DAVID MURRAY CHAMBER JAZZ QUARTET – The People's Choice (LP-1988)

Label: CECMA Records – CECMA 1009

Format: Vinyl, LP, Album / Country: Italy / Released: Apr 1988

Style: Free Jazz, Free Improvisation

Recorded at Passport Recording Studios, New York, NY USA.

Producer [Album] – Francesco Maino

Producer [Session] – Kunle Mwanga

Engineer by – Gennaro Carone

Illustration, Cover Art and Layout by – Giovanni Fanelli

A1 - Booty Butt Baboon Breakdown ..................................................... 5:18

A2 - Thanks ......................................................................................... 10:19

A3 - Mingus Eyes .................................................................................. 8:55

B1 - Kahil's Turnaround ........................................................................ 8:24

B2 - Capetown Strut / Kwelli: Dyani? .................................................. 10:50

David Murray – tenor saxophone, bass clarinet

Hugh Ragin – trumpet, flugelhorn

Abdul Wadud – cello

Fred Hopkins – contrabass

".....if I die tomorrow, I would be happy with my (recorded) legacy, give or take one or two, three or four.  I've made some albums that'll stand the test of time."

David Murray

David Murray has created one of his masterpieces, in the press CECMA Records, the stunning "The People's Choice" with "Chamber Jazz Quartet". Hugh Ragin plays the trumpet and flugelhorn, Fred Hopkins is on the contrabass, often played with a bow, and great Abdul Wadud on cello.

Marvelously!

If you find it, buy this album!

WILDFLOWERS 1 – The New York Loft Jazz Sessions (Douglas / LP1-1977)

Label: Douglas – NBLP 7045

Series: Wildflowers: The New York Loft Jazz Sessions – 1

Format: Vinyl, LP, Album / Country: US / Released: 1977

Style: Free Jazz, Free Improvisation

Recorded May 14 thru May 23, 1976 at Studio Rivbea, 24 Bond Street, New York.

Engineer [Assistant] – Les Kahn

Engineer [Chief] – Ron Saint Germain

Engineer [Remote Assistant] – Matt Murray

Executive-producer – Harley I. Lewin

Liner Notes – Ross Firestone

Mastered By – Ray Janos

Photography By – Peter Harron

Producer – Alan Douglas, Michael Cuscuna, Sam Rivers

A1 - Kalaparusha – Jays ...................................................................................... 6:00

        Bass, Electric Bass – Chris White

        Drums – Jumma Santos

        Tenor Saxophone – Kalaparusha (Maurice McIntyre)

A2 - Ken McIntyre – New Times .......................................................................... 7:25

        Alto Saxophone – Ken McIntyre (Makanda)

        Congas – Andy Vega

        Percussion [Multiple] – Andrei Strobert

        Piano – Richard Harper

A3 - Sunny Murray & The Untouchable Factor – Over The Rainbow ................. 5:30

        Alto Saxophone – Byard Lancaster

        Bass – Fred Hopkins

        Drums – Sunny Murray

        Tenor Saxophone – David Murray

        Vibraphone – Khan Jamal

B1 - Sam Rivers – Rainbows ............................................................................. 10:00

        Bass – Jerome Hunter

        Drums – Jerry Griffin

        Soprano Saxophone – Sam Rivers

B2 - Air – Usu Dance ............................................................................................ 7:45

        Alto Saxophone – Henry Threadgill

        Bass – Fred Hopkins 
         Drums, Percussion – Steve McCall

In the mid-1970s, a jazz renaissance blossomed in large New York loft spaces that the musicians had reclaimed from the depressed blocks of the trendy Soho and Noho areas. The Wildflowers sessions, originally released on Douglas on five LPs, captured performances by almost 100 musicians in numerous configurations. The recordings were made over two weekends at the most famed of the lofts, Studio Rivbea, the home and workspace of saxophonist-flutist-composer Sam Rivers and his wife, Beatrice. Rivers orchestrated the lineup, played host to patrons, and performed as well. The sessions featured many figures well-established in New York, including Rivers, drummer Andrew Cyrille, and pianist Randy Weston, but they also attracted players from the seedbed of so much African American aesthetic jazz exploration in the 1960s and '70s, Chicago.

