SEK

Chris McGregor et al - "The Serpent's Kindly Eye, Parts 1 & 2" from Free Jazz Meeting, Baden-Baden '71 Air - "Air Time" Abdullah Ibrahim - "African Dawn"

I think you may be right.

Thanks to this thread, yesterday I was able to catch the review in progress. Kevin Whitehead has hipped me to a few great recordings, via the radio and in print, over the years.

You are referring to Clifford Jordan's excellent "In the World". I also dig Charles Brackeen's very Ornette-ish "Rhythm X".

Sounds like I'll have to check out 'Round About A Midsummer's Dream'.

Don Cherry - "Complete Communion", "Symphony for Improvisers" Markus Stockhausen - "Karta" Terje Rypdal - "Works" Jimi Hendrix - "Electric Ladyland", "Axis Bold as Love"

By the time JFK was assassinated (I was 9½ and in 4th grade), jazz was part of the mix. My uncle who lived with us, off and on, had been into Benny Goodman, Count Basie, and Sinatra since he was a teenager, and he played all that a lot. But I first got into bop, hard bop, soul jazz, and Trane from older siblings of my friends and from the older guys' in the neighborhood car radios and record players that you could hear from the street. This was while I was also picking up on R&B (mostly Stax, Atlantic, and Motown) and the various "British Invasions". It was all just music that fed my hungry and developing personal and social aesthetic/sense. Change and progress were in the air... I'm very glad I grew up back then.

Indeed!

Long ago, I heard Hal Russell's NRG Ensemble record on the Nessa label (when I did not know that "Nessa" was someone's last name) and could not get into it very well. I expected this reputed member of the Chicago "avant garde" to sound more like the AACM stuff that I was already into, but he was different from that in a way that I wasn't quite ready for... Around 20 years have passed since then, I'm older (if not wiser), and I've many times had the satisfaction of rediscovering music that before I heard differently or could not hear at all (With advancing age, it's not just the waistline that can expand!). So it was getting around to Hal Russell's turn when King Ubu announced this Album Of The Week. I've enjoyed "The Hal Russell Story" many times over the last few weeks. It is, at turns, wry, funky, romantic, iconoclastic, swinging, wild, poignant, nostalgic, and kind of visionary - sometimes all at once. This episodic work evokes for me, in music and words, a sequence of impressions from a jazz life, the life of Hal Russell. I am taken on a journey through time, from the Swing Era to Billy Holiday,..., from Miles Davis to Albert Ayler, culminating in Russell's NRG Ensemble performing in Europe, all the time fueled by an abiding need to improvise/survive and move towards expressive freedom. This recording ends with two appealing "encores"; the second is a rousing version of Peter Green's "Oh Well" (from back when Fleetwood Mac was a decent band). Well, I hope that "The Hal Russell Story" serves as my Rosetta stone for appreciating Hal Russell's previous work, just as (a few years ago) "Big Fun" and new speakers helped to reinvigorate my enthusiasm for Miles Davis's electronic music from "Bitches Brew" through "On the Corner". My next Hal Russell purchase will be "The Finnish/Swiss Tour" which sounds a bit more like some of Frank Zappa's work than does "The Hal Russell Story", though I've paired "The Hal Russell Story" with Zappa's "Weasels Ripped My Flesh" to good effect. I've also put "The Hal Russell Story" in a set with Billy's "Lady Sings the Blues" (the only record from her declining years that I can listen to) and her wonderful Commodore Recordings; they link well for me with much of "The Hal Russell Story", especially Russell's versions of "Dark Rapture" and "Gloomy Sunday". And, of course, Albert Ayler is a must, particularly after hearing "Ayler Songs" ... After "The Finnish/Swiss Tour", I hope to again check out that Nessa NRG Ensemble recording. I think I'll be ready for it.

I feel sorry for you...

I picked up "Charmediterranéen" earlier this year, after reading Bev Stapleton's enthusiastic recommendation. Bev's praise was an understatement. "Charmediterranéen" quickly became a favorite recording that I've played often. "Fugace" has its merits, but I won't be playing it nearly as much.

This is my favorite Clifford Jordan recording and one of my most prized recordings ever! Thanks for picking "Glass Bead Games"

My copy of "Mother Ship" arrived in today's mail, and I love it. The only factor that might have improved this great session for me (I'm being very nitpicky here) would be Joe Henderson, but Herbert Morgan's playing is more than adequate.

