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KEITH JARRETT - Nude Ants (1980)

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There is a lot of music on this set, including the 30-minute "Oasis." This is a Live at the Village Vanguard recording by pianist Keith Jarrett and his European quartet (Jan garbarek on soprano and tenor, bassist Palle Danielsson and drummer Jon Christensen). The pianist very much dominates the music but Garbarek’s unique floating tone on his instruments and the subtle accompaniment by  Danielsson and Christensen are also noteworthy.  /  Scott Yanow


CD1
01. Chant Of The Soil
02. Innocence
03. Processional

CD2
01. Oasis
02. New Dance
03. Sunshing Song

KEITH JARRETT  piano, timbales, percussion
JAN GARBAREK  soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone
PALLE DANIELSSON  bass
JON CHRISTENSEN  drums, percussion

Recorded May 1979 at the Village Vanguard, New York

ECM  1171-1172     829 119

JIMMY GIUFFRE, LEE KONITZ, PAUL BLEY, BILL CONNORS - IAI festival (1978)

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Tracks
1. Blues In The Closet (Oscar Pettiford)
2. The Sad Time (Giuffre, Konitz)
3. Spanish Flames (Giuffre, Connors)
4. Enter, Ivory (Giuffre)
5. From Then To Then (Giuffre, Konitz)

JIMMY GIUFFRE clarinet, tenor and soprano saxophones, flute
LEE KONITZ alto saxophone
PAUL BLEY piano
BILL CONNORS guitar

Recorded May 19, 1978 at the IAI Festival, Great American Music Hall, San Francisco
Improvising Artist Inc.
IAI 123859 - 2


GARY BURTON - Like Minds (1998)

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For an all-star session with such big names as Burton, Chick Corea, Pat Metheny, Roy Haynes, and Dave Holland, Like Minds throws off surprisingly few sparks. Each is a virtuoso, to be sure. Metheny comes off like a young Johnny Smith throughout this cooperative superband session, particularly on his brisk burner "Elucidation," and Corea sounds right at home swinging alongside the great Roy Haynes, fresh off their Bud Powell tribute tour. Holland is Holland-an ever-reliable, solidly swinging presence with the most impeccable time and intonation of any bassist in jazz (with the possible exception of George Mraz). And Burton is still a four-mallet phenomenon after all these years: an ultra-virtuoso with a highly sophisticated harmonic sense.
And yet, there's something missing here. The aesthetic is a bit tidy. There's no sense of blood in the music. How can there be any going out on a limb when everything is so...perfect? Only Roy Haynes, with his unpredictable ways of cutting up the beat and adding unexpected accents, offers any real surprises here. The rest is flawless, and that's my only reservation here.
The material ranges from buoyant and crisply swinging (Metheny's "Elucidation," Corea's "Straight Up and Down") to darkly ethereal (Corea's "Futures," Metheny's "Rears of Rain") to lilting waltz-time numbers (Metheny's "Questions and Answer," the title track from his 1989 album, Corea's "Windows" and Metheny's "For a Thousand Years"). Burton's title track, strangely reminiscent of Corea's "Captain Marvel" from 20 years ago, is a veritable showcase for Haynes' signature bounce on the snare drum and hip time displacement. Haynes really gets to dance on the kit on a swinging rendition of George Gershwin's "Soon," which plays to his jaunty instincts, particularly in the breakdown section with bassist Holland. Burton's earthy "Country Roads," the title track of an album he cut 30 years ago, is the loosest thing here and probably the funkiest, bluesiest thing either Burton or Metheny has ever recorded.
Like Minds marks the first time that Pat Metheny and Chick Corea have ever recorded together, and that alone merits some historical significance. But each of the participants-every one a bandleader-has recorded more compelling music on his own. This one is merely engaging.  -  Bill Milkowski

Tracks

01. Question And Answer (Pat Metheny)
02. Elucidation (Pat Metheny)
03. Windows (Chick Corea)
04. Futures (Chick Corea)
05. Like Minds (Gary Burton)
06. Country Roads (Gary Burton)
07. Tears Of Rain (Pat Metheny)
08. Soon (George Gershwin)
09. For A Thousand Years (Pat Metheny)
10. Straight Up And Down (Chick Corea)

GARY BURTON vibraphone
CHICK COREA piano
PAT METHENY guitar
ROY HAYNES drums
DAVE HOLLAND bass

Recorded At Avatar Studio, New York City
December 15-17, 1997
Concord 4803

GARY BURTON QUARTET with ORCHESTRA - A Genuine Tong Funeral (1967)

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Largely forgotten about these days, the fact remains that vibraphonist Gary Burton had beat Miles Davis to the fusion of rock and jazz by at least two years. His first RCA album, Duster, was cut in 1967 and featured guitarist Larry Coryell on a set of tunes that while not as spacey or lengthy as Davis's forays into the fusion bag, nonetheless forged a style that clearly was new at the time. It has taken some time for anyone to get around to reissuing this material. Koch has put out the previously mentioned Duster and Country Roads and Other Places, while Lofty Fake Anagram surfaced briefly on the One Way label. RCA has shown very little interest in its own Burton holdings, making the first CD appearance of A Genuine Tong Funeral a rather startling surprise, considering that it is the most revolutionary of Burton's catalog items.
Composed by Carla Bley, this 1967 work is somewhat of an extended suite, a style that would later take on rather large proportions in her classic Escalator Over the Hill. With the subtitle A Dark Opera Without Words, Bley's piece is an anything but macabre look at life and death. Oddly enough, a tune called "The End" starts things off and "The Beginning" is found at the conclusion of the work. Another bit of additional trivia, Bley has suggested that she had intended the piece to be performed on stage with costumes, lighting, etc.
Including Bley and Burton, a ten-piece ensemble works through the five parts of this extended composition that manages to cover quite a range of moods, from peaceful to chaotic. Burton's signature four-mallet style is surely a highlight of this disc, yet there's also room for the searing tenor of Gato Barbieri, guitarist Larry Coryell, and trumpeter Mike Mantler. There's much to suggest that what Bley has written here would provide further fodder for her subsequent efforts for Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra, especially such dirges as "The New Funeral March." - Andrew Hovan

