MAX ROACH QUARTET – Live In Tokyo Vol.1 and Vol.2 (LPs-DenonJazz-1977)

Label: Denon Jazz – YX-7508-ND

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

Style: Free Jazz, Post Bop, Free Improvisation

Recorded live at Yubin Chokin Hall, Tokyo, January 21, 1977.

Cover Design – SIGN. Satoshi Saitoh

Cover Photo – Tadayuki Naitoh

Engineer by – Kaoru Iida

PCM Operator – Hideki Kaukizaki, Kaoro Yamamoto

Produced by – Tsutomu Ueno and Yoshiharu Kawaguchi

A  -  Calvary .................................................................................... 18:40

B1 - 'Round Midnight ...................................................................... 11:42

B2 - It's Time .................................................................................... 8:50

Max Roach – drums, percussion

Cecil Bridgewater – trumpet

Billy Harper – tenor saxophone

Reggie Workman – bass

Beautiful sounds from the ultra-hip Max Roach Quartet of the mid 70s. Tracks are long – very much in the Harper style of the time – and titles include "It's Time", "Calvary", and "Round Midnight".

Product Description:

MAX ROACH QUARTET Live In Tokyo Vol. 1 (1977 Japanese, 3-track Denon Jazz label, vinyl LP featuring a great live recording from the Yubin Chokin Hall in Tokyo Japan recorded on the 21st January 1977 featuring Cecil Bridgewater, Billy Harper, Reggie Workman with Max Roach. Housed in a picture sleeve complete with the original Japanese insert and wide obi-strip, YX-7508-ND)

MAX ROACH QUARTET – Live In Tokyo Vol.2 
(LP-DenonJazz-1977)

Label: Denon Jazz – YX-7509-ND

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

Style: Free Jazz, Post Bop, Free Improvisation

Recorded live at Yubin Chokin Hall, Tokyo, January 21, 1977.

Cover Ilustration – Atsushi Yoshioka

Cover Design – SIGN. Satoshi Saitoh

Cover Photo – Tadayuki Naitoh

Engineer by – Kaoru Iida

PCM Operator – Hideki Kaukizaki, Kaoro Yamamoto

Produced by – Tsutomu Ueno and Yoshiharu Kawaguchi

A1 - Mr. Papa Jo ............................................................................... 3:05

A2 - Scott Free Part 1 ..................................................................... 16:22

B  -  Scott Free Part 2 ..................................................................... 17:10

Max Roach – drums, percussion

Cecil Bridgewater – trumpet

Billy Harper – tenor saxophone

Reggie Workman – bass

Product Description:

MAX ROACH QUARTET Live In Tokyo Vol. 2 (1977 Japanese, 3-track live Denon Jazz label, vinyl LP, starring Cecil Bridgewater [trumpet], Billy Harper [tenor sax] & Reggie Workman [bass] recorded at the Yubin Chokin Hall that year. Pasted picture sleeve with Japanese insert & picture obi, YX-7509-ND).

Note:

Nearly all Japanese LPs were issued with an ‘obi’ - literally translated this means ‘sash’ and is derived from the obi (sash) worn around the traditional kimono dress. This delicate paper strip, usually wrapped around the left side of the album cover, often contains marketing information and album content details, all printed in Japanese kanji and ~kana script. Obi designs can be as varied as the LPs they adorn, and some series’ of obi designs can be as collectable as the artists’ albums they decorate. However, not all promotional LPs were issued with the obi - the LP was often distributed before the obi was produced - it is rarer to find a promo with an obi than it is without one, especially on first pressings. They are more common on promo copies of reissue albums as the timing is not quite so important as for a brand new release so there was more time to put the whole package together. The rarest Japanese promotional LPs are those designed with exclusive custom picture sleeves, often compilations of previously released tracks issued to the media as a reminder of back catalogue success prior to the launch of new material, or an impending Japanese tour. These retrospective LPs can be the crowning glory of any collection and they rarely come up for sale. They are often some of the most expensive LPs to obtain, with prices ranging from £50 to £1500 for the extreme rarities...!

