLEWNICK



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