ep1str0phy

No shit. I dunno. This one's pretty bad:

An easy solution--burn one of the albums onto a CD. A lot of burning programs allow you to choose the time between tracks (all the way down to zero), but some of them also append the tracks with lead-in seconds. Regardless, you may have the lucky burning program. Just a thought. As far as Collectables goes--it's a pity that 32 Jazz (etc.) went under, 'cause those were fine reissues. Sound wasn't great, but at least the albums were kept intact. Even if you don't like doubling up, I'd suggest buying the 4-CD "Aces Back to back" (if you don't already have it). It has "Rahsaan Rahsaan," "Left & Right," "Prepare Thyself..." and "Other Folks' Music"--all on separate CDs, all in good shape. On "3-Sided Dream..."--I can testify that the Atlantic reissue is actually alright.

In some strange way, this sort of reminds me of Hill's old Soul Note covers.

Picked these up yesterday: William Parker Quartet: O'Neal's Porch Elvin Jones/Jimmy Garrison Sextet (feat. McCoy Tyner): Illumination! Giuffre/Swallow/Bley: Emphasis/Flight (2CD Hat reissue) -Two words: kick ass

Supposedly, I'd still be listening to and playing music (of some kind). But what's the context? Are we assuming that jazz never existed, or that it's been outlawed--cast into the slagheap of some mindless, anti-emotional, Orwellian Alphaville? Who am I kidding--I'd probably be in jail.

I'm actually somewhat curious as to matters of sonic fidelity. Regardless of its pedigree (in terms of reissues), the Neon album is still one of the better-recorded examples of the Brotherhood. The band's power always comes though a sloppy mix, but the detail on the debut is just stunning. The reissue of the Willisau date is still pretty muddy, managing to confound the horn lines on "Davashe's Dream." Compare to the Neon album--"Davashe's Dream" comes in loud and clear, and Dudu's solo (in all its scratchy majesty) is up front--a thing of beauty. I haven't yet managed to get a hold of the Cuneiform sides--live dates, I know, but are they as poorly mixed as the Oguns?

Quite AACM-ish. Somewhere in-between the Art Ensemble, Sun Ra, and Cecil Taylor, I'd say. I think it's a terrifically potent piece, but it does lose some of its power within the context of the album (hampering the momentum a bit--especially with all the hard-groove swirling about). It makes you wonder--what would have happened had this album been released during the CD era? More tracks? Re-programming?

I'm more familiar with the "heyday" Brotherhood--not so much the later 70's albums. I agree that the improv jam is a world all its own, especially when compared to the "hard grooving" cuts elsewhere on the album. It's a powerful contrast, but not so much because the extended "free" cut is a total break with band convention. With "Night Poem", the Brotherhood is venturing into an area only narrowly (if often) explored elsewhere in the group's catalogue--the sort of metrically-open, polyrhythmic, polytonal melee so often invoked as introductory/transitional material for live shows. I think it's stunning, sort of Sun Ra-ish--a free-flowing, "primordial" mass from which phrases, rhythms, and timbres are constantly evolving, settling into decay. Rare material for the big band, but wonderfully illustrative of the group's range.