If you find them, buy these albums!

MAX ROACH QUARTET – Nommo (LP-Victor-1978)

Label: Victor – SMJ-6225

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

Style: Free Jazz, Post Bop

Recorded in Lausanne, Switzerland, October 1976.

Mixed at Long View Farm - North Brookfield, Massachusetts.

Composed By – Jymie Merritt

Design [Album] – Hirohito Fukutomi

Photography By – Tadayuki Naitoh

Liner Notes [Cover Notes] – Bill Hasson

Engineer – Jesse Henderson

Producer – Underground, Inc.

Victor Record Label, Catalog# MAX-6003 A-B

A - Nommo ....................................................................................... 25:40

B - Nommo (Continued) ................................................................... 24:25

Max Roach – drums, percussion

Cecil Bridgewater – trumpet

Billy Harper – tenor saxophone

Reggie Workman – bass

Recorded for Swiss Radio in Lausanne, Switzerland, in October of 1976. This is an original 1978 release from Japan. Includes an insert with notes in Japanese! First press on Victor.

Recorded in 1976, but not released until 1978 and only in Japan. This record is astonishingly good. Truly a beast of a free jazz-post bop session that features Max Roach on Drums, Billy Harper on Tenor (who's solo at the beginning of side two reaffirms my belief that he is one of the greatest Tenor players of all time), Cecil Bridgewater on Trumpet and Reggie Workman on Bass.

Enjoy!

If you find it, buy this album!

FREDDIE HUBBARD – Here To Stay (1962, LP-1985)

Label: Blue Note – BST 84135

Format: Vinyl, LP, Album / Country: US / Released: 1985

Style: Hard Bop, Improvisation

Recorded on December 27, 1962 at Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.

Design [Cover] – Reid Miles

Liner Notes – Peter Keepnews

Producer – Alfred Lion

Recorded By [Recording By] – Rudy Van Gelder

This album was scheduled for release as BST 84135 in 1963 but was never issued.

It first appeared as part of a Hubbard double album (BNLA 496-2) in 1976.

It is issued here for the first time with the original Reid Miles cover from 1963.

A1 - Philly Mignon . . . . . . . . . . 5:28

         (by – Freddie Hubbard)

A2 - Father And Son . . . . . . . . . . 6:34

         (by – Cal Massey)

A3 - Body And Soul . . . . . . . . . . 6:25

         (by – Heyman, Eyton, Green, Sour)

B1 - Nostrand And Fulton . . . . . . . . . . 7:07

         (by – Freddie Hubbard)

B2 - Full Moon And Empty Arms . . . . . . . . . . 5:25

         (by – Kaye, Mossman)

B3 - Assunta . . . . . . . . . . 7:05

        (by – Cal Massey)

Freddie Hubbard – trumpet

Wayne Shorter – tenor saxophone

Cedar Walton – piano

Reggie Workman – bass

Philly Joe Jones – drums, percussion

Scheduled for release in 1962 and then effectively shelved until 1986, “Here To Stay” is another of the seminal Blue Note albums that failed to see the light of day at the time of recording. Perhaps this reflects the difficult choices that Albert Lion had to make too often in order to keep a small independent record label afloat.

“Here To Stay” is a fine and early example of Freddie Hubbard, then aged only 24, as a fully formed imaginative voice in jazz. The band - Wayne Shorter (tenor saxophone); Cedar Walton (piano); Reggie Workman (bass); Philly Joe Jones (drums) – offers an ideal platform; all these musicians except Philly Joe Jones were working together at the time with Freddie Hubbard in Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and the understanding they had developed shows. But it is Freddie Hubbard’s trumpet playing that really impresses; no wonder that his inventiveness on the instrument is still so admired today.

