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ERNST-LUDWIG PETROWSKY QUARTETT – SelbViert (LP-1980)

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Label: FMP – FMP 0760
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album; Country: Germany - Released: 24 July 1980
Style: Free Improvisation, Free Jazz
Recorded live during the Total Music Meeting '79, November 1, 2 and 4 at the Quartier Latin, Berlin
Artwork – Else Nothing
Photography By – Dagmar Gebers
Recorded By, Producer – Jost Gebers


Translation from German:

What at first surprising is the spectrum that is presented here. Such a "cool" Introduction as Becker's " Selb-Dritt " could have of these musicians can hardly wait some time ago. In between, however, there are plenty of musical and breakout, so of supercooled resignation can be no question. In general, one should be wary of too rapid emotional generalizations. What is visible, audible, is more differentiation. Also the train to the jazz tradition here is not nostalgia or hopelessness - more of a space for freedom, for in new contexts can be also about the experience and Played By free disposal. This ranges from bebop and hard bop to cool, to the classics of free jazz. Luckily, and I think that's a highlight worth train, the four musicians do not work with a quote chain of Aha-effects, but with their musical experiences. To imitator is most likely to experience lots. What surprised me: how seamlessly hand how well the transition from rhythmic passages open and found the reverse of traditional bound, swinging is. What surprised me: how in places the relative distinction of soloists and Accompanying einspielt again. I suspect that this is related to the quartet constellation, because selbviert could hear the musicians gathered here only rarely.
My tension was and is mostly the trio ( Petrowsky / Koch / Sommer or Petrowsky / Becker / Koch). In the quartet the result is an impression which certainly emphasizes the individual qualities of the musicians, but refers to the Sporadic of the Quartet meeting: A body or function is occasionally occupied (After Sommer playing alone as a full orchestra and Petrowsky is lately emerged as an unaccompanied soloist.) If Petrowsky, Sommer and Koch have long been known as an outstanding musician in jazz of the GDR, so is " Selb-Viert ", etc. therefore worth listening to, because it is first introduced here on a LP trumpeter / flugelhorn player Heinz Becker in a wider context as a soloist. The inspiration and precision of his runs, his-even without damper-in slow passages often restrained and verhangender sound, but especially the intuitive interaction with Petrowsky, contribute to the appeal of this plate. Petrowsky is often the urgent, the - not only as regards the pace - accelerating, Becker sometimes the prudent - structuring partner. Noteworthy are the phonetic equivalents - especially in the interplay of alto saxophone and flugelhorn. In unison - " Blues Connotation " by Coleman, the only pronounced historical reverence - and especially in the free Duoimprovisationen of the two winds, creates a difficult ponderable, fascinating blend of friction and agreement, which are undoubtedly some of the mentality of the players reflects . When Sommer then in " Not wanted " on his metallophonic marked odd, reminiscent of gamelan music time signatures or on the pool toys free accent chains and cook vigorously against it sweeps , they are up to date and own jazz idiom suddenly selbviert together, the long-standing and partly common Jazz companions.

_ By BERT NOGLIK
aus: Jazz Podium # 12, Dezember 1980



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LLOYD McNEILL – Elegia (LP-1980) and LLOYD McNEILL QUARTET – Asha (LP-1969)

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LLOYD McNEILL – Elegia (LP-1980)
Label: Baobab Record Co. – BRC-3, Baobab Record Co. – Baobab No. 3
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album; Country: US - Released: 1980
Style: Free Improvisation, Fusion
Recorded Dec., 13, 1979 at Right Track Recording Studios NYC
Artwork By [Front Cover Painting], Design – Ron DiScenza
Composed By, Arranged By, Producer, Liner Notes – Lloyd McNeill
Conductor – Andrew White
Engineer [Recording], Mixed By – Vince McGarry

A1 - Samba For The Animals  7:38
A2 - Behind The Wind [Flute Solo]  2:23
A3 - Asha II  11:15
B1 - Elegiac Suite For Elizabeth  12:39
        a - Time
        b - The Mighty River
        c - The Wind 
B2 - Stripped Pants [With Cadenza]  3:14
B3 - Memory Cycle  7:27

LLOYD McNEILL ....... Flute, Alto Flute
DOM SALVADOR ....... Piano
CECIL McBEE ....... Bass
PORTINHO ....... Brazilian Percussion
CLAUDIO CELSO ....... Guitar
NANÁ VASCONCELOS ....... Percussion, Vocals
SUSAN OSBORN ....... Vocals

The first thing to know about Lloyd McNeill is that his are the very best soul-jazz flute LPs, and each is first-rate, a masterpiece of self-direction. The second thing to know is there is much more to him than his recorded legacy. He is one of those incredible, super-sensitive people who excels at every artistic idiom and endeavor; making wonderful music is just part of his flowing creativity. A professor (at Rutgers University, earlier Dartmouth), he has much to say about music and creativity as well as an impeccable gift for saying it...sensibly. McNeill's writings on his musical experiences provide invaluable documents of "the period" (late 1960s-1970s) as well as a rare glimpse at the joy of a relatively unsung master.

Born in Washington, DC in 1935, McNeill earned his B.A. at Morehouse College in Atlanta and also studied painting at Howard University in his home town and lithography at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. He has taught variously painting, illustration, and music at Dartmouth, Howard, Spelman, and Livingston College at Rutgers University. Films he has scored include "To Market, To Market,""TV Education in Samoa," and "Summer in the Parks." Also his quartet provided the music for the Spoken Arts LP "The Dream Awake."

McNeill has played with jazz legends --Andrew White (his longtime collaborator/producer), Eric Dolphy, Sabu Martinez, Mulatu Astatke, among many others-- and he has had a significant hand in the arts scene of Washington, D.C. The major galleries of art, including those of the Smithsonian, sponsored multi-media "happenings" that soared far above the hippie caricature of acid rock with light show. During the first flowering of post-Civil Rights, African-American culture, the Lloyd McNeill Quartet's improvisitory, simultaneuous jazz and large-scale painting "happened" while a lucky, perhaps unsuspecting public drank it in.

McNeill believes his influences and their results in his art, music, and poetry are inseparable and mutually reinforcing. Time spent with Picasso in Cannes, 1965 led to new expressions in all three, for instance. And when one brushes against a force such as Picasso, just the idea of "meeting Picasso" has a certain momentum, never mind the inevitable casting of rays of a different kind of light. Canvas, vinyl, the stage, paper, and books of poetry offer a few key imprints of McNeill, and McNeill consistently pays tribute to many illustrious peers.

There are six principal albums, all produced and entirely under the artist's control. Each title surpasses anything comparable on the major labels, even Blue Note. The Black Jazz label may be roughly similar in style, but Asha and Baobab are wholly Lloyd McNeill. The records reflect none of the usual external trends from the decade in which they were recorded; all sound like 1971 rather than 1979. The final record even reprises the first (the exotic, broodingly moody "Asha"), and the sound throughout remains somewhat interchangeable and timeless. But each record has its own themes and currents, and even improvisation has its signatures and fingerprints.




