ep1str0phy

I actually only have a Japanese import CD, run across cheap and by luck. I don't know if Impulse would ever reissue it, but then they're on their whole digipack campaign and some interesting stuff has slipped through the cracks. I think that, at this point, this album and Sam Rivers' Streams are the best Impulse recordings that are virtually MIA at this point (I'd include Dewey Redman's Coincide, but a lot of those tracks popped up on the still-sort-of-available/easy-to-find Ear of the Behearer reissue).

Somewhere I got the impression that Ayler's final Impulse recordings were undergoing some manner of reevaluation, but this album (having not been reissued, let alone mentioned, too often) seems to have gotten swept under the rug. Ayler's other Impulse studio albums are by most measures a mixed bag. I think that Love Cry is substantial but too brief--uncomfortably compressed. New Grass is, for me, conceptually questionable but actually stunningly executed in parts; it wears thin on repeated listens, but Ayler's own playing and singing are blisteringly direct, seemingly attempting to all at once engage with the R&B idiom, distort it, and compensate (overcompensate) for the environs' structural inflexibility. The third of the four, Music Is the Healing Force of the Universe, is for me--without question--the weakest of all of Ayler's recordings, owing simply to the dominance of the vocals an the absence of much improvising room. I have no qualms with Mary Maria and I think she's actually an effective, slightly more "tutored" foil for Ayler's weird excursions, but Healing Force suffers from its own idiom and never accumulates enough momentum to be engaging for too long. Not so with The Last Album. First, I disagree with most accounts of these final sessions suggesting that somehow Ayler was working with a "lesser band". Granted, neither Bill Folwell nor Stafford James come within spitting distance of Gary Peacock, but Muhammad Ali and Bobby Few (proven beyond doubt as members of the Center of the World quartet, Few also as Steve Lacy's latter-day pianist) are as effective--in theory--a rhythm team as Ayler ever worked with. The good--everything here--everything--works better than on Healing Force. The vocal pieces, particularly Again Comes the Rising of the Sun, are exigent and actually pretty powerful; the band gets some room to move and, on the aforementioned track, Ayler ascends to some pretty daring heights. That applies to everything here--this is detailed, involved music, and musical nuance is what is (arguably) lacking in the companion album. In addition to the vocal pieces, there are a few quartet tracks that are remarkably unencumbered for Ayler's studio sessions at this juncture, characterized by a sense of urgency and depth (not to mentioned musicality) that recalls, to me, Coltrane's final group. Also, noting that "Drudgery" is the best thing about Healing Force, the guitar/blues features here are awesome; "Untitled Duet"--Ayler's strange-ass bagpipe feature--gets into some pretty prescient/pre-noise sort of spaces. Vestine on these sides conveys a spark of creativity, strength, and penchant for technical extension on his instrument that approaches early Sonny Sharrock. I run hot and cold, however, on the improvisational approach of these ensembles. Few and Ali, when allowed (?) to break through, approach the complexity but not the energy of their playing with Frank Wright; the overall effect is somewhere in-between the sound of the Center of the World quartet and Coltrane's final ensemble--rhythmically dispersed, lacking linear (but not lateral) momentum, pantonal (versus atonal), and dense. What I love about, for example, the Spiritual Unity trio is the sparseness of the ensembles; the communication is in that context was extremely lucid--not so much here. Additionally, the actual notated material on these recordings is kind of weak. It's hard to actually "hear" the themes (almost indistinguishable from the improv), which says a lot, considering this is Ayler we're talking about. Moreover, there's a sort of dourness on The Last Album that keeps Ayler's own playing really grounded. So much of the album is in this minor-gendered, modal vein that it's hard to see Ayler as much as simulacratized late Coltrane some of the time. That being said, when in the mood for this particular flavor of majestic, if morose, free music, this stuff is actually pretty good. I can't be the only one who thinks this.