“Philly Mignon”, the opening track and a Freddie Hubbard composition is all about virtuoso trumpet licks, played fast, perhaps too fast. The other Freddie Hubbard composition on the album, “Nostrand And Fulton”, however is waltzy and fluid. “Father And Son”, the first of two Cal Massey compositions starts out as lightweight samba based bluesy ballad but then goes through interesting transitions, finally emerging as a loose-limbed good time feel blues. The second Cal Massey composition, “Assunta” has Wayne Shorter sounding very Coltrane-like and seems to be mainly a vehicle for him until Freddie Hubbard interjects with a characteristically fluent solo that changes the pace and direction. “Full Moon And Empty Arms” dates from 1946 and is based on a melody from the third movement of Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor with words and arrangement by Buddy Kaye and Ted Mossman. It was recorded by Frank Sinatra and is not highly regarded. Freddie Hubbard and the band here go some way to rescuing it but without complete success.

The stand out track is a fine version of the standard “Body And Soul”. Comparison with Coleman Hawkins’ classic 1939 tenor sax version of the Johnny Green song or even with John Coltrane’s 1960 version on “Coltrane’s Sound” shows just how far Freddie Hubbard had come with a truly modern appreciation of the song and how to interpret it for trumpet.

“Here To Stay” is a very welcome addition to the Freddie Hubbard catalogue and is highly recommended.

If you find it, buy this album!

HEINER STADLER – Brains On Fire (2CD-2012) - [2LPs-1973/’74 + previously unreleased tapes]

Label: Labor Records – LAB 7069

Format: 2 × CD, Album - Released: 02/28/2012
Style: Free Jazz, Free Improvisation
Recorded at Nola Penthouse Sound Studio, NYC 1966 & recorded at O' Brien's Studio, Teaneck, NJ 1971/1973
Artwork [Illustration] By – Johann Feindt
Design By – Conni Lechner; Photography By – M. De Chiara
Engineer – Orville O'Brien / Tony May
Producer, Composed By – Heiner Stadler

Music that stretches boundaries and, yes, might sizzle the brain pan a bit.

ARTISTS:
Jimmy OWENS – trumpet (CD1: track 1; CD2: track 4); Tyrone WASHINGTON – tenor saxophone, flute (CD1: tracks 1-3; CD2: tracks 2-3); Garnett BROWN – trombone (CD1: track 1; CD2: track 4); Heiner STADLER – piano (CD1: tracks 1-3; CD2: tracks 2-3); Reggie WORKMAN – bass (CD1: tracks 1-3; CD2: track 1); Brian BRAKE – drums (CD1: track 1); The Big Band of the North German Radio Station: Manfred SCHOOF, Gerd DUDEK, Albert MANGELSDORFF, Wolfgang DAUNER, Lucas LINDHOLM, Tony INZALACO (CD1: track 4); Dee Dee BRIDGEWATER – vocals (CD2: track 1); Joe FARRELL – tenor saxophone (CD2: track 4); Don FRIEDMAN – piano (CD2: track 4); Barre PHILLIPS – bass (CD2: track 4); Joe CHAMBERS – drums (CD2: track 4)

Some recordings should come with a sticker which states: for those willing to be challenged. German-American composer, producer, pianist, arranger and bandleader Heiner Stadler’s reissued, remastered, restructured and expanded release, Brains on Fire (which initially came out as two separate vinyl volumes in 1967, which are often rare to find), certainly qualifies for such a caveat emptor. For some, Stadler is known as an interpreter of other musicians’ material, due in part to last year’s remixed reissue of his 1978 outing, A Tribute to Monk and Bird, which was also put out on Stadler’s Labor label. Stadler has also reissued other titles from his back catalog, including 1976’s Jazz Alchemy (which came out in 2000) and the 1996 compilation Retrospection (reissued in 2010). This year it is time to reevaluate one Stadler’s most original efforts, Brains on Fire. This CD version contains three tunes never before heard and marks the first CD presentation of five other works.

