SAM RIVERS – Waves (Tomato Records – TOM-8002 / LP-1979)

Label: Tomato – TOM-8002

Format: Vinyl, LP, Album / Country: US / Released: 1979

Style: Free Jazz, Free Improvisation

Recorded at Big Apple Studio in New York City on August 8, 1978.

Design – Milton Glaser

Photography By – Steve Salmieri

Engineer – Elvin Campbell, James Jordan

Produced by Rivbea Music Company
Liner Notes – Robert Palmer

All compositions by Sam Rivers

Matrix / Runout (Side A Label): TOM 8002-A

Matrix / Runout (Side B Label): TOM 8002-B

A1 - Shockwave .............................................................................. 14:58

A2 - Torch ......................................................................................... 7:05

B1 - Pulse ....................................................................................... 10:33

B2 - Flux ........................................................................................... 6:10

B3 - Surge ........................................................................................ 5:18

Personnel:

Sam Rivers – tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, flute, piano

Dave Holland –  bass, cello

Joe Daley – tuba, baritone horn

Thurman Barker – drums, percussion

Waves is an album by American jazz saxophonist Sam Rivers featuring performances recorded in 1978 and released on the Tomato label.

An explosive late '70s set with underrated composer, multi-instrumentalist, and arranger Sam Rivers leading a strong quartet. While bassist and cellist Dave Holland and percussionist Thurman Barker merged to form a strong, challenging rhythm section, Rivers and Joe Daley, playing tuba and baritone horn, worked together to create instrumental dialogues in sequence. Their array of contrasting voicings, with Rivers on tenor and soprano sax and flute, makes for compelling listening.

(_ Review by Ron Wynn)

Here's a LP that I love very much. Tomato Records (TOM-8002) as one of the great documents of 70s creative jazz. Sam Rivers is one of the all-time greats on tenor sax, and a mean soprano, flute, and piano player, as well. Anyone who's caught his trio live in recent years can attest to the fact that his talents are undiminished, even at the age of 80. This particular album was recorded in 1978, and prominently features bassist Dave Holland, one of Rivers' most sympathetic collaborators of the decade. Holland is the anchor here, with Thurman Barker's spare, understated, and masterfully economical drumming going from rapid hi-hat timekeeping to volcanic surges of Varese-like pile-ups. The bass player has an almost unreal sense of time, and his rapid, wandering lines are consistently articulated with impeccable clarity. Also holding the bottom end down is Joe Daley's tuba. He handles What one would assume to be an unweildly instrument for fast-paced improvisation with a deftness that allows him to flow easily amongst the quicksilver play of the other musicians. Daley also plays baritone horn on the opening cut "Shockwave", his lines and Holland's interlocking in a fluid tussle. The piece opens with Rivers on the piano, playing with a robust, but beautiful force that prefigures the style Matthew Shipp would take to the next level some years later. After the aforementioned duet between Holland and Daley, Barker gradually asserts his presence, while Rivers enters on tenor. His angular, clean lines evolve into impassioned shrieks, while the rapid free-bop pace never lets up. "Torch" is a similarly speedy number, with Rivers on flute. After the rhythmic, acoustic quasi-fusion of "Pulse", where Holland's playing most recalls his work with Miles Davis, "Flux" features the bassist's cello playing in a duet with Rivers' piano. The piece recalls twelve-tone classical in its more restrained moments, before building up into a dramatic cloud of sound accented by Barker's bells. Rivers' rich tenor returns on the closing "surge", as does Daley's tuba. Holland stretches out on arco bass while Barker lays low for much of the track, adding manic snare shapes at unpredictable peaks. Overall, this album met with my high expectations.

If you find it, buy this album!

JOSEPH JARMAN – As If It Were The Seasons (Delmark-1968 / Re-CD-1996)

Label: Delmark Records – DD-417

Format: CD, Album, Reissue / Country: US / Released: 27 Aug 1996

Original vinyl released: Delmark Records ‎– DS-417 (1968) / A.A.C.M. Jazz Series

Style: Free Jazz, Free Improvisation

Track 1 / Recorded at Ter-Mar Studios, July 17, 1968.

Track 2 / Recorded at Ter-Mar Studios, June 19, 1968.

Design [Cover] – Joseph Jarman, Zbigniew Jastrzebski

Engineer, Remix – Paul Serrano

Producer, Supervised By – Robert G. Koester

Recorded By – Malcolm Chisholm

Reissue Producer – Steve Wagner

All compositions by Joseph Jarman
Remixed and remastered from the original analog tapes.

