Olivier Messiaen-Visions de L'amen-1973(Yuji Takahashi-Peter Serkin)RCA ,ARL-0363 LP

 

A slight digression from the usual fare here at 9 Grey Chairs, this is repertoire I like to revisit often, this piece being rather special in that it was the first Messiaen piece i heard many years ago, having acquired many versions over the years , this superb performance by Master Pianist Peter Serkin and Yuji Takahashi (also known to exploratory music aficionados,as a master improviser) has always been a favourite, for one its much less impressionistic , and romantic in treatment than many lauded contemporary performances..(see the Martha Agerich-Alexandre Rabinovitch,version as a prime example of the latter)


 Olivier Messiaen -Visions De L'Amen, For Two Pianos         RCA Red Seal – ARL1-0363,1973          
Tracklist▼
 Visions De L'Amen 
A1  Amen De La Création
 A2  Amen Des Étoiles, De La Planète À L'Anneau
 A3  Amen De L'Agonie De Jésus
 B1  Amen Du Désir
B2  Amen Des Anges, Des Saints, Du Chant Des Oiseaux
  B3  Amen Du Jugement
  B4  Amen De La Consommation
Peter Serkin-Yuji Takahashi Pianos
No Processing of anykind employed, including superfluos track seperation!

Enjoy!!
S                          

6 x 1 = 10 Duos For A New Decade - John Fischer [ReEntry 004]

  w/ Lester Bowie, Charles Tyler, Arthur Blythe, Perry Robinson,  Mark Whitecage, Rick Kilburn

6 x 1 = 10 Duos For a New Decade

John Fischer with Lester Bowie, Perry Robinson, Charles Tyler, Mark Whitecage, Arthur Blythe, Rick Kilburn

Side A

1. Walking Ahead
2. I Love You Mama
3. What If?
4. But Not For Me
5. February

Side B
1. 110th Street
2. Bull Pop
3. Squeal
4. How Long Has This Been Going On?
 
 
John Fischer - Piano & Voice

Lester Bowie - trumpet
Charles Tyler - baritone saxophone
Perry Robinson - clarinet
Mark Whitecage - alto saxophone
Arthur Blythe - alto saxophone
Rick Kilburn - bass
 
 
ReEntry Records RE-004   1980

Recorded 1977 / 1978


The final in a small sequence of records here from 1970's ENVIRON loft chief John Fischer - this time without his full group INTERface - but instead in duo performances with group members and others on the loft scene.
The New Decade of the title was the dawning of the 1980s. How madly futuristic and post-post modern it sounded at the time - the year 1980. Wow.
By 1980 - when this record was released, the New York jazz lofts were on the wane - many had fallen by the wayside.
Fischer's ENVIRON first moved from it's original Broadway premises to a few blocks along the street. But ENVIRON was closed, or closing soon, by the time this LP was released.

Perhaps significantly for a record looking forward to the new decade - the most recent piece is at least 2 years old (1978). According to the notes, all duets here were recorded 1977 / 1978.

Also according to the notes - the tune 'What If' opens side B - which it doesn't ( it is on side A).
Also according to the notes - Arthur Blythe is on 2 tracks - I have him on just 1   The order of the 2 Charles Tyler duets is also wrong - according to me.
Basically, I think they made a mess with the track listing on Side B - and my corrected version appears here.

If anyone has been following the INTERface 'thread' here - some elements here will be familiar - the tunes February and What If have appeared on earlier records (diff versions though) - and Fischer enlists Lester Bowie for one of his 'poum' vocal pieces (I Love You Mama).

No one plays poorly and the record remains interesting throughout.
For my money though, the 2 tracks with Charles Tyler are the absolute standouts and worth the price of admission.alone.
The price of admission here in 2012 is of course - free. So that should work well for most people.

Hope that some people get something out of this then.

Wadada Leo Smith-Human Rights, 1985 Kabell/Gramm-lp 26

Wadada Leo Smith ,whom i believe Needs little introduction to fans of this music is surely one of the great Improviser Composers in the New Music of the last 40 years.

He also has a very distinctive and unique trumpet sound which developed and extended the unorthodox techniques pioneered by Miles Davis & Don Cherry,Bill Dixon and others but which seems simultaneously to delve much further back in jazz history than most current revivalists, and yet remain singularly Modern.

