ep1str0phy

Frankly, it just popped out at me this morning. I didn't get a copy of 'Pharoah's First' until just recently--let it be said that, even if the general confusion regarding this music is warranted (and I think it is), it's a lot more than a curiosity. I can't easily dismiss the (ostensible) foundations of a major, major wing of avant jazz (and, for that matter, the ensuing trip-hop/acid-jazz debacle). Listening to 'Seven By Seven'--and even 'Bethera'--again, the harmonies are all there... but the context isn't. I actually prefer Frank Lowe's version on 'Lowe-down and Blue'--but just because, after all this time, someone finally cut a version that knew what to do with the melody.

It's un-freaking-believable. Oh, go ahead and say it -- cuz it's true -- that Jimmy Woods date is un-fucking believable. Seriously, one of THE best dates I've bought in the last three years or so. 5-stars, with a money-back guarentee. Not to denigrate Jimmy's (family-oriented?) grounds for 'retirement,' but that album--more than anything else--should have established him as a force to be reckoned with. Not that he was ever a powerhouse on the level of, say, Eric Dolphy, but he had a charm all his own--and he could certainly hold court with your Elvin Joneses, Andrew Hills, etc. Jimmy was a consummate inside/outside mind with a very warm sense of musicality... now, I'll be the one to ask: what the hell happened to this legend-in-the-making?

Hal Overton Fletcher Henderson Sun Ra

The 'Peace' name may represent my favorite series of common-title compositions in the music (an esoteric honor, I know). Ornette's tune may have gotten me into the music. Kudos.

It's the name of a vocalist that appears on a number of progressive jazz sessions (an Impulse! Shepp side and Rashied Ali's blues album come to mind). I'm assuming that, here, it refers to Tina (although I could be wrong)--another variation on 'True Blue,' maybe?

Judd Nelson (and I pity any man who can connect Stack to Nelson) Dave Foley John O'Hurley

That is an awesome shot. Welcome, new wallpaper.

I'm definitely of the mind that the CIMPs are inconsistent, but I'd like to think that I've come to terms with the 'boringness' once or twice. I don't think you can look for anything prime-Rudd--or, especially, Herbie--caliber in the 'Unheard' sessions--but they're pleasant enough, just to get you through a cold afternoon (I didn't try too hard/expect too much, so I'm certainly not disappointed). But--even for my favorite CIMPs--the 'trial' notion is in full effect. It's that very sense of frustration that makes me love the Frank Lowes so much (especially where the chops are shot). But yeah, CIMP has yet to score an unqualified 'victory' with me--I've just stopped waiting for one (and live more easily, as you seem to have long ago discovered).

That's precisely the impression that I've been getting. I've been listening to 'Memory/Vision' a lot recently, and it's struck me just how supremely mellow the whole affair is. I'll just assume from your dialogue that the ECM material wasn't so much ECM-ized as 'built' for the ECM sound--that sort of anesthetized vibe that makes for good, soothing, if not exactly blood-boiling listening. '50th Birthday Concert' has been getting even more spins around my apartment--and it's remarkable that the second trio is a part of the EAE--moreover, that Evan Parker was part of the Incus tribe, or even a ringer member of the BoB. Not saying that any one musician should get stuck in the same (lifelong) groove--it's just that I can hear certain possibilities, and they don't always come to fruition.

The way I hear the ESP, Pharoah is trying to split the difference between harmolodic freebop and more conventional post-bop. It's especially evident on 'Seven By Seven,' where Pharoah just throws the ball out the window--Marvin and Bennett follow him straight to the end. Getz sounds like an innocent bystander in the more far-flung sections, and Foster does his best to stay with the groove (sounds sorta like a weaker-toned Bill Dixon to me). I don't think Pharoah was ever ready to abandon the piano--ala Ornette, Shorter, Cherry, etc.--although he stopped short at full-on Cecil Taylor/early-Don Pullen freedom. It's a sort of have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too thing; there will be problems melding a Getz-styled piano player with an essentially anti-piano approach (and it took years for Ornette to re-rationalize the piano into his ensembles). I think the Coltrane ensembles were invaluable toward solidifying Pharoah's conception--offering a 'different' sort of free approach, one where the piano is indivisible from the group dynamic. Sanders always had it in him, but--prior to the Coltrane Quintet--I just get the feeling that he was leaning to the 'wrong' side of the evolutionary fork (Ornette v. 'Trane).

It's un-freaking-believable. 'Homage' is also a favorite.