01 - As If It Were The Seasons / Song To Make The Sun Come Up ................. 23:47

02 - Song for Christopher ................................................................................... 20:58

Personnel:

Joseph Jarman – alto sax, basoon, fife, recorder, soprano sax

Charles Clark – bass, cello, koto

Thurman Barker – drums

Sherri Scott – voice

Muhal Richard Abrams – piano, oboe (track 2)

Joel Brandon – flute (track 2)

Fred Anderson – tenor sax (track 2)

John Stubblefield – tenor sax (track 2)

John Jackson – trumpet (track 2)

Lester Lashley – trombone (track 2)

After the death of Christopher Gaddy, who played piano on his debut album, "Song For", Jarman played with the rhythm section of bassist Charles Clark and drummer Thurman Barker. For concerts he invited guests as Sherri Scott, who adds his voice to the trio for the first pieces in this record. Jarman composed "Song for Christopher", based on incomplete notations by the pianist, as a memorial to Gaddy. The piece was recorded by the group augmented by six musicians. Clark died on April 15, 1969 at twenty- four, he had taken part only in three recordings, Muhal Richard Abrams’s "Levels and Degrees of Light", Jarman’s "Song For" and this album.

As If It Were The Seasons was Joseph Jarman's second album for Delmark records, following his 1966 debut, Song For. Recorded in 1968, it is a rare document of his artistry pre-Art Ensemble of Chicago. Remastered from the original analog tapes, this reissue sheds new light on a seminal free jazz classic.

The album contained two extended compositions; each one filling a side of the original vinyl release. Side one combined the title track with "Song To Make The Sun Come Up," both exercises in restraint and dynamic variation. Accompanied by bassist Charles Clark and drummer Thurman Barker, Jarman alternates between a number of reeds for color and texture. Drifting through patches of meditative silence broken by skittering percussion and breathy supplication, the trio ascends to a cathartic release led by Jarman, who unfurls an alto sax solo bristling with tension and fury.

As the storm subsides, under-recognized vocalist Sherri Scott materializes. Free jazz vocals are generally an acquired taste, but Scott delivers lyrical phrases with pitch control and subtle dynamics worthy of Sarah Vaughan. Blending notes and tones with élan, she dovetails with Jarman's alto as he soars upward with circuitous abandon. Sharing a moment of tender vulnerability toward the end, they float in unison over a haunting landscape of sinuous arco bass and scintillating percussion.

Dedicated to the late pianist Christopher Gaddy, "Song For Christopher" occupied the second side and augmented the quartet with six additional musicians. Pianist Muhal Richard Abrams, and tenor saxophonists Fred Anderson and John Stubblefield would all go on to great acclaim. Flutist Joel Brandon is now best known for his unconventional whistling, but trumpeter John Jackson and trombonist Lester Lashley have unfortunately since faded into obscurity.

Slowly gaining steam until the entire ensemble is in full swing, the episodic composition follows a dramatically unfolding arc. Expanding from a glacially rising vortex of sound into a gorgeous ascending melody, the group harmonizes on a buoyant line full of optimistic verve before tearing into a manic screed rivaling John Coltrane's Ascension (Impulse!, 1965) in density.

In the midst of the fray, Abrams' kinetic piano assault sidesteps Anderson's brawny tenor explosions as the entire group erupts in testimonial cries. The collective climax ends abruptly, yielding a nuanced coda ripe with exotic timbres; Scott's ghostly vocalese drifts through a magical soundscape of Asiatic percussion before fading into the ether.

In league with contemporaneous masterpieces like Roscoe Mitchell's "Sound" (Delmark, 1966) and Anthony Braxton's "3 Compositions of New Jazz" (Delmark, 1968), "As If It Were The Seasons" continues to challenge and reward listeners almost five decades later.

_Review by Troy Collins, AAJ

If you find it, buy this album!

ROSCOE MITCHELL – L-R-G / The Maze / S II Examples (2LP-1978)

Label: Nessa Records – N-14/15

Format: 2 × Vinyl, LP, Album / Country: US / Released: 1978

Style: Free Jazz, Free Improvisation

A/B - "L-R-G" recorded August 7, 1978, at Van Gelder Recording Studio.

C - "The Maze" recorded July 27, 1978, at Columbia Studios.

D - "S II Examples" recorded August 17, 1978, at Streetville Studios.

