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!

ELTON DEAN QUARTET – They All Be On This Old Road (LP-1977) + another

Label: Ogun – OG 410

Format: Vinyl, LP / Country: UK / Released: 1977

Style: Free Jazz, Contemporary Jazz, Free Improvisation

Recorded at the Seven Dials, Shelton Street, London WC2 on 18 November 1976.

Artwork By [Front Cover Painting] – John Christopherson

Engineer – Keith Beal

Liner Notes – Elton Dean

Mixed By, Edited By – Elton Dean, Keith Beal

Photography – Yuka

Producer – Elton Dean, Keith Beal

Recorded By – Ron Barron

A  -  Naima .................................................................................. 20:30

        (Composed By – Coltrane)

B1 - Dede Bup Bup ....................................................................... 8:50

        (Composed By – Dean)

B2 - Nancy (With The Laughing Face) ......................................... 3:12

        (Composed By – Van-Heusen, Silvers)

B3 – a) Easy Living ....................................................................... 8:40

         (Composed By – Robin, Rainger)

         b) Overdoing It

         (Composed By – Lawrence, Moholo)

         c) Not Too Much

         (Composed By – Dean, Tippett)

Elton Dean – saxophone [saxello]

Keith Tippett – piano

Chris Lawrence – bass

Louis Moholo – drums, percussion

Elton Dean, period 1975/1978 was very tumultuous and resulted in a series of good performances and albums for the label Ogun. This is one of them.

Elton Dean was a totally unique musician : at times lyrical and moving, at others explosive and unsettling, his approach of saxophone playing was totally his own, besides the fact that he favoured a little-used member of the sax family : the saxello, an hybrid between alto and soprano, with an instantly recognizable sound. Over the years, Dean lent his immense talents to bands like Soft Machine, Soft Heap, In Cahoots and L'Equip'Out, as well as many jazz ensembles featuring Keith Tippett, Hugh Hopper, Pip Pyle, Mark Hewins and John Etheridge.

 Elton Dean / Louis Moholo

In January 1975, Elton Dean launched his most ambitious project to date, the large ensemble Ninesense, which included many of the British jazz scene's most talented musicians, including Keith Tippett, Mark Charig, Nick Evans, Harry Miller and Louis Moholo. He also formed his own quartet, EDQ, with Tippett, Moholo and bassist Chris Laurence, recording They All Be On This Old Road (1977) for Ogun Records; around the same time he also formed El Skid with fellow saxophone player Alan Skidmore. In the autumn of 1975, he also joined forces with Tippett, Jim Richardson (bass) and Pip Pyle (drums) as the Weightwatchers, whose brief existence culminated in September 1976 with an epic tour of the Netherlands, The following month, Dean and Tippett formed yet another quartet, this time with Hugh Hopper and Joe Gallivan (drums and synthesizer), which recorded the album Cruel But Fair for Compendium.

1977 was another busy year, with more Ninesense activities, a tour of France and Germany with Tippett/Hopper/Gallivan, an album and European tour with Carla Bley's band (alongside Hugh Hopper and Gary Windo), and a trio album with Gallivan and Kenny Wheeler, The Cheque Is In The Mail. In 1978, he formed Soft Heap with Pip Pyle, Hugh Hopper and Alan Gowen. An inaugural French tour with Dave Sheen replacing Pyle resulted in the Soft Head album Rogue Element, and later that year the band went in the studio to record its eponymous debut, with Pyle back on the drum stool. Around the same time El Skid finally made its recording debut...

HUGH HOPPER / ELTON DEAN / ALAN GOWEN / DAVE SHEEN – Rogue Element (LP-1978)

Label: Ogun – OG 527

Format: Vinyl, LP, Album / Country: UK / Released: 1978

Style: Free Jazz, Jazz-Rock, Experimental

Recorded May 1978 at Chez Jacky "A L'Ouest de la Grosne" Bresse sur Grosne, on the Van Acker Mobile.