LLOYD McNEILL QUARTET – Asha (LP-1969)
Label: ASHA Recording Co. Inc. – ASHA One  /  ASHA NO. 1
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album; Country: US - Released: 1969
Style: Free Improvisation, Fusion
Recorded at Edgewood Recording Studio, 1969.
Design [Cover] – McNeill
Engineer [Recording] – Ed Green
Photography By [Photos] – Joan Knight

A1 - Asha  8:45
A2 - As A Matter Of Fact  4:53
A3 - Two-Third's Pleasure  5:53
A4 - Dig Where Dat's At!  3:27
B1 - St. Margaret's Church  6:50
B2 - Effervescence  6:51
B3 - Warmth Of A Sunny Day  10:22

LLOYD McNEILL ..... Piccolo Flute, Flute
GENE RUSH ..... Piano
STEVE NOVOSEL ..... Bass
ERIC GRAVATT ..... Drums, Percussion
PAUL HAWKINS ..... Percussion [Latin]


ASHA Recording Co. Inc. – ASHA NO. 1

Buying:
Collectors items, Lloyd McNeill records should be snapped up on sight. Hip Wax is pleased to offer the two titles for which limited stock remains as well as the Black Line book. Other items, such as used originals of other titles and rare LPs featuring Lloyd McNeill, may be available. See the jazz page at Hip Wax for all items.
http://www.hipwax.com/


In front of you are two beautiful albums. Enjoy!



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ROSCOE MITCHELL – Nonaah (2LP-1977)

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Label: Nessa Records – N-9/10
Format: 2 × Vinyl, LP, Album; Country: US - Released: 1977
Style: Free Jazz, Free Improvisation

Side A and B1, B2 recorded live on 23 August 1976 in Willisau, Switzerland (solo concert).
B3, C1 recorded on 17 January 1977 in Chicago, IL.
B4, D1 recorded on 22 February 1977 in Chicago, IL.
C2 recorded live on 15 January 1977 at Mapenzi, Berkeley, CA (solo concert).
D2 recorded on 22 January 1977 in Chicago, IL.

Alto Saxophone, Composed By – Roscoe Mitchell
Design – Arnold A. Martin
Liner Notes – Chuck Nessa, Terry Martin
Photography By [Cover] – Roberto Masotti
Producer – Chuck Nessa
Recorded By [Berkeley] – Roscoe Mitchell
Recorded By [Chicago] – Stu Black
Recorded By [Willisau] – Walter Troxler

"Nonaah is extraordinarily confrontational music--it presents instrument, composer and materials in a profoundly naked light. Perhaps more important than opening up one's preconceptions about the saxophone, it also complicates the AACM aesthetic."


One of the significant things that set AACM music apart from its brethren in New York in the 1960s and early 1970s was its use of space, of opening up the music so that things could occur within broad, environmental relationships. That sense of space was very important. In an entirely different take on "energy" music, the challenge of discerning what could be perceived as multiple, self-contained orbits was uniquely gratifying. To listeners weaned on the intervallic leaps of reed player Eric Dolphy and the ringing "wrong" notes of pianist Thelonious Monk, and the areas of quietude and vastness made perfect sense in the early music of reed players Roscoe Mitchell and Anthony Braxton.

On first hearing, Mitchell's Nonaah turns the perceived spaciousness of AACM-music on its end. Gone are the silences punctuated by little instruments or brief, anguished saxophone squalls that seemed to recoil as quickly as they appeared. Nonaah was something else entirely, an exorcism of the alto saxophone as much as putting the instrument through its paces. Released in 1977 on Nessa Records as part of a continual and tireless documentation of the music of the AACM, starting with Lester Bowie's Numbers 1 & 2 (Nessa, 1967), Nonaah consisted of a double vinyl set including solo alto saxophone, a saxophone quartet, duos with saxophonist Anthony Braxton and bassist Malachi Favors, and a trio with pianist Muhal Richard Abrams and trombonist George Lewis.

"Nonaah" itself is represented in both solo and quartet versions. The solo, which opens disc one, comes from a 1976 Wilisau concert, and lasts just over a half hour (including eight minutes of the Joseph Jarman composition "Ericka"). The title piece was previously referenced on the Art Ensemble of Chicago's Bap-tizum (Atlantic, 1972) and Mitchell's Solo Saxophone Concerts (Sackville, 1973), but this is its fullest explication. The piece begins with a jagged eight-note phrase, with its last note being held in gradually longer intervals. Each attack of the phrase itself becomes more distorted, each repetition goading the audience into a mixture of cheers and guffaws at some of the most naked saxophone playing they'd probably ever heard. At about five minutes in, the held tone becomes smeared, bent, and torqued; Mitchell begins rushing the phrase and the key becomes ambiguous. It is a furious troweling of hard ground—of forcing a very contained phrase into malleability and to either give up its fruits or die trying.

At nine minutes, Mitchell has exhausted this phrase, torqued it into recognizable but worked- over fragments. Here he moves on to the form of a plaintive ballad, running his keyed, reeded fingers over a delicate line, an insect with feelers for sound. Seemingly trepid, the intervals he's working with are incredibly vast, from low, velvety purrs to high-pitched, rounded pops. The next movement is faster, harsher and high-volume, buzzing and metallic. It seems to cull its language from both the original theme and the ballad portion, and is resoundingly physical—one can feel Mitchell's body contorting along with the phrases he's building up and tearing apart. One wants to say this is staunchly avant-garde music, and it is, but it's not without the trilled leaps of saxophonists Charlie Parker and Lester Young, the smoky, crushed fabric of a swing player, or the searing honk of R&B.

Jarman's staple "Ericka" is a ballad of extraordinary depth and beauty; Mitchell approaches it with warmth, stateliness and whimsy. His solo is full of curlicues, lines rushing down the staircase, and blurs in which notes pop out like flickers of light. By the end of the piece, Mitchell has found his way to clenched air and popping veins, energy being bottled and trying to escape both at once.

In January of 1977, Mitchell brought saxophonists Jarman, Wallace McMillan and Henry Threadgill together for a seventeen-minute saxophone quartet recording of the title piece. As the final work on the original double album, it marked an expanded exploration of the materials on side one. Operating at what appear to be slightly different intervals, the first movement is rendered like a rickety string quartet, clearly intertwined but operating with a logic that's distressingly internal. There's a bounce to it akin to a Steve Lacy piece gone horribly awry or a player piano stuck on repeat. The second section sounds lush, reminscent of Duke Ellington in its colorful expanse and woody timbres (you could almost swear there are a cello and violin present). Delicate measures and caressed intervals become brilliant orchestral floes, hints of saxophonist Johnny Hodges bringing the section to a unison close. To hear the contrasts between pointillist, scrabbling jounce and tone poem is something more pronounced in the quartet, proof (as if one needs it) of an excavating process leading to a compositional plenum.

Nonaah is extraordinarily confrontational music—it presents instrument, composer and materials in a profoundly naked light. Perhaps more important than opening up one's preconceptions about the saxophone, it also complicates the AACM aesthetic and vision. Rather than providing space, this is incredibly dense music, bristling with tension that is not overcome by ecstatic release. Nonaah is about as direct as one can get and, lest one forget, the music of Mitchell, Abrams, Jarman, Braxton and their cohorts is rebellious to this day.

