TODD CAPP & THE IMPROVISING ORCHESTRA – Volume 1: Quintessence (1999)

Label: Lucky Tiger – LT 10013
(Discovery Series – Promo/1000; Collector’s Edition)
Format: CD, Album; Country: US - Released: 1999
Style: Free Jazz, Free Improvisation
Recorded live at the BragrTimes / Tanglewood Gallery Downtown, NYC, November 27, 1978 
Digital Mastering from original analog cassette by - Sascha von Oertzen
Cover Design by ’Island Graphics’, by - Augustus Goertz
Produced by - Tood Capp

Note:

Drummer Todd Capp was a mainstay of the Downtown music scene in NYC in the 1970s, then ran a downtown art gallery for many years, and is now back on the music scene in full force. His 1978 performance of his Improvising Orchestra at the Tanglewood Gallery Downtown, which was released on the Lucky Tiger label, is a classic today.

Todd Capp is a remarkable drummer of softness and subtlety within a tradition of great drummers who gradually build a circular temple of sound increasing in small increments over a long stretch.

Beautiful recording and definitely different sound.

Enjoy!



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RAPHE MALIK QUARTET – Last Set: Live at The 1369 Jazz Club 1984 (2004)

Label: Boxholder Records – BXH042
Format: CD, Album; Country: US - Released: 2004
Style: Free Jazz, Post Bop, Contemporary Jazz
Recorded live on September 13, 1984 at The 1369 Jazz Club, Cambridge Massachussets
Re-Design (pages 2,3,4,5,6) by ART&JAZZ Studio; Designer: VITKO - 2013
Edited By, Mastered By – Jim Hemingway

Review:

The release of Last Set: Live at the 1369 Jazz Club apparently helps to fill a huge hole in the discography of trumpeter Raphe Malik, a free jazz stylist whose improvising as well as manner of presentation are perpetually personal and fresh, a far cry from mindless conformity and a handy weapon in weeding out such attitudes. The wimps will have fled home for what is sometimes called "the late night hipsters' set." Anyone still left is either seriously interested, too deranged to worry about, or a drug dealer, sometimes all three at once. Even if Malik had been releasing lots of new material circa 1984 this would still be a valuable recording, one that ought to make even the seasoned free jazz listener stomp his foot in approval. Malik's name became known through his playing with pianist, bandleader, and perpetual machine of dynamic motion Cecil Taylor. The trumpeter's use of energy is much different than his old keyboard-stomping boss, but he certainly learned much about the slow, even, and subtle creation of an inferno. The live set from a club in Cambridge, MA, adds tenor saxophonist Frank Wright to the regular trio of Malik, bassist William Parker, and drummer Syd Smart. This is a terrific rhythm section, no question about that, and more on them later -- but first a righteous tip of the hat to Wright, a player whose presence on a date inevitably means much fun is to be had.

Some aspects of this Wright appearance are typical, some not. His name often goes hand in hand with recordings that audiophiles would consider to have inferior sound quality. Indeed, no appraisal of Wright's contribution to the recorded library of jazz would be complete without listening to several albums where distortion is so great it sounds like he screwed his reed to the microphone rather than the saxophone. The problem with the recording here is a kind of distant sound, this obviously being documentation created by somebody sitting in the audience. This sound should actually grow on the listener as the set proceeds, as if the musicians were listening to the playback on headphones at the time and making suitable adjustments in dynamics and tone. Boosting the bass range on playback equipment as well as punching volume boost buttons and the like are sure to be a great help. What makes this performance different than various sets under Wright's name, such as the Center of the World series, is that he expertly transforms his style in collaboration with Malik. He is still incendiary, eccentric, and groovy; he just dials the anxiety level down a notch to provide the trumpeter with a more relaxed foil in the front horn line. Wright also sings a lot, an uninhibited contribution that superficially seems to get lost due to a lack of balance in the recording. What actually happens is that Wright's singing is at quite a subtle volume during episodes where it is not expected. Vocalizing of this sort may be quite typical during really intense parts of free jazz performances -- sections of John Coltrane's Live in Seattle come to mind as does the marvelous word "caterwauling" -- but here Wright is singing during a drum solo, for example. Considering that it is the last set of the night, the singing sometimes sounds like it might be coming not from the stage but from one of the previously mentioned audience members. The effect is unique and wonderful. The lo-tech "mix" that makes it sound this way is an accident, but who cares?