In addition, Rivers invited to town some key players from Philadelphia and New Haven; there were several newcomers to New York, too, including, from out West, a very young David Murray. The music all had immediacy and urgency fitting to the aesthetic task at hand--to consolidate the gains of the free-jazz and New Thing movements of the 1960s. Indeed, many of the players remain key figures today in that project: Anthony Braxton, Roscoe Mitchell, and Leo Smith among them. In addition to their performances, highlights of the package include Rivers's radiant meandering over his composition "Rainbow"; pianist Weston's impassioned homage to his father; and performances by important, but often under-recognized innovators, including saxophonist Ken McIntyre and pianist Dave Burrell. Here is a seminal document in American music...

If you find it, buy this album!

WILDFLOWERS 4 – The New York Loft Jazz Sessions (Douglas / LP4-1977)

Label: Douglas – NBLP 7048

Series: Wildflowers: The New York Loft Jazz Sessions – 4

Format: Vinyl, LP, Album / Country: US / Released: 1977

Style: Free Jazz, Free Improvisation

Recorded May 14 thru May 23, 1976 at Studio Rivbea, 24 Bond Street, New York.

Engineer [Assistant] – Les Kahn

Engineer [Chief] – Ron Saint Germain

Engineer [Remote Assistant] – Matt Murray

Executive-producer – Harley I. Lewin

Liner Notes – Ross Firestone

Mastered By – Ray Janos

Photography By – Peter Harron

Producer – Alan Douglas, Michael Cuscuna, Sam Rivers

A1 - Hamiet Bluiett – Tranquil Beauty ....................................................... 6:30

         Baritone Saxophone, Clarinet – Hamiet Bluiett

         Bass – Juney Booth

         Drums – Charles Bobo Shaw, Don Moye

         Guitar – Billy Patterson, Butch Campbell

         Trumpet – Olu Dara

A2 - Julius Hemphill – Pensive ................................................................. 10:00

         Alto Saxophone – Julius Hemphill

         Cello – Abdul Wadud

         Drums – Phillip Wilson

         Guitar – Bern Nix

         Percussion – Don Moye

B1 - Jimmy Lyons – Push Pull ................................................................... 5:20

         Alto Saxophone – Jimmy Lyons

         Bass – Hayes Burnett

         Bassoon – Karen Borca

         Drums – Henry Maxwell Letcher

B2 - Oliver Lake – Zaki .............................................................................. 9:30

         Alto Saxophone – Oliver Lake

         Bass – Fred Hopkins

         Drums – Phillip Wilson

         Electric Guitar – Michael Jackson

B3 - David Murray – Shout Song ............................................................... 2:30

         Bass – Fred Hopkins

         Drums – Stanley Crouch

         Tenor Saxophone – David Murray

         Trumpet, Flugelhorn – Olu Dara

...The common critical consensus is that the 1970s, particularly the latter half of the decade, were the historical low point for jazz in America. Very few albums survive from that era, compared with the avalanches of reissues and vault clearing box-sets of 1950s and 60s groups. Part of this is, of course, due to the short shrift granted the avant-garde by most jazz historians. The music of the so-called "New Thing," which by rote doctrine had burned itself out by 1968, in fact continued throughout the 1970s, expanding to Europe in search of audiences and growing and evolving artistically to astonishing levels of power and beauty...

The 5-LPs set Wildflowers documents one small part of this forgotten music scene. Recorded over ten days in May 1976 at Sam Rivers’s Studio RivBea, this set contains an overwhelming amount of truly beautiful jazz performances, by names recognizable to almost anyone with a serious interest in the music. Saxophonists include Sam Rivers, David Murray, David S. Ware, Roscoe Mitchell, Anthony Braxton, Byard Lancaster, Oliver Lake, Jimmy Lyons, Julius Hemphill and Henry Threadgill. Drummers include Sunny Murray, Don Moye, Steve McCall, Andrew Cyrille, and Stanley Crouch. Bassist Fred Hopkins is practically omnipresent here...

