CHICO FREEMAN – Chico (LP-1977 / India Navigation ‎– IN 1031)

Label: India Navigation ‎– IN 1031

Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Silver labels / Country: US / Released: 1977

Style: Free Jazz, Free Improvisation

Recorded at India Navigation Records, 1977 / Merger - Recorded in concert, New York

Artwork [Cover Art] – James Russell

Produced by India Navigation Company

Matrix / Runout (Side A, etched): IN-1031-A

Matrix / Runout (Side B, etched): IN-1031-B

Note: Track A2 is not listed on the label, only on the back cover.

A1 - Moments ................................................................................................ 16:30

a)      Generation

b)      Regeneration

A2 - And All The World Moved...  .................................................................. 10:00

B  -  Merger ................................................................................................... 16:00

Personnel:

Chico Freeman – tenor saxophone, flute, bass clarinet

Cecil McBee – bass

Muhal Richard Abrams – piano

Steve McCall – drums, percussion

Tito Sampa – percussion

Chico (LP-1977) was mostly taken up by the 17-minute two-movement suite Moments, the 10-minutes And All The World Moved... (a duet with bassist Cecil McBee), and the 16-minute jam Merger, for a piano-based quintet (McBee, pianist Muhal Richard Abrams, drummer Steve McCall, percussionist Tito Sampa).

As part of the Freeman family legacy of Chicago; his father, legendary NEA Jazz Master* saxophonist Von Freeman; his uncles, guitarist George Freeman; and drummer Bruz Freeman, Chico amassed a diverse résumé of performing R&B to blues, hard bop to avant-garde. His collegiate studies in Advanced Composition and Theory at Northwestern University led him to teach composition at the AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians) Music School, and while attaining his Masters in Composition and Theory at Governor State University, he studied composition with NEA Jazz Master Muhal Richard Abrams...

* Note:

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), every year honors up to seven jazz musicians with Jazz Master Awards. The National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters Fellowships are the highest honors that the United States bestows upon jazz musicians.

Although jazz was the first music Freeman was exposed to, many of his early professional gigs were at Chicago clubs with such blues artists as Memphis Slim, and Lucky Carmichael.

After arriving in New York, he immediately began working with Jeanne Lee, Mickey Bass, John Stubblefield, and Cecil McBee. Through apprenticeships in New York and abroad with such innovators as Elvin Jones, Don Pullen, Sam Rivers, Sun Ra, and Jack DeJohnette, Freeman developed his own group and rapidly rose to prominence with his energetic and exploratory style...

When superstar bands were being organized by promoters in Europe, Freeman brought together The Leaders — an all-star sextet of internationally recognized bandleaders. The group, consisting of Cecil McBee, Kirk Lightsey, Lester Bowie, Arthur Blythe, and Famadou Don Moye, set the standard for eclectic and innovative music from a band comprised entirely of composers...

Freeman elaborates, “First comes expression, and when you find yourself in need of being able to express more, you develop the technique in order to accomplish that objective.” For Freeman, Spoken Into Existence manifests in notes and tones the meaning of Michael Jordan’s dictum, “You have to see it to be it” (or, as Freeman puts it, that “you can manifest what you want to achieve or materialize it if you can see it clearly”) and the aphorism, “words are things.”

Freeman has perfected an immediately recognizable approach to music and composition, blending what he has experienced from his past and providing fluidity into a future of infinite musical possibilities.

(Excerpts from the biography of Chico Freeman)

http://chicofreeman.com/biography/

If you find it, buy this album!

MUHAL RICHARD ABRAMS – Things To Come From Those Now Gone (LP-1975)

Label: Delmark Records – DS-430

Format: Vinyl, LP, Album / Country: US / Released: 1975

Style: Free Jazz

Recorded October 10 & 11, 1972 at P.S. Studios, Chicago.

