ep1str0phy

I disagree with you for the most part. There are still plenty of interesting creative jazz musicians, albeit there are lots more boring clones as you state. You just have to work harder to find them, unlike the past when it now seems like there was a giant on every street corner. "Plenty" & "working harder to find them" is sort of a disconnect for me. I know what you mean, but geez, I've spent many a year doing that work and... the point of diminishing returns seems at hand. Maybe it's just me. But I do wanna hear this ep1str0phy cat once he gets good and pissed off! The functional word is "good". Good partially means hooking up with some guys who can f'ing feel what I'm doing... Man, there are struggles with optimism. After a while you stop thinking and play, no? It's fun waking up and proclaiming: I might just turn this mother out...

Hey, in less vitriolic terms, that's what I wake up in the morning fer--even though I do sometimes feel like a one-man military campaign.

Man--the spirit is there, but really obscure. I meet young guys all the time who are just enthralled at the prospect of playing for fun and spirit and joy--and it doesn't always mean meeting some set of criteria. What is fucked up is when that feeling gets nipped in the bud--the minute, after the predilections of the educrats slip through the systems, that kids start to think that jazz is all chords and theory and shit. Too many teachers can't take the liberty, and it shows in the kids. I have no doubt that technical proficiency would occur--organically--if we spent time teaching each other that improvisation and jazz aren't all changes (though that doesn't mean that the changes can't hang...). We've had people die for that cause. Now that makes me sad.

My glass would be half-empty if it didn't have a crack in it. Simon Weil [Good luck to CJ Shearn] I mean, damn. It's on these occasions that I truly, painfully feel that my generation of improvisers (the twentysomethings) is hardcore screwed (won't stop me from playing, though...).

Being of the younger generation, I can testify, at least, to the pretty substantial division between those who would wish to play 'jazz' per se and those kids/young folk who self-consciously identify with less structural music. This isn't a hard and fast rule, but I have yet to meet any younger individuals actively involved in apprehending the jazz canon who have any functional knowledge of anything that might be called "free *". At the same time, I'm not sure as to the extent that younger 'noise' musicians have studied aspects of jazz history beyond the free guys. The communities are schizmatized, no doubt. What is sad is that (I'm a WC cat, btw) I don't see too many individuals playing in that middle-ground sandbox--i.e., free jazz versus free improvisation. The dichotomy between the two communities (and, of course, my knowledge of youth involvement is restricted to those guys I've come across) seems so large that I very seldom hear any reconciliation between the (now very idiomized) stylistic mores of hard bop on the one hand and all-out-free on the other. Maybe the two camps are just bored with each other. On the upside, a lot of the younger guys I play with are fairly receptive to free playing in a jazz mode when it shows up (i.e., isn't agreed upon ahead of time). Sometimes I do get that sinking Eric Dolphy feeling that everyone around me doesn't like what I play, but goddamnit I'll play a half step up if I need to--some guys seem to dig it, anyway. Edit as I didn't see Chuck's quote--yeah, that's a big issue. There's a difference between opening up out of exigency and opening up because the 'style' dictates it. Us younger folk are kind of taught to think in that mode--it's a shame.

There are a few Bley compositions on the Lemer, right? As far as the Lemer/Hill connection--I sense a sort of dramatic tension and fluidity to Lemer's work that reminds me of Hill's more aggressive Blue Note sides. There's that same sort of 'rush'--although I'm not sure as to the theoretical (read: structural) difference between the two musicians. Knowing the cats on the Lemer album, those guys could play just about anything. A special shout out to George Khan, saxist on the Lemer ESP album and member of the Battered Ornaments--one of my favorite (unsung) post-Ayler stylisits. On Becketts--how do these stack up (stylistically)? He's all over the map in these days--Collier, the Brotherhood of Breath, Ray Russell...

Hell yeah. Abe is just so eloquent on those--verging on Dolphian, but just disaffected and 'f-you' enough to remain distinctly Abe. Those are fine duos. -By the way, Clifford--how's your inquest into Japanese free improv going?

*sigh* I'll always regret passing that one up the first time 'round...

No, don't get me wrong--I'm well aware of Bruce, Baker, and Hiseman's respective histories, not least their contributions to British jazz as an institution. I think it's questionable, however, that any one of them should be characterized as a 'jazz' musician--especially because the three of them (apart and together) have spent as much time (probably more) performing and recording 'non-jazz' music as they have playing in jazz contexts. Ginger has had his African/Afrobeat/groove fixation--sometimes veering over into free jazz and modern free improv--Hiseman went full on rock with Colosseum II and now (there are interviews about this) practices a more beat-heavy, relatively sparse drum style (informed by Stevie Wonder, of all people), sometimes lapsing into the old 'fire and brimstone' routine, and Bruce has been all over the place--Latin/jazz-rock albums with Kip Hanrahan, early jazz-rock with Lifetime, pseudo-theatrical jazz-rock with Carla Bley and that How's Tricks band, straight-up free improv (I have an album of his where he plays with John Stevens, of all people), the 'golden oldies' route with Cream, and of course Bruce's patented, all-over-the-map solo style (been doin' it for ages now). Even if it is all jazz informed, there is certainly a cross-fertilization of styles in play that blurs the genres. They're all great players and true individuals--but they're not 'pure' jazz players in the sense that, say Paul Chambers was... they're among a generation of musicians who took the music to very, very different places relative to where it was before. When they do come back inside, it's hard to think that they're really a part of that 'pure' world anymore (if they ever were). Jack Bruce, no matter what instrument he picks up, will always be 1/3rd of West, Bruce, and Laing--and it shows. Right on you, though--this isn't to outright dismiss their chops. I just have issues with how well suited their styles are for more traditional, 'swinging' rhythmic contexts--and maybe it's just an abhorrence of difference showing, I don't know. But agreed: I can scarcely name another group who did what Colosseum did at that level and as well.