If you find it, buy this album!

WILDFLOWERS 5 – The New York Loft Jazz Sessions (Douglas / LP5-1977)

Label: Douglas – NBLP 7049

Series: Wildflowers: The New York Loft Jazz Sessions – 5

Format: Vinyl, LP, Album / Country: US / Released: 1977

Style: Free Jazz, Free Improvisation

Recorded May 14 thru May 23, 1976 at Studio Rivbea, 24 Bond Street, New York.

Engineer [Assistant] – Les Kahn

Engineer [Chief] – Ron Saint Germain

Engineer [Remote Assistant] – Matt Murray

Executive-producer – Harley I. Lewin

Liner Notes – Ross Firestone

Mastered By – Ray Janos

Photography By – Peter Harron

Producer – Alan Douglas, Michael Cuscuna, Sam Rivers

A - Sunny Murray & The Untouchable Factor – Something's Cookin' ......... 17:00

       Alto Saxophone, Flute – Byard Lancaster

       Bass – Fred Hopkins

       Drums – Sunny Murray

       Tenor Saxophone – David Murray

       Vibraphone – Khan Jamal

B - Roscoe Mitchell – Chant ........................................................................ 25:19

       Alto Saxophone – Roscoe Mitchell

       Drums – Don Moye

       Percussion, Drums, Saw – Jerome Cooper

...Probably most representative document of loft jazz era was this five vinyl set "Wildflowers", recorded during May 1976 at Rivbea Studio and released on tiny Douglas Records in 1977. Decades after this release received almost cult status. Each of five albums contains collection of compositions recorded by different artists...

And in the end always comes delicacy, long mantra Roscoe Mitchell's "Chant" (an exercise in marathon circular breathing that walks the line between exhilarating and fantastic)—but at the same time houses a couple of the collection's most outstanding selections. 

The other highlight of the fifth vinyl, is the return of Sunny Murray and the Untouchable Factor for the 17-minute "Something's Cookin'". Beginning as a fragile web supported by Murray's cymbal whispers, the mood expands through the otherworldly plateaus spun by Jamal's vibes and a kinetic tenor/alto dialogue between Murray and Lancaster—only to finish on the spiritual edge where Hopkins' bowed levitations meet Lancaster's primordial flute... oh yes...

No self-respecting listener of free jazz should go without hearing these sessions, as they document a period in the music's history that, until now, has been severely neglected.

But, and this is very important:

The psychedelic colors of the record cover jumped out to me immediately. I loved the album art - a collage of jazz greats fronting a backdrop of New York City. It was so different...

Enjoy!

If you find it, buy this album!

KALAPARUSHA MAURICE McINTYRE – Forces And Feelings (LP-1972)

Label: Delmark Records – DS-425
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album; Country: US Released: 1972
Style: Free Jazz, Free Improvisation
Recorded November 11, 1970 at Sound Studios, Inc.
Engineer – Stu Black
Photography By – Charles Stevens
Cover Design By – Zbigniew Jastrzebski

Kalaparusha Ahra Difda is a secret master of the tenor saxophone: Ignored by most, but a musical voice of value (if only the market system consistently recognized excellence). Kalaparusha's second Delmark session, with a group he called The Light, offers sunshine to all willing to emerge from hiding. Step into the light...