Artwork – Arnold A. Martin

Composed By – Roscoe Mitchell

Photography By – Ann Nessa

Producer – Chuck Nessa

A  -  L-R-G (Part One) .......... 18:49

B  -  L-R-G (Part Two) .......... 17:40

ROSCOE MITCHELL – Piccolo Flute, Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Soprano Saxophone, Alto Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone, Baritone Saxophone, Bass Saxophone

LEO SMITH – Trumpet, Trumpet [Pocket Trumpet], Flugelhorn

GEORGE LEWIS – Tuba [Wagner Tuba], Sousaphone, Trombone [Alto], Trombone [Tenor]

(Engineer – Rudy Van Gelder)

C  -  The Maze ..........20:40

JOSEPH JARMAN – Bells, Xylophone [Balafon], Horns [Bike Horns, Conch Shell], Cymbal [Cymbal, Chinese, Cymbal Rack], Congas [Drums], Bells [Hand Bells], Drums, Gong, Marimba, Percussion [Tom Tom], Vibraphone, Gong [Temple Gong]

ANTHONY BRAXTON – Drums [Bass, Snare], Cymbal, Glockenspiel, Percussion [Garbage Can Machine, Sloshing Can Machine, Wash Tub], Marimba [Marimba, Marimba Can Machine], Bells [Orchestra Bells], Xylophone

MALACHI FAVORS – Drums [Log Drum], Gong, Xylophone [Balafon], Percussion [Cans], Bells [Hand Bells], Shaker, Horns [Seal Horn], Tambourine, Gong [Temple Gong], Zither

THURMAN BARKER – Drums, Cowbell, Congas [Conga Drum], Gong, Glockenspiel, Bells [Hand Bells], Marimba, Slapstick, Triangle, Whistle

DON MOYE – Drums, Xylophone [Balafon], Cowbell, Congas [Drums], Cymbal [Cymbal Rack], Gong [Gong, Temple Gong], Bells [Hand Bells], Horns [Little Horns], Marimba, Triangle, Percussion [Wood Blocks]

ROSCOE MITCHELL – Glockenspiel [Buggle], Horns [Bicycle], Xylophone [Balafon], Cowbell [Cowbells, Swiss Cowbells, Swinging Swiss Cowbells], Cymbal [Cymbal, Finger Cymbal, Tuned Cymbals, Zizzle Cymbals], Congas [Drum], Percussion [Cycle Sprocket, Dinner Chimes, Frying Pans, Thunder Sheet, Temple Blocks, Wood Blocks, Wood Desk], Gong, Bells [Dome Bell, Hanging Bell, Large Swinging Bell, Swinging Bells], Horns [Press Horn], Triangle

HENRY THREADGILL – Gong [Gong, Cymbal Gongs], Cymbal [Finger Cymbal], Percussion [Garbage Can Bottoms, Hubkaphone, Rhythm Sticks], Bells [Hand Bells], Brass [Plumbing Brass], Dulcimer

DOUGLAS EWART – Percussion [Bamboo Table], Cymbal [Cymbal, Zizzle Cymbal], Cowbell [Cowbells, Wooden], Glockenspiel [Large, Small], Bells [Door Bell, Hanging Bells, Little Bells, Winding Bell], Gong, Marimba, Xylophone [Metal]

(Engineer – Don Puluse)

D  -  S II Examples .......... 17:15

ROSCOE MITCHELL – Soprano Saxophone

(Engineer – Mark Rubenstein)

Roscoe Mitchell is mostly, and rightly, reckoned with his work as a leading member of the hardscrabble, meta-instrumental, and enormously influential avant-garde jazz group Art Ensemble of Chicago. However, Mitchell also owns a considerable stake in composed music of a kind considerable as classical, which makes use of written materials to drive determinate kinds of improvisation, or even some non-improvised interpretation in the conventional sense. Mitchell's serious work in so-called "serious music" was recognized at the academic level in 2007, when Mitchell was named to the Darius Milhaud Chair of composition at Mills College in Oakland, and many writers date Mitchell's shift of focus to the 1990s when he began to work with such non-jazz, creative musicians as classically trained vocalist Thomas Buckner. However, for Mitchell, contact with classical music disciplines goes back to his very early days as a student in Germany. Nessa's LP Roscoe Mitchell/L-R-G, The Maze, S II Examples documents a period in 1978, when Mitchell was beginning to work on his composed strategies with usual suspect figures from the jazz world, some from the Art Ensemble itself.

In 1978, Michigan-based indie Nessa Records had almost exclusive access to Mitchell and his associates, as the Art Ensemble of Chicago had barely begun its association with ECM -- the first fruits of which did not appear until 1979 -- and the group was reaching the end of a five-year hiatus that also witnessed the collapse of some of the labels it recorded for. The Maze brings the entire Art Ensemble membership, minus Lester Bowie, and other free jazz luminaries such as Anthony Braxton and Henry Threadgill, to serve as percussionists. Rather than being a rattletrap barrage of percussion as one might expect, The Maze is a carefully controlled polyphonic texture of percussion sounds that is mostly vertical and moves forward in a deliberate progression. The quality of the sound in this 1978 recording is astounding, made at the 30th Street Studio belonging to CBS Records. L-R-G (i.e., "L"eo Smith, "R"oscoe Mitchell, and "G"eorge Lewis), brings this high-powered trio of improvisers into contact with an orchestra's wealth of instruments, divided by range and type: woodwinds for Mitchell, high and low brass, respectively, for Smith and Lewis. Like The Maze, this is a slowly forward-evolving catalog of special sounds; however, in this case the sounds are specific to the players involved. S II Examples, likewise, began as a trio for soprano saxophones for Mitchell, Joseph Jarman, and Anthony Braxton, but Mitchell realized his curved soprano provided him with some additional flexibility that the straight saxes favored and the others did not. So he decided to record it as a solo piece, and it is an extraordinary one; Mitchell's microcosmic understanding of gradations of tone is virtually encyclopedic, and the amount of wiggle room he has between two half steps is such that when he plays three or four "regular" notes by way of transition, it's an event.

