Pete C Posted April 14, 2012 Report Share Posted April 14, 2012 I saw Joe McPhee last night as part of a Steve Lacy tribute, and watching him I was reminded how much I like his album Nation Time and its mix of all-out energy blowing with a funky rhythmic and ensemble texture, and maybe a backbeat, that differs from the freer context players like McPhee would more often appear in. What else fits into this little hybrid subgenre? Maybe some of Pharoah Sanders, maybe late Ayler on Impulse, some of Shepp on Impulse, Evan Parker's playing with Moholo or Brotherhood of Breath. Also, that rhythmic quality comes across in many dates featuring Steve Reid on drums (with Charles Tyler & Arthur Blythe). Other ideas? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR8Isg0-Shw Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul secor Posted April 14, 2012 Report Share Posted April 14, 2012 Roscoe Mitchell's Snurdy McGurdy on Nessa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colinmce Posted April 14, 2012 Report Share Posted April 14, 2012 How was the Lacy tribute? I'd have loved to see that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clifford_thornton Posted April 14, 2012 Report Share Posted April 14, 2012 (edited) Luther Thomas - Funky Donkey - (Creative Consciousness) Kind of reminds me of an Afro-rock LP in some ways, at least on the title track, and presages some of James White's work with the Contortions in Downtown NY a few years later. Guitarist Marvin Horne is awesome. The Solidarity Unit - Red, Black & Green - (Universal Justice) a little freer than Nation Time, but still the right vibe, especially the stuff with guitarist Richard Martin. Steve Reid - pretty much all of the Mustevic LPs reissued by Universal Sound, but I bet you'd really dig the Master Brotherhood stuff. Hans Dulfer & Ritmo-Natural - Candy Clouds, El Saxofon, The Morning After The Third - (Catfish/EMI) Series of great Afro-Latin Dutch free jazz LPs put out in the early 1970s and reissued on a Hans Dulfer box on EMI. You get a lot of dross with the box, but the early stuff is priceless. Robin Kenyatta - The Free State Band - (America) Byard Lancaster - Funny Funky Rib Grib - (Palm) Related vibe across these two, both including Lafayette Afro-Rock band members Keino Speller (RIP) and Francois Nyombo. Emergency - Homage to Peace - (America) Okay, a little more free, but definitely an important cross-national document of early 1970s Afro-free-spiritual jazz, featuring a plugged-in and wily Boulou Ferre! Edited April 14, 2012 by clifford_thornton Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete C Posted April 14, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 14, 2012 How was the Lacy tribute? I'd have loved to see that. Fun, but nothing for the ages. Giardullo & McPhee were excellent, but the surprise "winner" was Roberto Ottaviano. Colin, I'll be in Lafayette in a bit for the Festival Internationale. PM me if you'd like to try to hook up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete C Posted April 14, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 14, 2012 Luther Thomas - Funky Donkey - (Creative Consciousness) Now playing. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete C Posted April 14, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 14, 2012 I can do without the vocals on Ayler's New Grass, but if he had gotten Little Richard to sing New Generation that would have been a brilliant coup (the tune is essentially Jenny Jenny). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ep1str0phy Posted April 14, 2012 Report Share Posted April 14, 2012 Ha! I kind of figured Clifford would be all over this. I started this thread several years back: Free Funk ...and there may still be something useful in there. A LOT of Byard Lancaster's music could fall into this category. Speaking to the South African connection, plenty of Dudu Pukwana's music could fit this mold. Diamond Express/Ubagile comes to mind: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0H_n34woDRA&feature=related -and in terms of Pukwana's UK cohorts, the music of Gary Windo and early Soft Machine could fit the bill (although it's all decidedly more rock than funk in groove). Similarly rockish, but with kind of a modal/jazz bent that often shifts into very free textures, is any music that features the Tippett/Miller/Moholo rhythm section. This came to mind immediately: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsmVYiB8keo And then there's the music of Trevor Watts & Amalgam--very jazzy in character but borrowing heavily, in a rhythmic sense, from US soul jazz, various kinds of African musics, and Ornettish free funk. I don't think any two Amalgam albums sound quite the same, but there's plenty of very vital inside/outside soloing in every iteration. At the same time, I always heard Nation Time as sort of a funky exercise in post-Coltrane modal jazz. I think anything with the Buster Williams/Billy Hart rhythm section (notwithstanding Mwandishi, which is really its own thing), as well as work by a number of Coltrane epigones (Azar Lawrence, Nathan Davis, Carlos Garnett), might edge you closer in that direction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete C Posted April 14, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 14, 2012 I'm a big fan of Soft Machine (2-5) and related stuff, but I'd say it's in a different corner. George Cartwright's Curlew was a great band that mixed Prime Time harmolodics, Canterbury influences and No Wave. And while I was fishing around on Youtube I found this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFSeiR5ByFk&feature=related Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clifford_thornton