Design [Sleeve] – Liz Walton

Engineer – Jean-Pierre Weiller, Pierre Richard

Mixed By, Edited By – Keith Beal

Photography By [Front Cover] – David Graham

Photography By [Back Cover] – Jean-Pierre Duplan

Producer – Ron Barron

Matrix / Runout (Side 1): OG 527 A C 2929

Matrix / Runout (Side 2): OG 527 B C 2929

A1 - Seven For Lee ..................................................................... 8:40

         (Written-By – Dean)

A2 - Seven Drones ...................................................................... 4:20

         (Written-By – Hopper)

A3 - Remain So ........................................................................... 5:05

         (Written-By – Gowen)

B1 - C.R.R.C. ............................................................................. 14:01

         (Written-By – Gowen)

B2 - One Three Nine ................................................................... 6:17

         (Written-By – Dean)

Hugh Hopper – bass guitar

Elton Dean – alto saxophone, saxello

Alan Gowen – electric piano, synthesizer

Dave Sheen – drums, percussion

_1     This band was supposed to call themselves Soft Heap and include drummer Pip Pyle, but though a tour was booked, he found himself otherwise engaged, and Dave Sheen was hired to accompany fellow Canterbury scenesters Alan Gowen, Hugh Hopper, and Elton Dean on a tour of Europe. Calling themselves Soft Head, they hoped to draw in those frustrated fans of Soft Machine and Gilgamesh. And perhaps they did on this night in France in 1978. But make no mistake, even though Hopper and Dean are present here, this is no pure fusion date with a bunch of knotty harmonics and angular changes riffing around all over the place. This is an electric jazz date, period. Largely this is due to Gowen's compositions and arrangements that walk a tense line between strictly composed elements and improvisation, and the fire of the band themselves, who are -- on this night anyway -- inspired beyond belief. Thank God somebody recorded it. Even at the risk of overstatement, Elton Dean has never played like this on a record. His legato phrasing is lightning-quick and moves through harmonic figures against Gowen's keyboards like a knife cutting through butter. Counterpoint battles are pitched and waged in these tracks, coming down to riding the steady yet flailing rhythm section of Hopper's modally expansive bassing and the avant-swing of Sheen's drumming. While everyone but Sheen contributes originals to the mix here, the arrangement signature is all Gowen, even on Dean classics such as "Seven for Lee", or Hopper's signature "Seven Drones." The spaces for movement between members are held tightly by Gowen, who underlies everything with a chromaticism that is inclusive yet modally and dynamically driven. This is killer stuff that makes one long for the good old days of electric jazz that was still jazz.  

_ (Review by Thom Jurek)

 Hugh Hopper / Alan Gowen

_ 2     This is a live album recorded in a club in France in 1978. Alan Gowen, Hugh Hopper, Elton Dean and Dave Sheen make up this band.The first three are all gone now sadly. It's hard to believe when looking at the pictures of Alan Gowen in the liner notes that just three years from this recording he died of cancer while still in his thirties. In the liner notes it describes Alan as "a jazzer by nature, but his writing was dominated by elaborate and expansive themes. His playing had litheness and lightness which blurred what was scored and what was improvised. Running parallel jaunts with Elton's bitter-sweet saxello, Alan could wail in a way that stretched tonality to it's limit".

"Seven For Lee" opens with bass as light drums join in then keys. Sax before a minute. Great sound here. A calm arrives around 6 1/2 minutes then it builds with bass and drums. Sax before 8 minutes then keys. "Seven Drones" is a Hopper composition. Drums and dissonant keys lead the way as sax comes and goes. Bass before 1 1/2 minutes as the sax starts to play over top. The sax and keys become dissonant. Crazy stuff. It figures that this is a Hopper tune. "Remain So" picks up quickly with piano but the tempo changes often on this one. Bass takes over before 3 minutes. Sax is back late.

"C.R.R.C" is the long thing and takes whole 14 minutes. I like the sound here as keys and sax lead while the bass and drums are also prominant. The tempo picks up after 5 1/2 minutes. It calms right down a minute later with piano, bass and drums. "One Three Nine" is a jazzy little number with sax and keys leading. A bass solo after 5 1/2 minutes.

A very important document really of these talented men playing live. The electric piano, sax, bass and drums are played as only these men could play them.

_ (Review by Mellotron Storm)

Enjoy!

If you find them, buy these albums!