Tracks
01. The Opening, Interlude: Shoves, The Survivors, Grave Train
02. Death Rolls
03. Morning (part 1)
04. Interlude: Lament, Intermission Music
05. Silent Spring
06. Fanfare, Mother of the Dead Man
07. Some Dirge
08. Morning (part 2)
09. The New Funeral March
10. The National Anthem, The Survivors

GARY BURTON vibes
LARRY CORYELL guitar
STEVE SWALLOW bass
BOB MOSES drums
STEVE LACY soprano saxophone
MIKE MANTLER trumpet
LEONARDO "GATO" BARBIERI tenor saxophone
JIMMY KNEPPER trombone, bass trombone
HOWARD JOHNSON Tba, baritones saxophone
CARLA BLEY piano, organ, composer, conductor

Recorded in New York in July 1967
RCA 74321192552 (France)


JAMAALADEEN TACUMA - Jukebox (1988)

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One of the top graduates of Ornette Coleman's Prime Time, electric bassist Jamaaladeen Tacuma features his own free funk group Spectacle on this noisy and generally interesting album, his fourth for Gramavision. With Byard Lancaster on tenor, alto, flute and bird calls (!), keyboardist Alan Sukennik, guitarist Ronnie Drayton and drummer Dennis Alston (plus a couple of guest musicians), the emphasis is on Tacuma's heavy basslines and the crowded ensembles; two songs (a solo piece and a duet with Alston's drums) are showcases for the leader. - Scott Yanow



Tracks
1. A Time A Place
2. Meta-Morphosis
3. Rhythm of Your Mind
4. Jam-All
5. In the Mood for Mood
6. Jukebox
7. Naima (John Coltrane)
8. Zam Zam Was Such a Wonderful Feeling
9. Solar System Blues

BYARD LANCASTER saxophone
ALAN SUKENNIK keyboards
RONNIE DRAYTON electric guitar
JAMAALADEEN TACUMA bass, synthesizer
DENNIS ALSTON drums

All compositions written by Jamaaladeen Tacuma, except (7)
Recorded at Sound Genetics Recordings, Philadelphia, PA September 1987
GRAMAVISION 08122 - 79436 - 2

ARILD ANDERSEN - Sagn (1991)

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After many years working with both fellow Norwegian jazzer Jan Garbarek and such stateside talent as Sheila Jordan, Don Cherry, Sam Rivers, and George Russell, bassist Arild Andersen marked the mid-'70s with the first of several ECM sessions to be cut over the following two decades. Featuring regular collaborators like drummer Paal Thowsen, saxophonist Juhani Aaltonen, and pianist Lars Jansson, Andersons's solo outings not only reflected the airy sound ECM and Garbarek espoused, but the loose and tasteful experimentation of Miles Davis''60s work as well. For Sagn, Andersen incorporates Norwegian folk songs into the mix with the help of singer Kristen Braten Berg, percussionist Nana Vasconcelos, and a combo of guitar, keyboards, and saxophone. Alternating between sung parts and instrumental segments, the commissioned piece is divided into three sections and finds the group ranging through buoyant swingers and meditative stretches. While a few of the instrumentals get weighed down in guitarist Frode Alneas' rock-tinged contributions, the album mostly comes off quite nicely.  -  Stephen Cook 

Tracks
01. Sagn
02. Gardsjenta
03. Eisemo
04. Toll
05. Draum
06. Laudagskveld
07. Tjovane
08. Sorgmild
09. Svarn
10. Gamlestev
11. Reven
12. Nystev
13. Lussi
14. Rysen
15. Belare
16. Sagn

ARILD ANDERSEN bass
KIRSTEN BRATEN BERG vocals
BENDIK HOFSETH tenor and soprano saxophones
FRODE ALNAES guitar
BUGGE WESSELTOFT keyboards
NANA VASCONCELOS percussion, vocals

Music composed and arranged by Aril Andersen
Recorded at Rainbow Studio, Oslo, August 1990
ECM 1435
http://www.ecmrecords.com/Startseite/startseite.php





DAVID BINNEY & EDWARD SIMON - Afinidad (2001)