_ By CLIFFORD ALLEN, Published: September 28, 2008 (AAJ)



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IRENE SCHWEIZER – Live At Taktlos 1984 (LP-1986/CD-2005)

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Label: Intakt Records – Intakt CD 001
Format: CD, Album; Country: Switzerland - Released: Aug 2005
Style: Free Improvisation
Recorded live 4th & 5th February 1984 at the Taktlos Festival, Rote Fabrik, Zürich.
Recorded live at Taktlos 1984 by Peter Pfister
Grafic Design: Ruedi Wyss
Executive Production: Patrik Landolt
First released as Intakt LP 001 / 1986

Schweizer’s Live at Taktlos—taped in 1984 at the first annual incarnation of the Swiss festival bearing the same name—marked the first LP release on Intakt. Reissued on CD the album presents the pianist in three extremely fertile situations with fellow improvisers from Europe and America. Peter Pfister, most-renowned these days for his impeccable engineering work for Hatology, handled the recording and while the fidelity isn’t blemish free it still captures the players with true-to-life sound. The disc's three main pieces accord ample space for extended free improvisation, the longest among them swallowing up a good twenty minutes. “ Every Now and Then, ” a manically-paced match-up of vocalist Maggie Nicols with pianist Lindsay Cooper works as coda. “ First Meeting ” teams Schweizer with trombonist George Lewis for a lengthy extemporization that is startling in its degree of close convergence, so much so that parts, particularly the puckishly tuneful conclusion, sound pre- composed. A wealth of unorthodox patterns and phrases pour forth from both players, often at telegraphic speed, but the whole constructed from these parts never loses a guiding sense of symmetry.
Less easily accessible is the trio of Nicols, Schweizer and Günter Sommer who convene on the enigmatically-titled “ Lungs and Legs Willing? ” Nicols ’ operatic, largely abstract vocals soar and swoop, leaving pianist and drummer to shape a sequence of ground-swelling collisions, soft and stentorian, that serve as terrestrial counterpoint in a crowded exchange. “ Trutznachtigall ” delivers an even most challenging experience via what on the surface seems the most conventional instrumentation. Bassist Joëlle Lèandre brings her full repertoire of capricious techniques to the event, sawing down tree trunks with her bow, punishing her strings with chest-pounding pizzicato flurries and, if the snapshot in the CD booklet is to be believed, even playing her instrument upside down. Her gruff and often outrageous vocals add to the turbulent atmosphere, veering from banshee wails to romantic cooing and back again. Lovens’ percussive idiosyncrasies fit right in, the fractious, but precisely intentional clatter from his kit complimenting Schweizer’s frequent forays under her piano’s hood to pluck and damper hammered strings. Attaching a play-by-play to all the delirious, irreverent action and reaction ends up a pointless pursuit within mere minutes. A marker for various partnerships that have since made good on their promises tenfold, this music still packs an enjoyable jolt on par with its initial release twenty years ago.

_ By DEREK TAYLOR, All About Jazz, USA, November 2005

Irène Schweizer, Günter Sommer, Bauhaus Dessau, DDR, 1986. - Photo: Patrik Landolt

Note:
Most independent recording labels have their bellwether artists, those musicians on the roster central to the label's identity and mission. Hatology has Joe McPhee. Peter Brötzmann is commonly associated with FMP. Tzadik revolves around John Zorn. In the case of Intakt it's Swiss pianist Irène Schweizer. Schweizer has been playing actively for nearly half a century and the last several decades of her career have been faithfully documented on Intakt. Ideally, labels and artists share a reciprocal relationship. It's the charge of the label to act as advocate for the artist and the job of the artist to supply the label with meaningful creative capital. Schweizer's partnership with Intakt represents a model of this sort of mutually sustaining arrangement.
INTAKT RECORDS:  http://www.intaktrec.ch/



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LOTTE ANKER / CRAIG TABORN / GERALD CLEAVER – Live At The Loft 2005

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Label: ILK Music – ILK 148CD
Format: CD, Album; Country: Denmark - Released: 30 March 2009
Style: Free Improvisation, Free Jazz
Live concert recording from Loft, Cologne on June 22, 2005.
Recorded At – Loft, Köln, Germany
Barcode: 5706274002010

The music appears as played and heard with a minimum of editing.

A pure improviser, Danish native Anker pushes and pulls a variety of extended themes on this recording, with the American-based team of acoustic pianist Craig Taborn alongside drummer Gerald Cleaver.


This is the second release by Danish saxophonist Lotte Anker with her trio with Craig Taborn on piano and Gerald Cleaver on drums. The concept that started on the first album, "Tryptich", comes to fruition on this live date, and takes the concept a notch higher. Gone are the high-toned nervousness, and some of the density of the improvisations, making room for slower, warmer, more deeply felt and opener structures, and it works to perfection. Anker delves deep into the nature of music, stripping it of all its mannerisms, patterns and clear melodic lines, revealing a subtle, sensitive, melodic emotional nakedness, fragile and beautiful, intense and heartfelt. Taborn and Cleaver provide the ideal support and interaction, enjoying the subtleties, reinforcing the emotional depth, adding perspective and color, but leaving the center stage to Anker, whose calm presence defines the music. On "Magic Carpet", the long first track, she moves the music from calm, almost contemplative moments to increasing levels of intensity towards the end, but without raising her voice, or without losing the sensitivity, drawing Taborn and Cleaver into her realm of fast little sounds, who echo her, join her, then take over for two consecutive solos, compact, efficient, but great. The equally long second piece starts again in the faintest of modes, with barely audible sax notes vibrating in the air, floating sensitively, encountering their counterparts from the piano and finger-played drums, dancing around each other rhythmically, but then one without recognizable pattern. And out of this almost-silence erupt some gut-wrenching agonizing wails, slowly, plaintively, and then listen how Taborn takes over, capturing the idea, playing around with the implicit rhythm for a wild yet light piano excursion, and when Lotte Anker joins, she moves the piece back to slowness, stretching her notes, laying a quiet blanket on top of the rhythmical frenzy that Cleaver starts creating, followed in that by Taborn, leading to a strange musical contrast between the rhythm section and the tenor, the one hectic, the other slow. The last piece, "Berber", brings again this strange mixture of abstract and deeply emotional music, demonstrating that in the right hands and ears, musical purity in all its polished rawness, in all its real sensitivity, devoid of fake feelings, averse of false pretention, is not a vague dream, but a real possibility. Free form unleashes true feelings. An absolutely stunning performance.

_ By Stef
http://www.freejazzblog.org/2009/04/lotte-anker-craig-taborn-gerald-cleaver.html


ILK Music – CATALOGUE:  http://www.ilkmusic.com/catalogue/



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QUINTET – Quintet At Mulhouse, 29 / 08 / 2008 (JAZZ À MULHOUSE – FREE MUSIC 2008)

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Label: Private Recording / DP-0845
Format: CD, Album; Released: 2008
Style: Free Improvisation, Free Jazz
Quintet At Mulhouse, 29.08.2008
Recorded live at JAZZ À MULHOUSE – FREE MUSIC 2008, France
Design by ART&JAZZ Studio Salvarica
Artwork and Complete Design by VITKO

Tracks:
01 Quintet at Mulhouse 2008 – Intro  (1:33)
02 Quintet at Mulhouse 2008 - Improv Set  (60:04)

A festival line-up has its hazards, contradictions and happy events. At the beginning, two bands were foreseen : the 1st with Clayton Thomas, the 2nd with John Edwards and Evan Parker. Unavailability and failure of both projects. Clayton Thomas expressed his wish to play with Pascal Le Gall. We therefore submitted the idea of a quartet with two basses to which Evan Parker suggested to add an old buddy, Tony Marsh… Idea accepted. Free music gets the better of us !


