Label:
Delmark Records – DD-417
Format:
CD, Album, Reissue / Country: US / Released: 27 Aug 1996
Original
vinyl released: Delmark Records – DS-417 (1968) / A.A.C.M. Jazz Series
Style:
Free Jazz, Free Improvisation
Track
1 / Recorded at Ter-Mar Studios, July 17, 1968.
Track
2 / Recorded at Ter-Mar Studios, June 19, 1968.
Design
[Cover] – Joseph Jarman, Zbigniew Jastrzebski
Engineer,
Remix – Paul Serrano
Producer,
Supervised By – Robert G. Koester
Recorded
By – Malcolm Chisholm
Reissue
Producer – Steve Wagner
All
compositions by Joseph Jarman
Remixed
and remastered from the original analog tapes.
01
- As If It Were The Seasons / Song To Make The Sun Come Up ................. 23:47
02
- Song for Christopher ...................................................................................
20:58
Personnel:
Joseph
Jarman – alto sax, basoon, fife, recorder, soprano sax
Charles
Clark – bass, cello, koto
Thurman
Barker – drums
Sherri
Scott – voice
Muhal
Richard Abrams – piano, oboe (track 2)
Joel
Brandon – flute (track 2)
Fred
Anderson – tenor sax (track 2)
John
Stubblefield – tenor sax (track 2)
John
Jackson – trumpet (track 2)
Lester
Lashley – trombone (track 2)
After
the death of Christopher Gaddy, who played piano on his debut album, "Song
For", Jarman played with the rhythm section of bassist Charles Clark and
drummer Thurman Barker. For concerts he invited guests as Sherri Scott, who
adds his voice to the trio for the first pieces in this record. Jarman composed
"Song for Christopher", based on incomplete notations by the pianist,
as a memorial to Gaddy. The piece was recorded by the group augmented by six
musicians. Clark died on April 15, 1969 at twenty- four, he had taken part only
in three recordings, Muhal Richard Abrams’s "Levels and Degrees of
Light", Jarman’s "Song For" and this album.
As
If It Were The Seasons was Joseph Jarman's second album for Delmark records,
following his 1966 debut, Song For. Recorded in 1968, it is a rare document of
his artistry pre-Art Ensemble of Chicago. Remastered from the original analog
tapes, this reissue sheds new light on a seminal free jazz classic.
The
album contained two extended compositions; each one filling a side of the
original vinyl release. Side one combined the title track with "Song To
Make The Sun Come Up," both exercises in restraint and dynamic variation.
Accompanied by bassist Charles Clark and drummer Thurman Barker, Jarman
alternates between a number of reeds for color and texture. Drifting through
patches of meditative silence broken by skittering percussion and breathy
supplication, the trio ascends to a cathartic release led by Jarman, who
unfurls an alto sax solo bristling with tension and fury.
As
the storm subsides, under-recognized vocalist Sherri Scott materializes. Free
jazz vocals are generally an acquired taste, but Scott delivers lyrical phrases
with pitch control and subtle dynamics worthy of Sarah Vaughan. Blending notes
and tones with élan, she dovetails with Jarman's alto as he soars upward with
circuitous abandon. Sharing a moment of tender vulnerability toward the end,
they float in unison over a haunting landscape of sinuous arco bass and
scintillating percussion.
Dedicated
to the late pianist Christopher Gaddy, "Song For Christopher"
occupied the second side and augmented the quartet with six additional
musicians. Pianist Muhal Richard Abrams, and tenor saxophonists Fred Anderson
and John Stubblefield would all go on to great acclaim. Flutist Joel Brandon is
now best known for his unconventional whistling, but trumpeter John Jackson and
trombonist Lester Lashley have unfortunately since faded into obscurity.
Slowly
gaining steam until the entire ensemble is in full swing, the episodic
composition follows a dramatically unfolding arc. Expanding from a glacially
rising vortex of sound into a gorgeous ascending melody, the group harmonizes
on a buoyant line full of optimistic verve before tearing into a manic screed
rivaling John Coltrane's Ascension (Impulse!, 1965) in density.
In
the midst of the fray, Abrams' kinetic piano assault sidesteps Anderson's
brawny tenor explosions as the entire group erupts in testimonial cries. The
collective climax ends abruptly, yielding a nuanced coda ripe with exotic
timbres; Scott's ghostly vocalese drifts through a magical soundscape of
Asiatic percussion before fading into the ether.
In
league with contemporaneous masterpieces like Roscoe Mitchell's "Sound" (Delmark,
1966) and Anthony Braxton's "3 Compositions of New Jazz" (Delmark, 1968), "As If
It Were The Seasons" continues to challenge and reward listeners almost five
decades later.
_Review by
Troy Collins, AAJ
If
you find it, buy this album!
