Richard Teitelbaum (1939-2020)

[clifford_thornton]

According to one of his colleagues at Bard College, electronic musician and composer Richard Teitelbaum has passed at 80. Sad news -- his work in MEV and with Anthony Braxton and Steve Lacy is music for the ages. Was lucky to see him perform a few times though I never really spoke with him.

His departure was apparently non-COVID related; he'd had a series of strokes recently and was having a rough go of it. May he rest easy.

[mjzee]

Very sad to hear.  I've enjoyed the three pairings with Braxton that I've heard/had.  Was thinking of picking up the recent Cyrille quartet recording.  RIP.

[soulpope]

R.I.P ....

[clifford_thornton]

21 minutes ago, mjzee said:

Was thinking of picking up the recent Cyrille quartet recording.  RIP.

Thanks for the reminder on this one; it's very good.

[Д.Д.]

His earlier duo with Cyrille on Silkheart is excellent, as well as the CD on Moers. 

Edited April 10, 2020 by Д.Д.

[mjazzg]

25 minutes ago, clifford_thornton said:

Thanks for the reminder on this one; it's very good.

It is. Exceeded expectations for me. One of the recordings of that year

21 minutes ago, Д.Д. said:

His earlier duo with Cyrille on Silkheart is excellent, as well the CD on Moers. 

I didn't know about the Silkheart, thanks

I like this one a lot

https://www.discogs.com/Richard-Teitelbaum-Hiuchi-Ishi/release/3998813

[Д.Д.]

On 4/9/2020 at 7:22 PM, mjazzg said:

It is. Exceeded expectations for me. One of the recordings of that year

On 4/9/2020 at 6:33 PM, mjzee said:

Was thinking of picking up the recent Cyrille quartet recording.  RIP.

 

I actually did not like this one that much (the playing by everybody - Frisell, cute as ever, in particular - is sort of decorative). I thought that Teitelbaum was the most interesting player here. I liked its sound, though - this is not Eicher's production, is it? The Silkheart duo is more gritty (with Teitelbaum being much more prominent).   

Edited April 10, 2020 by Д.Д.

[clifford_thornton]

I have the Silkheart in storage somewhere... hopefully can dig it out once travel is safe again. 

Yeah, Hiuchi-Ishi is very good too. 

[Jason Bivins]

Damn, RIP.

[ep1str0phy]

5 hours ago, Д.Д. said:

I actually did not like this one that much (the playing by everybody - Frisell, cute as ever, in particular - is sort of decorative). I actually thought that Teitelbaum was the most interesting player here. I liked its sound, though - this is not Eicher's production, is it? The Silkheart duo is more gritty (with Teitelbaum being much more prominent).   

Contrasting opinion, but I really love this release. There's this throughline on the ECM of the past several years whereby powerhouse drummers are re-contextualized inside of abstracted, sometimes languid environments: Paul Motian's later material, Billy Hart's Quartet, Jack DeJohnette, etc. I think that what makes this one stand apart from the crowd is that it retains a kind of coiled experimental energy, and there's connective tissue between the coloristic harmony and electronic emphasis that define this ensemble and the guitar and piano-driven groups that Andrew was putting together as far back as the 70s. Putting it another way, I don't think that this music is fundamentally dissimilar in concept to a lot of wackier loft jazz, and the Cyrille and Teitelbaum that show up here aren't really different players from the ones who were making such aggressive noise on, say, Leroy Jenkins's Space Minds, New Worlds, Survival of America.

None of these losses are easy, and this one is made more difficult in that I really enjoyed what I've heard from Teitelbaum's recent appearances. The MEV factor is hugely important in terms of RT's place in the history of this music, but it's also crucial to note that he made a lot of very early, hugely trailblazing contributions to the liminal free and creative music of the era. The Jenkins album I mention above is one example, but there's also his work with Braxton, George Lewis's Homage to Charlie Parker, his work with Steve Lacy, and so on. The melding of electronics and jazz-inflected improvisation is an idea whose time had to come one way or another, but I also don't think it's unfair to say that a lot of this kind of practice--so common now--owes a partial debt to RT's contributions. 

[clifford_thornton]

Well said, as always.

[Д.Д.]

20 hours ago, ep1str0phy said:

Contrasting opinion, but I really love this release. There's this throughline on the ECM of the past several years whereby powerhouse drummers are re-contextualized inside of abstracted, sometimes languid environments: Paul Motian's later material, Billy Hart's Quartet, Jack DeJohnette, etc. I think that what makes this one stand apart from the crowd is that it retains a kind of coiled experimental energy, and there's connective tissue between the coloristic harmony and electronic emphasis that define this ensemble and the guitar and piano-driven groups that Andrew was putting together as far back as the 70s. Putting it another way, I don't think that this music is fundamentally dissimilar in concept to a lot of wackier loft jazz, and the Cyrille and Teitelbaum that show up here aren't really different players from the ones who were making such aggressive noise on, say, Leroy Jenkins's Space Minds, New Worlds, Survival of America.

None of these losses are easy, and this one is made more difficult in that I really enjoyed what I've heard from Teitelbaum's recent appearances. The MEV factor is hugely important in terms of RT's place in the history of this music, but it's also crucial to note that he made a lot of very early, hugely trailblazing contributions to the liminal free and creative music of the era. The Jenkins album I mention above is one example, but there's also his work with Braxton, George Lewis's Homage to Charlie Parker, his work with Steve Lacy, and so on. The melding of electronics and jazz-inflected improvisation is an idea whose time had to come one way or another, but I also don't think it's unfair to say that a lot of this kind of practice--so common now--owes a partial debt to RT's contributions. 

Well said indeed. Let me listen to the "Declaration..." again, and I might come up with a refute. Meanwhile, I check the discogs entry, this is indeed not an Eicher production - it's Sun Chung and Rick Kwan. Praise to them, they did an outstanding job.  

[medjuck]

IIRC the first time I heard him was on a Braxton Sackville release. It was also the first time I'd ever heard a Moog used in jazz. 

[JSngry]

RIP indeed. One of the originals, for sure.

[ep1str0phy]

3 hours ago, Д.Д. said:

Well said indeed. Let me listen to the "Declaration..." again, and I might come up with a refute. Meanwhile, I check the discogs entry, this is indeed not an Eicher production - it's Sun Chung and Rick Kwan. Praise to them, they did an outstanding job.  

Thanks for the kind words, folks. I know I'm not exactly objective in these matters, but I have to cop to the fact that I've enjoyed a lot of these autumnal, abstracted "drummer albums" that ECM has been churning out as of late. I don't think that the prototypical ECM excesses are made-up or necessarily unfair, but I do think that the ECM aesthetic can service certain projects or players really well. In the case of Andrew's record--he's one of our living masters and, among those masters, maybe one of the best equipped to play at low-to-medium dynamics and with expansive attention to space--and so this one is right up my alley. 

I have to admit that I haven't listened much to Double Clutch (but will have to do so very soon), but that's in a completely different universe, sound-wise. It might better convey the energy and propulsion of the Cyrille-Teitelbaum collaboration that one finds lacking on the ECM. 

[JSngry]

26 minutes ago, ep1str0phy said:

...these autumnal, abstracted "drummer albums" that ECM has been churning out as of late.

Eicher being almost 77, and life being what it is, "autumnal" might also be an apt description for the label as well as the drummer/leaders.

Time will tell, but I'm with you on this. I've bought - and enjoyed - more ECM records in the past 2-3 years than I had in the last 2-3 decades combined.

Perhaps I, too, am becoming autumnal?!?!?!?

Time will tell!