Note:
PROGRAMME – JAZZ À MULHOUSE – FREE MUSIC 2008
26/08/2008 – 30/08/2008

26/08/2008
- Barre PHILLIPS solo
- THE SWEEP (Tobias DELIUS / Rudi MAHALL / Joe WILLIAMSON /Tony BUCK)

27/08/2008
- Peter EVANS solo
- ZAKARYA (Yves WEYH / Alexandre WIMMER / Vincent POSTY/ Pascal GULLY)
- Dorothea SCHURCH / Jacques DEMIERRE / Roger TURNER
- ROOT DOWN (Orchestre de 22 musiciens dirigé par Tommy MEIER)
- THAU 4TET (Sabina MEIER / Hans KOCH / Paed CONCA / Fabrizio SPERA)

28/08/2008
- Eddie PREVOST / John BUTCHER
- SPAM (Deborah LENNIE-BISSON / Cédric PIROMALLI / Pascal MAUPEU)
- HUBBUB (Jean-Luc GUIONNET / Bertrand DENZLER / Frédéric BLONDY / Jean-Sébastien   MARIAGE / Edward PERRAUD)
- HUNTSVILLE (Yvar GRIDELAND / Tonny KLUFTEN / Ingar ZACH)
- ELECTRIC ELECTRIC (Eric BENTZ / Vince)

29/08/2008
- Axel DÖRNER, solo
- EDGAR (Sébastien COSTE / Will GUTHRIE)
- Catherine JAUNIAUX / Sophie AGNEL
- QUINTET (Evan PARKER / John EDWARDS / Clayton THOMAS / Pascal LE GALL / Tony MARSH)
- BAISE EN VILLE (Natacha MUSLERA / Jean-Sébastien MARIAGE)

30/08/2008
- Nikos VELIOTIS, solo
- PROPAGATIONS (Marc BARON / Bertrand DENZLER / Jean-Luc GUIONNET / Stéphane RIVES)
- CHARMING HOSTESS (Marika HUGHES / Jewlia EISENBERG / Cynthia TAYLOR)
- GLOBE UNITY ORCHESTRA (Evan PARKER / Ernst-Ludwig PETROWSKY / Gerd DUDEK / Rudi MAHALL / Manfred SCHOOF / Jean-Luc CAPPOZZO / Axel DÖRNER / Johannes BAUER / Christof TEWES / Alex. V. SCHLIPPENBACH / Paul LOVENS / Paul LYTTON)


ORNETTE COLEMAN – Twins (recorded between 1959 and 1961, LP-1971)

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LP cover originally released in 1971

Label: Atlantic – SD 1588
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Stereo, 180 Gram; Country: US - Released: 1971
Style: Free Jazz, Hard Bop
"First Take" recorded on December 21, 1960, at A&R Studios, New York City.
"Little Symphony" recorded on July 19, 1960, at Atlantic Recording Studios, New York City.
"Monk And The Nun" recorded on May 22, 1959, at Radio Recorders, Hollywood, California.
"Check Up" recorded on January 31, 1961, at Atlantic Recording Studios, New York City.
"Joy Of A Toy" recorded on July 26, 1960, at Atlantic Recording Studios, New York City.
Design [Cover Design] – Haig Adishian
Photography [Cover Photo] – Omar Kharem Producer – Nesuhi Ertegun
Design [Cover Design] – Haig Adishian
Liner Notes – Martin Williams
Mastered By – George Piros
Mixed By [Re-mix Engineer] – Geoffrey Haslam

"Ornette Coleman's music has always shown an expressive feel for the playful, the joyful, the whimsical side of human nature. And I'd say it's often there, deep down, in things he plays or writes in quite different moods." _ Martin Williams

A1 - First Take  17:00
A2 - Little Symphony  5:15
B1 - Monk And The Nun  5:56
B2 - Check Up  10:11
B3 - Joy Of A Toy  4:40

Artists on Check Up : DON CHERRY (cor), ORNETTE COLEMAN (as), SCOTT LaFARO (b), ED BLACKWELL (d), recorded NYC, January 31, 1961. Recording Engineer Tom Dowd.

Other tracks: DON CHERRY (pocket tp), FREDDIE HUBBARD (tp), ERIC DOLPHY (bcl), ORNETTE COLEMAN (as), CHARLIE HADEN, SCOTT LaFARO (b) ED BLACKWELL, BILLY HIGGINS (d), sessions May 22, 1959, July 19, July 26, December 21, 1960.

Ornette Coleman
Freddie Hubbard

Ornette Coleman's Twins (first issued on LP in 1971) has been looked at as an afterthought in many respects. A collection of sessions from 1959, 1960, and 1961 with different bands, they are allegedly takes from vinyl LP sessions commercially limited at that time to 40 minutes on vinyl, and not initially released until many years later. Connoisseurs consider this one of his better recordings in that it offers an overview of what Coleman was thinking in those pivotal years of the free bop movement rather than the concentrated efforts of The Art of the Improvisers, Change of the Century, The Shape of Jazz to Come, This Is Our Music, and of course the pivotal Free Jazz. There are three most definitive selections that define Coleman's sound and concept. "Monk & the Nun" is angular like Thelonious Monk, soulful as spiritualism, and golden with the rhythm team of bassist Charlie Haden and drummer Billy Higgins driving the sweet and sour alto sax of Coleman and piquant trumpeting of Don Cherry. "Check Up" is a wild roller coaster ride, mixing meters, tempos, and dynamics in a blender in an unforgettable display of sheer virtuosity, and featuring bassist Scott LaFaro. "Joy of a Toy" displays the playful Ornette Coleman in interval leaps, complicated bungee jumps, in many ways whimsical but not undecipherable. It is one of the most intriguing of all of Coleman's compositions. Less essential, "First Take" showcases his double quartet in a churning composition left off the original release This Is Our Music, loaded with interplay as a showcase for a precocious young trumpeter named Freddie Hubbard, the ribald bass clarinet of Eric Dolphy, and the first appearance with Coleman's groups for New Orleans drummer Ed Blackwell. "Little Symphony" has a great written line with room for solos in a joyful hard bop center with the quartet of Coleman, Cherry, Haden, and Blackwell. All in all an excellent outing for Coleman from a hodgepodge of recordings that gives a broader view of his vision and the music that would come later in the '60s.

Review by MICHAEL G. NASTOS



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CHICO FREEMAN – The Search (LP-1983)

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Label: India Navigation – IN 1059
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album; Country: US - Released: 1983
Style: Hard Bop, Free/Avant-Garde Jazz
India Navigation Studio Recording, 1982
Design – Tan Ohe
Photography By – Beth Cummins
Producer – Bob Cummins

This is a beautiful collaboration between Freeman and the vocalist Val Eley. All four tracks include vocals by Eley. Her singing is very strong. The opening, "The Search", starts with unaccompanied vocal line. The moment when the piano trio jumps in always gives me goosebumps even after tens of listens to this album. I was at a cafe one day and listened to this album, fascinated with it, and walked immediately to a record store and bought it. Kenny Barron is so wonderful on this album. McBee playing in this album is very secure (in terms of intonation). Participation of Nana Vasconcelos is also great. All the four compositions are very well composed, arranged, and performed.

A1 - The Search  10:52
A2 - Illas  11:48
B1 - Close To You Alone  7:30
B2 - Soweto Suite  12:25

CHICO FREEMAN – Saxophone, Flute
KENNY BARRON – Piano
VAL ELEY – Vocals
CECIL McBEE – Bass
JAY HOGGARD – Vibraphone, Marimba
NANA VESCONCELOS – Berimbau, Percussion
BILLY HART – Drums


Surely, it ’ s not the most known album nor the easiest to find of this musician and composer. Even so, it ’ s an excellent work, where the vocal performance of Val Eley gives it a character of great beauty and exclusivity.

Although Jazz always was the basis of the music composed by Chico Freeman, many of his works present a rather sharp stylistic diversity as he himself likes to point out: “ My objective is to explore new worlds, and I don ’ t want to be limited by categories. The only limitations I place on myself are the limitations on my own imagination, and within that realm, there are none ” .

