PHAROAH SANDERS – Tauhid (LP-1968)

Label: Impulse! – A-9138, ABC Records – AS-9138

Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Stereo / Country: US / Released: 1968

Style: Free Jazz, Free Improvidation

Recorded At Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, 11/15/66.

Design – Robert Flynn

Design [Liner] – Joe Lebow

Photography By – Charles Stewart

Engineer – Rudy Van Gelder

Liner Notes – Nat Hentoff

Producer – Bob Thiele

Matrix / Runout (Side A): AS 9138 A LW

Matrix / Runout (Side B): AS 9138 B LW

Matrix / Runout (Side A + B): VAN GELDER (Stamped)

Note:

A-9138 on sleeve. AS-9138 on labels and runout. Black and red ABC Impulse! labels 1968.

"A Product Of ABC Records, Inc. New York, N.Y. 10019 Made in USA" on bottom perimeter of label.

A  -  Upper Egypt & Lower Egypt ................................................................ 16:30

B1 - Japan .................................................................................................... 3:29

B2 - Aum / Venus / Capricorn Rising ...........................................................14:52

Pharoah Sanders – alto sax, tenor sax, piccolo flute, vocals

Warren "Sonny" Sharrock – guitar

Dave Burrell – piano

Henry Grimes – bass

Roger Blank – drums, percussion

Nat Bettis – percussion

A - Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt

The album opens with a collective meditation. Tympani(?), cymbal smashes, Sharrock's new approach to post-Coltrane ballad guitar, twangy and shuddering, Burrell as chordal colourist - a group - sound - and - feel -, not the soloist as free individual striving to be the lone voice...

A brief Henry Grimes bass solo - again concerned with textures and sounds, with the bass's properties as means of producing sound, with timbre and quality, with woozy arco rather than the melodic, horn-like role of La Faro or Gomez with Bill Evans.

Now Sanders' enters for the first time. His delayed entry could be said to either downplay or enhance the individual leader role I hinted at in the first paragraph: by waiting so long, his entry becomes more expected ("this album is under his name - where is he?"), more hoped for, perhaps - but at the same time the delay is a way of saying "you don't - need - to hear me straightaway - these other guys are important too." Playing piccolo, rather than sax, he vocalises through the instrument while playing, as he does on 'To Be', the flute/piccolo duet with Coltrane on 'Expression'. An 'exotic' and still striking sound, it could have become a novelty effect if Sanders had chosen to over-deploy it, but this and 'To Be' are the only recorded instances, I think. Needless to say, it's effect is a little different to Roland Kirk's use of similar techniques...

Drum ritual, low-toned. Almost nine minutes in, and Grimes is about to solo again - no, instead he locks in and begins to build the famous groove that will underpin the rest of the track (I guess we've reached 'Lower Egypt')... In itself, with the emphasis on rhythm (the players' truly functioning as 'rhythm section' here!), this could be seen as part of the 'back to Africa' movement - although (I speak from a position of relative ignorance), with a simplified, totalizing effect that downplays the complexities of actual African tribal music.

And Pharoah's solo, though brief, has such impact. For reasons of context perhaps: it's the first time he's let rip on sax, indeed, the first time we've heard him play sax at all on the album. Once again, the employment of the delaying/ waiting tactic - "that groove's been going on for - three minutes - now - what the hell is going on?" You're about to find out - Pharoah, first, echoing the groove line, three times playing the riff, then some repeated figure, now a note, first clean, now overblown - then, suddenly, WHAAARGH! WHAAARGH! WHAAARGH! I find it hard to restrain a physical reaction to those overblown whorfs of sound when I hear them. They seem so inevitable, so right - so truly the sound of a man as himself, as one with his instrument, as looking at his true centre, his true self. From the liner notes, his quotes resonate: "I don't really see the horn anymore. I'm trying to see myself. And similarly, as to the sounds I get, it's not that I'm trying to scream on my horn, I'm just trying to put all my feelings into the horn. And when you do that, the ntoes go away[...] Why [do] I want clusters [of notes]? So that I [can] get more feeling, more of me, int oevery note I play. You see, everything you do has to mean something, has to be more than just notes. That's behind everything I do - trying to get more ways of getting feeling out."

The subdued vocals that follow, might be a little underwhelming on their own, but are perhaps a necessary coming down, back to earth, back to the groove, to melody, after that solo...

B1 - Japan

At just over three minutes, this is quite clearly an 'interlude' between the two long tracks. Chugging bells and a stately promenade beat, Grimes mixing things up a little by alternating affirmative on-the-beat plucks with melodic counterpoint that goes in a slightly different direction. Sanders then sings the melody a few times, Grimes takes what I suppose one might call a short solo, then it ends.