One reason to listen to the two-disc Brains on Fire is to hear then-current and up-and-coming jazz luminaries dig deeply into material which spans the perceived gap between avant-garde, post-bop, tone-row experiments and European serialist composition. The eight long pieces (four per disc) were recorded between 1966 and 1974 and feature 17 artists (as well as an orchestra), including trumpeter Jimmy Owens (who worked with Miles Davis in the '50s and was a founding member of the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra), bassist Reggie Workman (notable for his work with John Coltrane, Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and Yusef Lateef), and future stars such as saxophonist/flutist Joe Farrell (who subsequently had crossover success on the CTI roster) and a young Dee Dee Bridgewater (a few years before fame found her, when she was still singing with the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra).

Stadler uses several ensemble configurations ranging from a bass/vocals duet to a quartet (on four tracks) to a big band. The first CD’s opener, “ No Exercise ” (taken from a 1973 session but making its debut here) features a sextet with a three-horn frontline (Owens on trumpet, Tyrone Washington on tenor sax and Garnett Brown on trombone) with a three-piece rhythm section (Stadler on piano, Brian Brake on drums and Workman). The 12-minute workout starts with Workman’s arco bass, followed by Owens’ warm trumpet and then the rest of the group steps up to help present Stadler’s avant-garde blues which is shaped by a 12-tone row. Workman’s astute bass is a highlight during this spontaneously-surging piece, but so is Washington’s unfettered sax. Since Washington later left music because of a religious conversion, Brains on Fire is one of the few places listeners can hear the obscure sax player display the width of his skills. Washington is also heard to great effect on three other tracks. The post-Coltrane “ Three Problems ” (a 1971 performance never before released) crosses the lines between hard bop and free jazz, and is an often-chaotic construction with Washington’s lacerating sax leading the charge. Workman adds a transcendent bass solo, which temporarily ebbs the high-energy level, but for the most part “ Three Problems ” is almost 13 minutes of roaring density. “ Heidi ” has a slower, spiritual treatment and listeners initially may find this to be the most coherent cut, although “ Heidi ” also eventually edges to a tumultuous portion where written and improvised sections are fused to the point where it is impossible to tell where one ends and the other commences. The other quartet tunes, “ U.C.S ” and “ All Tones ” (both on CD2), are parallel explorative compositions which delve into variations on texture, phrasing and theme akin to Coltrane’s brilliant free recitations such as Interstellar Space or Ornette Coleman’s vitality-fueled Free Jazz, where the music is elaborately extemporized and not easily absorbed in a single listen. Howard Mandel’s liner notes advise listeners to let “ U.C.S ” and “ All Tones ” sweep the listener along and it’s a good recommendation.

Two of the longer compositions employ very different approaches. The 24-minute Russ Freeman-penned “ Bea’s Flat ” (a 1974 recording offered here for the first time) is a striking, customized blues given over entirely to The Big Band of the North German Radio Station, conducted by Dieter Glawischnig. Several band members are spotlighted as soloists (sax and piano in particular) and the full ensemble actually steps away at times, emphasizing single instruments. The result is somewhat like a meeting between Duke Ellington’s and Sun Ra’s groups. Reggie Workman and Dee Dee Bridgewater’s 20-minute bass/voice pairing, “ Love in the Middle of the Air ” (a shorter take can be found on Retrospection) is nearly as remarkable in a wholly dissimilar way. Bridgewater stretches, undulates and heightens beat poet Lenore Kandel’s minimal lines, phrases and words while Workman glides and rolls on his bass with perfect sympathy: his meticulous arco work in particular is an emotional standout.

Despite recordings from four studios and engineers, there is observable and high quality engineering and audio constancy over the course of the two-hour, eight-track project. Even during the most intense moments instruments rise out from the mix rather than getting washed aside, and when the heady musical concoction is confined to just a few instruments (like bass or vocals) the sound is wonderfully expressive.