Comprising three originals from Freeman and one from Cecil McBee, “ The Search ” is a memorable album, which reveals the vocal performance of Val Eley denoting a strong lyrical component, a style of recitation and drama so popular in the Cabaret music or the hippie revival of the musical “ Hair ” . Although I ’ m not a special follower of the singing Jazz, this album left me rendered to Eley ’ s vocal and interpretive skills, from the very first audition.

But this musical piece is much more than the voice of Eley, or we were not dealing with a star cast, composed of the finest instrumentalists. The faultless performance of Cecil McBee (bass) and Billy Hart (drums) is joined by the brilliant Kenny Barron (piano), giving the 40 minutes of this record, an unparalleled rhythmic robustness. Jay Hoggard (vibraphone/marimba) and Nana Vasconcelos (berimbau/percussion) complement the aesthetic sense of this work, with details of great opportunism and excellence. As for Chico Freeman, those who know him from other albums, know how exciting his performance can be. A real musical treat.

Generating a positive wave that emanates a contagious spirituality of influences as diverse as the Hard- Bop, R&B or the Free/Avant-Garde Jazz, this work can be heard with the greatest pleasure, without ever becoming dull or boring.

"The Search" is indeed a serious case of inspiration and musical quality and therefore I never tire of recommending it to all my friends and lovers of good music.



If you find it, buy this album!

ALBERT MANGELSDORFF QUINTETT – Now Jazz Ramwong (LP-1964)

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Label: AMIGA – 8 50 041 (Series: Amiga Jazz)
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Mono, Reissue
Country: German Democratic Republic (GDR); Released: 1980 
Style: Hard Bop, Free Jazz
Recorded at Walldorf Tonstudio Frankfurt, 6 and 7 Jun 1964
Photography By [Liner Foto]– Mara Eggert
Producer - Horst Lippmann
Liner Notes By – Karlheinz Drechsel
Written-By– Albert Mangelsdorff (tracks: A1 to A4, B2, B4), Heinz Sauer (tracks: B1), Ravi Shankar (tracks: B3)

Albert Mangelsdorff had just completed a long concert tour in Asia prior to this recording session in Frankfurt, where he documented many of the originals that he performed on the road.

A1 - Now Jazz Ramwong . . . 9:02
A2 - Sakura Waltz . . . 3:27
A3 - Blue Fanfare . . . 6:41
B1 - Three Jazz Moods . . . 6:13
B2 - Burungkaka . . . 3:28
B3 - Raknash . . . 4:42
B4 - Theme From Vietnam . . . 0:59
B5 - Es Sungen Drei Engel . . . 7:31

ALBERT MANGELSDORF – Trombone
GÜNTHR KRONBERG – Alto Saxophone, Baritone Saxophone
HEINZ SAUER – Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone
GÜNTER LENZ – Bass
ROLF HÜBNER – Drums, Percussion


Brilliant modern jazz from German trombonist Albert Mangelsdorff – recording here in 1964, but sounding years ahead of his time, with an amazing a blend of jazz and Asian styles! The album's one of Mangelsdorff's best ever – a set of rhythmic tunes that seem clearly informed by the work of Ornette and Joe Harriott, but also based along eastern themes picked up by the group on a tour of the Orient – and performed by a sharp-edged quintet that includes Heinz Sauer on tenor and soprano sax, Günter Kronberg on alto, Günter Lenz on bass, and Ralph Hübner on drums. There's some nice traces of MPS/Saba modal and Jazz Meets the World styles – and overall, the rhythmic pulse keeps things from getting as free and out as on Mangelsdorff's 70s sides – really soaring, but never too far out – and always with a cool exotic groove. The whole thing's great – instantly striking, and always a treasure – and titles include "Sakura Waltz", "Now Jazz Ramwong", "Raknash", "Theme From Vietnam", and "Burungkaka".

_ By KEN DRYDEN



If you find it, buy this album!

PAUL SMOKER TRIO – Come Rain Or Come Shine (1989)

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Label: Sound Aspect Records –  SAS  CD 024
Format: CD, Album; Country: W.Germany - Released: 1989
Style: Free Jazz, Free Improvisation
Recorded 18-19 Aug, 1986 in Cedar Falls, Iowa
Engineer By – David Baker
Executive Producer By – Pedro de Freitas

Five years ago, Paul Smoker Trio gave his brilliant European debut in Moers. At the legendary "New Jazz Trio" with Manfred Schoof, Peter Trunk and Cee lake felt you remember, but played the Americans its Free Bop with the concentrated power of the currents of the 80s. Now, the third album by this still equally populated and the same exciting gambling trio had appeared; and yet you're looking in the latest American and West German jazz encyclopedia the name of trumpeter Paul Smoker vain. Maybe it is because he teaches away from the Media Representative peered New York in Iowa at a college. Instrumental Technically any case he needs any more than Ron Rohovit, bass, and Phil Haynes, drum kit to put his light under a bushel. In the album of humorous text is a Don Cherry, who makes on Maynard Ferguson, the speech - which also points to the crux of this music back: Paul Smoker sounds like he should be a world champion to flex its muscles in constant power play. But breaks would not have to be energetically dead moments. The excel-lent bass playing, the beneficial also in the middle and lower register he-goes to can, to appear in the rare trumpet moments without some of the worn generen energy flows; also the perfect shape consciousness of the drums then opens up new sonic spaces. These quieter periods, however, are rare; dominate the power play interactions, quite in the manner of the European new jazz of the late 60s. Pieces of you have the great joy because in the long run annoys's.



Note:Small history of composition "Come Rain Or Come Shine"

“Come Rain or Come Shine” is a wonderful composition with a fantastic melody and very challenging changes. For the jazz musician, there are many openings for altering the changes and heading in different directions harmonically.
_ By David Friesen, jazz bassist

While many of the great song composers used repeated notes as a device to build tension and emphasize their harmonies, Harold Arlen, as a rule, was not one of them. “Come Rain or Come Shine,” however, is not just a rare Arlen exception; it may very well be the repeated-notes-champion among the top jazz standards.

1. “Come Rain or Come Shine” was introduced by Ruby Hill and Harold Nicholas in the Broadway musical St. Louis Woman. Set in St. Louis in 1898, the story revolved around Della Green (Hill), a woman who wants out of her relationship with bar owner Biglow Brown (Rex Ingram) when she falls for Li’l Augie, (Nicholas), a jockey on a winning streak. The show opened on March 30, 1946, at the Martin Beck Theatre to lackluster reviews and attendance and closed after only 113 performances. 
St. Louis Woman was beset with problems before it even opened. Songwriter Harold Arlen and lyricist Yip Harburg had just scored two successes with Metro Goldwyn Mayer’s Wizard of Oz, for which they won an Academy Award for Best Song, and the long-running Broadway musical, Bloomer Girl (1944). Profiting from stakes in both productions, MGM was eager to back Arlen’s St. Louis Woman, an all-black show based on Arna Bontemps’ first published novel, God Sends Sunday (1931). MGM was further willing to provide Lena Horne as the leading lady, and Johnny Mercer signed on to write the lyrics.

2. Talented trumpet player Clifford Brown had a brilliant career cut short by his untimely death in an auto accident at age 25. However, during his four years of recording he managed to leave a large body of work with many great moments of jazz.
In Paris, as a member of the Lionel Hampton Orchestra in 1953, Brown was in the studio with a small group made up of his compatriots from the Hampton band, performing arrangements written by Quincy Jones (also a member of the Hampton group). On the CD reissue of their recording of “Come Rain and Come Shine” we have the opportunity to hear two takes of the tune, illustrating Brown’s inventive genius.