"Sad C" seems like a warm-up despite its length of 15 minutes, albeit a necessary one; this is the start of the set, and Malik seems to be wandering down hallways, then poking at simmering garlic cloves with a wooden spoon. "Companion #2" is next, just shy of 30 minutes in length and an episodic rave-up. Wright makes brutal decisions; Smart tosses out accents and addenda, a stylistic arsenal that sounds like no other drummer. Parker plays the first of two superb bass solos -- this one is bowed, and for the finale of "Chaser" he plucks, appropriately, since R&B and rock & roll seem to be on the minds of Wright and Smart. They are indeed right and smart in their attitudes, this track comparing favorably with similar performances by the likes of Frank Lowe or the Human Arts Ensemble. There is only one reason jazz listeners would want to skip this CD: they would have to want everything to sound like Rudy Van Gelder recorded it.
_ AMG



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UBU Editions and Jazz Masters Presented ALVIN LUCIER : I Am Sitting In A Room (Placard II - 2007)

 

Graphic Design: 

UBU Editions and Jazz Masters Presented – Placard II (2007) 

ALVIN LUCIER – I Am Sitting In A Room (Different From The One You Are In Now) 

and 

SAMUel BACKET – Not I 

In cooperation with: Dartington College of Arts – England and Bard College – New York, November 2007 

Original Design by ART&JAZZ Studio SALVARICA – 2007 

Artwork and Complete Design by VITKO

DIFFERENT ART (for those curious) 

I am sitting in a room is Alvin Lucier's idea of pure sound experiments. Through playback and recording of successive generations of his own voice the sound is washed until his talking is a pure harmonic. The album starts with a relatively bland Lucier.."I am sitting in a room" but as the generations progress everything becomes a pure ambient. As Lucier suggests in the recording, this sound is the dynamic of the room he records in. It is released in two parts on well pressed vinyl.

This record was made by the composer on October 29 and 31, 1980 in the living room of his home in Middletown, Connecticut. It consists of thirty-two generations of the composer's speech and was made expressly for this Lovely Music record. Photography is from the original Polaroid Image Series by Mary Lucier.

Information:
http://www.discogs.com/Alvin-Lucier-I-Am-Sitting-In-A-Room/release/8652

                                                                                         Alvin Lucier
Look on Youtube:
ALVIN LUCIER – I Am Sitting In A Room 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jU9mJbJsQ8

The original 1969 recording: Alvin Lucier: I am Sitting in a Room (1969)
http://toddtarantino.com/hum/lucier_iamsitting.html

HOWARD RILEY TRIO – Angle (LP-1969)

Label: CBS – 52669 LP
Reissue: Columbia – 494433 2 CD (1999)
Series: Realm Jazz Series 
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album; Country: UK - Released: 1969
Style: Free Jazz, Contemporary Jazz, Free Improvisation
Recorded: London, 3rd December 1968 and 2nd January 1969
+ bonus track: 09 Pages (Riley-Oxley duo) from the album: Howard Riley Trio/Overground, 1975 (Howard Riley, Barry Guy, Tony Oxley)


Note:

Another piano-dominated trio album, Angle is definitely one of the more accessible of Riley ’ s works in that period of time. Working again with Barry Guy on contrabass, it is Alan Jackson that occupies the drum stool, and we have Barbara Thompson tooting the flute on one track. Not sure what the object of the artwork is, but it ’ s kind of fascinatingly warm and represents well the music inside the sleeve. The opening Exit (no joke) is actually fairly accessible (for Riley ’ s standards), but Gormenghast is more of a challenge with Guy ’ s almost violent string thumping all over his contrabass ’ fretboard, but the closing minute is rather pleasant, and (dare I say it) almost melodic. However the thankfully-short S&S is definitely not of the same mould with its highly dissonant improv. Fragment almost picks up where Gormenghast had left things at, than the gentle piano softens much of the bass and drums improvisations, and Riley ’ s key tickling has many endearing sometimes-Tyneresque moments.