_ By Doug Simpson 
 (February 22, 2012, AUDIOPHILE AUDITION)



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JUHANI AALTONEN, REGGIE WORKMAN, ANDREW CYRILLE – Reflections (Live - 2002)

Label: TUM Records – TUM CD 007
Format: CD, Album; Country: Finland; Released: 2004
Style: Free Improvisation, Free Jazz
Artwork – Lars-Gunnar Nordström; Design – Juha Lökström, Santtu Parikka;
Re Design by ART&JAZZ Studio SALVARICA
Liner Notes – Petri Haussila, Reggie Workman
Mastered By – Henrik Otto Donner; Mixed By – Esa Santonen, Otto Donner; Photography By – Maarit Kytöharju; Photography By [Cover Painting Photographed By] – Janne Mäkinen
Producer – Petri Haussila

Recorded at Finnvox in Helsinki, Finland, on November 23, 2002 (tracks 1-6) and by Esa Santonen at the Chamber Music Hall of the Finlandia House in Helsinki, Finland, on November 22, 2002 (track 7). Mixed and mastered at DER in Tammisaari, Finland.

Juhani Aaltonen
Active Decades: '80s, '90s and '00s
Born: Dec 12, 1935 in Kouvola, Finland
Genre: Jazz Styles: Modern Creative

This Finnish saxophonist and flutist is largely associated with the fusion jazz efforts of bandleader Edward Vesala. Juhani Aaltonen began playing professionally in the late '50s and, by 1961, was somewhat of a veteran at the numerous dance gigs his fellow countrymen used to keep from freezing to death. One of his first professional jobs was in a sextet led by trumpeter Heiki Rosendahl. More serious matters on his mind, he began studying the classical flute at the Sibelius Academy, then came stateside for a stint at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. At this point, he was heavily influenced by John Coltrane and was leaning toward the free side of things, as in free improvisation and free jazz. Berklee did not round this up to a threesome and offer free tuition, however. Soon after returning to Finland, he made the jump to the big city, in this case Helsinki. There he found plentiful work as a studio hack, but was also making a name for himself on the jazz scene. It was certainly the ground floor for jazz-rock and fusion experiments, and while American artists such as Miles Davis led the way, there was much interesting music in this idiom coming out of all parts of Europe, as well. He began a successful collaboration with Edward Vesala, in the beginning involving long duo sessions. Aaltonen blew in the jazz-rock outfit Eero Koivistoinen, also laying down his first creative recording tracks in his stint with the band. He worked with this group off and on for the next four years, but the association with Vesala was also going on during this entire period. A fellow Finn, the percussionist and composer Vesala was actually the younger man by a decade. Because of this bandleader's success at cracking the international fusion jazz market, these recordings remain Aaltonen's highest profile work. A recording with the big band of Thad Jones and Mel Lewis represents even further mainstream jazz identification, although the jazz-rock ethos made an impact on this band as well after the '60s. The recording does not provide Aaltonen with much soloing space, however. He recorded with Heiki Sarmanto in 1969 and 1972, and from 1974, concentrated his energy on his efforts as a leader. He released his debut solo album, Etiquette, in 1974. In 1975, he was a member of Helsinki's New Music Orchestra. The Nordic All Stars have of course called on Aaltonen, and he has worked with the quartet of bassist Arild Andersen in the late '70s and with the hearty German saxophonist Peter Brötzmann. Aaltonen nabbed a lot of studio work in the '80s and also toured Europe with Andersen, regularly appearing on albums. The UFO Big Band project allowed him a regular solo spotlight in this period, putting him in the company of both Jan Garbarek, perhaps the most famous Scandinavian reed player, and Charlie Mariano, a bop-era saxophonist who expatriated to Europe. In the mid-'80s, something of a dream for any musician came true for Aaltonen when he received a 15-year state grant, again allowing him to concentrate on his own projects. Spirituality began to be a strong influence and he began to perform more frequently at church concerts and related events and much less at rowdy jazz- rock gigs. In the '90s, he presented a remarkable solo flute recital at the Tampere Biennale and returned to the collaboration with Sarmanto. In 1990 and 1992, Aaltonen toured with his own quartet. "For me life is an ongoing school and I am an enigma even to myself," is an example of Aaltonen's philosophy as provided by the Finnish Music Information Centre, the enigma compounded by the Centre's assertion that this comment was made on the musician's "150th birthday." In 2000, the duo of Aaltonen and Sarmanto released their most successful venture together to date, the duo recording Rise.