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Since emerging in the mid-'90s with the cross-genre fusion group Lost Tribe, alto saxophonist David Binney has been carving the kind of musical niche that most artists dream of. Though he's a potent and innovative player, his compositional skills are even more important. His writing is so distinctive that one can identify a Binney composition—regardless of the context—within the first few bars. And between the experimental cooperative Lan Xang and his own gradually growing discography, Binney has been developing a reputation for complex form that still leaves ample room for improvisational exploration.
Edward Simon has similarly been emerging as one of his generation's most versatile and compelling pianists. Through associations with artists including Bobby Watson, Greg Osby, and Terence Blanchard, Simon has demonstrated a remarkable ability to fuse his personal roots in Latin music—he's a Venezuelan by birth—with a more contemporary jazz sensibility. And, over the past few years, he's developed a personal rapport with Binney that has resulted in some particularly special collaborations, including the recent duet recording for the Italian Red Records label, “Fiestas de Agosto”.
An earlier Red Records collaboration, Afinidad, finds Binney and Simon in a larger group context that includes bassist Scott Colley and drummer Brian Blade, along with guitarist Adam Rogers, percussionist Adam Cruz, and vocalist Lucia Pulido on select tracks. Perhaps more than any other recording they've done together, Afinidad explores Latin rhythms and textures, but filtered through Binney and Simon's own broader aesthetics they create a sound that, while possessing unassailable roots, goes in new directions as well: a more progressive Latin, if you will.
Sharing the writing duties, as well as including two miniatures by Argentinean composer Ginastera and a lengthy piece by Venezuelan icon Simon Diaz, Binney's contributions are filled with the rich counterpoint that has come to define his writing, along with memorable themes that seem to glide atop a more complex rhythmic backdrop. As intricate as his writing is, there's a certain folksiness that drummer Blade's own band, Fellowship, has also explored. Binney has a slightly rough edge to his tone at times, and the ability to build the intensity of a solo to an exhausting peak, as he does on his own "Red" and Diaz's "Mi Querencia."
Simon's writing reflects more overt Latin Roots; "Pere" is a high-energy 5/4 piece that takes the clave tradition to new places, while "Aguantando" starts with a classical guitar solo from Rogers that has precedence in Egberto Gismonti, but is more polished, less raw. A lengthy melody, sung by Pulido and doubled by Binney, demonstrates the pair's mutual kinship, both demonstrating a similar penchant for long-form thematic development. Like Binney, Simon takes his time developing his solos, with a warm approach that, while harmonically advanced, is never angular or diffuse.
Afinidad documents the growing affinity between Binney and Simon. It's remarkable how two artists from such diverse cultural backgrounds can find a true common ground through a modernistic approach to Latin music.
John Kelman – All About Jazz

Tracks
01. Red (Binney)
02. Civil War (Binney)
03. 
Pere (Simon)
04. Aguantando (Simon)
05. Vidala (Ginastera)
06. Sadness (Ginastera)
07. Mi Querencia (Simon Diaz, arr. E. Simon)
08. Simplicity (Simon)

09. Reflecting (Binney/Simon)
10. Red Reprise (Binney)
11. Remembrace (Binney)

DAVID BINNEY alto sax
EDWARD SIMON piano
SCOTT COLLEY bass
BRIAN BLADE drums
ADAM CRUZ percussion
LUCIA PULIDO voice
ADAM ROGERS guitar

Recorded April 14, 2000 at System Two in Brooklyn, NY
RED RECORDS RR 123296 - 2 (Italy)

DAVID MURRAY BIG BAND & LAWRENCE ''BUTCH'' MORRIS (1991)

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The David Murray big band, which can be undisciplined and even a bit out of control, is never dull. This generally brilliant effort has quite a few highpoints. "Paul Gonsalves" recreates the tenor's famous 1956 Newport Jazz Festival solo and has some heated playing from the ensemble. While "Lester" does not really capture the style of Lester Young, "Ben" does bring back the spirit of Ben Webster. "Calling Steve McCall" is a heartfelt tribute to the late drummer (although the poetry does not need to be heard twice) and trombonist Craig Harris' singing on "Let the Music Take You" is so-so, but the colorful "David's Tune" and the eerie "Istanbul" are more memorable. This disc is easily recommended to listeners with open ears. - Scott Yanow, All Music Guide



Tracks
1. Paul Gonsalves (David Murray)
2. Lester (David Murray)
3. Ben (David Murray)
4. Calling Steve McCall (Lawrence "Butch" Morris/Craig Harris)
5. Lovejoy (Craig Harris)
6. Instanbul (David Murray)
7. David's Tune (david Murray)
8. Let The Music Take You (David Murray)

DAVID MURRAY tenor sax, bass clarinet
HUGH RAGIN, GRAHAM HAYNES, RASUL SIDDIK, JAMES ZOLLAR trumpets
CRAIG HARRIS, FRANK LACY, AL PATTERSON trombones
VINCENT CHANCEY french horn
BOB STEWART tuba
KAHLIL HENRY flute, piccolo
JOHN PURCELL alto sax
DON BYRON baritone sax, clarinet
SONELIUS SMITH piano
FRED HOPKINS bass
TANI TABBAL drums
JOEL A. BRANDON whistle on "Paul Gonsalves"
LAWRENCE "BUTCH" MORRIS conductor

Arrangements by David Murray and Lawrence "Butch" Morris
Recorded at Clinton Recording Studios, NYC on March 5-6, 1991
DIW CK 48964

DON SEBESKY - Three Works For Jazz Soloists & Symphony Orchestra (1979)

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When Don Sebesky recorded Three Works for Jazz Soloists and Symphony Orchestra in 1979, the idea of combining jazz and European classical music was hardly new. Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, and others were being influenced by classical music back in the 1920s, and the 1950s found everyone from the Modern Jazz Quartet and Gunther Schuller to Gil Evans and Jimmy Giuffre blending jazz and classical. Nonetheless, jazz-classical fusion was an idea that still had a lot of possibilities, and Sebesky explores some of them on this chance-taking, though uneven, project. Initially released on LP by Gryphon in 1979 and reissued on CD by DCC in 1999, Three Works finds Sebesky uniting the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra with such jazzmen as guitarist Joe Beck, trumpeter Jon Faddis, and trombonist Bob Brookmeyer. The album underscores Sebesky's appreciation of classical greats Bach, Stravinsky, and Bartok, yet the solos are essentially jazz solos. Although not entirely successful, Three Works is enjoyable more often than not, and is certainly ambitious. Sebesky deserves credit for having the guts to take some risks, especially when you consider how predictable and unadventurous so many of the "young lions" who emerged in the 1980s and 1990s turned out to be. Three Works is an album that, despite its shortcomings, is interesting and worth checking out.  -  Alex Henderson