Posted April 14, 2012 Report Share Posted April 14, 2012 Oh yeah, Curlew was/is cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clifford_thornton Posted April 14, 2012 Report Share Posted April 14, 2012 Ha! I kind of figured Clifford would be all over this. I started this thread several years back: Free Funk ...and there may still be something useful in there. A LOT of Byard Lancaster's music could fall into this category. Good point on Dudu. Unfortunately, there are quite a few clinkers in Byard's catalog. I'd even say his Vortex leader-debut is pretty lame. Live at Macalester is great but not really "funky" in the Nation Time sense of things. I think he had more sympathetic groups with the Palm recordings (that trio Us w/ Sylvain Marc & Steve McCall is hot) and some of the stuff with Doug Hammond is all right. Oh, and I almost forgot Byron Morris & Unity. Blow Thru Your Mind is awesome, and with Jay Clayton in full-on Reich mode it gets pretty uniquely intense. Byron & Gerald: Unity also has Lancaster and Eric Gravatt, much more on a rugged free-jazz trip and kind of meandering, but still interesting. You might find some things you like on the Aboriginal Music Society box on Eremite (I think it's great), but it's an inve$tment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king ubu Posted April 15, 2012 Report Share Posted April 15, 2012 Wouldn't really compare it to "Nation Time" directly, but to a lot of stuff that's been mentioned here: Hal Singer & Jef Gilson - Soul of Africa also, reissued on the same label (Kindred Spirits): Byard Lancaster - Funny Funky Rib Crib Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king ubu Posted April 15, 2012 Report Share Posted April 15, 2012 (both originally on Jef Gilson's Palm label, I think - definitely the Lancaster which I have here, not sure about the fantastic Singer/Gilson disc) Then there's also a Kippie Moeketsi (with Singer on one track) titled "Blue Stompin'" (as-shams), and a Singer done in Johannesburg: Hal Singer - Soweto to Harlem (AsShams/The Sun, 1976) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colinmce Posted April 15, 2012 Report Share Posted April 15, 2012 How was the Lacy tribute? I'd have loved to see that. Fun, but nothing for the ages. Giardullo & McPhee were excellent, but the surprise "winner" was Roberto Ottaviano. Colin, I'll be in Lafayette in a bit for the Festival Internationale. PM me if you'd like to try to hook up. Will do! I actually haven't yet been to FI, but I do want to check it out. On the McPhee tip, I've been meaning to pick this up, it looks great. Some of the hippest jazz ever played at Vassar College – and previously-unreleased work from avant legend Joe McPhee, recorded right around the same time as his classic Nation Time record! One CD features a smoking performance by McPhee on tenor – working with a group that also includes Byron Morris on alto sax – really stretching out on a mixture of original tunes and some surprisingly free takes on standards – familiar songs blown openly, almost with a Coltrane Quartet sort of approach! But the other CD is even more amazing – and even more obscure – as it features a group with vibist Ernie Bostic, alto saxophonist Otis Greene, and Hammond player Herbie Leaman – all musicians we really don't know at all – but who sound wonderful together! The mix of organ and vibes is completely sublime – and tracks are very long and airy, with a haunting feel that's unlike anything we've ever heard before. The Bostic group plays "Flowers For Mattie B", "Bag's Groove", and "Resolution" – and McPhee's combo takes on "Green Dolphin Street", "Spring Street", "Muntu", "Maybell's Blues", "Softly As In A Morning Sunrise", and "Stella By Starlight". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete C Posted April 15, 2012 Author Report Share Posted April 15, 2012 That quoted copy about the McPhee album sounds like Dusty Groove. Yes? Will do! I actually haven't yet been to FI, but I do want to check it out. Some amazing African music on tap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clifford_thornton Posted April 15, 2012 Report Share Posted April 15, 2012 (both originally on Jef Gilson's Palm label, I think - definitely the Lancaster which I have here, not sure about the fantastic Singer/Gilson disc) The Singer/Gilson LP was on Le Chant Du Monde, the Lancaster was on Palm/Vendemiaire.The Ernie Bostic material on that McPhee set is particularly good, by the way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterintoronto Posted April 15, 2012 Report Share Posted April 15, 2012 That quoted copy about the McPhee album sounds like Dusty Groove. Yes? This incredible post contains some of the most observant thoughts Pete C ever released! Downright accurate! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colinmce Posted April 16, 2012 Report Share Posted April 16, 2012 Yes, it's from Dusty Groove. Corbett vs Dempsey put the record out. iirc, they are based in the space above the DG storefront but I could be wrong. It's been 9 sad years since I stepped foot in there! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clifford_thornton Posted April 16, 2012 Report Share Posted April 16, 2012 Yeah, CvsD has done some nice stuff. I believe that JC has severed ties with Atavistic and will be doing stuff this way now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexander Hawkins Posted April 21, 2012 Report Share Posted April 21, 2012 A slightly different tip, but Urban Blues, by Leroy Jenkins' Sting, is wonderful...great writing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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