3. The 1959 recording of “Come Rain or Come Shine” by Ray Charles (The Genius of Ray Charles) is widely beloved and is a great example of the song as a vehicle for ballad singing. The tune is often played with a swing feeling as well, and the standout performance among many in this style is Art Blakey’s from 1958 (Moanin'). This performance features dramatic solos from each of Blakey’s sidemen from this incarnation of Jazz Messengers, Bobby Timmons, Lee Morgan, Benny Golson and Jymie Merritt.....etc....etc.... 



If you find it, buy this album!

CECIL McBEE SEXTET – Music From The Source (LP-1978)

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Label: Enja Records – enja 3019
Format: Vinyl, LP; Country: Germany - Released: 1978
Style: Free Jazz, Contemporary Jazz
Recorded "live" at Sweet Basils, N.Y.C. Date: August 2, 1977.
E. Producer: Horst Weber
Producer: Cecil McBee
Engineer : Bob Cummins
Mastering: David Baker
Cover Design: Weber/Winckelmann
Cover Photo: Gerd Chesi

A - Agnez (with respect to Roy Haynes) (Cecil McBee) . . . 19:14
B1 - God Spirit (Cecil McBee) . . . 8:15
B2 - First Song in the Day (Hal Galper) . . . 17:20

CECIL McBEE – Bass
CHICO FREEMAN – Flute, Tenor Sax
JOE GARDNER – Trumpet, Flugelhorn
DENNIS MOORMAN – Piano
STEVE McCALL – Drums
DON MOYE – Percussion



Other than a 1974 set for Strata-East, this post-bop effort was bassist Cecil McBee's earliest recording as a leader. With Chico Freeman (heard on tenor and flute) as the most impressive soloist, McBee performs two originals and a piece by Hal Galper in a sextet that also includes trumpeter Joe Gardner, pianist Dennis Moorman, drummer Steve McCall and Don Moye on conga. The music is spiritual in nature, sometimes quite modal and in the adventurous genre of John Coltrane without being derivative. A fine live set, one of two recorded within a two-day period at New York's Sweet Basil.
_ By SCOTT YANOW



If you find it, buy this album!

CECIL McBEE – Alternate Spaces (LP-1979)

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Label: India Navigation – IN 1043
Format: Vinyl, LP; Country: US- Released: 1979
Style: Contemporary Jazz, Modal
India Navigation Studio Recording, 1978
All Compositions By – Cecil McBee
Cover Photo By – Lucia McBee
Produced by India Navigation Company 1979

A1 - Alternate Space . . . 9:05
A2 - Consequence . . . 8:15
B1 - Come Sunrise . . . 6:43
B2 - Sorta, Kinda Blue . . . 6:35
B3 - Expression . . . 7:13

CECIL McBEE – Bass
CHICO FREEMAN – Tenor & Soprano Saxes, Flute  
JOE GARDNER – Trumpet
DON PULLEN – Piano
ALLEN NELSON – Drums
FAMOUDOU DON MOYE – Percussion

Bassist Cecil McBee and Chico Freeman (who triples on tenor, soprano and flute) teamed up many times during the late 1970s and '80s. Their collaborations found them playing music that was a spiritual extension on hard bop, adventurous while moving forward. On this LP, they perform five of McBee's originals in a sextet that also includes trumpeter Joe Gardner, the percussive pianist Don Pullen (a major asset to the date), drummer Allen Nelson and percussionist Don Moye. The often melodic but unpredictable music definitely holds one's interest.
_ By SCOTT YANOW



If you find it, buy this album!

CHARLES LLOYD QUARTET – The Flowering (LP-1971)

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Label: Atlantic – SD 1586
Format: Vinyl, LP; Country: US - Released: 1971
Style: Free Improvisation
Recorded in concert at Aulean Hall, Oslo, Norway, 1971
Artwork [Cover Painting] – Jacques Richez
Design [Front Cover] – Haig Adishian
Design [Rear Cover] – Alyse Koylan
Engineer – Meny Bloch
Producer, Liner Notes – George Avakian

A1 - Speak Low . . . 8:26
A2 - Love-In / Island Blues . . . 6:19
A3 - Wilpan's . . . 6:39
B1 - Gypsy '66 . . . 14:11
B2 - Goin' To Memphis / Island Blues . . . 7:04

CHARLES LLOYD  Flute, Saxophone
KEITH JARRETT – Piano
CECIL McBEE – Bass
JACK DeJOHNETTE – Drums




A great title for this one – as the set really features reedman Charles Lloyd flowering strongly – blooming into a richer expression of his talents than any one might have expected a few short years before! The album features Lloyd working with his groundbreaking quartet of Keith Jarrett on piano, Cecil McBee on bass, and Jack DeJohnette on drums – players who have a perfect rhythmic conception to take Charles to the place he wants to go with his reeds! Titles include "Speak Low", "Goin' To Memphis/Island Blues", "Gypsy 66", "Wilpan's", and "Love-In/Island Blues".



If you find it, buy this album!

TERUMASA HINO – Hogiuta (LP-1976)

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Label: East Wind – EW-8041
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album; Country: Japan - Released: 1976
Style: Free Improvisation, Fusion
Studio recording, Japanese Original & East Wind, 1976
Promotional Director By – Yukio Morisaki
Photography By – Tadayuki Naitoh 
Producer By – Yasohachi "88" Itoh
Engineers By – Yoshiro Suzuki, David Baker
Executive Producer By – Toshinari Koinuma

Note: Japanese Original & East Wind JPN Spiritual Jazz !

A1 - Gyohkoh . . . 4:17
A2 - Hohjoh . . . 5:11
A3 - Yuhwa . . . 4:13
A4 - Hogiuta . . . 4:23
A5 - Yuhkyu . . . 1:40
B1 - The Good People . . . 15:08
B2 - Conclusion . . . 6:46

TERUMASA HINO  Trumpet, Fluegelhorn, Percussion, Composer, Voices
CECIL McBEE  Bass (Acoustic), Voice
MOTOHIKO HINO  Drums, Percussion, Voices
MTUME  Percussion, Conga, Voices



A fine trumpeter influenced by Freddie Hubbard and Miles Davis, Terumasa Hino has long been one of Japan's best jazz musicians. A professional since 1955, Hino has mostly become known to Americans since the 1970s due to his Enja recordings, although some of his albums were made available domestically by Catalyst, Inner City, and Blue Note. He moved to the U.S. in 1975, where he worked with Gil Evans, Jackie McLean, Dave Liebman, and Elvin Jones. Hino spent more of his time in Japan after the early '80s, and recorded in several different styles ranging from straight-ahead to fusion.

Very rare album and exceptionally beautiful recording.
Enjoy!



If you find it, buy this album!

ITARU OKI TRIO – Satsujin-Kyoshitsu (LP-1970) - ( 沖至トリオ - 殺人教室 )

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Label: Jazz Creaters – JC-1
Format: Vinyl, LP; Country: Japan - Released: 1970
Style: Free Jazz
Recorded in Tokyo, February 1970.
(Album title is read as "Satsujin Kyoshitsu"; usually translated as "Homicide Classroom".
English translations for the title "Homicide Classroom" and for track B2 - "Eternal Lyric" were given on the obi of this release, but not on this LP.)
Recording Engineer by – Kinji Hayashi
Produced, Liner Notes by  Teruto Soejima (see note)
Photography by – Katsuyuki Oda
Design by – Nobuo Umemori

A1 - 水との会話"Aporia" . . . 12:09
A2 - 図形的発展"Spectral" . . . 7:04
B1 - 空間の飛翔"Papilio" . . . 11:13
B2 - 永遠の詩"Eternal Lyric" . . . 5:20

ITARU OKI – trumpet, fluegelhorn, cowbell, triangle, bells, Indian bells, wood block, backet trumpet
KEIKI MIDORIKAWA – bass, piano, gong
HOZUMI TANAKA – drums, gongs, timpani


This album is now almost impossible to obtain, so it is my pleasure to present it here. Enjoy!