Tracks
01. Bird And Bela In B Flat – 1st Movement (Don Sebesky)
02. 2nd& 3nd Movement (Don Sebesky)
03. The Rite Of Spring (Stravinsky, arr. Don Sebesky)
04. Sebastian’s Theme (Don Sebesky, inspired by J.S.Bach)

RICHARD DAVIS  bass
JIMMY MADISON  drums
JOE BECK  guitar
GORDON BECK  piano
ALEX FOSTER  saxophone
DON SEBESKY  piano
BOB BROOKMEYER  trombone
JON FADDIS  trumpet, flugelhorn
THE ROYAL PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA  Directed by Harry Rabinowitz

Recorded at Olympic Sound Studios, London, July, 1979

Gryphon Records  G - 910  (LP)   DCC Compact Classics   DJZ - 639

ALBERT AYLER & DON CHERRY - Vibrations (1973)

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Albert Ayler made two great contributions to improvised music. Both were connected, but one was more strictly musical, the other aesthetic. Musically, Ayler was the first to take the theoretical implications of Ornette Coleman’s work a practical step further. His music was at once more collective than Coleman’s and similarly more “open” in its non-specific rhythmic, harmonic, and tonal sense. Aesthetically, Ayler was the music’s only real existentialist. He best transcended the particular “point of view” and most understood and expressed the depth of ambiguity of existence. Further, while others had touched on such feelings as pain, hurt, and sorrow, in Ayler’s work there frequently crops up a sense of genuine human despair. It is not that this despair overwhelms Ayler, but he alone dares to recognize it and – more importantly – accept it as an (inherent) part of the human condition. His music, in many ways, might be said to be about how to live with it.

With two exceptions, all of Ayler’s great music was recorded in 1964. The exceptions are the out-of-print Sonny’s Time Now (Jihad) (the tracks“Virtue” and “Justice”), recorded November 1965, and the single track “Holy Ghost” on The New Wave In Jazz (Impulse), recorded March 20, 1965. Before and after, there was good Ayler, but the recordings from this period are most representative of his mature and fully formed genius. The 1964 records are Witches and Devils(Polydor), Spiritual Unity (ESP), New York Eye and Ear Control (ESP), and the record under review, previously available as Ghosts on the Dutch Fontana label.

Of these LPs, Witches and Devils is the first time that Ayler recorded with musicians entirely sympathetic to his musical and aesthetic concerns; as such, it is the first stunning indication of the actual shape of his music. New York Eye and Ear Control was, like Coleman’sFree Jazz and Coltrane’s Ascension, an attempt at free collective improvisation; but it is freer structurally than either Coleman’s earlier or Coltrane’s later work: the time is more fluid, the tonality(s) less certain, and there are fewer guidelines overall. Though, like Free Jazz andAscension, it is not a complete success, New York Eye and Ear Control virtually defines the language of free jazz of the Sixties. Ayler is the obvious principal force behind the music which could also be said to mark the furthest extension of the strictly musical implications of his work; but as an almost entirely spontaneous and collective creation of several distinct musical voices, it is not the highly concentrated expression of his art which emerges on Spiritual Unity or Vibrations.

Of these two, Spiritual Unity strikes me as the most definitive Ayler recording. Ayler’s statements are concise, unencumbered strokes of musical genius, behind which Sunny Murray and Gary Peacock exhibit a single-mindedness of purpose, both between themselves and with Ayler that is astonishing even today, eleven years removed from the recording date. The music here, like Parker’s music, is timeless. There will be newer music, but it will not be better, it will only be different.
The Vibrations LP is largely of the same definitive character as the ESP disc and is even somewhat more ambitious in its denser ensembles and sophisticated compositional approach. The two “Ghosts,” however, are perhaps slightly less momentous than those on the former date. One is but a short, playful statement of the theme; in the other, Ayler makes a typically good opening statement, but Cherry, though he begins strong, seems by the conclusion of his solo on the verge of running out of ideas. The piece also seems a bit long, by one bass solo; the interlude by Peacock, though it is interesting enough in itself and leads toward an evocative final ensemble (with its air of proud resignation), tends to have a “tacked on” feeling to it.
But simply the fact that Ayler felt the need to record four different studio versions of“Ghosts” in the relatively short period of three months indicates something significant about his art: namely, its rejection of absolutes, and its quite deliberate ambiguity. In this sense, each of the four “Ghosts” – especially in their alternately different shapes – is just as important as any of the others. Each feeds on the others (if only by implication) subtly but masterfully calling into question what you thought was the piece’s meaning. In any particular Ayler piece, this double meaning-ness is apparent in his consistent reformulations, redefinitions, or even total (if temporary) negations of what has been presented.
In “Children,” for example, the compositional structure of the piece is built upon an entirely shifting emotional foundation. It begins with a sad yearning, changes into a brief, almost joyful, up-tempo excursion; then erupts into long, turbulent and frenetic lines. After an unaccompanied bass solo by Peacock, the above process reverses itself, but then the short, up-tempo strains are restated, ending the piece on an optimistic note. By then, it scarcely matters where the piece ends. Everything has been turned into its opposite and, what is more, lies just below the surface, nagging at that with which it does not agree.
The underlying sensibility of the remaining pieces on Vibrations is similarly fragile, with Ayler utilizing constant shifts in tempo and dynamic emphases to advance their dramatic structure. The great aesthetic contributions are “Mothers” and “Holy Spirit,”both of which are highly personal, intensely agonized and anguished statements such as could not have been made by any other artist. The most fully realized performance is perhaps “Vibrations” which is a sharply focused reminder of the aesthetic sense of New York Eye and Ear Control but with a greater individual carácter (again due to the integral juxtaposition of its parts).
“Vibrations,” which is a sharply focused reminder of the aesthetic sense of New York Eye and Ear Control but with a greater individual character (again due to the integral juxtaposition of its parts).
The further we get from Albert Ayler’s work of this period, the larger it seems to loom before us. What is clear now, if it was not clear in 1964, is that the revolutionary sounds which Ayler produced on his instrument – the stutters, the growls, the high-pitched screams, the groans – were a completely organic outgrowth of his art, not a self-conscious attempt to be “avant-garde.” Ayler’s music was not built purely on emotion, as some people thought; Albert Ayler had mastered his instrument in a way in which it had not previously been thought possible to play.
In this, Ayler was the single most important voice of the Sixties. Yet his work remains largely neglected and misunderstood. Indicative of this is that it has taken as long as it has for a record such as Vibrations, one of his most distinctive and singular musical contributions, to finally be released in his own country. Maybe now that it’s here and widely available, it will help bring something of the respect and recognition which his art so richly deserves.
Henry Kuntz, 1975