Somewhat of an oddity in many respects this lp was a co production between Smiths own Kabell label and the now little known Icelandic, Post Punk label Gramm who also have the Distinction of having released the first records by Icelandic experimental Punk band Kukl, Bjork's pre Sugar Cubes band (and they are real gems too as it happens)

Human Rights also happens to be the Smith Album(Side a ,notably) that most features his own Voice and songs in settings that have emphatic Reggae and Afro groove elements,idiomatic features which  bare a strong thematic similarity to 1993's Kulture jazz (ECM-1862)the latter being in my view one of Smiths most accessible and underrated albums.

Side B,is an entirely different Matter, A long Exploratory piece featuring, Peter Kowald ,Gunter Sommer and Koto Master Tadao Sawai..very rewarding listening to those Familiar with the great Touch the Earth -Break the Shells Cd on FMP (Now Currently Available for purchase as a Digital Down load on Destination Out, see link below)

I'm not sure why this Wasn't reissued as part of the wonderful very essential Kabell years box tzadik-7610 ,perhaps simply because it was recorded after 79, a cooperative release with another label or perhaps given it was Smiths most explicitly Rastafarian record,something he now at least partially disavows.. one can only conjecture , its one of the few relatively rare and OOP releases from a large Oeuvre

Spanning 40 years , and though perhaps not one of his finest , certainly well worth hearing ,side B is wonderful music ,precious...given how little official material exists of Smiths collaboration with Sommer and Kowald.

.

Human Rights-1985 Kabell
SIDE A-

1-Ethiopia/Africa
2-Don't you remember
3-Freedom Song #
4-Rastafari

Collective personel (see insert for specifics)
Wadada Leo Smith- tpt, Mbira, Voice, Composer
James Emery-E.Guitar
Thurman Barker-perc
Michelle Navazio-Ac Guitar
'Stanya'-guitar on freedom song

recorded in #Reykjavik 29-9,84 and 6-10-85
and  in North Haven Connecticut 18-3-1985

SIDE B
Humanismo-toutamonda Muziko, Human Rights World Music
Wadada L.Smith-Tpt, Perc, Voice
Peter Kowald-db, Tuba, Perc
Tadao Sawai-Koto, Perc
Gunter 'Baby' Sommer-dr, perc

recorded live to air by Tokyo Radio, Japan
22-9-1982

NOTE-this is a straight LP rip , no processing of any kind  has been employed other than some removal of clicks and pops

Enjoy , Support Wadada Leo Smith, by buying as much as possible .... here are some links  of interest to those wishing to explore Smiths work, philosophy, methodology etc

Wadada Leo Smith Website-

Wadada Leo Smith on Soul Note-Black Saint (available releases)

Wadada Leo Smith on ECM-

Tzadik

Wadada Leo Smith at the Destination out-FMP store

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 ..

Fuigo from a Different Dimension - Toshinori Kondo [Bellows 001]

Fuigo from a Different Dimension
Toshinori Kondo

Toshinori Kondo - trumpet, alto horn, mutes

Side A
1. Fuigo
2. Double
3. Cliff

Side B
1. Short-Ichi
2. Short-Ni
3. Alto
4. Slides Out
5. Buriki

Bellows Records 001
1979

Every time I hear Kondo in something new to me, I’m invariably enthused anew by his invention, soul, and breadth of musical compass. This year, it’s been Death is Our Eternal Friend – a 1982 collaboration with Paul Lovens and Paul Lytton – and Protocol - posted below by Sotise – that have opened the ears (once again) to Kondo’s playing. Almost every time this happens, I ask why I don’t have more records of the guy. And I muse to myself that if I hadn’t gone through that phase in the early 90’s of collecting Lee Morgan and Hank Mobley LPs, I could have been picking up cheap copies of extraordinary albums by ….well, plenty of musicians, but particularly musicians like Kondo.
As it turned out, all those Morgan and Mobley LPs turned up widely available on CD in their time, with bonus tracks aplenty, whereas with musicians like Kondo – a significant amount of recorded documents have slipped through the cracks. . .

Fuigo From A Different Dimension is a solo trumpet album.. ‘Solo trumpet’ being not 100% accurate, as Kondo too plays Alto Horn – solo, and also simultaneously, with his “solo” trumpet.
There aren’t a hell of a lot of solo trumpet albums [or solo brass instruments of any sort]. Leo Smith, Bill Dixon, Axel Dorner and Lester Bowie immediately come to my mind. Stef at freejazz-stef has made a better roundup of solo trumpet albums here

This is Kondo’s first solo record – from 1979.
It’s inventive, imaginative, creative, concise, weird, wonderful, and – for me – quite cohesive as an album, and not a set of glorified practice exercises or a hot-chops demonstration.
This time round, I’m not going to recommend the felicities of each and every track - or gesture, mood or feel.
And instead I recommend to - Just listen.

