LARRY STABBINS / KEITH TIPPETT / LOUIS MOHOLO – Foggia (Live-1985)

Radio Recording
Format: CD, Album; Country: UK – Released: ?
Style: Free Jazz, Free Improvisation
Recorded live at the Conservatorio di Musica „Umberto Giordano “ Foggia, Italy in 1985. 
Composed By – Stabbins, Tippett, Moholo
Design By – ART&JAZZ Studio - 2010
Artwork and Complete Design by VITKO

Excellent recordings of three top "free jazz" improvisers. Recorded live during a performance at the Conservatorio di Musica „Umberto Giordano “ Foggia, Italy in 1985.

Larry Stabbins learned clarinet at school from the age of eight, when his musical idol was Acker Bilk. He started playing saxophone at the age of eleven. He was soon playing in local dance bands, doing his first paid gig aged twelve, and later also playing, in soul bands, particularly the music of Junior Walker and James Brown. He started working with pianist Keith Tippett when he was sixteen and later contributed to various Tippett projects such as Centipede, Ark, Tapestry and the Keith Tippett Septet. In addition the two also worked for a time in a trio with South African percussionist Louis Moholo.

In London in the early 1970 ’ s, after a brief period in the Chris McGregor ’ s Brotherhood of Breath, he played with John Stevens ’ Spontaneous Music Orchestra, and occasionally with the Spontaneous Music Ensemble (SME). During this period he also worked as a freelance commercial musician, playing studio sessions, nightclubs and West End shows, as well as playing in more jazz-based situations such as Mike Westbrook ’ s 'Solid Gold Cadillac'. In the 1980 ’ s he joined the Tony Oxley Quintet and played in various versions of the band and also with the Celebration Orchestra, for many years.

Around the same time he joined the London Jazz Composers Orchestra as well as Peter Brotzmann ’ s Alarm Orchestra and its successor the tentet 'Marz Combo'. He also worked with, among others, the Eddie Prevost Quartet, Trevor Watts ’ Moire Music, Louis Moholo ’ s Spirits Rejoice, Elton Dean ’ s Ninesense and the Heinz Becker Quintet...

In recent years Stabbins has worked with Keith Tippett ’ s Tapestry Orchestra, in Louis Moholo ’ s Dedication Ochestra, in a quartet with Howard Riley, playing the music of Robert Wyatt in Soupsongs, and in Jerry Dammers Spatial AKA Orchestra.

The album 'Stonephace' on Tru Thoughts Recordings, a collaboration with rave producer and DJ Krzysztof Oktalski, featured Portishead guitarist Adrian Utley and Helm DeVegas on keyboards, plus a guest appearance by trumpeter Guy Barker.

His latest project 'Stonephace Stabbins' features Mercury nominated pianist Zoe Rahman, Crispin "Spry" Robinson from 1990's Jazz/Rap band Galliano on percussion, Karl Rasheed Abel on bass and Pat Illingworth on drums, all of whom also play in Jerry Dammers ’ Spatial AKA Orchestra.



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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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KEITH TIPPETT SEPTET – A Loose Kite In A Gentle Wind Floating With Only My Will For An Anchor (1986)

For friends, Andy and ceedee - (Vinyl Rip)

Label: Ogun – OGD 007/008
Format: 2 × Vinyl, LP, Gatefold; Country: UK - Released: 1986
(Reissued CD: 2009) 
Style: Free Jazz, Free Improvisation
Recorded live at the Barnfield Theatre Exeter, on 25th October 1984.
Concert organizers: Nod Knowles and Martin Phillips
Design, Layout – Hazel Miller, Keith Tippett
Re-Design by ART&JAZZ Studio
Edited By – Keith Beal, Keith Tippett
Photography By – Fabio Nosotti, Geoff Collins, Jak Kilby, Julie Tippetts
Producer – Eric Wetherell, Keith Beal, Keith Tippett

Keith Tippet's Septet with Larry Stabbins, Elton Dean, Nick Evans, Tony Levin, Paul Rogers and Mark Charig, was put together in 1984 to play a new suite inspired by the writing of Maya Angelou. This obscure gem is the only document of the project, from a live performance in Exeter in 1984, here issued by Ogun to bring this remarkable project to light.