Tracks
1. Ghosts (short version)
2. Children
3. Holy Spirit
4. Ghosts (long version)
5. Vibrations
6. Mothers

ALBERT AYLER – tenor saxophone, composer
DON CHERRY – Cornet
GARY PEACOCK – bass
SONNY MURRAY – drums

Recorded in Copenhagen 14th September 1964
Original Recording by Ole Vestegaard Jensen
Album produced by Alan Bates
 FREEDOM  FCD  41000
( 1 )  Albert Ayler – Vibrations (Debut DEB 144)
( 4 )  Albert Ayler – Ghosts  (Fontana  SFJL  925)


WALTER NORRIS & ALADAR PEGE - Winter Rose (1980)

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»The American Norris and the Hungarian Pege are both perfectly matched musicians who inspire each other, master all technical skills, thus keeping their minds free for musical events and these means improvisations filled with great intensity... with a musical precision in the sharpest pizzicato and ampliest strokes which is quite unusual in jazz.«

M. Sack
 
Playing from the heart was the driving force of Pege's eloquence as a classical musician, a jazz improviser and a folk artist with a profound understanding of his country's traditional songs. A big man with a striking white beard, who moved (as Browning put it) "like a graceful bear", he was as imposing in his physical presence as through the sophistication, energy and resourcefulness of his music.
For much of his career, Pege's reputation outside his homeland was limited to a handful of double-bass buffs and jazz enthusiasts, since cold war politics hampered opportunities to travel. But to those in the know, he was a phenomenon. He trained as a classical musician, adopted the double-bass at the age of 15 and discovered jazz through DJ Willis Conover's nightly broadcasts to eastern Europe on Voice of America.
He became fascinated by the sound of such bass stars as Ray Brown and Oscar Pettiford, though he later declared that he was not a jazz musician, and wanted only to be considered "an artist who plays the bass". But after he attracted international attention at the 1980 Jazz Yatra festival in Bombay (now Mumbai), and Charles Mingus's wife, Sue, presented him with one of her late husband's instruments in honour of the performance, Pege finally made it on to the global jazz map. He played guest roles with the Mingus Dynasty tribute band, and with pianist Herbie Hancock and drummer Tony Williams, at the Kool jazz festival in New York in 1982.
Pege was born in Budapest, the latest of four generations of double-bassists; his father (also Aladar Pege) helped pioneer the expansion of Hungarian jazz and swing in the 1940s. Aladar Jr studied at the Bela Bartok Musical Training College, worked in dance bands and in 1963 formed a jazz quartet that played in Yugoslavia and at the Bled jazz festival. As Stalinist strictures about the decadence of jazz eased during the 1960s, he performed more widely, playing festivals in West Germany and across the eastern bloc. His remarkable facility brought him extensive studio work, but he also pursued classical bass studies, graduating in 1969 from the Franz Liszt Academy, Budapest, where he also taught.
In the following decade, Pege continued to astonish festival audiences - at Montreux, Warsaw, Zurich and Berlin, among others - with his speed, ideas, penetrating sound, expressive elegance and swing. He often worked with the jazz quartet that had launched itself by winning first prize in a competition run by Magyar Radio.
From 1975 and 1978, he lived in Berlin, taking advantage of the city's more open scene to play conventional bebop and free jazz, and studying with Rainer Zappernitz, then a principal bassist with Herbert von Karajan's Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. But though he returned to the commercial and academic work that supported him in Budapest, Pege's fruitful relationship with American pianist Walter Norris (a former Mingus sideman who had moved to Europe) brought duo opportunities across the continent between 1978 and 1980.
The famous Jazz Yatra performance followed, but Pege was reluctant to pull up his roots and embrace the opportunities the international jazz scene would undoubtedly have offered him. Walter Norris maintained that Pege could turn the bass "into an entire orchestra", and that his seamless integration of classical, Hungarian Gypsy and jazz music made him unique. The evidence is plain from the duets with Norris (Synchronicity, 1978, and Winter Rose, 1980) recorded for the enja label.
But Pege always believed that the ability to bring out the best of the eclectic musical culture he grew up in was dependent on a classical player's technical discipline and rigour. He would play a dozen or more classical pieces as part of his exercise regime every day, frequently transcribe and perform pieces written for other instruments to expand the classical bass's limited repertoire, and regularly present variations on Hungarian folk music as part of his repertoire.
· Aladar Pege, double-bassist and composer, born October 8 1939; died September 23 2006 
John Fordham. The Guardian 

Tracks
1. Playground (Aladar Pege)
2. Winter Rose (Walter Norris)
3. Elvesztettem Paramat (trad. arr. A. Pege)
4. For High Notes (Noel Lee)
5. A Child is Born (Thad Jones)
6. Evening Lights (A. Pege)
7. Enkephalins Rose (Walter Norris)