It is weird – and things are never as far apart as they seem: - I was prompted to post this by the 2 Kondo records mentioned above – yet this LP is Bellows 001, and Billy Bang’s Changing Seasons [below] was the 4th LP on the same tiny Bellows label [Bellows 004].
As far as the label goes - the first and the last.

Anyway - hope you enjoy.


For onxidlib

Henry Kaiser -Toshinori Kondo- Andrea Centazzo,Metalanguage LP- ML 102-1978

An intriguing document by three Eccentric masters from the golden age where
free improvised sounds modelled on SME, were spreading World wide and becoming some sort of Lingua franca amongst adventurous souls,and disciples spreading the Gospel of Micro-Free non-conformity..

Nice Chewy listen ,even if perhaps it isnt the best work by these guys ,Henry was in the process of developing his own trademark almost orchestral,uniquely processed sound (evidenced to a degree on side b) , and fully realised on later records like the criminally out of print Aloha ,& Outside Pleasure...(here ,particularly on side one , he sounds largely in thrall to his great love of D.Bailey,and what guitarist playing free music isnt at some point?)

Kondo as usual sticks out whatever the context.. one of the most utterly distinctive brass voices of the Era or any Era ,a special PRESENCE,in whos phrasing and unique sense of time one can hear echoes of the outrageously Expressive, chimeric Miles Davis on such mid 70's masterpieces ,On the Corner, Agartha,& Panagea,

and of course Ictus boss, Centazzo is also quite a riveting ,magnetic presence as always.

a language taking shape .... nothing codified or formalised, enjoy!!

Line-up / Musicians
Electric Guitar [Gibson 355 Guitar, Acoustic 115 Amp.]- Henry Kaiser
Percussion [Premier Drum Set, Cheap Electronics, Ufip Cymbals & Gongs, Etc.], - Andrea Centazzo (tracks: B1 to B5)
Trumpet, Horn [Eb Alto] - Toshinori Kondo (tracks: A1 to A7)


Releases information
LP: Metalanguage ML 102 (US)


ps ... ive given this a light de crackle and click , the record is in a condition thats just this side of poor, servicable until the real thing in the form of a proper cd reissue comes along ... i guess, dont hold y'r breath!

New York Collage - Billy Bang's Survival Ensemble [Anima AN-1002]

New York Collage

Billy Bang's Survival Ensemble

Billy Bang - violin, poetry, bells, shaker, percussion

Bilal Abdur Rahman - tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, bull-horn, percussion
Henry Warner - alto saxophone, bells, shaker, percussion
William Parker - bass
Khuwana Fuller - congas
Rashid Bakr - drums

Side A

1.Nobody Hear The Music The Same Way (Dedicated to John Coltrane) [Billy Bang]
2.For Josie Part II [Billy Bang]

Side B

3.Illustration [Poetry - B Bang, Music - Bilal A Rahman]
4.Subhanallah [B.A. Rahman]

Anima Records A.N. 1002
1978

[EDIT] - Feel free to read on for my ramblings re. this record - they still stand. In what is rather exciting news though, this HAS BEEN REISSUED ON CD, along with another HITHERTO UNRELEASED SURVIVAL ENSEMBLE RECORDING. Amazing and thrilling at the same time: - it's called Black man's Blues / New York Collage - 2CD, and LP. Label is NoBusiness, link here - http://www.nobusinessrecords.com/NBCD30-31.php

Access to original tapes was apparently involved. This is good.

Download link here for this is now pulled, and I'd urge people to consider this new reissue.

Review here [or at least a few words] , as soon as I get my copy ..

[/EDIT]

This is the first Billy Bang record. The band, the Survival Ensemble, is a sextet - it's from 1978.

The few reviews that will find of this record on the web will suggest to you that it's vaguely interesting in a historical sort of way but inessential musically - 'diverting juvenilia' in almost as many words.
That - is crap. It's a great record.

Of it's time sure - but revealing of the reality of Billy Bang's 1978 - a reality you can still smell and feel and that has grip and resonance even now - 33 years later in a world that bears little resemblance . . .

The tunes are not complex, not the section-work razor-sharp - but it grooves and it crackles throughout with a totally unpretentious honesty and urgency. Both 'outside' and 'in' - a concept that will be familiar to longtime fans of Bang's. And some of the simple arranging, is quite beautiful. It's noticeable that Billy plays with a lighter bow and touch than he came to use later on, when he developed that *deep,deep* horsehair attack.