BLUE NOTES – Blue Notes For Mongezi (1976 / 2CD-2008)

Label:  Ogun – OGCD 025/026
Format: 2 × CD, Album; Country: UK - Released:2008
Style: Free Jazz, Free Improvisation
Recorded on 23 December 1975 in a rehearsal room in London. 
It is the spontaneous tribute of four musicians who had assembled in London for the Memorial Service for their friend.
Producer – Chris McGregor, Keith Beal
Reissue Producer – Hazel Miller
Remastered By – Martin Davidson
Photography [Back Cover] – George Hallett, Peter Sinclair
Photography [Front Cover, Mongezi Feza] – George Hallett

BLUE NOTES (1964) From left to right: Dudu Pukwana, Monty Weber, Chris McGregor, Mongezi Feza

...The Ogun box necessarily cuts straight to Blue Notes For Mongezi, and as the redux version now occupies two full CDs this will be the main attraction for many buyers. Although the Blue Notes had not played together as the Blue Notes for some years, they nevertheless reunited at Feza’s memorial service and without saying much of anything went straight to a rehearsal room directly afterwards, set up their instruments, and played and played and sang and played for something like three and a half hours without a break. Due to the limitations of vinyl, the original double album was necessarily a set of highlights but still made for one of the most harrowing listening experiences I can recall; the passion, the grief, the words, above all Johnny Dyani’s words, seemed almost too painful for public consumption, but as an act of catharsis and reconciliation it was surely needed, and over the course of its four sides the music did seem to reach a point of acknowledgement and resolution.

Over two CDs, however, the playing time has effectively doubled in length, and we now have the complete record, or as complete a record as we’re going to get, of everything that was played and taped on that day; according to engineer Keith Beal, the musicians started playing practically the moment they came into the room, while the recording equipment was still being set up, and there is an abrupt but small break in the music between the two CDs which marked the point where the tape reels had to be changed, but otherwise the performance is complete.

The completeness also alters the listener’s perspective on the music radically, such that one is effectively listening to a new extended piece of music altogether; the grief is immediately apparent as the music fades in, Dudu’s alto squealing, Dyani’s bowed bass scribbling, McGregor’s piano an abstracted ghost on the far left, Moholo’s drums busy but strangely subdued. The pace is necessarily slower and more organic than on the original vinyl release but the overall picture is critically more detailed; we have Dyani’s urgent ostinatos and parched Xhosa (and occasional English) cries but they are now set in a more complex landscape where there are long periods of straight swing or Coltrane-type waltz passages. In the “ Second Movement ” Dyani’s bass solo remains poignant to the point of unlistenable (in terms of unalloyed, bereaved sorrow), though clearly influenced by Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra recording of “ Song For Che ” with rattling percussion from all direction accompanying his playing and Dudu’s solemn alto succeeding him in the foreground with an eventual martial feel of defiance in the group’s rhythm. This is then succeeded by Dyani and Dudu’s vocal harmonies and chants, again accompanied only by free percussion.

From this point of prayer-filled stasis, the music gradually picks up again on the third CD; Pukwana picks up on “ Yellow Rose Of Texas ” from nowhere in particular (though in the English vocal sections I notice lots of “ We love you ” s but also Dyani’s ominous “ We know your enemies ” ) and turns that too into an ANC-worthy anthem of hopeful triumph, while the band as a whole suddenly swing through a whole series of Blue Notes/Brotherhood standards, most notably a spirited run through Feza’s “ Sonia ” with a terrific McGregor/Dyani duet section. Ultimately we arrive, after a lengthy and patient set-up, at the lilting major key tribute to Feza which concluded the original album, where the Blue Notes appear to will their own rebirth and “ live ” once more. Blue Notes For Mongezi is their “ Everything’s Gone Green ” and just as devastating a listening experience...



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KEITH TIPPETT and LOUIS MOHOLO – No Gossip (1982)

Label: FMP – SAJ-28
Format: Vinyl, LP; Country: Germany - Released: 1982
Style: Free Jazz, Free Improvisation
Recorded by Thomas Funk on March 20th & 23rd, 1980, during the Workshop Freie Musik at the Akademie der Künste in Berlin.
Music edited by – Harry Millerand and Jost Gebers
Produced by – Jost Gebers
Cover photographs and cover design by – Dagmar and Jost Gebers

"No Gossip"... An outstanding pairing of percussion and melody from the British pianist Tippett and South African drummer Moholo. What’s surprising is that Moholo provides much of the melodic material, while Tippett handles the beat. An intense record that demands attention.

This LP was originally released in 1982 (and recorded in 1980); it has never been on CD. The pair have continued to perform as No Gossip, most recently 2010 in London, on the occasion of Moholo’s 70th birthday. The last surviving member of the Blue Notes, Moholo is a towering figure of the music, a bridge that links South Africa to the European scene, and beyond. Tippett brings a huge imagination and aggressively heterodox approach to his instrument. Together, they form a timeless couple.

