ep1str0phy

Whoa. Frankly, I would've liked to have heard some Charles Davis on those sides...

There's always Love, Love. And if we drop in albums, too, there's Rahsaan Rahsaan.

Sonny's Dream is a piece unto itself. Hard boppish in character, yes, but the writing and Sonny's solos push the boundaries of the idiom in a fairly idiosyncratic, somewhat progressive manner (Tapscott's all over it).

No. Black Fire and Judgment are both more accessible, as are several Andrew albums from the late 60s. Guy Black Fire maybe, but Judgment is very explosive in an explicitly avant way. The lack of horns on the latter session obscures the already oblique group textures and complicated compositions/forms. Among the more striking elements of the album is the sheer metrical complexity created by the ensemble interactions (we're talking Hill, early Hutch, Richard Davis and Elvin freakin Jones, for cryin out loud)--It's dizzying, dizzying stuff, and perfectly suited to Andrew's darker, denser side.

I love Dick Griffin's work with Rahsaan--wish I could go (I'm on the WC).

Oh--and it seems as if this is the Wright-Silva-Few-Ali group, which I have yet to hear (I've heard several of the other incarnations, though). I'll admit--I'm a big fan of Wright's bass-less bands, but this should be interesting...

Hell Yes. Thanks, B. -Oh yeah--much love for the Rev. The Wright/Howard group is one of my all-time favorite combos--the finest, most impassioned of post-Ayler, church-inflected free jazz. I just hope that this release is up to the standards of the group.

Josef Rosenblatt Charlie Parker Louis Armstrong

I don't know why more people don't love this album.

I was just having a conversation about Ornette and more inside contexts. There's an intriguing element to his phrasing that refuses to adhere to the formulaic nature of the more traditional jazz progressions (e.g., rhythm changes, blues); even when playing these forms, Ornette does not usually play even lines, pulling out of 8-bar patterns and moving around, and not on, downbeats (Tomorrow is the Question comes to mind). Regardless of where this comes from--and, by anecdotal accounts, it's a conscious move away from bop convention (there's that old story where Ornette knocks the drummer--Ed Blackwell, was it?--for hitting the downbeat and cutting off his phrase)--it's a refreshing sensibility that works even when, perhaps especially when, viewed in light of fixed form--paving the way for the rhythmic and metrical liberties of a lot of later stuff. In all fairness to youmustbe, by the way--and there's a gut reaction on both sides of the "he can/can't play" debate--the critical gradients can be pretty subtle. As far as I'm concerned, the musicality can go any way--if it hits you deep (as it obviously has youmustbe, and many here), it counts. Jesus does it count.

Thanks for the heads up--always good to here Tyrone--and with the likes of Lacy, Rudd (etc.) to boot.

Me too, probably. Don't get me wrong, I do really like Point of Departure. But in some ways, I think PoD is a tiny bit overrated (and I think "Blue Train" is way overrated). So often PoD is thought of as THE Andrew Hill album to get (like how for a long time it was the only Hill date released on CD, and it was one of the very first Hill RVG's, etc...). But I think "Black Fire" ought to hold that title. I love POD and I love Andrew, but I tend to go back to Judgment the most. As per the rhythm section discussion right above me... I love Alan Dawson, but the Byard/Davis combo really cooked with Elvin at the drums (Rip, Rig, and Panic is a corker).

Count me among the fans. He (and his sound) will be missed.

Noah Howard Norris Jones (Sirone) Norman Connors

Up to say that if any Bay Area board goers were holding out on that one box at the Berkeley Amoeba, it's gone. And my speakers are now in a very, very good mood.

I spent Trane's B-Day proselytizing. HB, JC.

I stand corrected (first disc of the UA sessions was the string session, I mean...). Anyway, up to praise Makanda for his contributions to Unit Structures--between his 'freer' sides and the more inside UA and SC albums, there's a wide, wide spectrum of terrific, diverse music.

I seem to be in the minority here, but the first album of the UA sessions (Way Way Out) has to be one of my all time favorites. The strings provide a terrific uplift that elevates what could have been a fairly rote hard boppish session; McIntyre just flies over those arrangements, and the accompaniment grooves like mad... and those string arrangements--prototypically advanced-sounding, perhaps, but swinging as hell in an angular, Dolphian manner (wide, dissonant intervals, careening harmonies, a bubbling, effervescent sense of rhythm). Only the Andrew Hill string quartet sessions, IMO, are as strong a marriage of avant-garde/post-bop jazz.