'Illustration' is a spoken-word piece, a protest poem - engaging socially, politically, poetically - in a way that works (and still stands up) better than many more well-known famous poetic efforts of the era.
'Subhanallah' is a concise 1/4 hour of grooving tear-it-on-down that's fantastic
The Coltrane dedication is in "Nobody Hear The Music The Same Way" - I don't hear the Coltrane in the music [explicitly I mean] but I love the *song* the band makes here
'For Josie Part II' is driven through its atmospheric shapes by Rashid Bakr & Khuwana Fuller, but is a group performance of light and shade ...

Henry Warner on alto - is still active in NYC, after some time reportedly away from public musicmaking in the 80s/90s. A veteran of the NYC lofts of the 70's, he's on Bang's 'Outline #12' record (1982), as well as on William Parker's first record . Warner's webpage, with contact email is at http://www.henrypwarner.com/
Go to http://www.vibrationaltherapists.com to check out his Vibrational Therapists band.

Bilal Abdur Rahman is a mystery and a cipher. Would love to know more about him. Anyone? ... This seems likely to be the only released recording he appears on.
A tune of his called 'Know Your Enemy' was recorded by Bang a number of times on later albums. He is credited with both tunes on side 2 here. He generates a great head of steam and plenty of excitement on Subhanallah, propelling the music forward madly.

Rashid Bakr is fantastic (some places here he's hitting *really hard*)

And Parker is exceptional - with or without a bow - a mighty player.

(John) Khuwana Fuller - like Warner - also appeared on 'Outline #12' 4 years later with a different band.

A Note on The Sound
This sounds almost exactly the same as the vinyl record does in this room - no noise reduction, or signal processing other than *manual* de-clicking. Initially, I ran the recording through a sophisticated piece of auto-declicking software. The clicks and pops were largely gone, and the sound was much cleaner, but I felt that 'something' had gone from the edge of the music too. If I A/B'ed the 2 , I could *barely* tell the difference in the music - but it was there, almost imperceptible. So - I went back to the original and started de-clicking manually. My litmus test in approaching this was that if I could hear any difference whatsoever after a single click removal - even a perception of difference - then the click stayed in. If there were no detectable difference in any way in that portion of music, then the click was removed - and on to the next click. And so on. It took ages, but the result is pretty true to the original. The fact I have done no other processing, means that the general noisefloor is higher than a processed recording. The point here is that you can EQ it yourself if you want to make a 'personal listening' copy that you're comfortable with. I'm trying to make here the closest thing I can to the sound of the vinyl on my turntable - not master a CD. Admittedly, the (manual) click-removal is a concession toward listenability that a totally 'pure' approach would eschew. Closest I can get to imagining the sound of the new vinyl, store-bought, 1978 is the justification. Everything is relative of course, and in the end you're relying on my ears making all these qualitative judgments. Res ipsa loquitur.

The recording acoustic is slightly dry and boxy - the ear quickly adjusts.

Go buy some music – support musicians and keep them and their families alive. Otherwise there will be no next generation and our kids kids’ will have nothing but shit to listen to.

Buy Bang CDs – buy Henry P Warner’s CDs – buy Other Dimensions In Music CDs (W. Parker & Rashid Bakr).

If everyone just sits at home at their computers downloading the universe, then no-one is helped, no one is supported, no-one is energized, there’s no path forward.
Everyone just gets a lot of solitary pleasure true - but that’s just the same as masturbation.

So anyway - "What's the remedy for a Saturday Night Fever?"

Untitled Gift - Billy Bang [Anima 3BG9]

1982 - Quartet music.

The instrumentation is violin, pocket trumpet, bass and drums. Plus some extra flute work from Don Cherry and Bang himself. The timbre of the unusual combination of instruments is absorbing - and the playing excellent.

Bang and Cherry are great.

But cop a big ear too, to Wilber Morris and Denis Charles - just LARGE talents, that couldn't be unmusical if they tried.
Who's Denis Charles? The guy on the early Cecil records who went off to be a 30 year junkie? Yeah - that guy BUT. . .
listen (for example) to Maat here. Powerful, beautiful, musical, wonderful approach It's Denis fucking Charles man! He's fantastic and [I think] a vastly under-rated player.

A really enjoyable record.

Sadly - all these 4 guys are now gone.