B2 – a) - Aum

Pharoah had been here before, participating in Coltrane's 'OM' from 1965 (about which, see 'Circling Om', Simon Weill's superb article, available on the All About Jazz website). Things aren't nearly as terrifying here, though this is probably the freest section of the album. Lick-spit-riddling cymbals and hit-hat keep the sound tight, Grimes' immediately perplexing it with fast free walking, Burrell adds boxy ominous chords, then Sanders comes in, sribbling away on alto while Roger Blank switches to the more forceful toms. Off-mike for a moment, we might suppose Pharoah to be in an eye-closed calisthenics of ecstasy; he roils up and down, his tone vocal and gruff (though not as powerful as on tenor). Sawing, see-sawing up and down in motions that lead to a - strain - for volume and air, at the end, of those long notes held before the next darting rally. Highest in the mix behind the sax are the drums - the recording isn't great (they really should release a new mix of the album), but your ear can just about pick up Sonny Sharrock raging behind the Pharoah. Imagine the sonic experience if this had been better recorded! These guys truly had power behind their sound, it was - frightening - ...

B2 – b) - Venus

Sounds like they suddenly turned Sharrock up in the mix because they thought he was going to solo - as it is, Pharoah comes back in almost immediately, on tenor, but we do get to hear a precious few seconds of that guitar squall. Sanders' tone just - radiates - spirituality - later on, perhaps he traded on that a bit too much (by playing even just melodies he could convince), but here the utter sincerity is captivating, the vitality of being and the living of life in sound. Shakers and cymbals, strummed repeated bass notes and finally piano runs that prefigure Lonnie Liston Smith's harp-like arpeggios on 'Hum-Allah'. One might also note that 'Aum/Venus/Capricorn Rising' has the concision 'Hum-Allah' lacks. The three-part structure focusses things, prevents over-reliance on just one groove, one vibe. Sanders' playing of the melody, and variants on it, are the main focus here; either Sharrock's not playing, or he's just really undermiked - I guess guitar in avant-jazz wasn't really too common at the time; maybe producer Bob Theile just didn't know how to deal with it.

B2 – c) - Capricorn Rising

'Capricorn Rising' seems to be a variation on the melody of 'Venus', no less sublime. It's as if Pharoah taps into this stream of melody which is that of the universe - he takes a little fragment, puts it in barlines, turns it into a melody of its own - self-sufficient, but part of a greater whole. And I guess that's the essence of jazz improvisation too - endless variation, and sometimes that reality can include what we'd term noise, fearsome sounds of overblown shrieks - all part of Pharoah's 'Journey to the One'. Earth-bound for transcendence, Pharoah's playing here acknowleges difficulty and struggle; indeed, it - incorporates - them into lyricism, rather than retreating into the slightly drippy peace-and-love sentiment, as with 'The Creator Has a Masterplan'...

So, where does that love 'Tauhid' as a whole? Well, it shows that, for all their reputations, free jazzers wrote damn good tunes... At a relatively brief 34:20, Tauhid has all the elements which characterised Sanders' astral excursions—explicit spiritual references, vocal chants, a rolling bass ostinato, "exotic" percussion, out-there but lyrical tenor saxophone, and extended vamp-based collective jamming—and crucially, was played by an edgier and more challenging band, including guitarist Sonny Sharrock and pianist Dave Burrell, than was assembled for Karma. The later album was made by a distinctly more blissed-out line-up, lacking Sharrock, in which the comfort-zone pianist Lonnie Liston Smith and vocalist Leon Thomas figured large.

Over the next few years, Lonnie Liston Smith, already worryingly jazz-funkish on Karma, played a key role on Sanders' albums, which became increasingly codified and formulaic. In retrospect, the first cut was indeed the deepest, and for many devotees Tauhid remains Sanders' finest (half) hour.

­_Rewiew By – DAVID GRUNDY

If you find it, buy this album!

DENNIS GONZALEZ'S INSPIRATION BAND – Nile River Suite (2004)

Label: daagnimRecords – CD9
Format: CD, Album  - Special Limited Edition
Country: US - Released: 2004
Style: Free Improvisation, Contemporary Jazz
Recorded on 23 November 2003, at Universal Rehearsal, NY.
Composed By – Dennis González (tracks: 1, 2, 7); "Nile River Suite" By - González, Grimes, Thompson, Campbell, Mateen
Recorded By, Mixed By – Dennis González

Dennis González – trumpet [C]
Sabir Mateen – tenor sax, alto sax, alto clarinet, clarinet [B-flat], flute
Roy Campbell, Jr. – trumpet, flugelhorn, trumpet [Pocket], flute
Henry Grimes – acoustic bass
Michael "T. A." Thompson – drums, percussion

Dennis González

 Henry Grimes

 Roy Campbell, Jr.