It's actually refreshing that, after the whole Dave Douglas/Bad Plus ballyhoo over 70's/80's recordings that's been going about the blogs, people are exercising a fervent interest over an oft-neglected historical period. Some favorites that (perhaps) haven't been mentioned: Brotherhood of Breath: Brotherhood of Breath and Brotherhood Louis Moholo: Spirits Rejoice Johnny Dyani: Witchdoctor's Son Dudu Pukwana: In the Townships Dewey Redman: Coincide Charles Tolliver: Impact Don Cherry: Brown Rice Frank Lowe: Black Beings Billy Harper: In Europe and Trying to Make Heaven My Home Cecil Taylor: 3 Phasis Frank Wright/Noah Howard: Church Number Nine and Uhuru Na Umoja Pharoah Sanders: Black Unity AEC: Nice Guys Andrew Hill: Hommage Anthony Braxton: Five Pieces (becoming one, anyway) Bobby Hutcherson/Harold Land: San Francisco Billy Bang: Sweet Space Julius Hemphill: Dogon A.D. -I guess you could pick any ten of those (they'd change on another day...) -This doesn't even include more free improvish sides, like Derek Bailey's solo work, Topography of the Lungs, the 70's Globe Unity Orchestra Material, The Gentle Harm of the Bourgeoisie, etc. -Double on Soapsuds, Soapsuds

As much as I love Alice's work--including the more out of her more out excursions (World Galaxy comes to mind)--she can be a hit and miss these days. I saw her at UCLA a while back--Ravi on sax, Reggie Workman (who seems to get these unfortunate gigs here and there), and a drummer whose name I don't recall (a relative little-known, if not unknown--subbing for Jeff Tain Watts). Say what you will about Ravi, but he kept the show as interesting as he could (well-versed in a lot of the late-Coltrane gestures, if not the complete technique or feel). The band didn't lock up for a second, and I had/have a feeling that it has something to do with Mrs. Coltrane's lack of dynamic range--she's taking it even slower now than before, and the ensemble wanted to go places that she couldn't or refused to. The whole effect was terrifically inorganic and forced--like a bunch of balloons tied to a table, grasping for the air. I respect her to no end, but I certainly hope that my night was an exception to the rule (looks like Haynes was killin, which is good news).

I love this album to death--straight call on the 'fun vibes' thing, although I don't take the better part of this album to be any more frivolous than a lot of the non-spiritual free jazz/free bop of the period. At the same time, there is a sense of playfulness and youthful joy about the proceedings--it's certainly one of the less exigent or apocalpytic albums put out by the extended Ornette crew. I enjoy the amateurish element (as with The Empty Foxhole, etc.) as a piece with the whole to the extent that I never thought twice about it. Matter of fact (having not really listened to the album for a year or two) I always supposed that Codaryl was doing the tempo muffing--nothing too suprising for me, anyway. Anyhow, props to the elder Moffett on this one--showing that he did have the chops to fulfill multiple roles in the Ornette bands (first as trumpet, I believe?...). And good for Wilbur Ware... always nice to hear him in more 'out' contexts.

The Big O Wing Zero Optimus Prime

Lots and lots of Archie Shepp falls into this category--and the man had and has a feel for the rhythm that extends beyond his more 'outside' moments. His stuff post-60's, in particular, is rife with Latin grooves (e.g., the late Impulse! period). For some early fire music with a clave (haven't listened to it in a while, so...) dig Shepp's version of "The Girl from Ipanema." A lot of Mingus might fall into this category, too...

I'm frankly surprised that there isn't one already--but we could all benefit from whomever makes the effort...

Sometimes I wonder if it isn't just a ballooned chicken and egg argument--that is, that people won't listen to X because X doesn't get exposure OR that X won't get exposure because people won't listen to or fail to gravitate toward X. Agreed on the point above, as with jazzypaul's sentiments (etc.), but it's hard to lay the blame on any particular factor when the whole equation is so ingrained. I think it's precisely because everyone here comes across as correct that it's so difficult to dissect this question into the trouble components--George W. Bush world: yes, but it's also difficult not to listen to Ben Watson's Adorno rantings sometimes.