Note:
Teruto Soejima, Tokyo, Japan
Jazz critic, producer, film artist, at DUG in Shinjuku
Probably the one person who introduced Japanese Free Jazz to European audiences.

As Producer - Outside Japan:
Since 1979, has produced and organized overseas performances by over 30 Japanese performing arts groups (jazz, Japanese traditional music, avant-garde theater, etc.). These include three European tours (in 1998, 2000, and 2002) by the jazz orchestra Shibusashirazu; a concert in Germany (in 1995) by the shakuhachi player Hozan Yamamoto; and a tour of Russia and Lithuania (in 1992) by the improvisational music trio Ton Klami.
2006 - Served as art director of the five-day festival "Jazz in Japan 2006" in Paris, France.

In Japan:
Has organized such events as the 14-day free jazz festival Inspiration and Power (in 1974 and 1976), the Pan Music Festival '82, and the Berlin Contemporary Jazz Orchestra Japan Tour (in 1996).

I recommend his books:
Gendai Jazz no Choryu [Currents in Contemporary Jazz] (1994)
Nihon Free Jazz-shi [The History of Japanese Free Jazz] (2002)



If you find it, buy this album!

YOSUKE YAMASHITA TRIO – Frozen Days (LP-1975)

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Label: Crown – JAW 1001
Series: Crown Golden Series – SL-2936
Format: Vinyl, LP; Country: Japan - Released: 1975
(Reissue CD is 1995, Panam ‎– CRCP-164)
Style: Free Jazz, Avant-garde Jazz
Recorded on 25th to 28th September, 1974 at Crown Record No.1 Studio.
Manufactured By – Crown Record Co., Ltd.
Record Company – Crown Record Co., Ltd.

In front of you is another Japanese challenge, Yosuke Yamashita Trio, fascinating music making, you'll enjoy every single note.

A1 - Prophase . . . 3:30
A2 - Double Helix . . . 4:45
A3 - Chiasma . . . 9:46
B1 - Interphase . . . 9:15
B2 - Mitochondria . . . 9:49

YOSUKE YAMASHITA – piano
AKIRA SAKATA – alto saxophone
TAKEO MORIYAMA – drums



YOSUKE YAMASHITA

Born in 26 February 1942, Tokyo, Japan. Although he had played professionally at the age of 17, pianist Yamashita went on to study at the Kunitachi College of Music (1962-67). He established himself playing in the quartets of Masahiko Togashi and Sadao Watanabe. The earliest influence of Bill Evans soon gave way to the influence of Cecil Taylor. When Yamashita formed his own trio with Akira Sakata (alto saxophone) and Takeo Moriyama (drums) and toured Europe (1974) the music was so wild the group was known as the Kamikaze Trio. For inspiration Yamashita looked back to ‘the beginning of jazz - Europe had the system but Africa had all the feeling. All the material I use belongs to the system, but as long as I can stand on the outside and approach things from the outside, I will never be suffocated’. He kept a trio going throughout the 70s and continued to play as a sideman with the bands of Kazumi Takeda (tenor saxophone) and Seuchi Nakamura (tenor saxophone). From 1974 he made regular trips to Europe with the trio in Germany as well as playing with Manfred Schoof (1975), then as a soloist and in 1977 in a duo with bass player Adellard Roidinger. He disbanded the trio in 1983 when he felt that he had achieved as much as he could in that format. Yamashita formed a big band with an eclectic style and performed in many varied situations including solo performances of his own versions of classical pieces, playing with Kodo, a Japanese drum choir, and having pieces performed by the Ozaka Philharmonic Orchestra. During the 90s he was again playing and touring with a trio, comprising Cecil McBee and Pheeroan Ak Laff. Yamashita also composes for films including Fazâfakkâ (UK title: The Girl Of Silence) (1995), Kanzo Sensei (UK title: Dr. Akagi) (1998) and Sukedachi-ya Sukeroku (UK title: Vengeance For Sale) (2001). From 2004 he was visiting professor at Tokyo’s Kunitachi College of Music.



If you find it, buy this album!

YOSUKE YAMASHITA TRIO + GERALD OHSHITA + DAIRAKUDAKAN – Arashi (2LP-1977)

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                                                                                                          Back cover - detail
Label : Frasco – FS-7019/20
Format : 2 x Vinyl, LP, Album; Country: Japan - Releazed: 1977
Style: Free Jazz, Free Improvisation
(reissue 2007, Super Fuji Discs, FJSP-38/39, 2-CD set)
Recorded live at Nihon Seinenkan Hall, September 29, 1976
Engineered by – Tsuyoshi Miyasaka
Produced by – Yosuke Yamashita
Original design by – Koga Hirano
Photos by – Haruhisa Yamaguchi and Takumi Uchida

Ingenious Japanese Avant-Free Jazz rarity, double vinyl, Yosuke Yamashita Trio: "Arashi" (Storm), recorded live in 1977.

A1 - Moonlight Desert  (11:57)
A2 - Flower Corpse  (6:06)
A3 - Prelude by Gong and Human Voices  (3:28)
A4 - Ghosts Part I  (2:14)
B1 - Ghosts Part II  (4:20)
B2 - Golden Veins of a Leaf  (4:03)
B3 - Nihility Mobs: Interlude by Footsteps  (1:47)
B4 - An Age Is a Sunlight Coming through the Foliage of the Woods  (10:21)
B5 - Theme for Arashi  (2:58)
C1 - Great Nihility Conference: Part I-V  (21:07)
C2 - A Hairstic and a Liliputian Part I  (0:51)
D1 - A Hairstic and a Liliputian Part II  (0:17)
D2 - A Fan and a Doll  (0:49)
D3 - The Future War  (0:46)
D4 - Forest in Forest Shade  (1:01)
D5 - Theme for Arashi  (18:43)
D6 - Moonlight Desert  (2:55)


Yosuke Yamashita Trio:
Yosuke Yamashita: piano, percussion
Akira Sakata: alto saxophone, clarinet, percussion
Shota Koyama: drums, percussion

Gerald Oshita: tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, percussion
Dairakudakan (Maro Akaji, Ushio Amagatsu, Ko Murobushi, Tetsuro Tamura, Man Uno, Naohiko Torii, Kosei Inao, Nanten Harada, Junpei Sakai, Yosuke Matsuzawa, Mutsuko Tanaka, Anzu Furukawa, and Keiko Katsumata): Butoh dance



And finally, a masterpiece. So what does that free jazz of Albert Ayler have in common with Japanese trio, discover themselves.
Yosuke Yamashita Trio with Gerald Ohshita and Dairakudakan, Recorded live at Nihon Seinenkan Hall, September 29, 1976.
Enjoy!



If you find it, buy this album!

PETER KOWALD QUINTET – Peter Kowald Quintet (LP-1972)

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Label: FMP – FMP 0070
Format: Vinyl, LP; Country: Germany - Released: 1972
Style: Free Jazz, Free Improvisation
Recorded live January 19, 1972 at Akademie der Künste in Berlin
Artwork – Danny, Dietrich Maus, Geges Margull, Gerd Hanebeck, Heiko Hösterey, Krista Brötzmann, Paul Miron, Peter Paulus, Tomas Schmit, Toon Lem, Winfried Gaul, Wulf Teichmann
Producer – P. Kowald
Recorded By – Eberhard Sengpiel
Supervised By – Jost Gebers

"It was recorded at a concert in Berlin, during a Free Music Festival January 19, 1972 , and is a thoroughly excellent example of the kind of music to be heard at such events all over Europe....this LP is highly recommended."