WALTER NORRIS piano
ALADAR PEGE bass

Recorded at Studio Bauer Ludwigsburg June18, August 31 & Sep 28, 1980
ENJA 3067 / Inner City IC 31031

http://www.enjarecords.com/


DUKE ELLINGTON AND HIS ORCHESTRA - Yale Concert (1973)

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The great Orchestra was still intact and in its late prime at the time of this performance from 1968. With the death of  Billy the year before, (perhaps sensing his own mortality) accelerated his writing activities, proving that even as he neared 70, he was still at his peak. Other than a  Johnny Hodges medley and the theme ("Take the 'A' Train"), all of the music on this set was fairly new. Included are showcases for Cootie Williams, Harry Carney, Paul Gonsalves and Cat Anderson, an 11-minute "The Little Purple Flower,""Swamp Goo" (which gives Russell Procope a chance to play some New orleans-style clarinet) and a jazz version of Yale's famous "Boola, Boola."– Scott Yanow


Tracks
1. The Little Purple Flower Parts I & II (Elington)
2. Put-Tin (Ellington-Stayhorn)
3. A Chromatic Love Affair (Ellington)
4. Boola, Boola (Allen Hirsch)
5. A Johnny Hodges Medley:
    Warm valley (Ellington)
    Drag (Ellington)
6. Salome (Ray Fol)
7. Swamp Goo (Ellington)
8. Up-Jump (Ellington)
9. Take The “A” Train (Billy Strayhorn)

DUKE ELLINGTON– piano
CAT ANDERSON– trumpet, flugelhorn
COOTIE WILLIAMS– trumpet
MERCER ELLINGTON– trumpet
HERBIE JONES– trumpet
LAWRENCE BROWN– trombones
BUSTER COOPER– trombones
CHUCK CONNORS– trombones
JOHNNY HODGES, RUSSELL PROSCOPE,
PAUL GONSALVES, JIMMY HAMILTON,
HARRY CARNEY –reeds
JEFF CASTLEMAN – bass
SAM WOODYARD –drums

Recorded at Woolsey Hall, New Haven, CT
January 26, 1968

Fantasy  F- 9433  (1973)

DUKE ELLINGTON & RAY BROWN - This One's For Blanton! (1972)

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Can Duke Ellington's piano playing still be called "underrated?" In the decades since his passing, this seems to be the most common adjective applied to his efforts at the keyboard. This reissue of a 1972 duet session with the incomparable bassist Ray Brown (who has never been underrated, and rightly so) offers further evidence of Ellington's finesse behind the ivories. Even so, Brown is the one on display here, and that's the point.

The Blanton of the title is of course Jimmy Blanton, the bassist who revolutionized the role of his instrument in much the same way as Charlie Christian revolutionized his (and, like Christian, Blanton died at a shockingly young age). As bassist with the Ellington band at the start of the 1940s, Blanton introduced the idea of soloing on the bass, and the concept thereafter found its way into the palette of the band. Ellington and Brown revisit some of the compositional results here, and create some new ones, namely the four movement "Fragmented Suite for Piano and Bass." The sympathetic interplay between these two masters is rendered that much deeper by the gorgeous tone each evokes from his respective instrument.

Tracks
1. Do Nothin' Till Hear From Me (Russell, Ellington)
2. Pitter Phanter Patter (Ellington)
3. Things Ain't What They Used To Be (Ellington, Person)
4. Sophisticated Lady (Ellington, Mills, Parish)
5. See See Rider
Fragmented Suite For Piano And Bass (Ellington, Brown)
6. First Movement
7. Second Movement
8. Third Movement
9. Fourth Movement

DUKE ELLINGTON piano
RAY BROWN double bass

Recorded December 5, 1972 in United Recording, Las Vegas. Nevada
PABLO 2310 721 /  Original Jazz Classics OJCCD – 810 - 2

MAL WALDRON - Blues For Lady Day (1972)

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Pianist Mal Waldron was Billie Holiday's final regular accompanist and has recorded several tributes to Lady Day through the years. This CD brings back a nine-song solo tribute that consists of eight songs associated with Holiday (including "Don't Blame Me,""You're My Thrill,""Strange Fruit" and "Mean to Me") plus Waldron's "Blues for Lady Day"; the emphasis is on thoughtful (and sometimes a bit downbeat) interpretations at ballad tempoes. The reissue adds two lengthy and unrelated trio improvisations with bassist Henk Haverhoek and drummer Pierre Courbois ("A Little Bit of Miles" and "Here, There and Everywhere") that actually have nothing to do with Lady Day but do feature Mal Waldron coming up with some interesting and fresh ideas.  -  Scott Yanow 

Tracks
01. Blues for Lady Day (Waldron)
02. Just Friends (Klenner, Lewis)
03. Don't Blame Me (Fields, McHugh)
04. You Don´t Know What Love Is (DePaul, Rave)
05. The Man I Love You (Gershwin, Gershwin)
06. You're My Thrill (Lane, Washington)
07. Strange Fruit (Allan)
08. Easy Living (Rainger, Robin)
09. Mean To Me (Ahlert, Turk)
10. A.L.B.O.M. (A Little Bit of Miles)
11. Here, There and Everywhere (Lennon, McCartney)


MAL WALDRON  piano

Tracks 1 to 9 recorded in Baarn, Holland February 5, 1972 and tracks 10/11 in Lieden, Holland February 9, 1972
Black Lion  BLCD760193

JASON MORAN - Soundtrack To Human Motion (1998)