On the flipside, the title track features Barry ’ s bowed bass that brings an exquisite touch at first, but then goes wild in its plucking before returning to its bow and Riley ’ s piano rambling on with much inspiration, and the track veers almost violent. Good stuff, too! The following Aftermath is a highly energetic piece (but all-too short) where Riley ’ s Tyneresque piano glides over an awesome bowed contrabass, giving a semi-raga feel, and making it the album ’ s highlight. The three-part Three Fragments is just that, with Thompson ’ s slightly dissonant and shrieking flute is the main protagonist, with Riley ’ s piano playing second fiddle. The closing Gill is one of the album ’ s more difficult moments in terms of dissonance, but to give you an idea, this would be the most accessible on the future Flight album. As for Riley ’ s works, it is difficult to recommend one album, but should you want to explore his realm, you might want to start with Angle, and if you can digest the more dissonant tracks on it, then you might just be ready for other works of his.



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DIE LIKE A DOG QUARTET – Little Birds Have Fast Hearts - No. 1 (1998)

 

Label: FMP – FMP CD 97 

Format: CD, Album; Country: Germany - Released: 1998 

Style: Free Jazz, Free Improvisation

Recorded during the "30th TOTAL MUSIC MEETING" on November 7/8, 1997 at the "Podewil" in Berlin

Design – Brötzmann
Photography By – Dagmar Gebers, Tony Getsug
Producer – Jost Gebers, Peter Brötzmann
Recorded By – Holger Scheuermann, Jonas Bergler

The Die Like a Dog Quartet came together four years after recording their first album for the 30th Total Music Meeting festival in Berlin that took place in November 1997. The sets that the quartet performed over the course of the three day festival were subsequently released by the FMP label in two volumes entitled Little Birds Have Fast Hearts. Peter Brötzmann plays tenor, of course, as well as some tarogato and clarinet, and he is joined by bassist Wiliam Parker, drummer Hamid Drake, and trumpeter Toshinori Kondo who occasionally utilizes electronic effects. On this first volume, the quartet is in it for the long run; there are just two parts, totaling over an hours' worth of music. They go long, but not without pause, for there are definite let-ups over the course of "Part 1" (which remains engaging and varied throughout its 45 minutes), and "Part 2" is a relatively low-key piece. But "calm" and "low- key" for this group are still strongly out; there is no "casual" mode, there is no collapsing into old forms, this is a work-out, and all four musicians give 100 percent as they are known to do. This is not music for people wanting to hear some nice jazz, some hum-along-able standards; this is music for listeners who want to take a journey and are willing to let this quartet steer. The Die Like a Dog Quartet is not improvising for an audience, they are improvising because. Because that is how you find music. Little Birds Have Fast Hearts, No. 1 is a great example of why that is important.

_ By JOSLYN LAYNE, All Nusic Guide



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DIE LIKE A DOG QUARTET – Little Birds Have Fast Hearts - No. 2 (1999)

Label: FMP – FMP CD 101
Format: CD, Album; Country: Germany - Released: 1999
Style: Free Jazz, Free Improvisation 
Recorded during the "30th TOTAL MUSIC MEETING" on November 7/8, 1997 at the "Podewil" in Berlin
Design [Cover Design] – Brötzmann
Photography By – Dagmar Gebers
Producer – Jost Gebers, Peter Brötzmann
Recorded By – Holger Scheuermann, Jonas Bergler