Billy Bang - violin, yokobue flute, congas, bells
Don Cherry - pocket trumpet, flute, bells
Wilber Morris - bass
Denis Charles - drums

Side A
Echovamp 1678 [B.Bang]
Night Sequence [O.Coleman]
The Kora Song [D.Cherry]

Side B
Maat [B.Bang]
Levitation for Santana [B.Bang]
Focus on Sanity [O.Coleman]

Anima Records Anima 3BG9
1982


Buy The Recordings of The Musicians You Respect !!

Changing Seasons - Billy Bang [Bellows 004]

Gratifyingly, many of Billy Bang's recordings remain in- print and available. On Soul Note, Justin Time, Black Saint , CIMP, and a fistful of smaller labels. Even 'oddities' like the solo violin 'Commandment' on the tiny 'No More' label can be obtained with minimal searching. That so many of the records are so good, and in so many diverse settings and styles, is a testament to the musicianship of the man.

Only a few things have slipped through the cracks and remain unavailable, with little likelihood of reissue. One of them was posted here, Feb 2009 (Live at Green Space with Charles Tyler).

Here's another one.

3 of the 4 tracks were recorded in trio with William Parker and the Japanese percussionist Toshi Tsuchitori. Then, a free-jazz avant-guardist, in the following decades Tsuchitori has explored worlds of ancient instruments, releasing a number of recordings including "“The Sounds of Prehistoric Painted Cave: Playing in the Cave of Cougnac, France”. For over 30 years he has collaborated on and off with British theatre and film director Peter Brook

The other Japanese musician on this record - on the 'Playful Spring' duet is trombonist Masahiko Kono. A determined experimentalist, in 1980 he would have been on a visit from Japan, having studied and worked there with Toshinori Kondo, tenor player Mototeru Takagi and violinist Takehisa Kosugi. Unlike Kondo, he moved to the USA permanently and has played extensively with groups led by Jemeel Moondoc, William Parker and William Hooker, as well as being a frequent member of Cecil Taylor's big band.

It is likely redundant to mention William Parker in an introductory context. Suffice to say that both Parker and Bang debuted on record within a year of one another (Parker 1973, Bang 1974) and that their musical association goes back at least to this time. More than 2 decades after Changing Seasons was recorded, the two formed, with Hamid Drake, the Violin Trio, releasing the beautiful Scrapbook album on Thirsty Ear. In the interim, Parker played bass on outstanding Bang records like The Fire From Within (Soul Note, 1984), and Sextet - Live at Carlos 1 (Soul Note, 1986).

The crickets (noted in the title of Track 1) are audible on all 3 of the 'Studio Henry' tracks - giving an evocative feel of a hot New York summer. The duo with Kono was recorded 2 days after Christmas of that year - at a guess, the 'Changing Seasons' of the title comes from the disparity between the 2 sessions (seasonally speaking).


160 kbps MP3's of this have been available in blogland for quite some time. Anecdotally, membership of a stern Russian free-booty site would allow you to access MP3s at 320. Hell, bits of this album have even appeared on YouTube (accompanied by a static photo).


But these are FLACs - from a clean LP copy and very low on the pop & crackle quotient.
The sound is good.

And the music is wonderful.


Seriously, consider buying some fantastic in-print Billy Bang music - it would be a fitting respect and farewell to the man. If you don't know his String Trio of New York or Soul Note or Justin Time records - you need them ! Any of these will pay royalties on sales to his estate - he is survived by his daughters Hoshi and Chanyez, his sons Jay and Ghazal, - and his partner Maria.

here's just 24 essential billy bang recordings...

Billy Bang R.I.P 1947 - 2011

Inventive, profound, joyful, complex, swinging, bluesy, avant guard, wonderful musician.

A huge, horrible loss.

His extensive discography is here - http://www.mindspring.com/~scala/bang.htm

So very sad today

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.

Live at Moers Festival - Phillip Wilson Quartet [Moers 01062]

I have been playing a lot of Frank Lowe lately.
This LP has been on the stack next to turntable, as Frank's on this.
Some great mentions, recognition & posting of the music of the fantastic drummer Phillip Wilson recently at inconstantsol , brought the 2 into co-junction
I think I normally write too much - and bore people - so this time just a few words about this performance: -
'Wish I was there' . . .


Phillip Wilson -Drums, Percussion
Frank Lowe -Tenor Saxophone
Olu Dara -Trumpet
Fred Williams -Bass

Side 1
1. Broadway Rhumba
2. Cha Cha
3. This Is For You

Side 2
1. F & L
2. It's A Party

Recorded live Moers Festival - 15th May 1978.