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Can we all just agree that this is the debut of the year, if not the record of the year? Jazz has seen its share of excellent young players, but 24-year-old pianist Jason Moran really raises the bar with his superb Soundtrack to Human Motion. Moran explains the title as follows: "I like to think this recording could serve as the soundtrack to all movements a human might make in a given dayï." If only my daily movements were anywhere near as graceful and beautiful and fascinating as this album.
Moran has been recording as a sideman for a whopping two years. Many struggle a lifetime to attain his level of mastery. With his piano playing no less than his writing and arranging, Moran has already crafted a distinctive jazz voice, and it shines through on this CD from the first note to the last.
Innovative altoist Greg Osby, who gave Moran his start, served as his mentor, and produced this disc, appears as the sole horn. Joining Osby are Stefon Harris on vibes, Lonnie Plaxico on bass, and Eric Harland on drums. The entire ensemble is featured only on "Gangsterism on Canvas,""Still Moving," and "Aquanaut." Harris sits out for "Snake Stance," Osby for "Retrograde." Moran shifts to piano trio mode for "JAMO Meets SAMO,""Release From Suffering," and "States of Art," which begins with a solo rendition of Ravel's "Le Tombeau de Couperin." The album closes with "Root Progression," a stellar duet between Moran and a soprano-blowing Osby. Moran employs his players very wisely, varying the combinations so that the sound of the record is never static, always in motion.
Smack in the middle of the program, Moran plays a solo piece called "Kinesics." As I listened, an historical panorama of solo jazz piano came into view. Duke Ellington, Art Tatum, Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk; somehow Moran encompasses them all and utters a marvelous fin de siècle statement on jazz past and future, in a harmonic language all his own.

No doubt Moran's imagination will take him down many interesting roads. His influences are drawn from art, literature, and theater, as well as from classical music all the way to hip-hop. This is a critical broad-mindedness, though, not an everything-and-the-kitchen-sink approach to the creative enterprise. Moran simply knows talent for what it is, wherever it comes from. So when he mentions a desire to work with pop singer Björk and hip-hop's MC Saafir, one gets the feeling he's not talking about some ordinary crossover project. Watch this man closely and see what develops. – David Adler


Tracks

01. Gangsterism Oncavas
02. Snake Stance
03. Le Tombeau de Couperin (State of Art)
04. Still Moving
05. Jamo Meets Samo
06. Kinescis
07. Aquanaut
08. Retrograde
09. Release From Suffering
10. Root Progression

JASON MORAN piano 
GREG OSBY alto & soprano saxophones 
STEFON HARRIS vibraphone 
LONNIE PLAXICO bass 
ERIC HARLAND drums 

All compositions by Jason Moran except (3) written by Maurice Ravel 
Recorded at Systems Two, Brooklyn, NY on August 20 & 30, 1998 
BLUE NOTE 7243 4 97431 20

KEITH JARRETT - Standards In Norway (1995)

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Keith Jarrett has recorded quite a few albums with his "Standards Trio," which also features bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Jack DeJohnette, and virtually all of their releases are enjoyable. The music that they create is in some ways an update of the type of interplay that took place between Bill Evans and his sidemen, where all three musicians often act as equals (although Jarrett, like Evans, has most of the solo space). An uptempo "Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing" is a surprising highpoint of this disc but also quite memorable are "All of You,""Old Folks" and "How About You?"; none of the eight performances from the concert appearance are throwaways. Jarrett's vocal sounds are more restrained than usual while his piano playing is in peak form.   Scott Yanow 

Tracks
1. All Of You (Porter)
2. Little Girl Blue (Hart, Rodgers, T. B. Harms)
3. Just In Time (Comden, Green, Styne)
4. Old Folks (Robison, Webster)
5. Love Is A Many-Splendored Thing (Fai, Webster)
6. Dedicated To You (Cahn, Chaplin, Zaret)
7. I Hear A Rhapsody (Baker, Fragos, Gasparre)
8. How About You (Freed, Heusen, Lane)

GARY PEACOCK  bass
JACK DeJOHNETTE  drums
KEITH JARRETT  piano

Recorded live at the Konserthus, Oslo October 7, 1989

ECM  1542  /  521717 - 2

HAL GALPER - Children Of The Night (1978)

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This is one of the hottest albums of the '70s. Recorded at Rosy's in New Orleans in 1978 (and originally released a year later as Speak With a Single Voice), it features Galper on piano, Michael Brecker on tenor saxophone and flute, Randy Brecker on trumpet and fluegelhorn, Wayne Dockery on bass and Bob Moses on drums. The hornmen (already famous then for their hard-hitting funk-jazz group, the Brecker Brothers) comprised a blistering front line. Galper was in aggressive form, playing with an energy reminiscent of McCoy Tyner, a spirit of embellishment reminiscent of Art Tatum and a harmonic knowledge reminiscent of Bill Evans. Dockery and Moses formed a heart-pounding tandem.
The originals are modal-oriented vehicles, with climax upon climax as each soloist takes his turn. "I Can't Get Started" and "Blue in Green" also appear; a surging sense of power dominates even these ballads. The title track is previously unreleased. – Owen Cordle

Tracks
01. Speak With a Single Voice (Hal Galper)
02. I Can’t Get Started (Vernon Duke/Ira Gershwin/Thad Jones)
03. Waiting for Chet (Hal Galper)
04. Blue and Green (Miles Davis/Bill Evans)
05. Now Hear This (Hal Galper)
06. Children of the Night (Hal Galper)

HAL GALPER  piano
MICHAEL BRECKER  flute, tenor saxophone
RANDY BRECKER  trumpet, flugelhorn
WAYNE DOCKERY  bass
BOB MOSES  drums

Recorded live at Rosy’s, New Orleans, February 1978

Enja  4006      Double-Time  125

AIR - Open Air Suite (1978)