I got the sense that the Odwalla purchase was kind of a sore spot. As might be expected, the juice just isn't as high-quality anymore. I certainly didn't drink any around Roscoe...

Also, all of the Blue Notes have popped up in some crazy places. My favorite is probably Dudu Pukwana's guest stint on A Tent's prescient electronic album Six Empty Places. The most famous instance is Chris McGregor's appearance on Nick Drake's Bryter Layter, which inexplicably gets McGregor into as many history books as his unbelievable run in jazz/improv.

Well, if you put it that way...

I think that these are two of my favorite ESPs. Probably won't happen, but I do hope there's something to amend to that Charles Tyler album... what's there is fantastic. I go back and forth between Vietnam and The People's Republic, but I think the former may have more "gravitas" (whatever that means).

Damn, you're right... Higgins did record with Coltrane (albeit not in the "classic" quartet context that I had originally been thinking of). Richard Davis's recorded legacy definitely stops just outside of the mainstream; I think he's one of those voices who would be really effective in a more idiomatically free context (like, for example, playing with Brotzmann), but for whatever reason just hasn't gone in that direction too fervently. I am always surprised, however, when I consider he recorded with AACM guys in the Creative Construction Company. Not on record, but didn't Richard Davis very temporarily hold the bass chair in Miles's 2nd quintet? For that matter, wasn't he in Coltrane's group at some point (in lieu of Garrison)?

That would make sense--but could you think of someone other than Cherry who's as dominant in that area of creative music? It's actually kind of weird. For example: as far as drummers are concerned, I think the only one to have recorded with Cecil, Ornette, and Coltrane is Elvin Jones. Maybe it's because the role of the rhythm section became so specialized at the advent of free jazz; the "genre" was so dispersed that it was more difficult for personnel to transfer (I can think of a few rhythm section players, like Henry Grimes, who are sort-of exceptions to that rule, though).

Ballard played with Coltrane, too! Very impressive. I hadn't really thought of Duvivier, but for sheer volume, he's on a lot of sessions, playing with a lot of people.

As far as I can tell, Don Cherry was the only person to work on record with Ornette, Coltrane, Cecil Taylor, Sun Ra, and Albert Ayler. He also played with (leaving a lot out): Muhal Richard Abrams, Billy Bang, Gato Barbieri, Han Bennink, Tim Berne, Arthur Blythe, Lester Bowie, Peter Brotzmann, Carla Bley, Paul Bley, Willem Breuker, Tom Cora, Johnny Dyani, Chico Freeman, Fred Frith, Gunter Hampel, Al Heath, Fred Van Hove, Bobby Hutcherson, Abdullah Ibrahim, Leroy Jenkins, Steve Lacy, Oliver Lake, Prince Lasha, Yusef Lateef, George Lewis, Jaki Liebezeit, Charles Moffett, Tete Montoliu, J.C. Moses, Famoudou Don Moye, Sunny Murray, Gary Peacock, Buschi Niebergall, Makaya Ntshoko, Jim Pepper, Dudu Pukwana, Dewey Redman, Lou Reed, Sonny Rollins, Aldo Romano, Charlie Rouse, Roswell Rudd, George Russell, Phaorah Sanders, Alexander Von Schlippenbach, Manfred Schoof, Archie Shepp, Sonny Simmons, John Stevens, John Tchicai, Okay Temiz, Trevor Watts, Eberhard Weber, Norma Winstone, Frank Zappa, John Zorn I don't think he actually played on the Penderecki piece on Actions, correct me if I'm wrong. I left a lot out and probably missed quite a few, but this might be the most impressive cross-section of "creative music" pioneers any one person has played with, post-1960 to like the 80's, that I can think of. Between Cherry, Haden, and Higgins, I think you have most avenues of jazz-derived improv flat out covered: most hard bop/post-bop pioneers, almost all of the initial waves of free jazz, members of the AACM, BAG, UGMAA, CBA... all the way up to avant-rock and Haden appearing on Odelay. Can anyone think of anyone who has played with this many "big" people? Who was Cherry's equivalent in preceding generations? I can also imagine in, say, rock or free improv avenues, Fred Frith or Derek Bailey may have as impressive a resume.