Artwork By [Cover] – Graphica Studios, Chicago

Design [Cover], Photography By [Cover] – Earl McGhee

Producer, Supervised By – Robert G. Koester

Recorded By – Paul Serrano

A1 - Ballad For New Souls ................................................................ 4:32

A2 - Things To Come From Those Now Gone ................................. 4:03

A3 - How Are You? ........................................................................... 4:33

A4 - In Retrospect ............................................................................. 3:41

A5 - Ballad For Lost Souls ................................................................ 5:50

B1 - 1 And 4 Plus 2 And 7 ................................................................. 9:58

B2 - March Of The Transients ........................................................... 6:09

Muhal Richard Abrams – piano, composed

Edwin Daugherty – alto/tenor saxophone (tracks: A2, B2)

Richard Brown – tenor saxophone (track: A4)

Wallace McMillan – flute, alto saxophone (tracks: A1, A2, B2)

Emanuel Cranshaw – vibraphone (tracks: A3, A5)

Reggie Willis – bass (tracks: A2, B2)

Rufus Reid – bass (tracks: A3, A4, A5)

Steve McCall – drums, percussion (tracks: A2, B1)

Wilbur Campbell – drums, percussion (tracks: A2, B2)

Ella Jackson – vocal (track: A3)

I have often found the work of Muhal Richard Abrams uneven. The best of it floors me and some of it goes right by, but it is almost always engaging and the musical intelligence and integrity involved are impeccable. Things to Come From Those Now Gone has a lot of variety, from the opening duo between Abrams' piano and Edwin Daugherty's flute to a couple of high-energy quintet killers. Abrams' impressionistic side is in evidence on a few tracks, and it's this aspect of his music I have grown to appreciate over the years. The differing styles and approaches balance each other convincingly, but overall, this one ranks with Abrams' best.

Pianist Muhal Richard Abrams will forever be remembered as a cofounder of Chicago's venerated Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). While his leadership in the organization is admirable (he was president almost continuously from 1965 to 1977), Abrams was a musical innovator as well. Things to Come from Those Now Gone was his third album for Delmark.  It’s the last to be reissued by the label and remains one of Abrams most eclectic offerings. As if in deference to his position as educator the gathering of players on hand for the date is largely made up of AACM students. Abrams makes use of the musicians’ blossoming talents in a broad variety of harmonic and melodic ways. Featuring the talents of reedist Richard Brown, bassist Rufus Reid, drummer Steve McCall, and others, the album is extremely varied, featuring different combinations of instruments on each of the seven tracks. Abrams and company often dwell on elegiac musings rooted in the blues, early jazz, and gospel, but there is also some ferocious free jazz interplay at times. The pianist's playing is often contemplative, filled with open spaces and spare chords; when he does pick up the pace, though, Abrams produces material that fits nicely into the great bop-colored traditions in much the same way the Art Ensemble of Chicago's music does. Undoubtedly a sign of how fresh this album sounded when it was originally released, the music here is timeless. 

_ by Tad Hendrickson

50 Years of AACM - Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians

If you find it, buy this album!

WILDFLOWERS 1 – The New York Loft Jazz Sessions (Douglas / LP1-1977)

Label: Douglas – NBLP 7045

Series: Wildflowers: The New York Loft Jazz Sessions – 1

Format: Vinyl, LP, Album / Country: US / Released: 1977

Style: Free Jazz, Free Improvisation

Recorded May 14 thru May 23, 1976 at Studio Rivbea, 24 Bond Street, New York.

Engineer [Assistant] – Les Kahn

Engineer [Chief] – Ron Saint Germain

Engineer [Remote Assistant] – Matt Murray

Executive-producer – Harley I. Lewin

Liner Notes – Ross Firestone

Mastered By – Ray Janos

Photography By – Peter Harron

Producer – Alan Douglas, Michael Cuscuna, Sam Rivers

A1 - Kalaparusha – Jays ...................................................................................... 6:00

        Bass, Electric Bass – Chris White

        Drums – Jumma Santos

        Tenor Saxophone – Kalaparusha (Maurice McIntyre)

A2 - Ken McIntyre – New Times .......................................................................... 7:25

