Self Titled - INTERface [Composers Collective CC-722]

INTERface

INTERface

John Fischer - Piano & Voice

Perry Robinson - Clarinet

Mark Whitecage - Reeds

Armen Halburian - Percussion

Rick Kilburn - bass

On 'Poum #16 (Out to Lunch)' - Halburian and Kilburn are replaced by
Jay Clayton - vocal
John Shea - bass
Laurence Cook - drums

Side A

1. What If?

2. Poum! #5

3. Temple Passion

4. Short Pieces #3

Side B

1. Solo Poum!

2. Short Pieces #2

3. Poum #16 (Out to Lunch)

4. Sunday Afternoon

5. Short Pieces #1

6. In Search of A Word

Composers Collective Records CC-722

Recorded 1975

This is the group's first LP, from 1975.

Recorded at John Fischer's Leonard Street loft - by the time the record was pressed and available, the new Environ performance loft had opened, with Fischer running the show. The liner notes make mention of 'the new performing facility for new jazz and new music in the heart of SOHO, New York City - ENVIRON'.  See earlier posts here for some brief background on the Environ loft.

Here, the group is Fischer, Mark Whitecage, Perry Robinson and percussionist Armen Halburian.

On one track, Fischer is joined by different personnel for one of his 'Poum' vocal compositions. These are all based around wordless vocal improvisations , trying to use alternative techniques and different methods of making 'body noise'.

It's obviously something Fisher was dedicated to - 3 of the tracks here are in this vein, and his earlier album is simply called 'Poum!'.  If you’ve listened to any of the INTERface LPs previously posted, you know what to expect of the ‘Poum’ pieces.  As to the success, or longevity of the 'poum' method, I'll let the listener decide.  I wonder if in 1975, Fischer had heard Phil Minton. It seems unlikely, although it may have been salutary. .

On one of these Poum pieces, Fischer double-tracks himself.  Better, is the track where he's joined by the exploratory singer Jay Clayton. [More of her here soon] .

Also on this track are bass player John Shea, and Laurence Cook - a drummer many will know from his recording and performing with Alan Silva, Jemeel Moondoc, Bill Dixon (Dixon's 80's Soul Note gems like 'Thoughts', 'November 1981', 'Son of Sisyphus') - as well as with  'The Enigmatic' Michael Smith [more of him here soon]

It's a one-off for this aggregation though - the rest of the pieces on the album feature INTERface stalwart & regular bass player Rick Kilburn and percussionist/drummer Armen Halburian. 

Halburian is credited with only percussion here, although he pretty clearly plays the regular trap kit as well on 2 pieces. An American of Estonian descent, some may recognise his name from Woody Shaw's Rosewood record or Miroslav Vitous' Arista Freedom LP. His career goes back to the mid 50's, playing drums in Marion McParland's trio, although for much of the 1970's, his meal-ticket and claim to fame was in the groups of Herbie Mann. He appears on many of Mann's records of the period. Armen Halburian died last March (2011), aged 77. 

Kilburn, mentioned in an earlier post, sounds great. Bass players always get talked about as 'muscular' 'solid' 'brawny' or 'sinewy'.  We must - on principle - avoid these tedious clichés , and simply say that Kilburn has great intonation, sounds full and forward on a not-particularly super-hifi recording and is a great musician.

There's far less Mark Whitecage on this recording than the later records, more's the pity. As recompense we get to hear the wonderful Perry Robinson on clarinet - playing beautifully. His solo on the final track is funny, inspired and impassioned all at the same time.

I think I referred earlier to the sound Fischer got from INTERface as 'chamber jazz'. Interestingly, in the liner notes here, Fischer refers to 'Dry Jazz', which in some instances of his group's music, may be even more descriptive. According to the provided 'Glossary', Dry Jazz is 'Interfacing abstract sounds with jazz instrumentation in a non-sentimental aesthetic'. Even the fact that a Glossary is provided on the back of an album jacket suggests that Fischer is somewhat of a conceptualist, with a pedagogical bent.

In 1975, the 'wonder years' of the busy Environ loft - with its hugely diverse range of musician and performers - lay still ahead.  Quite how Fischer managed to run the busy place, book the many artists, and still run his own group, documenting them on records - I'm not sure. But he did, and this LP is from the early part of that recorded legacy.

Hope you enjoy.