This is simply one of the best free improvisation jazz albums around. Tippett is a woefully overlooked pianist whose technical abilities and musical sensibilities are vast. Coupled with the energetic drummer Louis Moholo, these two have created a fiery, frenetic, but thoroughly captivating music. Rather than being simply a flurry of notes, this music is exciting, invigorating and demands attention. “ Black and White Unite ” is a nearly continuous onslaught of sound that leaves the listener drained, but blissfully so. “ Dedicated to Mandela, Biko, Sobukwe ” is a more varied work. Over Moholo’s perpetual motion drumming, Tippett works with a variety of textures and ideas, with passages that make reference to more conventional jazz, some lyrical and beautiful arpeggios, as well as some pull out all the stops jamming. Side two begins with the most extreme piece, which includes bird calls, guttural utterances, Tippett damping the strings with his hand inside the piano, and other unidentified sounds, not to mention some absolutely stunning playing by Tippett. Finally, “ All People…God’s People…Don’t Worry ” is a very interesting piece which finds Tippett exploring the lower, oft neglected, register of the piano. This is an album that must be heard.

...and

Happy Holidays to everyone.

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KEES HAZEVOET QUARTET – Pleasure (1970) Re-2004

Label: Atavistic – UMS/ALP234CD
Series: Unheard Music Series –
Format: CD, Album, Reissue; Country: US - Released: 2004
Style: Free Jazz, Free Improvisation
Recorded on September 6, 1970 in the auditorium of Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
Design [Cover] – Fred R. Willemse
Engineer – Alwin Mulder
Photography By – Andries L. Hazevoet
Producer – Kees Hazevoet, Tony Schreuder
Reissue Producer, Liner Notes – John Corbett

 

It's no surprise that most free jazz fans haven't heard Pleasure. The 1970 debut from pianist/clarinetist Kees Hazevoet and his quartet was originally released in the Netherlands as a tiny edition of 250 copies replete with silk-screened covers. It may have been the first offering from Hazevoet under his own name, but by the time of Pleasure's release he was already deeply entrenched in the European free improvisation scene. On Pleasure he's joined by two fellow countrymen: alto saxophonist Kris Wanders and bassist Arjen Gorter, both of whom had been playing with Hazevoet as part of his working group. Joining them here is legendary South African drummer Louis Moholo, best known for his work with fellow South African ex-pat Chris McGregor and the Brotherhood of Breath. The album starts with "Moving Lady," with its humble bass intro soon joined by clarinet and alto for a melancholy melody that is quickly swept away by Moholo's stuttering toms and crashing cymbals. "What Happens" is a more tentative dialog that finds its foundation in Hazevoet's enigmatic piano riffs -- tiny patterns that swirl around the other players before fading away, only to return with heavy chord clusters. It's a brooding style that serves the quartet well, and while there are remarkable solos here, it's the group interaction that makes Pleasure stand out. "All There," the 20-minute album closer, is centered on the spiraling interplay between Hazevoet on piano and Wanders on sax. Toward the end of the piece, Hazevoet switches to clarinet for a frantic mantra that drives Wanders' alto to higher heights before easing the proceedings back to a reverent earthbound finish. This is the second Hazevoet date to be reissued by Atavistic (the first was the excellent Unlawful Noise by Haazz & Company) and a third, Calling Down the Flevo Spirit with Han Bennink, is already planned. Hazevoet may not have the name recognition of his Dutch peers, largely due to his retirement from music just as the Netherlands scene was getting some of its due, but Pleasure's reappearance after such a lengthy stay in obscurity proves that you can't keep a good record down. Here's to more albums like Pleasure and players like Kees Hazevoet getting the attention they deserve.

_ Review by WADE KERGAN



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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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NEW YORK ART QUARTET – Old Stuff (Copenhagen, Denmark 1965) - CD-2010

Label: Cuneiform Records – Rune 300
Format: CD, Album; Country: US - Released: 2010
Style: Free Jazz, Free Improvisation
Tracks 1-6:
Recorded at the Montmartre Jazzhus, Copenhagen, Denmark October 14, 1965.
Tracks 7-11:
Recorded at the Concert Hall of the Radio House, Danish Broadcasting Corporation, Copenhagen, Denmark, October 24, 1965. 
Both concerts were live radio broadcasts.
Producer – Børge Roger Henrichsen (tracks: 7 to 11), Pedro Biker (tracks: 1 to 6), Per Møller Hansen (tracks: 7 to 11)