BBC Review:
One of the best jazz reissues of the year. - ( http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/z363 )

Keith Tippett's brilliance as both composer and pianist has long been established through a dazzling back catalogue of long-form epics such as Septober Energy and Frames as well as more intimate and impressionistic outfits such as Ovary Lodge and Mujician.

Over the last forty years his dogged determination to continue creating exciting and ingenious musical settings have been captured in an occasional series of records whose availability has always been subject to the often indifferent whims of the marketplace.

Originally issued in 1986 as a double album, A Loose Kite... finally makes its CD debut and allows us to relive a truly superb septet getting their collective teeth into Tippett's intricate charts and sweeping arrangements.

Drawing conceptual inspiration from writer Maya Angelou, his effusive settings provide his players with both the space and the springboard from which to launch a series of invigorating broadsides.

Mark Charig's fiery brand of piquant lyricism on the cornet blasts and bellows with a tireless invention, whilst trombonist Nick Evans' constantly pushes the music like some belligerent bouncer intent picking a fight.

Larry Stabbins and Elton Dean sax playing is propelled into a series of splenetic duels across the length and breadth of this four-part suite, with Tippett and rhythm section of Paul Rogers (bass) and Tony Levin (drums) providing the contextual glue that holds it all together.

The album portrays the yin and yang of Tippett's sure-handed discipline and his artistic restlessness. His love of a good tune allied to his capacity to mix it up with edgy, free-form expressiveness makes this one of the best jazz reissues of the year.

_by Sid Smith (2009-06-10)

Always cool and always brilliant, my favorite, Larry Stabbins



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LARRY STABBINS - Four At St. Cyprians (2006) [Repost]

Label: FMR Records (2) – FMRCD196-i0506
Barcode: 6 49849 98263 6
Format: CD, Album, Digipak; Country: UK – Released: 2006; Jazz Style: Free Jazz, Free Improvisation; ReDesign by ART&JAZZ Studio
Recorded live at St. Cyprian ’ s, United Kingdom, 2002-02-09
Live version of the album “ Four In The Afternoon ”

Reviews:

A jazz saxophonist with a bent toward progressive jazz, avant-garde music and soul, Larry Stabbins was born in Bristol, England, in 1949. He began playing saxophone at age 11 and by his teens had already begun performing in various R&B-influenced bands including working with pianist Keith Tippett with whom he has remained a creative partner over the years. In the ’ 70s, Stabbins worked with a variety of musicians including drummer John Stevens (in whose Ealing improvisation workshop he was a member), drummer ’ s Roy Ashbury and Tony Oxley and others. In the ’ 80s, Stabbins was a member of saxophonist Peter Brotzman ’ s Alarm Orchestra and Marz Combo as well as saxophonist Trevor Watt ’ s Moire Music. He was also a member of the indie-pop ensemble Weekend alongside guitarist Simon Booth with whom he later formed the eclectic Latin/soul/dance-influenced group Working Week. An artist with wide-ranging interests, Stabbins spent some time away from performing while studying philosophy at Kings College London. He returned to music in the late ’ 90s, once again with Tippett and his Tapestry ensemble as well as a re-formed Working Week. He released the album “ Four in the Afternoon ” in 2002 with pianist Howard Riley, bassist Tony Wren, drummer Mark Sanders. Stabbins followed that album up with the solo effort Mondiac in 2003.
By Matt Collar (AMG)

“Four In The Afternoon”