Interesting Links

John Fischer's Website

Art, Poetry, Recordings. The recordings are hard to find –use link on previous post to jump straight there if required.

http://www.artmus.com/

Perry Robinson’s MySpace

http://www.myspace.com/perryrobinson

Mark Whitecage’s Website

Shared with Mark’s wife Rozanne Levine, a talented player and composer in her own right.

http://www.erjn.it/mus/whitecage.htm

The late Armen Halburian’s Website

Armen was an inventor as well as pecussionist – his bar chimes and special drum key are detailed on the site, as well as a nice rundown of records he appeared on. Roy Ayers, Leonard Cohen….

http://www.armenhalburian.com/index.htm

Rick Kilburn

In lieu of a website, here’s his Linkedin. If you search there’s plenty of places you can find references to Rick’s recordings, gigs etc.  It is a bit embarrassing that if you Google “rick Kilburn bass”, 9 Grey Chairs is returned as 1st result. ( Have to just accept the consequences of worldwide fame and manic popularity I guess )

Props to Rick Kilburn

http://ca.linkedin.com/in/rickkilburn

Jay Clayton’s Website

If you don't know Clayton, check her out, she is a fine musician. She's recorded with Muhal Richard Abrams, John Lindberg, Gary Bartz, String Trio of New York, Gary Peacock, as well as being a primary corner of the group Vocal Summit and performing works by John Cage amongst others. I believe she also sings jazz standards.

http://www.jayclayton.com

Remember folks – BUY recordings of musicians you value and enjoy !

That supports the musicians – which we must do, if there is to be a future for creative music.

Glimpses - INTERface w/ Marion Brown [ReEntry 003]

The next INTERface release after This Time (below), and the last album from the 70's iteration of the group. (Fischer used the name again for a 1994 trio and a 1996 recording with Arthur Blythe and Wilber Morris).

Rick Kilburn and Mark Whitecage are constants from the earlier albums, as is Phillip Wilson - although here 2 other drummers also appear.

As none of the 3 sticksmen appear alongside any other on any track, I'd guess that it was a case of whoever could make the session on the day to fill the drummers chair.

And Marion Brown appears with the group as a guest.

On 'Solo', getting one track to himself for a solo alto saxophone performance which is maybe the simplest, plangent and moving moment of the record.

But the alto duet with Whitecage is also good and he plays a strong pithy solo on 'Polka'.

All the tunes seem to have pretty naff names, and this time round, I find some of Fischer's compositions -usually springboard themes for improvisation- less convincing than on the earlier records.

Fisher himself gets all roccocco-ed up once or twice soloing on piano but is mostly solid in a ruminative, quietly spoken way.

Kilburn is great, as per the earlier LPs. He appears to still be playing as well as producing - although seemingly without a website, he is easy to find info about as an active player over the years.

I'm pretty sure it's Kilburn deputising on bass for Ray Drummond in a young John Zorn's 'Sonny Clark Memorial Quartet' group recorded live for Canadian TV in the mid 80's.

The chamber music feel broadly continues throughout - it's subtle at times, but worth hearing: - there's some fine music making going on.

Whitecage plays an uncredited bass clarinet on the first track.

Glimpses

INTERface with Marion Brown

Side A

1. Polkanese

2. Foxtrot

3. P4/m3 (2 Altos)

4. Loud & Soft

Side B

1. Birthday

2. Polka

3. Solo (M. Brown)

4. Ticker Poum

John Fischer - piano

Marion Brown- alto saxophone

Mark Whitecage - saxophones & bass clarinet

Rick Kilburn - bass

Bobby Meyer - drums

Thomas Whaley - drums

Phillip Wilson - drums

ReEntry Records RE-003

Recorded 1978 / 1979

Mark Whitecage Site http://www.erjn.it/mus/whitecage.htm

John Fischer Recordings Site http://www.artmus.com/reentry/reentry1.html

This post for Lucky - who hopefully doesn't have 7 of the 8 tracks here ..

This Time - INTERface [ReEntry 002]

This Time

INTERface

Side A

1. Free Blues #2

2. State of the A

3. 110th Street

4. Stops & Starts #1

Side B

1. 476

2. Foggy

3. Patates Frites (Belgian Fries)

John Fischer - piano

Mark Whitecage - saxophones

Rick Kilburn - bass

Phillip Wilson - drums

ReEntry Records 002

Recorded 1978

Back in March we posted Interface’s ‘Live at Environ’ recorded in 1977. This is the follow up album from Interface [or INTERface as John Fischer would have it], with this stripped-down quartet lineup - the most minimal of INTERface groups - consisting of just John Fischer, Mark Whitecage, Rick Kilburn and Phillip Wilson. As the founder and manager of the Environ loft performance space, Fischer had an important role, not just in his own improvising group [he is the leader and primary composer of INTERface] – but also more broadly in the ‘loft-jazz’ scene in 1970’s New York. Environ does not seem to get the modern-day press that other seminal NYC 1970s ‘loft’ venues do – like Sam Rivers’ Studio Rivbea, Rashied Ali’s Ali’s Alley, The Brook or Joe Lee Wilson’s Ladies Fort. This may be due to the lower profile of John Fischer as musician and proprietor – but Environ was a vital, and a major part of the ‘loft jazz scene’ in mid to late 70’s New York. Started by Fischer as a multi-discipline arts space, Environ presented modern dance, poetry, and was an art gallery as well. Fischer himself was, and is, a visual artist – with both painting and multimedia work. The cover of this LP is a Fischer painting. In later years, he became very involved in video, multi-media, and computer art. His bread sculptures and ‘electronic paintings’ have attracted attention and a book of Fischer’s poetry ‘Love Condition’ was published in 2010.