"The Mountain" contains music from "Ekaya" and "Water from an Ancient Well", Ekaya's first two records. I was fortunate to see Ekaya when they came to Ann Arbor several years ago. The group cooked! Abdullah Ibrahim played a mostly supportive role. I thought that he imparted a very dignified and reverent air to the proceedings. I reach most for Abdullah Ibrahim's solo recordings, mostly from the '70s and '80s: "African Piano" (JAPO/ECM, 1969); "Fats, Duke, and the Monk" and "Ancient Africa" (both on Sackville, 1973); "Ode to Duke Ellington" and "...memories" (both on West Wind, 1973); "Nisa" (1978); "Autobiography" (Plainisphare, 1978); "Matsidiso" and "South African Sunshine" (both on Pläne, 1980); and "African Dawn" (Enja, 1982). I also enjoy the recordings he made with Carlos Ward: the first two Ekaya records mentioned above; "The Journey" (recently reissued on Downtown Sound, 1978); the wonderful "Duke's Memories" (String, 1981); "At Montreux" (1980); "Zimbabwe" (Enja, 1983); and a passionate live duet recording from 1984 that was briefly available on Poljazz that is superior to their Sweet Basil set from around the same time. The two duet recordings with Johnny Dyani on Enja should also not be missed. They are very intimate and magical sets. Since Abdullah Ibrahim returned to South Africa from exile in the early '90s, his music has generally not been as compelling to me. Not surprisingly perhaps, returning home has brought a new relaxed, mellow quality to his music. What I've heard from his recent trio recording "African Magic" has sounded quite nice.

I've been heavily into Billy Harper since "Black Saint" first appeared on vinyl in the mid-'70s. Since then, I've picked up most of his recordings and know them almost by heart. His distinctive and passionate music could often serve as my personal soundtrack. My favorite Billy Harper recordings are the Denons ("Knowledge Of Self", "Love On The Sudan", "Soran-Bushi"), "The Believer", "Trying to Make Heaven My Home", "Black Saint", "Destiny Is Yours", "Somalia", and "Soul of an Angel". I'm playing "Somalia" right now. "Thy Will Be Done" is almost apocalyptic (Play it LOUD). My mellower, dinner-with-guests Billy Harper choice is "Such Great Friends" (Strata-East, 1983), not to be confused with the more recent release, "Great Friends" (Evidence).

I really enjoy the version of "Parisian Thoroughfare" on this one.

Dallas Cowboys Phil Jackson (not a team, but ...)

WCMU, located in Mount Pleasant, Michigan has a network of transmitters that reach throughout most of the northern half of Michigan's Lower Peninsula, Michigan's Upper Peninsula, and into Ontario. For many years on Sunday nights, Mike Johnston (the bass player for the Northwoods Improvisers) has had a show featuring adventurous improvised music called "Destination Out". He'd be the best one to contact. The Program Manager of WCMU is named Ray Ford. I've also enjoyed Lazaro Vega's show many times over the years. It doesn't always come through very well where I live in central Michigan, but I try to listen when I can, especially when I travel to the Traverse City area. I also listen to the jazz programming of WEMU when I'm in Ann Arbor.

I remember reading about the then-recent death of Albert Ayler in Downbeat. It sounded tragic .... and suspicious. I had heard of Ayler (he recorded on Trane's label) but had never heard his music. A friend and I soon purchased two contrasting records; one was with Don Cherry (maybe "Ghosts") and the other was "Music Is The Healing Force Of The Universe". "Music Is The Healing Force Of The Universe" is a great, catchy sentiment that made sense to me, but I could never could get very close to the record. However, the music with Don Cherry made perfect sense to me right away. From there, I explored the ESPs and everything else by Albert Ayler that I could get my hands on. I remember reading in the early '70s, in Downbeat probably, that Albert Ayler would be a "dead end" within the development of "jazz". They were already wrong, of course, and when critics started to praise David Murray and others whose playing alluded to Ayler's, such singling out of Ayler, anyway, was heard less often. Then all the '80s neocon neophytes came along and ... I have been heartened by the positive recognition that Ayler has, often belatedly, received and am especially enjoying reading the anecdotes from folks who dug him while he was alive.

Art Blakey- "Africaine" Chick Corea- "Tones for Joan's Bones"/ Miroslav Vitous- "Mountain In the Clouds" Miles Davis- "Bitches Brew" Tim Hardin- "Tim Hardin 1" Richie Havens- "Richard P. Havens, 1983" Griot Galaxy- "Live at the D.I.A."

Griot Galaxy - "Live at the D.I.A." (recorded in 1983) (Entropy Stereo ESR001, 2003) Hal Russell- "The Hal Russell Story"

I also listened to Don Patterson soon after I awoke today, "Hip Cake Walk" (Prestige 7349, 1964). I'm not an organ aficionado (Larry Young is the only organist that has captured my imagination with any consistency). I originally picked up "Hip Cake Walk" because of Booker Ervin. But this album has grown on me, as much for Don Preston's playing as Booker Ervin's contributions.

It sounds like it's similar to a bidet.

I thought that "Dona Nostra" was quite weak compared to the work of 20+ years before. It didn't sound like the old Rena Rama or Oriental Wind recordings. Okay Temiz was especially disappointing... I've never heard of Sister Majs Blouse. I'll try to check it out.