        Alto Saxophone – Ken McIntyre (Makanda)

        Congas – Andy Vega

        Percussion [Multiple] – Andrei Strobert

        Piano – Richard Harper

A3 - Sunny Murray & The Untouchable Factor – Over The Rainbow ................. 5:30

        Alto Saxophone – Byard Lancaster

        Bass – Fred Hopkins

        Drums – Sunny Murray

        Tenor Saxophone – David Murray

        Vibraphone – Khan Jamal

B1 - Sam Rivers – Rainbows ............................................................................. 10:00

        Bass – Jerome Hunter

        Drums – Jerry Griffin

        Soprano Saxophone – Sam Rivers

B2 - Air – Usu Dance ............................................................................................ 7:45

        Alto Saxophone – Henry Threadgill

        Bass – Fred Hopkins 
         Drums, Percussion – Steve McCall

In the mid-1970s, a jazz renaissance blossomed in large New York loft spaces that the musicians had reclaimed from the depressed blocks of the trendy Soho and Noho areas. The Wildflowers sessions, originally released on Douglas on five LPs, captured performances by almost 100 musicians in numerous configurations. The recordings were made over two weekends at the most famed of the lofts, Studio Rivbea, the home and workspace of saxophonist-flutist-composer Sam Rivers and his wife, Beatrice. Rivers orchestrated the lineup, played host to patrons, and performed as well. The sessions featured many figures well-established in New York, including Rivers, drummer Andrew Cyrille, and pianist Randy Weston, but they also attracted players from the seedbed of so much African American aesthetic jazz exploration in the 1960s and '70s, Chicago.

In addition, Rivers invited to town some key players from Philadelphia and New Haven; there were several newcomers to New York, too, including, from out West, a very young David Murray. The music all had immediacy and urgency fitting to the aesthetic task at hand--to consolidate the gains of the free-jazz and New Thing movements of the 1960s. Indeed, many of the players remain key figures today in that project: Anthony Braxton, Roscoe Mitchell, and Leo Smith among them. In addition to their performances, highlights of the package include Rivers's radiant meandering over his composition "Rainbow"; pianist Weston's impassioned homage to his father; and performances by important, but often under-recognized innovators, including saxophonist Ken McIntyre and pianist Dave Burrell. Here is a seminal document in American music...

If you find it, buy this album!

CECIL McBEE SEXTET – Music From The Source (LP-1978)

Label: Enja Records – enja 3019

Format: Vinyl, LP; Country: Germany - Released: 1978

Style: Free Jazz, Contemporary Jazz

Recorded "live" at Sweet Basils, N.Y.C. Date: August 2, 1977.

E. Producer: Horst Weber

Producer: Cecil McBee

Engineer : Bob Cummins

Mastering: David Baker

Cover Design: Weber/Winckelmann

Cover Photo: Gerd Chesi

A - Agnez (with respect to Roy Haynes) (Cecil McBee) . . . 19:14

B1 - God Spirit (Cecil McBee) . . . 8:15
B2 - First Song in the Day (Hal Galper) . . . 17:20

CECIL McBEE – Bass
CHICO FREEMAN – Flute, Tenor Sax
JOE GARDNER – Trumpet, Flugelhorn
DENNIS MOORMAN – Piano
STEVE McCALL – Drums
DON MOYE – Percussion

Other than a 1974 set for Strata-East, this post-bop effort was bassist Cecil McBee's earliest recording as a leader. With Chico Freeman (heard on tenor and flute) as the most impressive soloist, McBee performs two originals and a piece by Hal Galper in a sextet that also includes trumpeter Joe Gardner, pianist Dennis Moorman, drummer Steve McCall and Don Moye on conga. The music is spiritual in nature, sometimes quite modal and in the adventurous genre of John Coltrane without being derivative. A fine live set, one of two recorded within a two-day period at New York's Sweet Basil.
_ By SCOTT YANOW

If you find it, buy this album!