The first lofts to open were Studio Rivbea (Rivers lived there from 1970, and held his first major music exposition there in 1972) – and Studio We, founded by James Duboise and Juma Sultan. [See Sultan’s new Aboriginal Music Society box set on Eremite for more information and music from Studio We.

Fischer, moving in both art crowds and experimental jazz music circles, originally had his own Leonard St loft , making music with, amongst others, Perry Robinson (clarinet), Mario Pavone (bass), Jay Clayton (vocalist) and Laurence Cook (drums). Robinson hooked him up with 2 brothers that were happy to sub-lease a large part of their very capacious loft premises at 476 Broadway in Manhattan. The brothers were Chris and Danny Brubeck, sons of Dave. Perhaps not the hippest names as far as experimental arts were concerned but - already interested in establishing a music and meditation temple - they were keen to collaborate with Fischer in his performance space ideas . Fischer spent a few months renovating the 600 square metre loft and opened Environ with a first music concert in July 1975.

Environ was on the 11th floor at 476 Broadway, and reportedly offered a purposely spare even minimal performance experience. Audiences would sit on rugs or on the floor and were encouraged to focus solely on the performance. Unlike venues like Ali’s Alley or Ladies’ Fort which were licensed nightclubs and sold liquor, Environ didn’t have a bar – the cash register, calls for drinks and general buzz around the bar being seen as detrimental to the performance experience. Although cider and wine were often available all the same apparently, for refreshment of its patrons.

The fact that the very first 1975 performance was one by the great free/time drummer Andrew Cyrille gives a pretty clear indication that the new loft space was going to be programming more adventurous fare than Blue Rondo a La Loft or Take Ten.

Fischer was white, and interested in classical music and new, freer ideas of improvisational music, as well as having his own structural and process oriented concepts. This all comes out to some extent in the music of INTERface.

But Environ, the loft – was far more wide ranging in terms of the music and musicians that appeared there – particularly in its heyday, from 1976 to 1979.

Here’s a partial list of artists appearing – mostly multiple times – at Environ in this period: -

Lester Bowie, Anthony Braxton, Hamiett Bluiett, Roscoe Mitchell , Arthur Blythe, Steve Lacy, Gunter Hampel, Charles Tyler, Peter Brötzmann, Marion Brown, Malachi Favors, Leroy Jenkins, David Murray, Irene Schweizer, Joseph Jarman, Olu Dara, Peter Kowald, Henry Threadgill, Amina Claudine Myers, Andrea Centazzo, Fred Hopkins, Jeanne Lee, Phillip Wilson, Julius Hemphill, Don Moye , Oliver Lake, Air, Billy Bang, Charles "Bobo" Shaw, Chico Freeman, Steve McCall, Muhal Richard Abrams.

Muhal Richard Abrams had moved from Chicago to New York in 1976. A few AACM members, like Kalaparusha (1974) had done the same thing earlier – but by 1978, the trickle had become a flood, and a huge swathe of the AACM had transplanted to NYC.

Abrams reportedly dropped in one day to Environ and asked if he could try the piano. Liking the instrument enough to return regularly for daytime practice sessions, the word quickly spread amongst his ex-Chicago confreres and acolytes about this performance space with a relaxed but attentive focus on the performers – that also had a good piano.

The Environ piano was evidently a source of some pride – and not without it’s own biographical narrative. Practiced on by Abrams, partially broken by von Schlippenbach, and replaced entirely courtesy of D Brubeck, when Fischer mounted a “buy Environ a new piano” benefit , and Dave was prevailed upon to play a gig there to raise the required funds.

Unlike many of the ‘new jazz’ concerts, which would get wildly ranging audience numbers – from a couple of hundred to as few as 3 or 4 people turning up for artists like Joseph Bowie or Hamiett Bluiett – the Brubeck benefit gig packed them to the rafters, with people spilling out of the loft space and down onto the stairway below.

The new piano was duly purchased.

Environ was one of the ‘loft for rent’ venues – and not a ‘hiring live club’, or free performance space. This may be worth mentioning lest people get the impression that the whole loft experience was a warm fuzzy exercise in communal socialism. That being said, the aim was anything but exploitative – typically an artist or group would be asked to stump up something like the cost of 1 day’s real rental (1/30th of a months’ rent in other words) , and accept an understanding that the loft would take door receipts up to a certain value – maybe $150 or so – and then split anything over and above that between loft and artist. Easy to see that a big-crowd night could easily satisfy artists financially – and that only a small audience turning up meant that the artists were 'paying for playing'.

