SAM RIVERS – Black Africa! - Villalago 1976 (Horo,2LP-1977) and Perugia 1976 (Horo,2LP-1977)

Label: Horo Records – HDP 03-04
Format: 2 × Vinyl, LP, Album; Country: Italy - Released: 1977
Style: Free Jazz, Free Improvisation
Recorded live at Villalago (Umbria Jazz) July 24, 1976,
except D2 recorded live at Perugia, July 25, 1976
Re-Design Covers By – ART&JAZZ Studio, By VITKO
Producer – Aldo Sinesio

Sam Rivers - Black Africa! Villalago
Horo HDP 3/4 (2 LP) 1977 Italy

A  -  Black Africa (Soprano Section)  19:54
B  -  Black Africa (Piano & Flute Section)  19:56
C  -  Black Africa (Flute & Tenor Section)  19:58
D1 - Black Africa (Villalago: Encore)  11:04
D2 - Black Africa (Perugia Concert: Finale)  11:03

SAM RIVERS - tenor & soprano saxophone, flute, piano, voice
JOE DALEY -  tuba, euphonium
DON PULLEN - piano (track C)
SIDNEY SMART - drums, percussion

"Umbria Jazz certainly has got to be one of the most unique jazz events in the world. Taking place in the Umbria region of central Italy, this festival is a mini tour by both participating musicians and the public of the little towns in the region. The performances take place in the piazzas or parks of the village, and no entrance fee is charged. A nominal charge is made for bus transportation to the villages. These two double albums document the performances by the Sam Rivers tour: the villages of Villalago and Perugia."
_ Carl Brauer, CADENCE / Vol. 4, No. 4 / June 1978

Sam Rivers Trio performs Rivers` composition BLACK AFRICA in Villalago/Perugia, Italy on July 24/25, 1976. Joe Daley plays tuba & euphonium and Sidney Smart is on drums and percussion. Rivers employs his usual repertoire of sax, flute, piano and screaming. In addition, the editors of this LP have seen it fit to print Don Pullen`s name in capital letters on the back cover, but I wouldn`t make too much out of this, for reasons mentioned shortly.
The set is more a free jazz freak-out than a composition. I`ve heard wilder things, but not from Rivers. The music is excellent. In addition to Rivers` contribution, especially Joe Daley on tuba is awesome. If there`s one shortcoming, it`s the sound quality, which is admittedly relatively poor. It just so happens that one of the worst moments in this regard coincides with Pullen`s comes, making his contribution barely audible. That`s why marketing this with his name seems pretty misleading.
But despite these shortcomings, I am sure you will enjoy this legendary gig.

Label: Horo Records – HDP 05-06
Format: 2 × Vinyl, LP, Album; Country: Italy - Released: 1977
Style: Free Jazz, Free Improvisation
Recorded live in Perugia (Umbria Jazz), July 25, 1976.
Re-Design Covers By – ART&JAZZ Studio, By VITKO
Producer – Aldo Sinesio

Sam Rivers - Black Africa! Perugia
Horo HDP 5/6 (2 LP) 1977 Italy

A - Black Africa! (Tenor Section)  19:55
B - Black Africa! (Piano Section)  19:47
C - Black Africa! (Flute & Soprano Sections)  16:26
D - Black Africa! (Tenor Section)  21:04

SAM RIVERS - tenor & soprano saxophone, flute, piano, voice
JOE DALEY -  tuba, euphonium
SIDNEY SMART - drums, percussion

Note:
Back covers is slightly altered in order to insert the informations which is found in the inner pages of the both albums.



If you find it, buy this album!

JIMMY LYONS – The Box Set (5CDs-1972/'85) - ayler-2003

Label: Ayler Records – aylCD-036 - 040
Format: 5 × CD, Album, Box Set, Limited Edition
Country: Sweden - Released: 2003
Style: Free Jazz, Free Improvisation
Cover [Cover Art], Design – Åke Bjurhamn
Engineer – Joe Walker (tracks: 1-1 to 3-1), Judy Schwartz (tracks: 5-1 to 5-7), Verna Gillis (tracks: 3-2 to 3-7)
Executive-Producer – Jan Ström
Photography By – Chris Green, Jerry Kambisis, Lona Foote, Maryanne Driscoll, Nils Edström, Willard Taylor
Producer [Concert-producer] – Bea Rivers (tracks: 1-1 to 3-1), Chris Rich (tracks: 5-1 to 5-7), Sam Rivers (tracks: 1-1 to 3-1), Verna Gillis (tracks: 3-2 to 3-7)
Remastered By – Per Ruthström
Transferred By, Mastered By, Liner Notes – Ben Young