---Eugene Chadbourne, All Music Guide

Reviews:

The six pieces on this album turn the extroverted expressiveness of free jazz into an introverted study of quiet intensity. Recorded during a 2002 visit to Finland by Cyrille and Workman that also produced the chamber orchestra collaboration of Strings Revisited , Reflections showcases three mature voices of free jazz ’ s first wave. Their mutual respect shows in the ample room each gets to mold the trio ’ s improvisations, giving the music an expansive, exploratory atmosphere.
Five of the seven tunes are Aaltonen ’ s, and they lean towards wandering lyrical journeys. The ballad “ Serenity ” simmers with Aaltonen ’ s smoky, raw tone and Cyrille ’ s shimmering cymbal backdrop. “ Supplications ” pulls the spiritual weight of a Coltrane dirge, the trio ’ s voices merging in an impassioned cross talk. Workman first bows, then adds thick, picked phrases, Cyrille points out multiple rhythmic directions on snare and cymbal while Aaltonen unwinds long strings of husky, rasping tenor sax.

But it is Aaltonen ’ s flute that provides the album ’ s most meaningful moments. On Cyrille ’ s suite “ The Navigator, ” his full-bodied tone and heavy vibrato gives the melody lonely immediacy, contrasting sharply with Cyrille ’ s low-key march and Workman ’ s piercing upper- register stabs and double-stops. Workman underpins the second part with a cyclical, swinging 6/8, and Aaltonen shows a more rhythmic, though still melodic side. “ Still Small Voice ” again features Aaltonen, this time darting in and out of Workman and Cyrille ’ s fragmented pulse.

But the real proof of this group ’ s maturity and inventiveness is “ Effervesce, ” a tune that embodies its title. Aaltonen sets the pace with a rapid, stuttering fragment, like a bebop phrase set free from its harmonic foundation. Cyrille at first colors with shakers, a gong and glass bottle, then falls silent for Workman to enter with a churning pulse. When Cyrille re-enters, he brings the trio to a rolling boil. Just when you think they will ascend to a full out peak, Workman takes a bowed solo that is a smear of upper-register clusters and percussive beating. They create the feeling of freedom, but with an unfelt craftsmanship.
On Reflections Aaltonen, Workman and Cyrille demonstrate that free music and lyricism are not mutually exclusive ideas. By using a restraint learned from experience, they show that intense introspection can generate as much raw emotional impact as the most explosive expression.

By Matthew Wuethrich (AAJ)


While bassist Reggie Workman and drummer Andrew Cyrille are famous in advanced jazz circles, Juhani Aaltonen is lesser known despite being a veteran. Based in his native Finland, Aaltonen has long been one of the leading lights in Scandinavian free jazz. He has also performed religious music and orchestra works. His collaboration with Workman and Cyrille, despite having some very fiery and explorative moments, emphasizes ballads, lyricism and spiritual moments. While Aaltonen sometimes hints at John Coltrane (including not-too- surprisingly Trane's "Selflessness" and the opening "Serenity"), his flute playing has no obvious past role model. Taking its time, this is very much an ensemble music with Aaltonen being the lead voice among equals. It has a quiet strength all its own and grows in power and purpose with each listen. Recommended.

~ Scott Yanow, All Music



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