In a superficial sense, Nessa's LP Roscoe Mitchell/L-R-G, The Maze, S II Examples does not represent a radical departure from Mitchell's work as a jazz musician, as does, say, Skies of America does for Ornette Coleman; those who follow Mitchell's work in jazz will well recognize him in comfortable voice here. Nevertheless, for listeners attuned to contemporary art music coming to Roscoe Mitchell with little or no knowledge of his work with the Art Ensemble of Chicago should likewise easily understand how his rigorous approach in organizing improvised elements fits in with the rest of the classical avant-garde. Beyond that, Nessa's vinyl Roscoe Mitchell/L-R-G, The Maze, S II Examples is a splendidly recorded, and inasmuch as Roscoe Mitchell as classical composer is concerned, this is very close to where it truly starts.

Review by Uncle Dave Lewis

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!

RICHARD ABRAMS – Levels And Degrees Of Light (LP-1967)

Label: Delmark Records – DS-413
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album; Country: US - Released: 1968
Style: Free Jazz, Free Improvisation
Recorded at Sound Studio, 7 July 1967 (side A), and Recorded at Ter-Mar, 21 Dec 1967 (side B)
Composed By, Written-by, Artwork By [Cover Art], Clarinet, Piano – Richard Abrams
Design [Cover Design] – Zbigniew Jastrzebski
Re-Design of the original cover, made ​​ART & JAZZ Studio, by VITKO
Producer [Album Production], Other [Supervisor] – Robert G. Koester
Engineer, Recorded By – Stu Black
Liner Notes – Marc Little

Although recorded early in the career of Muhal Richard Abrams, this brilliant LP shows the pianist/composer turning away from the stock jazz and studio work of earlier years -- to develop into one of the richest talents to rise from the Chicago avant underground of the 60s! At the time of the recording, Abrams was the president of the recently-founded AACM -- and for the session, he's surrounded himself with some of the best young talents from Chicago, including Thurman Barker, Anthony Braxton, Leroy Jenkins, and Maurice McIntyre -- all of whom help to create a complicated web of colors, shapes, and sounds, that prove that the youthful energy of the underground scene was more than capable of crafting sophisticated modernist documents. The album features three long works -- "Levels & Degrees Of Light", "My Thoughts Are My Future" and "The Bird Song".

 

ARTISTS: Muhal Richard Abrams (clarinet, piano); Anthony Braxton (alto sax); Leroy Jenkins (violin); Maurice McIntyre (tenor sax); Gordon Emmanuel (vibes); Charles Clark (bass); Thurman Barker (drums); Penelope Taylor (vocals); David Moore (poet) 

Muhal Richard Abrams, in the end '70s

Muhal Richard Abrams, Saalfelden 2007

Levels and Degrees of Light was the first recording under Muhal Richard Abrams' name and was a landmark album that launched the first in a long line of beautiful, musical salvos from the AACM toward the mainstream jazz world. The title track finds Abrams broadly tracing out some of the territory he would continue to explore in succeeding decades, an ethereal, mystic quality (evinced by Penelope Taylor's otherworldly vocalizing and Gordon Emmanuel's shimmering vibes) balanced by a harsh and earthy bluesiness set forth by the leader's piercing clarinet. "The Bird Song" begins with a fine, dark poetry recitation by David Moore (oh! for the days when one didn't approach a poem on a jazz album with great trepidation) before evanescing into a whirlwind of percussion, bird whistles, and violin (the latter by Leroy Jenkins in one of his first recorded appearances). When the band enters at full strength with Anthony Braxton (in his first recording session), the effect is explosive and liberating, as though Abrams' band had stood on the shoulders of Coltrane, Coleman, and Taylor and taken a massive, daring leap into the future. It's a historic performance. The final track offers several unaccompanied solo opportunities, spotlighting Abrams' sumptuous piano and the under-recognized bass abilities of Charles Clark. This is a milestone recording and belongs in the collection of any modern jazz fan.

_ By BRIAN OLEWNICK

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