Jimmy Lyons is one of the most intriguing musicians to emerge in the 1960s, as the alto saxophonist provided one of the strongest links between bebop and the New Thing. Unlike many of the movement's provincially raised exponents, Lyons spent his formative years in New York, where he was able to jam with the likes of Cannonball Adderley and Elmo Hope before his historic, quarter-century association with Cecil Taylor began in 1961. Unlike some of his contemporaries, Lyons' solos were about not just notes but phrases: short, jolting cries and serpentine, blues-drenched lines passionately and expertly strung together. There is no more direct route connecting Charlie Parker to the '60s and its ongoing aftermath than Jimmy Lyons.

Yet this did not initially benefit Lyons, who, for a number of reasons, was slow to make his own records. After balking at an offer of a Prestige date in '61, Lyons had to wait until 1969, and then only made the minor classic Other Afternoons (BYG/Actuel) because of the last- minute cancellation of a Taylor-led session. Gaining traction as the leader of working bands took even longer. Lyons' units worked primarily in the New York loft scene until well into the '70s, and it was only a few years before his death in 1986 that Lyons found a steady outlet for their music with the Black Saint label. Still, Lyons left a sufficient body of work for him to be considered a major voice in his own right, a legacy significantly enhanced by The Box Set, a five-CD collection of ensemble and solo concerts spanning the years 1972 to '85.

In a 1978 interview excerpt with WKCR programmer Taylor Storer that is included in the collection, Lyons states that he saw few distinctions between composition and improvisation, a sensibility no doubt reinforced by his association with Cecil Taylor. However, Lyons pursued this position through conventionally formatted pieces, with themes usually stated in unison by the front line. The evolution of his thematic materials is an important thread of this collection, one that is potentially overlooked given the wealth of impassioned performances. The earliest concert, a '72 Studio Rivbea set with trumpeter Raphe Malik, bass player Hayes Burnett and drummer Sidney Smart, reveals Lyons to be navigating several overlapping currents. The tune that came to be Lyons' signature, "Jump Up," is a revving motivic line somewhat in the vein of Sonny Rollins' "East Broadway Run Down." "Mr. 1-2-5 Street" shows adeptness at the early Ornette Coleman gambit of gluing together fragmentary phrases with buoyant rhythmic shifts. And "Ballad 1" initially drifts toward Coleman and then veers with a Coltrane-ish phrase.

Largely because of his alto's central role, Lyons' pieces never seem derivative. The saxophonist bonded a jabbing attack and a plaintive tone in an instantly recognizable manner, and everything he wrote flowed from the resulting soul-stirring sound. This is most evident in the hour-plus solo concert recorded in '81 at Soundscape. It is simply engrossing to hear Lyons' sense of design morph effortlessly into cascading improvisations without being triggered by the abrupt abandonment of the theme by a second horn or the on-cue stretching of the rhythm section. This is not to suggest that Lyons could not achieve comparable results at the helm of a small group, a fact attested to by the expansive '75 trio outing with Burnett and drummer Henry Letcher. Still, this 90-minute Studio Rivbea workout does not represent Lyons' music at its pinnacle.
It takes the enlistment of two musicians outside the New York loft scene for Lyons' ensemble sound to reach full maturity. One is Paul Murphy, a drummer whose relentless drive and conservatory-honed precision and agility could single-handedly propel Lyons' music, as confirmed by a bass-less 1984 concert recorded in Geneva. However, the crucial catalytic voice in Lyons' group was bassoonist Karen Borca, the most dazzling double-reed player in jazz history. Not only did Borca's throaty chortle perfectly complement Lyons' tone, her virtuosity gave Lyons the latitude to ratchet up the degree of difficulty of his rapid-fire themes and to explore contrapuntal writing. On both the Geneva concert and the '85 Brown University concert that closes this set (with the now omnipresent William Parker rounding out the quartet), Borca's subwooferlike rumble in the heads and her high-voltage solos prove to be essential to Lyons' music.

All in all, The Box Set is a triumph.

_ By BILL SHOEMAKER, JazzTimes



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