I'm a huge fan of Bruce, especially the first few solo albums (Songs for A Tailor, Harmony Row...)... but I'm extremely wary of his acoustic jazz material. I sometimes feel as if the arena rock thing winds up imprinting in the end--and, for the life of me, I have yet to hear an acoustic Bruce album where he doesn't sound like he's trying to pummel the instrument into the back rows. A sense of 'lightness' is important for a lot of modern improv contexts--not so much 'light toned,' though, as 'flexible'... it's something that doesn't always register for stadium-tested, electricity-driven bassists like Bruce (and a lot of guys who've had to cope with coming out of rock or jazz-rock contexts--post-Colosseum Hiseman, for sure... and look at post-Lifetime Tony Williams!). That's my two cents, anyway. On the other hand, I do enjoy the Lemer ESP that Hiseman plays on (it sounds like a less groovy Andrew Hill), and there's something endearing about Things We Like. Maybe, then, I will check out the big band and the Mike Taylor...

Captain Hook Bluebeard Anne Bonny

I'm a fan of Richard Williams (the bass player on Alabama Feeling), although he never seemed to break into the elite of free jazz bassists (strangely, too--played with Sun Ra for a while, did some excellent work with Steve Reid and Noah Howard, registered some fine appearances in numerous settings). Perhaps it has something to do with his instrument of choice (electric versus acoustic, upright bass) and all the amateurism nonsense that that entails. For whatever it's worth, he's a master in his idiom--I like how he plays around, and not below Doyle (not doing your usual heavy-handed, accelerated pizz that a lot of free bassists are so fond of)... there are times when he sounds like a second, more ponderous horn (dig those glisses!).

Barney Rubble Fred Shuttlesworth John Stubblefield

Yeah, Jack Bruce was on the Mike Taylor (seen but not heard). Hiseman can be sorta rockish, and not always in the service of the music. I'm excited, too (a great cast--and Rutherford, free improv doyen, is in the mix!).

Felt but not mentioned--those are baaaad sessions, sho 'nuff.

That's almost the Colosseum rhythm section. How's Hiseman on this one (flexible enough?)?

Flash Gordon The Phantom Tarzan

Who's in the lineup on the NJO album? I'm only somewhat familiar with the ensemble, but I recall several 'faces' in the group (Carr, Lowther, Heckstall-Smith...?).

Man, I would have loved to have had those rhythms, tones, and timbres swirling all 'round--they must have been hard, hard core in a small club. Now Prime Time is generally restricted to festivals and large venues. There was that SF Jazz performance a while back that featured live body piercing and acrobats in bondage gear...

Whoa--nice bringing that Barron up. Re: Osby/Cyrille--they've got a duo album circulating for relatively high prices (~$20), but it seems like it may be worth it. Also worth mentioning is Cyrille's work with John Tchicai (quite a bit, as of late)... Tchicai's darker tenor sound goes great with AC's skittish rhythms. Also: has anyone heard the Cyrille/Braxton collaborations? Any good?

'Old Yeller' Grant Green Michael White

Cyrille is invaluable to the BYG/Actuel sessions he's on. He is beyond belief on New Africa (Grachan Moncur III session, presently available as a twofer with One Morning I Woke Up Very Early--some involved, powerful drumming there: dynamic, technically complex, and sensitive. The track 'When' is, for me, one of the greatest of the 60's.

Good call on Life, felser. The sound does suck, but there's some hardcore Pharoah on there. For the more 'inside' bent, this is probably one of his better sides.

The Luna Surface CD reissue that has been circulating is a Sunspots reissue, and it sounds like crap (much, much worse than the Sharrock or Seasons), so I personally doubt that there's too much of a sound quality difference among the various reissue programs.

Ask the Ages is, AFAIC, the best Pharoah on record since the earlier 70's. It contains some of PS's most powerful, focused energy playing in a studio setting--and in the 90's, too! The rest of the cast (Sonny, Charnett Moffett, Elvin Jones) ain't bad either. Also--it's probably the least obtrusive Laswell production on record (and the most well-integrated overdubbing on a free jazz album I've heard).