This new quartet is a departure from Quatuor Accorde, the other quartet that Tony Wren currently convenes. Whereas that is an all-strings affair, this one has the line-up of a conventional jazz quartet—sax, piano, bass and drums. But both play completely improvised music. And it is only the line-up here that is conventional. For example, when this quartet played a recent concert in St Cyprian ’ s Church, to promote this album, at one point Mark Sanders memorably strolled around playing on the pews and furniture—great showmanship and playing combined!
Although this is a new quartet—the album date was only their fourth meeting—there are ties between its members going back years, Wren and Larry Stabbins to the 70s, Howard Riley and Stabbins also to the 70s, Riley and Mark Sanders to the 80s. Such roots can be important in improvisation of this kind, and so it proves here. The music achieves that most dubious compliment for improv—at times it sounds pre-arranged. That is an indication of how good the four musicians are individually and how well they react and respond to each other.
Individually, Riley and Stabbins particularly stand out. Throughout, Riley is in inspired form, his playing underpinning ensemble passages and his solos often being astounding rapid-fire flurries (no surprise to those of you familiar with Riley). Stabbins has a long jazz and improv pedigree, but may be the least known member of this quartet, despite his time with soul-pop band Working Week that brought his fifteen minutes of fame. Be that as it may, his playing here is varied and, yes, beautiful. His slow, controlled tenor sax at the beginning of “ Blue Dark ” is very atmospheric, and carefully structured. (It also makes me think of Ben Webster—not a common experience with improv sax!)
Collectively, every play of this CD reveals new details to admire and enjoy. This will be music to return to time and again.
By JOHN EYLES, Published: March 1, 2002, (AAJ)


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EDDIE PRÉVOST QUARTET - Continuum + (1999) [Repost]

Matchless Recordings – MRCD07
Format: CD, Album; Country: UK Released: 1999
Continuum - recorded at Bracknell Jazz Festival, 3rd July 1983. Previously released as an LP in 1985. Tracks 2-5 recorded at Porcupine Studios London, 27th/28th March 1985. 
Artwork [Front Cover] – Simon Picard
Engineer – Ted Taylor (2) (tracks: 2 to 5)
Liner Notes – Alan Durant


Reviews:

“A tumble of tom-toms and cymblas sets it in motiuon: Larry Stabbins ’ muscular tenor streaks wide arcs of colour around the edge of this tornado, coasting around the driving force of piano and bass which purrs like a revving engine. Prévost ’ s thrumb of sticks-on-skin decorate and expands it further into an insistant pulse. A degree more turbulent, and then it ’ s airbourne. ‘ Continuum ’ charts the whole 39 miuntes of a very fine set delivered at Bracknell Festival in 1983 by the Eddie Prévost Quartet. A procession of solo staements ushers along the development of the improvisation: Stabbins cutting out to leave Veryan Weston ’ s piano, the most startling ingredient of this stylish free jazz troupe, in the foreground. What develops is a rush of carefully collected detail: shades of Monk and Cecil Taylor contrasting with pitter-patter treble runs which sound like they are straight out of a ‘ Tom and Jerry ’ soundtrack. Ckusters of dark, echo-lined bass keys, and then Marcio Mattos ’ sometimes rhythmical, other times reflective string bass work. Not only Prévost ’ s finest free jazz group, but perhaps the finest free jazz record in years.”

— David Ilic ‘City Limits’ 1985 ( review of original LP version)


“ The original release of Prévost ’ s 1983 Bracknell appearance represents one of the few ‘ must haves ’ of British free jazz. This re-issue with studio material from 1985 confirms and enhances its status. The new material has an altogether more thoughtful air than the intoxicating intensity of the festival recording. The gergeous ‘ I ’ m in the Mood for a Semantic Theory ’ is an almost totally unexpected straight(ish) ballad, and Larry Stabbins ’ saxophone reminds one forcefully of Archie Shepp in Ben Webster mode. There is a clarity to the studio material which proves the rythm section, (Weston, Mattos and Prévost) to be one of the music ’ s most versatile and imaginative. Prévost, in particular, is revealed as one of the most impressive free-jazz drummers; a role he inhabits far too rarely. ”

Bruce Coates ‘Rubberneck’ December 1999



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