clifford_thornton

Though some people are loathe to do it or take it with a heaping grain of salt, I think that in some cases it's worth talking to musicians about their work. Ware is no longer with us but the people who played with him night after night, year after year are and they can speak to his singularity and where he's coming from. Certainly influence/tradition are there but I was responding more to language that these musicians were rehashing the music of the 60s, which is far from the case. I've drowned my ears in thousands of recordings of free music from 1958 forward for many years and have never seen Ware's music as a mere update of Coltrane's classic quartet or even, truly, Frank Wright or Albert Ayler (although Wright is closer). Hell, he's far from a favorite saxophonist of mine but I greatly respect his work.

Bob Bell - Necropolis - (ISM, Canada)

oh for sure.

Agreed. Yes, the Center of the World / Unity Quartet is a closer vibe (I remember talking with Cooper-Moore about that many years ago).

I am with you all the way. I'm also unconvinced by the statements here that Ware is (or was) a modern-day Coltrane-like figure. That's very narrow-minded as well. It really galls me that people can't really accept musicians on their own terms. Sure, there are forebears and influences but when someone has been doing something for like 40 years, you'd think they'd be allowed their own significant identity and body of work to speak entirely for itself.

Can - Delay 1968 - (Spoon, GER orig)

Ralph Eppel/Gregg Simpson/Bob Bell -- Music for the Living -- (ISM, Canada)

Yeah, heard about this -- sad news. He's fantastic.

Ooh that's a beautiful record!

I think the spirit might be there, of walking in the footsteps of those who've come before, but I rightly think that the music of Parker, Ware, and Berne is a LOT different than anything that existed in the 1960s. Parker was on the scene by 1973, yes, but his music has evolved heavily -- HEAVILY -- since then and it is hard to really put it into the same box. To compare what they are doing to what was happening in the lofts and coffee shops of the Village then, or churches and community centers in Chicago, is not really fair to either the 'then' or the 'now.' McPhee was born in 1939 and is a living master, completely beyond category. Yes, he knew the Ayler brothers and their work was/is an influence but I've spent enough time with the man and his music to know that it (and he) goes further than that. Wynton knows who William Parker is.

I dunno, I've heard very little contemporary music that recalls in any way the Free Jazz of the '60s. The blowing sessions in that mold that I have seen performed by younger (slightly) players have not been all that interesting.

Daguri is great. Matrix is pretty cool too; have the Deep Jazz Reality LP reissue, which was quite well done. The music reminds me a bit of John Cameron's "Off-Centre" or maybe certain Michael Garrick pieces, and has less in common with other Kikuchi albums.

yes, so much of a genius that he somehow circumvented my list !

I feel like genius -- such as it exists -- necessitates that someone is able to pull together concepts from a variety of experiences and is able to create and organize on terms that go beyond the single dimension of artistic output. In other words, a musical genius could very easily transliterate their creations into other fields, and those connections should be easy to see. In this music I think of Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus, Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, Bill Dixon, Misha Mengelberg, Bengt Nordström, François Tusques, Derek Bailey, Evan Parker, John Stevens, Tony Oxley, Anthony Braxton, Roscoe Mitchell...

oy. Sad news.

yeah, Pauer's records are fantastic -- agreed!

yeah, the songs I've heard I've certainly liked. Bad way to go... RIP.

indeed, but it's just surprising to me that this didn't come out on disc, even in Japan. Really good record I might add!

Jeez, you are right: Sizzle has no CD issue.

Speaking of West Side Story... the Arista-Freedom twofer reissue adds some alternate takes and extra music as well. A Speaking of West Side Story... the Arista-Freedom twofer reissue adds some alternate takes and extra music as well. also love this one, which is somewhat reminiscent of an expanded, freer George Russell date:

yeah that's a wonderful album. For me, Ric Colbeck: The Sun Is Coming Up (Fontana, UK) Jym Young: Puzzle Box (Polydor, GER)

Oh great, it's funded now. That's super. Yeah the original pressing of the Levin is not that high quality -- mine looks unplayed but there is a lot of surface noise. But hey, it was Bill Dixon's copy and has a very nice inscription from Marc to Bill, so there is something personal about it.

heard that the new live record was good, will check it out. Admittedly I haven't thought about them in years!

The Trainwreck isn't that much of a trainwreck. It's a good record that would've had a fine home on Milestone, Strata-East, or any number of smaller labels focusing on creative black music at the turn of the 70s. I would ask him who some of his favorite 20th century composers are and were at the time he was recording for Blue Note.

Zweistein -- Trip/Flip Out/Meditation -- (Wah Wah reissue of Philips GER original)