JOSEPH JARMAN - from " The Art Ensemble Of Chicago " – Song For (1967) / Goody LP-1971

Label: Goody – GY 30003 / Goody Series Vol. 3
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Unofficial Release
Country: France - Released: 1971
Style: Free Jazz, Free Improvisation
Recorded 1966, Sound Studios Inc., Chicago
Engineer – Stu Black
Liner Notes – Claude Delcloo
Photography By [Photo] – Philippe Gras
Producer – Robert G. Koester
Producer [Serie Directed By] – Claude Delcloo, Jean Luc Young
Supervised By – Chuck Nessa

A1 - Little Fox Run  7:00
A2 - Non-Cognitive Aspects Of The City  14:00
B1 - Adam's Rib  5:52
B2 - Song For  13:23

JOSEPH JARMAN – alto saxophone, voice [recitation]
FRED ANDERSON – tenor saxophone (tracks: A1, B1, B2)
WILLIAM BRINFIELD – trumpet (tracks: A1, B1, B2)
CHRISTOPHER GADDY – piano, marimba
CHARLES CLARK – bass
STEVE McCALL – drums (tracks: A1, B1, B2)
THURMAN BARKER – drums (track A2)

Delmark cover (LP-1967)

Description:
Chicago, 1966: the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians had just formed; the Art Ensemble of Chicago was slowly coalescing. Multi-reeds player Joseph Jarman gathered some of the top players in this nascent Chicago scene (including Fred Anderson and Steve McCall), creating a recording that is near archetypal in its sound. All of the characteristic elements of the AACM sound are here: the cooperative spirit of the players, the use of so-called "little instruments" and innovative textures, and the alternating of wild free- blowing with a disciplined invocation of silences. Thurman Barker joins McCall on drums; their thoroughly melodic drumming is masterful. Along with some of Roscoe Mitchell's early efforts and early Art Ensemble recordings, this is an essential window into one of the most fertile and imaginative eras in jazz.

Joseph Jarman - 1966: Part wizard, part priest, balancing on the cusp of two groups. His first opportunity to record his music presents a dilemma - which he solves by involving all. We should be thankful for the resultant music. Not only did he reveal some of himself, but gave us an introduction to the compositions and playing of (Bill) Brimfield and Fred (Anderson), the percussive delights of Thurman (Barker) and Steve (McCall), the best documentation of Charles Clark and the only offerings of Christopher Gaddy that we can now experience.
_ By MICHAEL MONHART


This was one of the early classics of the AACM. Altoist Joseph Jarman, who would become a permanent member of the Art Ensemble of Chicago shortly after this recording, is heard in a sextet with trumpeter William Brimfield, the legendary tenor Fred Anderson, pianist Christopher Gaddy, bassist Charles Clark, and either Steve McCall or Thurman Barker on drums. The four very diverse improvisations include one that showcases a Jarman recitation, a dirge, the intense "Little Fox Run," and the title cut, which contrasts sounds and a creative use of silence. Overall, this music was the next step in jazz after the high-energy passions of the earlier wave of the avant-garde started to run out of fresh ideas. It's recommended for open- eared listeners...
_ Review by SCOTT YANOW



If you find it, buy this album!

AIR – Live In Moers, Germany (May 29, 1977)

Label: Private recording / DP-0766

Format: CD, Album - Released: 1977

Style: Free Improvisation

Recorded live in Moers Jazz Festival, Germany on May 29, 1977.

Design by ART&JAZZ Studio Salvarica 

Artwork and Complete Design by VITKO

All compositions by Henry Threadgill

In front of you is another very, very rare recording of the original lineup AIR, not released on any record label, but played in Moers International Jazz Festival on May 29 in 1977.

01. Announcement (0:23)
02. Celebration (29:12)
03. No.2 (12:41)
04. Great Body of the Riddle or Where were the Dodge Boys when my Clay started to Slide (15:46)
05. Angel Sun (8:28)

HENRY THREADGILL – alto sax, tenor sax, baritone sax, flute
FRED HOPKINS – bass
STEVE McCALL – drums


The sound is great, enjoy!



Link in Comments!