No tunes, but (from Herbie Nichols: The Unpublished Works, 27 Jazz Masterpieces): "In the fall of 1960, when Herbie first started teaching me some of his tunes, my cousin Charlie Keil, then a senior at Yale University, asked me to round up a couple of other players and join him for an evening of jamming in the Pierson College dining hall. I wanted the best, and so I invited Herbie and Tina Brooks to go along. We picked Tina up at the designated spot. These were especially hard times for Tina; he was run-down and he didn't even have his horn. When Herbie saw this, he gave me his I-could-have-told-you-so look follwed by his famous interjection for all occasions, his self-styled half-laugh/half-cry sound (hereater referred to as The Sound), thought for a moment, then just started giving out driving directions. An hour later we found ourselves somewhere in the deep Bronx. Herbie got out and disappeared into a building, reappeared after what seemed an eternity carrying a tenor saxophone. And we went on up to New Haven without a word, save for an occasional reprise of The Sound. It was great to hear Herbie on a good piano for a change and playing with Tina, who, despite the shape he was in, could really give Herbie a run for his money, harmonically speaking..." -Roswell Rudd He also mentions a benefit concert for the NAACP--Herbie played Change of Seasion and The Happenings with 'Royal Blue' on sax, Steve Swallow on bass, Billy Higgins on drums, and Rudd. What a band!

Honestly, thanks for that. More to the music--Evan Parker's back catalogue is a little dense, although I have been a little more on point as of late--starting to fill in the holes. I've seen very little cogent critical analysis of Parker's EA work; I'd be interested in hearing some opinions.

Yes! And if you want to daydream (tangentially): Eric Dolphy with Monk. Just to hear the madness unfold.

B.B. King Muddy Waters Blind Lemon Jefferson Blind Willie Johnson Lennie Tristano Rahsaan Roland Kirk

I guess I was one of the few to really like these albums on first listen, although I've had to temper my reaction a bit. Again, this isn't the sort of explosive, 'extended technique'-crazy sort of Rudd that made it into the history books, but these are happy, often engaging performances. On the CIMP 'sound' thing (as Paul pointed out somewhere above): I'm of the opinion that it really works for some sessions (e.g. Frank Lowe's 'Lowe-down and Blue') and not at all for others. I'd say that the Rudd discs are somewhere in-between; the music isn't incendiary enough to warrant a more aggressive production, but there are moments where some extra detail--at the very least, something more dynamic--would be nice.

George Wein Billy Graham William Parker

How the hell did this thread get so ridiculously off-topic? Anyway--off the top of my head: I believe that a film exists (a film, mind you) that interpolates a dramatization of 'Dolphy as an old man' (or something equally fantastical) with the very footage in question. It's foreign, but I hear it makes the rounds (look it up--there can't be too many Dolphy films in circulation). Someone else has to know more about this than I do.

I have Volume I--enjoy it quite a bit, actually. The overall impression is rather 'low-key'--even for a CIMP disc--although there's quite a bit of 'blood in guts' if you look hard enough. Sound quality is standard issue for the record label, and--although the patented CIMP 'asceticism' does manage to dull some moments of deep impact--nothing could mask the fact that the album is three musicians having genuine fun... excellent playing, a lot of intelligence, and (of course) phenomenal compositions. There's joy here--a lot of exuberance, a lot of soul. But don't expect anything really mind altering... it's simply well-crafted, consummate jazz (and I use that term exactingly--this isn't exactly free stuff). Most important of all--this is a Herbie Nichols album, played squarely in his harmonic/rhythmic sphere (simply: if you like HN and RR, the disc will please).

Pharoah Sanders Billy Harper Carlos Garnett

Jackson Browne Jackie Brown Jack Bruce

As per the Sandersish theme of this thread: amen.

It was years since I listened to this album. Unfortunately, from what I can remember the cello is unbearable. There was a thread about this on the BNBB, but I could always say it again: When Ron Carter is playing the cello I can hardly understand anything of what he's doing. Ron Carter's cello playing is indescribable, and not in a positive way... At least it's not as jarring as on the Waldron sextet date. Carter is relegated to coloration duties most of the time; Dolphy is squarely in charge, and the cello backgrounds are no more upsetting than on your typical AACMish date. For heaven's sakes, it's got Roy Haynes on it.

I'll second the recommendations for 'Tarik' and 'Reese,' although (again) 'Ear of the Behearer' is probably the Redman to get. 'Tarik' is generally in the late-60's pianoless 'free' mode, although Redman's idiosyncrasies shine through at various points (the last number--can't recall the name--is 'sound exploration' of the sort the leader would later excel in)--it's among the 'less generic' of the BYGs. 'Reese', however, is prime Art Ensemble--funny, powerful, honest, and consistently interesting. Adjectives don't do it justice.