Recorded in late 1970, this is McIntyre's second release for the Delmark label. Much like his first effort, Humility in Light of the Creator, Forces and Feelings projects a spiritual tone. While it is occasionally more relaxed than his debut, that's not to say this is McIntyre's mellow disc -- far from it. Forces and Feelings has much in common with the otherworldly vibration Albert Ayler experimented with on his Impulse! date Music Is the Healing Force of the Universe, especially when comparing the vocals of Rita Omolokun with Mary Maria, Ayler's girlfriend/vocalist. It was during this period that McIntyre changed his name to Kalaparusha Ahra Difda, leading many to the conclusion that his uncompromising spirituality was keeping him from playing more gigs, especially those in nightclubs. McIntyre's band for this session was called the Light and featured AACM member Fred Hopkins on bass, Sarnie Garrett on electric guitar, Wesley Tyus on drums, and the vocals of Omolokun. The vinyl cover shot of the ocean with the sun rising (or setting) conveys the divine nature of the music inside the jacket. Considering the lack of recordings made by this underrated tenor saxophonist, any of his LP's recommended.
_ Review by AL CAMPBELL

Saxophonist Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre's recording sounds like a time-unbound, spiritual tour de force of black cultural history. He features vocalist Rita Omolokun (Worford) on spoken and soared vocals and plays fractured tenor saxophone throughout this key recording from the Chicago jazz avant-garde. The music rumbles across Fred Hopkins's bass and Sarnie Garnett's guitar with a careful precision before Wesley Tyus's forceful drumming carries the impact to the gut level. McIntyre plays an expressive tenor, bowing to tonal studies resembling so many straight-ahead jazzers and then ripping through the channels of regularity with what seems a hypnotic, blind storm of wind and thunder.
_ By ANDREW BARTLETT



If you find it, buy this album!

AIR – Live In Moers, Germany (May 29, 1977)

Label: Private recording / DP-0766

Format: CD, Album - Released: 1977

Style: Free Improvisation

Recorded live in Moers Jazz Festival, Germany on May 29, 1977.

Design by ART&JAZZ Studio Salvarica 

Artwork and Complete Design by VITKO

All compositions by Henry Threadgill

In front of you is another very, very rare recording of the original lineup AIR, not released on any record label, but played in Moers International Jazz Festival on May 29 in 1977.

01. Announcement (0:23)
02. Celebration (29:12)
03. No.2 (12:41)
04. Great Body of the Riddle or Where were the Dodge Boys when my Clay started to Slide (15:46)
05. Angel Sun (8:28)

HENRY THREADGILL – alto sax, tenor sax, baritone sax, flute
FRED HOPKINS – bass
STEVE McCALL – drums


The sound is great, enjoy!



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HENRY THREADGILL TRIO – New AIR In Rankweil, Austria (Live-1986)

Label: Private recording / DP-0775 [bootleg]

Format: CD, Album - Released: 1986 

Style: Free Improvisation

Recording live at Rankweil, March 19, 1986, Austria

Design by ART&JAZZ Studio, by VITKO

Henry Threadgill presents his fellow group members after 3 and 5

 

1. Unidentified title [15:20] 

2. Unidentified rag [11:08] 

3. G.v.E. (Hopkins) [17:22] 

4. Unidentified title [10:58] 

5. Through a Keyhole Darkly (Threadgill) [15:28] 

6. The Traveller (Threadgill) [11:02] 

7. Sir Simpleton (Threadgill) [9:08]

Henry Threadgill - alto sax; flute (1)

Fred Hopkins - bass

Andrew Cyrille - drums

New drummer Andrew Cyrille brought a fresh approach and crackling edge to the trio Air on this 1986 live date, recorded at the Rankweil, Austria. 

From Air via New Air to Flute Force Four, Threadgill growing in confidence as a composer. By the time of the later disc by Threadgill’s Very Very Circus ensemble his capability as an organiser of human resources in the pursuit of a steely personal vision is fully formed. Everything that has come since is a refinement of that very personal means of expression. Where Air is an extension of Threadgill’s involvement with AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians). 

„NEW AIR in Rankweil “ represent the complete recorded legacy of New Air, a trio in which Andrew Cyrille took over from Pheeroan akLaff on the Air drum stool. It’s interesting how much more direct the music becomes, and it’s not clear whether that’s down to Cyrille, or Threadgill assuming for the first time the role of band leader and sole composer. 

This is certainly one of the more interesting Threadgill performances in Europe with the new setting Air. 

Enjoy.

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