If anyone is interested [extremely unlikely I realise] I will add some more to this 70s loft-related stuff here. ..

This record is worth hearing – Fischer is interesting and sometimes inspired, Phillip Wilson is a spare, fleeting texturalist on this album, and Rick Kilburn a really strong player.

Mark Whitecage makes it though. He’s great here, and this is nowhere near his best work.

Consider this quote if you will

“Well, I say from now on, those who love life and those who write about music should listen to Mark Whitecage and make it their business to find out what he is doing and where he will be doing it. Then tell everyone you know or have known to listen immediately.” – William Parker, 2011

Mark Whitecage Site http://www.erjn.it/mus/whitecage.htm

John Fischer Site http://www.artmus.com/

I cannot urge you too strongly to buy some recordings from either of these musicians - Whitecage's own are all limited-press runs and Fischer's now all unavailable commercially.

Please consider ..

Live at Environ 1977 - Interface [ReEntry 001]

Phillip Wilson was a member of the AACM and he played in the prototypal Art Ensemble of Chicago (The Roscoe Mitchell Art Ensemble). He was a member of Paul Butterfield's Blues Band and played at Woodstock in 1969- it's one of his compositions appearing on Side 6 of the famous Woodstock Soundtrack triple album. He was a member of jazz/funk/rock group Full Moon.
Perhaps more importantly, he played and recorded with Anthony Braxton, Julius Hemphill, Frank Lowe, George Lewis, David Murray, Lester Bowie, James Carter, Oliver Lake, James Newton, The Last Poets, Bill Laswell, Hamiet Bluiett, Manu Dibango, Jaco Pastorius, John Carter & Wadada Leo Smith.
He wasn't a session musician - he was the guy these people wanted playing for them, with a beautiful poise and fluidity to his approach to the drums, and a free but funky sense of texture and dynamics, and a genuine sense of both 'fire', as well as self-control.

He was *also* the first drummer/percussionist with INTERface.
INTERface was a group led by the guy who ran the Environ loft space in New York City in the mid-late 1970's - John Fischer. Fischer, a visual artist as well as a piano player, was experimental and progressive in his approach - towards both the music he liked to play, as well as the music he programmed at Environ.
Perhaps not as widely mentioned when "the loft scene" is discussed, as Studio RivBea, Ali's Alley, Ladies Fort and others - Environ was every bit as important as the most active of these venues, in the artists it presented and fostered, and the music it gave a platform to. [Further on Environ shortly, here.]

This is the first release on Fischer's ReEntry Records, although not the first album by INTERface or by Fischer [more later].
INTERface here was John Fischer (piano), Mark Whitecage (alto saxophone), Perry Robinson (clarinet), Charles Tyler (baritone saxophone), Rick Kilburn (bass), and Phillip Wilson (drums).
There's somewhat of a fractured chamber-jazz feeling here, in that there's a sense of stripping down to spare sonorities, rather than a full tilt energy-fest approach.
The 'vocal-sounds duet' of Poum #3 may strike some as terribly dated (it does to me) - the piano-clarinet duet of February may not 'burn hard enough' for lovers of skronk - but listen to the chromatic theme of A Day in May, or the quirky crab-like theme of Flies. Tyler's soloing and Wilson's drumming on Quartet are a beautiful loose-limbed joy.
Whitecage and Robinson are strong players and Rick Kilburn has a good feel and formidable chops. Fischer shows a classical influence - even including some left-hand 'Classical quotation' in February - he both supports and pushes his group with a fine musical sense.
Contrary to the 'flybill' on the cover, this was recorded in July, not in January, of 1977.

Please consider buying INTERface releases that are still in print - direct from the artist
http://www.artmus.com/reentry/reentry1.html
It appears some vinyl is still available, as well as the (inexpensive) CD releases (Fischer playing with Arthur Blythe, Wilber Morris, Theo Jorgensmann & more..) .

Hope you enjoy.

Please leave a comment - if you like it, if you don't like it - 'whatever'! .. .

John Fischer - Piano & Voice
Mark Whitecage - Alto Saxophone & Flute
Perry Robinson - Clarinet
Charles Tyler - Baritone Saxophone
Rick Kilburn - Bass
Phillip Wilson - Drums & Percussion

Side 1
1.Quartet
2. A Day in May
3. Atlantis

Side 2
1. February
2. Solo Poum #3
3. Flies
4. Tolls


Recorded at Environ, 476 Broadway, NYC - July 1977

This post - for the memory of Phillip Wilson.