The story behind Old Stuff is that John Tchicai lined up some gigs in his native Copenhagen for the fall of 1965. The regular drummer (was it still Milford Graves?) and whoever the bass player was at the time (Reggie Workman?) could not make the trip, so the quartet was fleshed out with Finn von Eyben coming in on bass and Louis Moholo on drums. Von Eyben sounds fine on the recording and adds his own conceptual influence. However it is Moholo that changes the character of the band in an more dramatic way. He gives the band a totally different rhythmic base. Moholo's time was quite different from Graves: there is in the former a more linear poly-rhythmic thrust to the pulse that propulses the band differently yet still opens it up to an expanded sense of temporal possibilities. It gives Tchicai and Rudd support for more complex yet still free solo statements and they respond beautifully.
And so you get a long set of music drawn from two gigs they played during their stay that fall. The recording quality is excellent, as is the level of the music. It's a major addition to the NY Art Quartet discography and highly recommended!

New York Art Quartet, Copenhagen, October 1965:
Roswell Rudd  – trombone,  Louis Moholo – drums,
Finn von Eyben – bass,   John Tchicai – alto saxophone

New York Art Quartet, MoMA 1965, (Tchicai, Rudd, Workman, Graves)

There ’ s a certain exciting charge to early free (avant, new thing, or whatever you wish to call it) jazz, an electricity in the air from those days before anyone knew exactly what was happening, which, in its weird, wily experimentation, translates particularly well on record. Before the classic fire music blow out could be formalized into a clearly-delineated model, there was a strange melange of flavors: Sun Ra ’ s Saturn-bop, Ayler ’ s formative howls, Dolphy ’ s skewed vision of cool, Ornette Coleman ’ s sublime honking, and a lot of other open minds stretching way out as they saw fit. The free-for-all spirit of the times makes for some interestingly timeless listening, and the broadly-named New York Art Quartet was one group that was there to catch the wave. Although the smallness of their deeply respectable discography, now only four official albums deep (and one of those is a reunion session from the year 2000), severely restricted their legacy, the players who have moved through their ranks - John Tchicai, Roswell Rudd, Milford Graves, Reggie Workman and Don Moore, to name a few - have certainly made their individual marks. Thus, the unit has remained a sort of legendary footnote, an early, all-too-brief meeting of the minds right at the beginning of the revolution.

Old Stuff, recorded in 1965 and only now seeing the light of day, won ’ t change that. Less of an all-star lineup than their self-titled debut on ESP, it ’ s more of a glimpse back than a lost classic. Fans of that seminal slab might be disappointed by the absence of drummer Milford Graves, and I for one can hardly fathom the pressure of filling his shoes. Along with Sunny Murray and Rasheid Ali, Graves was one of the founding fathers of the un-metered, pan- rhythmic school of drumming to which many remain beholden. Hardly the established approach in ’ 65 that it is today, it ’ s difficult to imagine more than a handful then (or now) capable of matching his innovation and effortless mastery. Still, Louis Moholo does a bang- up job holding things down. Less iconoclastic than his predecessor, his playing sways and sashays more than it rips and shreds, but not without some serious force. There ’ s a certain go- for-broke roughness audible here, and it ’ s exciting to hear him drive the rest of the players, egging them on even as he keeps time.

Around him, the horns squall and cry, but all within a clear melodic framework. The vibe is less sheets of sound than "Lonely Woman," and Coleman ’ s mark is clearly felt. The melodies and motives are tossed around like pizza dough between Tchicai and Rudd, the only two constant members of the NYAQ family, and their chemistry is, if not revelatory, certainly wonderfully sloppy and loose. Apparently the session was booked in Copenhagen, despite the unavailability of half of the New Yokers. Thus, in addition to Moholo, bassist Finn on Eyben fills in, and you definitely get the sense that the Rudd and Tchicai are leading, going for it despite or because of the less practiced setting. There is a confidence to their tone which more than compensates for the oft-rambling structures.

Overall, the record runs a little long, clocking in at just over an hour. But isn ’ t that kind of the point? We already have two proper mid-60s albums from the NYAQ, as well as a whole slew of other classic studio sessions from this deepest of musical eras. Old Stuff is for the heads who wore through their copies of Shape Of Jazz To Come and Ascension when they first came out, for the completists who can ’ t let a single take slip by uncatalogued. As expected, NYAQ rips, moans, screams, and most of all breathes. It ’ s beautiful, messy, raw and not a little bit fun. Like a lot of other stuff from this time, it sounds like a wild party, and yet still serious as your life. It sounds free, unfettered, and alive. It sounds great.

_ By Daniel Martin-McCormick



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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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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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