Chris McGregor - Brotherhood of Breath (click here to buy) It was either this or Bennie Maupin’s “The Jewel in the Lotus,” and the Brotherhood won by a coin toss. Either way, we’re left with a terrific album by a woefully obscure artist. See, cats like Maupin and the Brotherhood… well, that’s why I’m in the music. The full story of the Brotherhood of Breath need not be recounted—not here, anyway. For those among us who are in the dark, do yourselves a favor and seek out an album or two (this one, of the handful I’ve heard, is my favorite). The history of South African jazz is a long, inspiring, sometimes frustrating saga, somewhat poorly documented and—due in no small part to the scarcity of available CD issues—difficult for the new listener to apprehend. If it weren’t for boards like (and including) this one, I’d probably never have heard the likes of Chris McGregor, Dudu Pukwana, Mongezi Feza, Johnny Dyani, Louis Moholo… Long story short, there are a number of individuals far more capable of providing a summary of this facet of jazz history. In distressingly abbreviated form, the history of the Brotherhood is this: Chris McGregor, alongside fellow South Africans Pukwana, Feza, Dyani, Moholo, and Nick Moyake, formed the remarkably successful—if still somewhat unknown—Blue Notes. After winning the Johannesburg Cold Castle Festival, the multi-racial group decided to remain in Europe. By the 1970’s, McGregor, together with several of the former Blue Notes, had formed the Brotherhood of Breath, a multinational big band of well-seasoned veterans and burgeoning legends. This session, originally released on Neon, was (correct me if I’m mistaken) the first of the Brotherhood’s albums… and it’s a stunner. There’s a sort of Ellingtonian grace here, a haunting undercurrent of sentimentality—informed, in ways both subtle and obvious, by the scars of apartheid, a yearning for universal sympathy, and, perhaps, a foretaste of the vague, untimely ends of many of the South African expatriates. There, too, is resilience, strength, a fervent passion every bit as bluesy and bruised as the best Charles Mingus. Shades of free jazz—most apparently, the strained, humanistic voices of Albert Ayler, Charles Tyler, Ornette, and Don Cherry—permeate the album. Yet, the Brotherhood is never so impenetrable as the most “avant” of the American “avant-garde.” Perhaps it’s a matter of isolated development, maybe it’s a testament to the idiosyncrasies of the cast herein assembled, but there’s something truly unique about the Brotherhood, a once-in-a-epoch’s gathering of talent that could not, never would happen again. I’ll leave further superlative (not to mention the requisite track-by-track analysis) to the Organissimo townfolk. My feeling is that any discussion of the Brotherhood is good discussion—and boy, is this the place to do it. We—the listeners, the connoisseurs, our loose cadre of musicianhood—sometimes lose track of jazz’s little-known lights. Well, that’s what AOTWs are for… so preach, brothers and sisters, preach.

I dunno, but I noticed the influence of Tony's new heavy drumming style was all over the progressive rock scene after "Believe It" was out. Thanks, Tony. Thanks a lot. On a related note, one of Jack Bruce's (probably now deleted) live albums (from the 70's--Live On the Old Grey Whistle Test) has a version of "Spirit" on it. The lineup is Bruce, Mick Taylor (g), Carla Bley (org & synths--seriously), Ronnie Leahy (piano & synth), and Bruce Gary (drums). To put it lightly, the ensemble sound is far more "light prog rock" than Tony would ever get--a sort of precursor to the mullet-brandishing fusion of subsequent years. As much as I like Bruce, it honestly seems as if the majority of prog rock groups glommed on to Lifetime's style--and not the substance. The opposite, perhaps, may be said of the punk bands.

That's sensationalism for you. Don't take it personally, man--I still need to track down the Bartz album.

Just out of curiosity, does anyone know if Harmolodic is still with Verve?

OK, may I take it the group is generally in agreement with John L here? Basically. I also agree with JSngry's statement that both are worth the price of admission. Seriously, I'd try to get a hold of at least a sample from the OUOD box--just to be sure you know what you're passing up (although, given the length of the tracks, any such sample may be only minimally illustrative).

I don't think this is addressed to me, but I'll chime in anyway. To put it succinctly, the "outest" moments on One Down are just as "out" as the "outest" moments on the VV set (probably more so). That is, it can get pretty wild. This is later Trane; not quite as brutal as Meditations or Ascension, but certainly on the same wavelength. To stress, One Down was recorded in 1965, the same year that the classic quartet effectively dissolved. Coltrane was already inovking the heavy dissonance and wild timbral freedom of his final works. It's "avant" but not quite "free jazz." So, to summarize, if you can't handle "Chasin' the Trane," then this probably won't change your mind. Still, it's some of the best of its kind.

If you don't already have a disc of IASW (not the sessions--just the album), it's a flip of the coin (in my opinion, anyway). If you do, go for the Coltrane. From what I can gather, the sessions box is interesting (haven't really heard it--only IASW). As far as I'm concerned, however, the OUOD package is essential live Coltrane.

They're planning on it. Source?? Tony Falanga, the bass player told me that as well, in the company of Denardo. "It's in the can, waiting to be released" he said. Release it then! Wait--studio or live album?