I'll throw Message to Our Folks and Jackson in there, too. Anyone notice how the basic rhythmic figure used in "Rock Out" is the same as the "refrain"/end verse tag in "Theme De Yoyo"?

Christ, has it been that long since these were released? I think there's one credentialed "Classic" in the AEC releases, and that's Phase One. You could take or leave the other two for me; Certain Blacks is just fun, whereas the w/Fontella Bass album is detailed and rich in early AEC fashion but without the majesty and drama of some of their other long-form sound pieces (I'm thinking of People In Sorrow or the long pieces on the Nessa box). I think at some point that Phase One emerged as my favorite--one of their most brilliant "little instrument" pieces (the Albert Ayler dedication) paired with what is for me the definitive version of "Ohnedaruth"... much slower than in later years, but with a very deliberate, focused construction, ferociously swinging, and featuring maybe the best sustained freebop showcase for the band as a collective of soloists. With the Nessa box, Sophie, and People In Sorrow, I think you have pretty much the band's most eye-opening, startling work (though I might include some later essays with "best" and, honorarily, Sound for mindfucks--but that's Roscoe's album).

I've encountered the behavior Allen's mentioned among some members of my age group. At the same time, some of the most professional people I've ever met were/are acting like adults in their early-mid 20's. Is no one so immature in their youth? I'd like to think, and experience partly confirms it, that no one who isn't acceptably serious about the profession, whether or not he/she subsists on music alone, ultimately leaves/gets weeded out. At the same time, I've experienced a lot of very immature, very unprofessional behavior from some "high level" musicians. I can't speak to the apparent, widespread failure of my generation to treat people with civility, since I'm already, by nature, a misanthrope and will take anything the wrong way. Notably, those situations in which I've found musicians in general (younger ones particularly) least "in the game" about the music have been, precisely, low-paying, low-profile gigs. I think that, in some ways, I've grown up with the "as serious as your life" mantra and regret the contempt that I viscerally feel in those situations wherein folks don't treat the grunt work of the profession with some degree of initiative. I think that anybody is so, so, so lucky to be playing music, or (as is often the case in the Bay) doing music-related stuff like teaching and gigging for a living. (I recall Derek Bailey calling bullshit on people who would rather work in a factory than play commercial music or something to that effect... (paraphrasing) "...then you haven't worked in a factory.")

Jack Wilson also did a version of "The Sphinx" that I'm partial to, and there was also Hutcherson's boppish take on "Una Muy Bonita," which is fantastic in its own way. A lot of "mainstream" folks took to Ornette's themes like fish to water (did I just mangle that idiom?).

That's what I thought... Another random "what if" moment, but it would have been cool to have seen Trane operate more explicitly in/with non-Western tuning systems and metrical organization, if Maneri could have had something to do with that. I guess the way that Trane grappled with the latter, at least, was with his extensive use of uneven subdivisions in his phrasing, the improvised superimposition of meters with Elvin (or "time feel" in general with Rasheid)... I would imagine though, that after where the story ended, the next step would be to get "bigger" (orchestral) and/or reorganize (alternative instrumentation, new types of song/improv structure, etc). Also interesting to imagine Maneri sitting in/getting to know the late Coltrane, who for a period seemed to be the saint of black cultural nationalism in the jazz community; it would totally complicate the historiography of Trane's part of the revolution as a "black thing."