A1 - Platte Talloere . . . 13:16
A2 - Wenn Wir Kehlkopfoperierte Uns Unterhalten . . . 7:06
B1 - Pavement Bolognaise . . . 14:00
B2 - Guete Luuni . . . 2:49

Peter van de Locht: alto saxophone
Günter Christmann: trombone
Paul Rutherford: trombone
Peter Kowald: double bass, tuba, alphorn
Paul Lovens: percussion

The informal freemasonry among European practitioners of the New Music grows daily stronger. Although the Continentals are rarely allowed to play here (thanks to antiquated regulations), British musicians now regularly cross the Channel to appear side-by-side with the best players Europe has to offer.
This album represents just such a collaboration, with trombonist Paul Rutherford taking his place in the band of German multi-instrumentalist, Peter Kowald, which itself contains one Belgian (van de Locht) and one Dutchman (Lovens).
It was recorded at a concert in Berlin, during a Free Music Festival last January, and is a thoroughly excellent example of the kind of music to be heard at such events all over Europe.
The work of the trombone team is what catches the ear first; Rutherford produces his vast array of technical effects, and manages to make music out of them all the time. Near the end of “Pavement Bolognaise”, for instance, he plays a long unaccompanied passage made up of long, low growls, ending with a delicious smear, which is quite riveting.
Christmann is a rather more straightforward player (though not much) and makes a fine complement. When he, Rutherford, and Kowald (on Alphorn, I think) play together on the short “Guete Luuni”, the effect is like a brass band lament from outer space.
The leader himself has some impressive moments on bass, particularly on “Platte Talloere”, where he plays a long solo made up of strange scratching sounds (caused by pressing the bow down hard on the strings) and is beautifully accompanied by Lovens – who seems to have calmed down a lot since I first heard him a couple of years ago.
Van de Locht sounds like a very promising young musician, giving his best work in the ensemble improvisations, when he provides an upper line with a poignant, bitter-sweet flavor.
A quintet, then, which is integrated as well musically as it is nationally; and a LP of informal, enjoyable music, which is highly recommended.

_ By RICHARD WILLIAMS
from: Melody Maker, June 17, 1972



If you find it, buy this album!

THE WUPPERTAL WORKSHOP ENSEMBLE – The Family (LP-1982)

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Label: FMP – FMP 0940
Format: Vinyl, LP; Country: Germany - Released: 1982
Style: Free Jazz, Free Improvisation
Recorded live on September 7th 1980, during the 8th Wuppertaler Free Jazz Workshop
Design by Peter Kowald
Photography By – Unknown Artist
Producer – Jost Gebers, Peter Kowald
Recorded By – Jost Gebers

A1 - Improvisation I (Charig/Rutherford/Poore/Brötzmann/Parker/
        Trovesi/Wachsmann/Van Hove/Kowald/Sommer) . . . 5:50
A2 - Fantale (Evan Parker) . . . 9:31
A3 - Bones and wishes (Phil Wachsmann) . . . 6:13
B1 - Improvisation II (Charig/Rutherford/Poore/Brötzmann/Parker/
        Trovesi/Wachsmann/Van Hove/Kowald/Sommer) . . . 10:05
B2 - The Family (Fred Van Hove) . . . 11:35

Marc Charig - trumpet, alto horn
Paul Rutherford - trombone, euphonium
Melvyn Poore - tuba
Peter Brötzmann - saxophones & clarinets
Evan Parker - soprano & tenor saxophone
Gianluigi Trovesi - saxophones & clarinets
Philip Wachsmann - violin
Fred Van Hove - piano
Peter Kowald - double bass
Günter Sommer - drums

This short-lived all-star assemblage of European talent only released one LP, and this is it! A large group that wears its size lightly, there is a lot of space for solos and smaller group work, while also allowing for some tremendously beautiful, all-in crescendos. And don't let the "workshop" of the title lead you astray: this is a band with a full understanding of the repertoire, and complete command of the material. Come join The Family!


DISCOGRAPHY: FMP Numbers (LP's, CD's & Singles), SAJ Numbers, Uhlklang:
http://www.fmp-label.de/fmplabel/discographie/fmpnumbers_en.html



If you find it, buy this album!

ALFRED 23 HARTH QuasarQuartet – POPendingEYE (1993)

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Label: Free Flow Music Production – ffm 0493
Format: CD, Album; Country: Germany - Released: 1993
Style: Free Jazz, Free Improvisation
Recorded live 5th December 1992 at the Hindemith Hall of the Old Opera, Frankfurt
New Cover Design by ART&JAZZ Studio, by VITKO
Photography By – William Klein
Producer – S. Siebenlist
Technician [Ton] – T. Raisig

Live-Mitschnitt aus dem Hindemith-Saal der Alten Oper Frankfurt, 5. Dezember 1992.
Straight ahead energetic Jazz. Enjoy!

01. 1st2nd3rd&4th . . . 29:18
02. BukzokWestWostokSude . . . 29:38

QuasarQuartet:
Alfred 23 HARTH - tenor sax, bassclarinet
Simon NABATOV - piano
Vladimir TARASOV - drums and percussion
Vitold REK - bass


"I want more POPEYE", writes Alfred Harth. "Possessing uncompromising moral standards and resorting to force when threatened". He also refers to "my artist's way through postmodernism", which at the beginning of the 90s brought him to grow tired of "all those mixes, remixes, postmodernisms and pop" that he had gone through during the previous decade: he was ready to return to a "pure" approach, essentially based on real players and real instruments. Enter Russian drummer Vladimir Tarasov from the Ganelin Trio, a long-time admirer of Harth, met for the first time in 1992 when Mr.23 was invited by Moscow TV for a program about him; the next character after his portrait would be none other that Popeye the Sailor (hence the album's title, a word game with the ironical "end" of the "pop phase" of Alfred's career). Tarasov had imported all the early Harth albums in the USSR, playing together became a necessary consequence. The QuasarQuartet, formed by the saxophonist in the same year, sees Harth on tenor sax and bass clarinet and Tarasov on drums and percussion, plus the fabulous pianist Simon Nabatov and the excellent Vitold Rek on bass. "POPendingEYE" features two half-hour tracks in which everything (Coltrane-derived ascensions, logical freedom, contaminations of marching band rhythms, folk melodies, pyrotechnical pianism, sadly pensive reed lines) obeys to a logic that's inspired by Harth's idea of "opening to the East": in fact, besides this new musical situation, he met his current partner - South Korea's visual artist Soonjoo Lee - right at that time . Even the track titles, "1st2nd3rd&4th" and "BukzokWestWostokSude", respectively refer to the world's divisions ("...we know what the 3rd world is, but which would be the 1st?" says Harth) and to a mixture of Korean and English language to describe directions. And many directions this music points at, with a stimulating alternance of high-charge improvisations and melodic crystals that doesn't remind us about the players' originary lands, but it rather stands as a primary example of reciprocal instant comprehension: no language is a barrier when the instruments are the ones doing the talking. "POPendingEYE" - a meaningful record in the free music scene of the early 90s - has remained pretty obscure despite its quality; but it sure helped Alfred Harth to be "strong to the finish", as the Sailor himself would have it. The fact is, his creativity shined then and it still does. What finish, then? And what's your favourite brand of spinach, Alf?
Highly recommended.

_ Review by MASSIMO RICCI



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