I was waiting for this--where there's a shill, there's The Onion.

I thought the store closing had been public for some time now. Always sad to see the smaller shops go. I got into record buying in LA some time after Amoeba had been established--back then, Aron's was already on the way out. Amoeba has since monopolized the used CD market; Aron's has been a virtual wasteland for some time now. Such is the tragedy of business.

If I'm not mistaken, (some, if not all of) that Haden/Izenzon recording made it on to the recent "Milano" bootleg, although the sound is probably atrocious. At least some portion of this recording has been released on "Languages," an awfully muddy-sounding bootleg that nonetheless boasts some of the best, most vigorous ensemble work I've heard out of a post-trio Ornette combo. A lot of people may disagree... but Ornette's alto work is in prime form. It's actually possible to hear the basses, and Izenzon is frequently out front. The problem isn't the balance; the recording quality has substantially diminished the detail--and, for that matter, much of the nuance--of the group improv. Blackwell, unfortunately, is all snare and cymbals; for the better part of the performance, he sounds quite the amorphous mass. A terrific shame, too, because everyone seems to be on fire... I just love late 60's/70's Ornette. I received the Wilson book as a birthday present when I was much younger--it's probably the only reason I knew to pick up "The Empty Foxhole." Not as thorough as the Litweiler book, but interesting still. I've found myself disagreeing with a lot of the reviews, but it offers (to my knowledge) the only remotely comprehensive critical discography (of Ornette) around. Ornette's interviews are a wellspring of profundities. Although, I'm bothered by just how disturbed and misanthropic a lot of his later statements sound. It's a miracle the man is still making music.

Kind of tangential, but... Amoeba is giving out $2 coupons again? Which location?

They were also the rhythm section on Rahsaan's (or Roland's, if we're being historically correct) "The Inflated Tear." As far as I'm concerned, the Novosel/Hopps team was one of the finest rhythm combos (w/Ron Burton) Rahsaan ever worked with, even if it often failed to reach the ecstatic heights of his other studio (the Davis/Byard/Jones combo) or live groups. Honestly, I appreciate them more for subtlety, taste, and nuance than sheer bombast, of which there was certainly enough in the 60's/70's--which is not to deride their more notable peers. I agree with the foregoing opinions--either a bad day or a bad mix... and the playing, tucked in a bit, is really not as obtrusive as it sounds on the record. I mean, I wouldn't want to base my opinion of Art Davis on "Life"--a phenomenal concert, but probably one of the most poorly recorded records in modern jazz. Art sounds like he's being run through a Leslie speaker.

That's the spirit!

Art Ensemble of Chicago: Full Force Misha Mengelberg Trio: Who's Bridge Fortune/Harper/Cowell/Workman/Hart: Great Friends Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath: " " Charles Tyler: Eastern Man Alone -One of my best batches in a while. The "Brotherhood" album is unbelievable.

I have it, and to my best recollection, it doesn't. It's a "difficult but worthwhile" book, if you know what I mean. Hm. Does anyone know what CN was talking about?

But man, Larry Young wasn't exactly a clean player (later on, anyway). Practically all of his post-Blue Note work is drenched in electric fuzz--and I don't think it's just the recording quality. Even some of the BN sides are just caustic; Young was reaching for that brain-busting, Voice-Of-Godish thing well into the late 60's/70's (and--tangentially--some of his solos on "Emergency" sound remarkably Ayleresque to me). I dig that dirty B3... he's just so hard to hear some times (on "Emergency"). McLaughlin is up front, Tony Williams plays loud and gets recorded hot... but Young is so off-in-the-back it's a little difficult to get a hold of what he's doing. Even when he's playing fairly melodic, "Unity"-esque lines, he sounds discomfitingly distant. Contrast that to "Turn it Over," where Young peeks through the ensemble a little more clearly. As far as I'm concerned, that record does a better job of defining the McLaughlin/Young/Williams group dynamic. Although the numbers are shorter, the subtleties of the ensemble sound--everything from Tony's paradiddles to Khalid's horror-movie swells--are somewhat easier to hear. More importantly, the power is still there (dig the opening onslaught of Corea tunes--now that is punk jazz).