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Although in actuality a suite, this album is called Open Air Suite with the five compositions supposedly approximating a five-piece suit. The music played by this talented trio is complex yet ultimately logical. The talented musicians seem to communicate instantly with each other and they consistently develop their music in the same direction on this stimulating set.  -  Scott Yanow

Tracks
1. Card Two: The Jick Or Mandrill's Cosmic Ass
2. Card Five: Open Air Suite
3. Card Four: Strait White Royal Flush...78
4. Card One: Cutten 2 Knuckles 2 Windowa 2 Tricks 3 X 1

FRED HOPKINS bass, maracas, stick
STEVE McCALL drums, percussion
HENRY THREADGILL tenor, alto & baritone saxophones, flute

Music composed by Henry Threadgill
Recorded on February 21 and 22, 1978 at C.I. Recording Studios, NYC
Arista Novus AN 3002

MICHAEL GIBBS with JOACHIM KÜHN - Europeana (1995)

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Owing little to the main stem US jazz tradition, composer Michael Gibbs' orchestral suite Europeana has more in common with the work of folk-influenced English composers like Vaughan Williams, Benjamin Britten and Malcolm Arnold, and their particular varieties of English lyricism.
It's a work of magnificence and beauty which was barely noticed on original release eleven years ago and seems since to have been almost entirely forgotten. This audio enhanced reissue provides a welcome opportunity to celebrate it anew.
Despite co-funding from German radio, the recording represented a major investment for the independent ACT label in the days before it struck international gold with the Esbjorn Svensson Trio. The project involved commissioning Gibbs to suggest a group of European folk songs, and then arrange them for the Radio Philharmonia Hannover symphony orchestra, augmented by a jazz trio (pianist Joachim Kuhn, bassist Jean-Francois Jenny-Clark and drummer Jon Christensen), plus a diverse group of guest soloists (including trombonist Albert Mangelsdorff, tenor horn player Django Bates and accordionist Richard Galliano). Gibbs also conducted the orchestra.
If you have an aversion to folksiness, stop worrying. While some folk-based projects may indeed adopt a tone best suited to the kindergarten, Gibbs' perspective on Europeana is by contrast big, majestic, adult and mysterious.
The suite includes thirteen traditional tunes: Irish, Scottish, Norwegian, French, Finnish, German, Swedish and Spanish. There's nothing from the English tradition, but it's Gibbs' cultural background—and in particular his very English scoring of the Philharmonia's strings and woodwinds, which is a joy in itself—which defines the album. Kuhn gets star billing on the packaging of this reissue, but he is essentially "just" another of the soloists. His astringent, going on dissonant style is, however, a valuable bit of grit in the machine.
Although it was regarded by most commentators as a quaint curiosity back in US-centric 1995, hindsight reveals Europeana as an important stepping stone in the evolution of contemporary European folk-jazz—not as influential as the work of Jan Garbarek or John Surman perhaps, but every bit as distinctive and enduring. The album may not have made the year-end best-of lists first time around, but it surely deserves to do so now as a reissue.  -  Chris May

Tracks
01. Castle In Heaven
02. Black Is The Colour Of My True Love’s Hair
03. The Shepherd Of Breton
04. The Ingrian Rune Song
05. The Groom’ Sister
06. Norwegian Psalm
07. Three Angels
08. Heaven Has Created
09. She Moved Through The Fair
10. Crebe De Chet
11. Midnight Sun
12. Londonderry Air
13. Otra Jazzpaña

JOACHIM KUHN  piano
JEAN-FRANCOIS JENNY-CLARK  bass
JON CHRISTENSEN  drums
ORCHESTRA RADIO PHILHARMONIA HANNOVER NDR
THEO WIEMES  french horn (1)
DOUGLAS BYRD  oboe (2)
DJANGO BATES  tenor horn (2)
RICHARD GALLIANO  accordion (3)
CHRISTOF LAUER  soprano saxophone (5) tenor saxophone (7)
MARKUS STOCKHAUSEN  flugel horn (6) piccolo trumpet (8)
MARTIN STOLL  oboe (6)
ALBERT MANGELSDORFF  trombone (7)
KLAUS DOLDINGER  soprano saxophone (9)
VOLKER WORLIZSCH  violin  (12)
MICHAEL GIBBS  arrangements, conductor

Music composed and arranged by Michael Gibbs

ACT  -  ACTSACD  9804 - 2

WORLD SAXOPHONE QUARTET - Revue (1980)

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The World Saxophone Quartet always believed in putting on a show, although without watering down its adventurous music. The nine numbers on this set are generally concise (only two songs exceed six minutes) and consist of originals by all four saxophonists: altoist Julius Hemphill (who contributed four of the nine pieces), baritonist Hamiet Bluiett, altoist Oliver Lake and tenor saxophonist David Murray. Sometimes quite rhythmic (and almost danceable) despite not having a rhythm section, the WSQ used melodies and rhythm for their own purposes, creating unpredictable music that always holds one's attention. This release is a good example of their talents. - Scott Yanow

Tracks
1. Revue (Julius Hemphill)
2. Affairs Of The Heart (Julius Hemphill)
3. Slide (Julius Hemphill)
4. Little Samba (Julius Hemphill)
5. I Heard That (Hamiet Bluiett)
6. Hymn For The Old Year (Oliver Lake)
7. Ming (David Murray)
8. David's Tune (David Murray)
9. Quinn Chapel A.M.E. Church (Hamiet Bluiett)

OLIVER LAKE flute, soprano, alto & tenor saxophones
JULIUS HEMPHILL flute, soprano & alto saxophones
HAMIET BLUIETT alto clarinet, baritone saxophone
DAVID MURRAY bass clarinet, tenor saxophone

Recorded 14 October 1980 at Georges Pompidou Center, Paris
Black Saint 120056 - 2
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