brownie Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 This should be quite a treat Sunny Murray and the New Change of the Century Orchestra The concert will be the centerpiece of the documentary film on Murray now being sot by director Antoine Prum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claude Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 (edited) Thanks Brownie! I wasn't aware of that project. That must be the greatest gathering of free jazz legends in Luxembourg ever. Here's some more information from Henry Grimes' homepage: Tuesday, November 13th in Paris, France, and Wednesday through Saturday, November 14th-17th in Dudelange, Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg: Sunny Murray's New Change of the Century Orchestra, “Sunny’s Time Now” documentary project covering travel on the band bus, rehearsals, recording, and grand-finale concert in the main auditorium of the Centre Culturel Regional, with Tony Bevan (bass, tenor, & soprano saxophones), John Edwards (double-bass), Bobby Few (piano), Henry Grimes (double-bass, violin), Khan Jamal (vibraphone, marimba), Sabir Mateen (tenor and alto saxophones), Grachan Moncur, III (trombone), Odean Pope (tenor saxophone), Richard Raux (tenor and soprano saxophone), Sonny Simmons (alto saxophone), Monnette Sudler (guitar), information http://www.ptd.lu/stn.htm, http://www.dudelange.lu, pthiltges@ptd.lu, info@pdt.lu, danielle.igniti@dudelange.lu: Tuesday, November 13th: musicians arrive in Paris, France and spend the night; Wednesday, November 14th: documentary filming of bus travel from Paris to Dudelange and first rehearsal of the orchestra; Thursday & Friday, November 15th & 16th: documentary filming of orchestra rehearsals; Saturday, November 17th: grand finale concert at Centre Culturel Regional, filmed for the documentary; Sunday, November 18th: documentary filming of return of the musicians to Paris by bus for further travel. http://www.henrygrimes.com/schedule.html More info (in french): http://www.mocom.lu/detail.php?ID=459 Tickets: http://www.e-ticket.lu/v2/entered.php?pg=main&lang=en Edited October 8, 2007 by Claude Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king ubu Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 That sounds interesting, to say the least! The "original" Change of the Century Orchestra was a collective, though, wasn't it? (So it's kinda wrong to bill this to Sunny?) Did they release any official albums, the original group, I mean? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brownie Posted October 8, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 This looks like a collective, even if it is centered on Sunny Murray. The man certainly deserves his dues. It's good to know that a movie is being made about his music. The film crew was on hand in Paris this Spring when Murray performed at L'Atelier Tampon with Sonny Simmons. That turned out to be a very worthy concert! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexander Hawkins Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 I gather that it was certainly Murray who called the guys in the band... Collective or not, what an ensemble!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chalupa Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 That sounds interesting, to say the least! The "original" Change of the Century Orchestra was a collective, though, wasn't it? (So it's kinda wrong to bill this to Sunny?) Did they release any official albums, the original group, I mean? From Monette Sudler's site... The first Change of the Century Concert was held at St. Mary's Church on the campus of University of Penn in Philadelphia. The nucleus of the band was Sunny Murray, Khan Jamal, Byard Lancaster, Monnette Sudler and Philly Joe Jones. Over the years the Change of the Century Orchestra has included other notables such as Odean Pope, Archie Shepp, Leon Thomas, Philly Joe Jones, Tyronne Brown, Reggie Workman, Grachen Monchor III, John Blake, Dave Burrell.... The Orchestra performed four concerts, the last was the Berlin Jazz Festival in Germany. The two concerts featured the music of Murray, Lancaster, Jamal, Sudler and Pope, however future concerts were dedicated to the late John Coltrane (by it's association with the Trane Stop Resource Institute) and Duke Ellington as well as music by Murray. Arranger and acting conductor for these concerts was Romulus Franceschini. The Orchestra did record a "live" broadcast for Whyy-Fm public radio but has never actually recorded for a record label. The second and fourth concerts were also documented on tape. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HW! Posted October 9, 2007 Report Share Posted October 9, 2007 The original CD (J.A.S. 02, 1987). It had Sunny Murray, Khan Jamal, Odean Pope, Middy Middleton, Byard Lancaster, Fred Houn, Grachan Moncur, Tyrone Hill, Ted Curson, Brian Brown, Monnette Sudler, Dave Burrell, Tyrone Brown, Romulus. Excellent! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chalupa Posted October 9, 2007 Report Share Posted October 9, 2007 The original CD (J.A.S. 02, 1987). It had Sunny Murray, Khan Jamal, Odean Pope, Middy Middleton, Byard Lancaster, Fred Houn, Grachan Moncur, Tyrone Hill, Ted Curson, Brian Brown, Monnette Sudler, Dave Burrell, Tyrone Brown, Romulus. Excellent! Is that legit?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HW! Posted October 10, 2007 Report Share Posted October 10, 2007 According to one of the musicians it was - at least he got paid for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clifford_thornton Posted October 10, 2007 Report Share Posted October 10, 2007 I've never fucking seen that... cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claude Posted November 13, 2007 Report Share Posted November 13, 2007 "The concert will be recorded for a CD release on US label EREMITE." http://www.ptd.lu/sunny@dudelange.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claude Posted November 18, 2007 Report Share Posted November 18, 2007 (edited) I'm too tired now post a complete review, but this concert was a huge disappointment. I wonder what they will release on CD. Edited November 18, 2007 by Claude Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clifford_thornton Posted November 18, 2007 Report Share Posted November 18, 2007 That's too bad. The band looked hot! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HW! Posted November 19, 2007 Report Share Posted November 19, 2007 Fausse bonne idée, as we would put that in french. Sunny Murray did one terrible mistake: he let Richard Raux conduct the orchestra (I don't know if Raux arranged the music though). Murray has Odean Pope, one of the most able guys on earth, and he gives the direction to a Richard Raux! - who has no authority whatsoever on the others. I mean, we love these musicians but they have strong personalities. The right conductor would have had to organize things a bit. Raux wasn't clever an organizer enough for that (I'm not speaking of his musical abilities here). I wouldn't like to show Sunny Murray any kind of disrespect but I too felt some of the event was badly flawed. Actually, it seems as if they hadn't choosed between spontaneity - whoever feels it takes his solo - and arranged stuff. Problem, some of the guys (Grachan Moncur, Sonny Simmons, the two brilliant englishmen, even Mateen) stuck to their music sheets and awaited their hypothetical turn - which never arrived - and others were all over the place, special mention to Rasul Siddik. This Raux man didn't seem to know where he was at. And he sabotaged Sonny's solo in a ballad (at the last moment he waved Jamal the signal for a solo and shut Sonny!) and Grachan at some other point. Don't know what happened. Not enough rehearsals? only two days and a half to get this kind of act together - music sheets, learning intricate heads - even if you have 13 of the best jazz musicians on hand, and some of them are true genius, they have their limits. Sometimes the rhythm section, in spite of Bobby Few's brilliant efforts (what a splendid artist!), would collapse, and the whole piece would go on without establishing anything clear. I don't pretend to decipher Murray's moods, but more than once I think he looked plain displeased. He almost interrupted one piece. Anyway, it's a love story between us and these men and the sight of the 13 of them together is never to be forgotten. Plus, they were treated like kings by the production and the city of Dudelange. The public too. How many times have we been offered to enjoy this music in a real concert hall ? Whatever happened musically, I suppose this had to be done, and according to Sonny everybody tried to do it as best as he could - the thing was spiritually right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claude Posted November 19, 2007 Report Share Posted November 19, 2007 Thanks HW! for the review. Nice to see that there was more than one Organissimo forum member at the concert I agree with everything you wrote. The concert seemed like a rehearsal at times, and there were embarassing moments. I don't know the material they played on the CD released 20 years ago, but I was surprised that most of the compositions they played here weren't free at all. The concert was almost a JATP with free jazz musicians, except that there wasn't that much soloing. Guitarist Monette Sudler played a rather cheesy ballad, with backing harmonies by the horns. They played "Manteca" and a Basie-style swinging tune. Not really what one would expect from these names. Grachan Moncur III, who appeared frail and left the stage a couple of times during the concert, didn't play much. Khan Jamal didn't really find his space in the group. As the enemble play was always shaky, the best moments were solos by Odean Pope, Sonny Simmons and Sabir Mateen. Trumpeter Rasul Siddik (not mentionned in the concert announcement) played fine, but in my view his style didn't really fit the setting. The concert closed with an improvisation by Sunny Murray and Bobby Few, Khan Jamal and Henry Grimes joining in at the end. The best thing about this event was to see these legends together on stage, but musically it was just a missed opportunity. I'm confident film director Antoine Prum will be able do make a good documentary out of the concert, the rehearsals and interviews, but I doubt the concert alone can be decently released on CD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king ubu Posted December 16, 2009 Report Share Posted December 16, 2009 from: http://www.ayler.org/html/what_s_new.html December 7 2009 News SUNNY’S TIME NOW on DVD Well, I might have known. I thought I’d finished with the site for 2009 when I received an email from Jazz Promo Services with the news that the Antoine Prum documentary about Sunny Murray, Sunny’s Time Now, will be released this month on DVD. Apart from the obvious interest to Ayler fans of the film itself, the second disc also includes a 37 minute interview with the late Daniel Caux, the man behind the Nuits de la Fondation Maeght. At the moment the DVD hasn’t reached the regular stores, but it can be ordered direct from Paul Thiltges Distributions. Click here for a big picture with full details of the double DVD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claude Posted December 16, 2009 Report Share Posted December 16, 2009 (edited) Thanks for posting this, Flurin. I had heard the news about the release yesterday and wondered what the movie would be about, since the concert was mostly a disaster not worth documenting. Unlike the first announcement before the concert (posted above), which talks about filming the travelling, rehearsals and the "grand finale" concert, the promo text focuses on the interviews. Maybe they just used some of the best bits. http://www.ptd.lu/dvd_stn.htm Edited December 16, 2009 by Claude Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king ubu Posted December 16, 2009 Report Share Posted December 16, 2009 Well, it just says "extensive concert footage"... normally I'd take this as an indication that footage from various concerts would be included, but I don't know. Still, just disc 2 with the interviews sounds very interesting alone! And I guess the film isn't a concert film with some talk in between, but rather a real portrait, so it looks very interesting, too! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claude Posted December 16, 2009 Report Share Posted December 16, 2009 The DVD description text says "extensive concert footage", while the text on the website says "historic and contemporary concert footage". So it could indeed be that none or very little footage from the Luxembourg concert was used. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clifford_thornton Posted September 21, 2012 Report Share Posted September 21, 2012 Hey, it's Sunny Murray's birthday - turned 76 today. Hope for many more & more fruitful years ahead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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