Thanks, Steve. I actually did just hear Dahabenzapple for the first time the other day, and I'm trying to figure out what there is not to get. (It's been a long time since I tried to tackle this music, but I guess my temperament changed). Very, very interesting hearing McBee in this context--he fits in swimmingly, even though I'd always thought of him as more of an explicitly idiomatic player (Moncur III's Some Other Stuff should have told me otherwise, but there you go). (Kind of a tangent, but interesting comparison to how the McBee/Cyrille duo was flowing in for Horace Tapscott's Dark Tree gig--not the regular bass/drums combo by any means, but it works well. Was McBee a regular part of this group, or an idea for the just the session/of the producer's?) I'm having trouble figuring out who the "big guy" is, honestly. Who died at 41? Bud Powell?

It's actually the title sequence track, which I'm assuming went a long way toward introducing random moviegoers to Maneri's music (probably Pekar's doing). Completely tangential, but having done some Ayler research a while back, I came across some of Pekar's old reviews... agree with much of his taste, if not with the way he articulates(ed) his enthusiasm/lack thereof (a lukewarm review of Spirits Rejoice, IIRC, is kind of embarrassing to read now). Listening more to his music in the past couple days, I think I find it easier to connect to Maneri on a visceral, rather than intellectual level. On that note, I think P.L.M is right on in that a lot of the music isn't really more "difficult" than a Roscoe solo album. If you can get past (or, maybe, get deep into) the formal abstraction, the music is very pungent and human.

Yes, birthdays definitely better than deaths. Cheers to one of the greats.

Sonny is my hero, straight up. The two pillars of his recordings for me are Ask the Ages and Black Woman--the former maybe the most flawlessly epic "trad" free jazz album of the 90's, the latter one of the most jagged and brutal "free" or "guitar" albums period. Sonny is one of the few musicians I've ever heard from whom I've liked pretty much everything (even, to a lesser degree, the very poppy Highlife). I do recall, though, Sonny somehwere putting down Paradise, and I agree with a vengeance--it runs the gamut from pap to shit, with all of ten minutes across the album of genuinely cool stuff. Wish there was more of Sonny's early, pre-distortion, semi-hollow, walking on glass phase in circulation. There was that one Sonny/Sunny Murray duet track circulating a while ago that sounded fantastic. I'm happy, I guess, with his occasional emergence on other peoples' albums and his handful of leader dates from the late 60's.

Actually just got a copy of Peace Concert, based on clifford's rec. It's absolutely ahead of it's time, as far as "jazz improvisation" goes--though, as the liners make clear, Joe wasn't necessarily apart of the whole free jazz thing.

From the same period, Peace Concert on Atavistic is real nice. Thanks--hadn't heard of this one... I'll check it out.

I found Paniots Nine, though I know it's not really representitive of the larger body of Maneri's work, to be really accessible. It seems like everyone is doing vampy, mixed meter (sometimes klezmerish) jazz these days... prescient music. I do often feel as if a structurally coherent, pantonal or pan-rhythmic/metrical approach has more to do with where creative music is going than idiomatic free improvisation (but then free improvisation as praxis is ageless and useful in any medium, so yeah...). I've honestly not not enjoyed and Maneri I've heard. I recall being nonplussed at Going to Church when I first heard it, but I don't think I've ever had any issues over where J Maneri's music was/has been coming from. Maybe I'm just not deep enough in it to formulate a more critical opinion... RIP to a man who stuck to his guns.

Unreal--quartet? That lineup sounds great. I'm listening to Original Phalanx right now. Great, very original band. I'm warmed up for my gig earlier this evening by playing along with Touchin' On Trane--totally wiped me out... but hey, my chops were in order for the show.

Also, that Rashied Ali Quintet album with early James "Blood" Ulmer on guitar is a stone favorite of mine. That's probably my favorite Ulmer, and Rashied's solos on that one are killin'.... Funny--I remember thinking earlier yesterday about what my favorite albums were, coming to the conclusion that, yeah, Interstellar Space would have to be at the very very top. I had no idea that Muhammad Ali was still alive, and, if so, I'd love to hear what he sounds like today. Talented family with some important, beautiful talent.