This second installment of the Die Like a Dog Quartet's live performances at the 30th Total Music Meeting in Berlin picks up right where the first volume (with two long cuts, "Part 1" and "Part 2") left off, with a first track entitled "Part 3." Leader Peter Brotzmann signals the beginning with a clarinet call, soon answered by trumpeter Toshinori Kondo (who often utilizes electronic effects), and it's not too long before bassist William Parker and drummer Hamid Drake come rolling in. The quartet warms up slowly during this opening number, giving themselves plenty of space between the colors and shading for the first many minutes before things start to heat up and really get going for a few minutes until the quartet drops back into an unhurried, exploratory mode. The second half of this 20-minute improvisation finds them intensifying, with solos from both Kondo and Brotzmann (still on clarinet) during the tail end. "Part 4" matches the first track in both length and dynamics, finds Brotzmann on tarogato and tenor sax, and includes two brief sections where Parker and Drake go it alone. "Part 5" actually opens with a fragment of a bluesy melody from Kondo and Parker has his bow in hand for this number that stays, for the most part, whispery and abstract. The short "Part 6" is a finale during which the quartet plays full force. Little Birds Have Fast Hearts, No. 2 complements the first volume, including more of this quartet's excellent interplay and self-feeding energy.

_ By JOSLYN LAYNE, All Music Guide



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EVAN PARKER TRIO and PETER BRÖTZMANN TRIO – The Bishop's Move (2004)

Label: Les Disques Victo – VICTO CD 093
Format: CD, Album; Country: Canada - Released: 2004
Style: Free Jazz, Free Improvisation
Recorded live at the 20 Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville, 19 / 5 / 2003.
Graphics – François Bienvenue
Liner Notes – John Corbett
Painting [Cover Paintings] – Tania Girard-Savoie
Photography By – Caroline Forbes
Producer – Joanne Vézina, Michel Levasseur

Festival organizers are always searching for meetings that have a killer combination of artistic cachet and audience draw. Victoriaville artistic director Michel Levasseur has mastered this over the years, coming up with some spectacular combinations amongst the expected fizzles. When he found out that Evan Parker ’ s trio with Barry Guy and Paul Lytton and Peter Brötzmann ’ s Die Like a Dog trio with William Parker and Hamid Drake would both be touring during the spring of 2003, he arranged a one-off meeting of the two at the tail end of their tours. Things took an intriguing twist when pianist Alex von Schlippenbach was recruited as a last-minute replacement for Guy, who was unable to make the tour.

Parker, Brötzmann, and Schlippenbach ’ s history goes back decades, but they had not played together in quite some time. With little practice time together, there was a question as to whether this would become simply a clash of titans, or if the sextet would find its way to more provocative collective heights. Over the course of a continuous 80-minute set, they managed to work at both extremes.

The buzz was high when the sextet hit the stage and the group seemed to feed off of it. Sections by the two trios serve as bookends for this continuous set. After an initial salvo where the twin tenors laid out bellowing torrents in full assault over stabbing piano clusters and roiling pulse, Parker ’ s trio was left to negotiate their snaking labyrinths. Those looking for a document of the trio at the height of that spring tour should be steered to America 2003, the two-disc document on Parker ’ s Psi label. That said, the Parker trio ’ s segment shows the group ’ s ability to move from muscular intensity to circuitous detail.

But it is other sub-groupings that provide the real highlights. After Die Like a Dog joins in, the reed players and W. Parker break off to leave Schlippenbach and the two drummers for a long central section. Here, the pianist ’ s Monk-like clusters and percussive prepared abstractions jostle against the coursing waves of Drake ’ s polyrhythmic pulse and Lytton ’ s free textures. When W. Parker joins in on bass and E. Parker dives in on soprano, the fractals fly with ever-mounting dramatic tension.

Oddly it is when the ensemble opens way for Brötzmann ’ s trio that things begin to flag. The reed player starts on tarogato but can ’ t seem to settle in, relying more on bluster and burly force than his usual molten barrage. When the trio breaks way for an extended bass/frame drum duo, then a bit later for a bass solo, it feels out of place with what had preceded.

When the full group finally convenes to finish things out, the energy is regained for an incendiary final blast. (Missing on the CD is the full-on five-minute encore with the whole group storming with an intensity gathered over the set.) Though a wildly uneven meeting, this is still one of those summits that was an intriguing reunion of masters and well worth checking out.

_ By MICHAEL ROSENSTEIN, 23 December 2004 (One Final Note)

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