B. Clugston

The liner notes indicate that Woody rehearsed the band a lot in Berlin, yet also say it was all-new material and Frank Foster was a late addition. Slide Hampton also met the band in Berlin. The rest were part of Woody's quintet.

I see this huge news has prompted another reunion: Chewy/Aric and ALLCAPS.

It's never struck me as memorable. Leroi/Amira's poem is laughably bad, rascist comments aside.

Heavy on obscurity--at least at the time it was published. Kind of has a "my record collection is cooler than yours" vibe. Never liked Sunny's Time Now. Funny anecdote about the session here: www.ayler.org/albert/html/revsonny.html

I've seen it, but never heard it. Here's the details: Marion Brown: Live In Japan DIW-356 CD November 8, 1979 Shiminkaikan Hall, Hirosaki, Japan November Cotton Flower [16:10] (Marion Brown) Sunshine Road [13:10] (Marion Brown) Angel Eyes-Hurry Sundown [10:20] (Matt Dennis ~ Clarence Williams) La Placita [17:50] (Marion Brown) Africa [13:00] (Marion Brown) Marion Brown (as) Dave Burrell (p) Gon Mizuhashi (b) Warren Smith (d)

Were any other songs played (and recorded) at the concert? IIRC, one of the songs begins with a fade.

I’m glad you picked this. Live At The Berliner Jazztage doesn’t get talked about much, but it’s an incredible album. I like much more than Stepping Stones. Slide Hampton and Frank Foster were great recruits for this band. What distinguishes this album are the arrangements and a well-rehearsed band. It’s incredibly intense. “Hello to the Wind” was written by Joe Chambers (Eugene McDaniels wrote the lyrics, though you will have to visit Bobby Hutcherson’s Now to hear). A variant on this song, featuring Woody, appears on Chamber’s The Almoravid. I believe Chambers did the arrangement for the Berlin concert. It’s an incredibly beautiful arrangement and the soloists are great. Larry Young’s “Obsequious” boils with intensity as well, especially when the hornmen trade fours.

Versions of "Venus" and "Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt" appear in the Ayler box. Not as good as the studio versions, but historically interesting and Ayler blows the roof off during his solo.

Those filthy rich aging rockers just can't keep away from the trough. And while I've got problems with naming people Sir this and Lord that, what country in its right mind would name Cliff Richard a Sir?

I think you mean that it's Prince of Peace redone (from Izipho Zam) dontcha? Nah, between Thomas and the bassline, it sounds like another "The Creator Has A Master Plan" to me--in the same way some of the mid-1960s Blue Note opening tracks sound too much like "The Sidewinder." But it's more "son of" than cloning.

Anyone visit darkfunk lately?

Black Unity is excellent. I really enjoy Karma, but feel embarrassed admitting it for some reason. Tauhid has some great moments (and Sonny Sharrock), but it’s short measure and some of what is there feels like empty calories. Speaking of which, there’s Jewels of Thought. The first track is Karma redone and not particularly well. The other track is kind of grating at times. Never delved into the rest.

Teitelbaum mixed electronics with improv with MEV long before his collaborations with Braxton and Lewis. When they did get together, it was music far removed from the funky subtext this thread has developed.

With Seasons , I usually jump straight to Side 4. My Country was an unusual release. I think it was more Silva's release than Leo's and it won't be back on Leo. Silva used to have an explanation on his web site, but it's now gone. Its number, LR 302, has been assigned to another recording.

Who's on guitar? Frank Marino channeling Hendrix?

He's still dead, though.

Luna Surface is from '69, though! The Rouen concert issued on Leo is a motherfucker... Just as well as I was well over my Top 10 limit. The Rouen concert, My Country, has some great Braxton and Lacy. It disappeared from the Leo catalogue for some reason. I still prefer Seasons, particularly for the Side 6 freak out.

I was always partial to Alan Silva's two Celestrial Communications Orchestra efforts on BYG as well.

Tony Williams was plugged in before the '70s and most of the musicians mentioned. Lifetime was ahead of the pack. Another one to mention is Sun Ra. Sure he went electric in the 1950s, but he went really, really electric in the 1970s.

Ones that come to mind: Anthony Braxton/The Berlin/Montreux Concerts (and pretty much any of the other quartet-dominated albums) Woody Shaw Concert Ensemble/Live at the Berliner Jazztage Woody Shaw/The Song of Songs Miles Davis/Pangaea Sam Rivers/Trio Live Perugia Herbie Hancock/Mwandishi Ganelin/Tarasov/Chekasin/Catalogue: Live in East Berlin Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath Willem Breuker/Live in Berlin Honourable mentions: Clifford Thornton/The Panther and the Lash Roscoe Mitchell/Duets with Anthony Braxton Dave Holland/The Conference of the Birds Stuff recorded in the 1970s, but released later: Anthony Braxton/Creative Orchestra (Koln) 1978 Brotherhood of Breath/Bremen to Bridgewater Miles Davis/Complete Live-Evil

George Duke went on to play with Miles Davis a couple of times in the mid-1980s, including some of the Warners sessions plus a Montreux cameo. Wrong decade to meet.

There's Hancock's pre-Head Hunters sextet. Early Weather Report.

More different. For all the funk, blues and r & b references, Miles’ 1973-1975 bands were darker and more subversive, peppered with silence and avant noise experiments. Sly Stone and the James Brown weren’t the only points of reference; throw in Stockhausen as well. By contrast, Ornette of this period sounded like a sunnier, electrified version of himself. His music was much more straightforward than Miles’. There were superficial similarities in instrumentation with twinned guitars and two percussionists (the latter post-Body Meta in Coleman’s case). Also, Reggie Lucas briefly studied with Ornette before Dancing in Your Head.

The Taylor concert showed up on three Jazz View discs taken from scratchy LPs. Great music though, especially the interplay between Taylor and Cyrille.

The other challenge with Ayler recordings is several have been reissued under different names (ie. Witches & Devils vs. Spirits; Ghosts vs. Vibrations).