 Sabir Mateen

Michael "T. A." Thompson

Free Jazz is full of stories like that of Dennis Gonzalez. A very talented trumpeter and composer, Gonzalez played with a veritable who's who of free jazz in the 80s and early 90s. Unfortunately, like so many fine musicians of that era, he became discouraged by the lack of adequate opportunities in the jazz world and left active performing, preferring instead to teach music and French in Dallas, Texas. But Gonzalez just couldn't stay away from the free jazz scene and in 1999 he recorded again after a five year hiatus, with an eclectic ensemble featuring himself on keyboards, trumpet and samples and even a Tejano accordionist. Since then, Gonzalez has embarked on a steady mix of touring and recording, all the while continuing to teach his high school students.

Nile River Suite is the latest in an impressive series of recordings Gonzalez has made over his career. This CD is notable in many ways. It marks the first time that legendary bass player Henry Grimes has recorded since his dramatic re-entry into the music scene two years ago. Grimes' story is fascinating. After recording on many seminal LPs with Cecil Taylor, Albert Ayler and others, Grimes moved to Los Angeles and disappeared. He was widely reported dead. However, two years ago he was discovered living in an LA SRO. Given a bass by William Parker, Grimes began to play again with a triumphant set at the Irridium in NY and then a knockout group at the Vision Festival. On this disc he sounds like he hasn't missed a beat! (Henry says he practiced bass in his head during his thirty missing years and you can believe it!) On an instrument that is often overlooked by musicians fascinated by the more showy reed instruments, Grimes is powerful. His lines and tone seduce you almost hypnotically. He is a powerful presence that only gets better with age.

The disc also includes some of the top New York free jazz musicians. Sabir Mateen on reeds is a true wonder. This musician is perhaps one of the most underrated reed players on the scene. Mateen is unusual in that, like Eric Dolphy before him, he has a distinct voice on each of his instruments and a marvelous tone. And though Mateen has perhaps the best altissimo shriek this side of Albert Ayler, his playing is marked by a captivating melodic sense and an unfailing technique. Drummer Michael "T.A." Thompson is another crack NY musician, capable of driving bop-inflected grooves, subtle polyrhythms and powerful tom-tom work. Adding brass player Roy Campbell to the mix was particularly audacious for Gonzalez. Campbell is a true master of all aspects of the instrument, with a tone and style that shows the influence of the entire history of jazz trumpet, from Louis Armstrong through Lee Morgan and on out. That Gonzalez stands up well to such a master is a credit to his own sense of style. You always know which musician is soloing. They are distinct, but complimentary.

The compositions on the disc are impressive, and the multi-part Nile River Suite is truly marvelous. The disc opens with an 18 minute "Lyons in Lyon," a tribute to the late alto player Jimmy Lyons, which sits on the stylistic edge between free bop and total out playing. Gonzalez gives a wonderful, almost Clifford Brown style solo. "Sand Baptist" is a similarly tradition-infused cut, with mellifluous solos by Mateen and Campbell. The major work on the disc, the three part "Nile River Suite," begins with an atmospheric extended introduction for wind trio (Campbell and Mateen on flutes with Gonzalez on trumpet) and then features some inspired solo work before seamlessly moving into a hypnotic Middle Eastern jazz groove. A beautiful lyrical solo by Campbell introduces the second movement of the work with a dark, Lee Morgan-inspired tone. The interplay between Grimes and Thompson is magical. The third movement is dominated by a beautifully constructed, melodic drum solo by Thompson and some soulful blowing by Mateen before the piece winds down to a peaceful conclusion. The final cut on the disc, "Hymn for the Ashes of Saturday," is pure avant-funk, with a groove that would have done Lee Morgan or Cannonball proud. A marvelous way to round out a beautiful album.

This is disc, like so many produced in the new millennium, is a limited addition on the daagnimRecords label. The sound is wonderful, with lively present bass and yet a very clear high end. The music on this disc is adventurous, but ultimately melodic and appealing. This is not the scream fests of Peter Brotzman or other extreme players. Rather it is a deeply felt and almost spiritual disc and a wonderful introduction to the musicians on this album. Find it while you can!

_ Reviewed By CHRIS FORBES



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