Graham Collier at 70, and 6000 plays

[Darius]

NEWSLETTER JANUARY 2007

Graham opens his 70th birthday year with the issue on Cuneiform of the previously unreleased Hoarded Dreams, recorded by an all-star international band (Ted Curson, John Surman, Kenny Wheeler, Tomasz Stanko and others) in 1983. One reviewer said of the concert ‘This was something special in jazz writing; something that was reflected in the inspiration which the piece gave to the soloists’, while another commented that ‘The whole conception was bold and the playing magnificent’.

(NB: If searching for the CD on the web use Hoarded Dreams Collier. Some sales points are crediting it to a singer songwriter called Gerald Collier. Not me, m’lud.)

Interviews to commemorate the release and the birthday celebrations are slated for JazzWise in February, All About Jazz and Cadence later in the spring, and are being discussed with other web and print magazines for the remainder of the year.

Live work during 2007 includes concerts in Holland, Sweden and England during March, with further appearances being arranged later in the year in Canada, Italy, Denmark, New Zealand, Australia and England.

Graham’s early work received a very high average star count in the latest Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD, which calls them ‘remarkable recordings’ using ‘advanced compositional ideas’.

Graham Collier Music can now be found on MySpace, which has led to several musicians and ex-students getting in touch. The Nostalgia77 page boasts no less than six thousand plays of their version of Graham’s classic tune Down Another Road.

Further details on the website or via email.

http://www.jazzcontinuum.com

info@jazzcontinuum.com

[sidewinder]

Very cool, thanks for posting !

What a lineup in that trumpet section - Curson, Wheeler, Stanko.

Is there a listing of the UK tour dates available? Looking forward to checking it out.

[Guest the mommy]

on the one hand, you are spamming.

on the other hand, it is good to talk about collier i guess.

though i think we have done this before if you used the search function.

on the one hand i think most of collier's albums are pretty boring that i have heard which i think is due to his compositonal style, but on the other hand i think that "down another road" is a very good album. i would like to hear "new conditions". that is one i haven't heard yet...

on the one hand, usually i feel like cuneiform releases other peoples garbage and the sound sometimes sucks (like the last collier release). but on the other hand that sounds like a good lineup. however it is the 80s so a lot of fire had left a lot of peoples bellies already i fear.

will be worth a listen, though....

is the roger dean who played piano on some collier albums the same as the british album artist roger dean???

[Guest the mommy]

i think i find a lot of collier's stuff after the first few albums boring because it was about setting up "situations" for the soloists and the compsitions themselves just seemed to be vehicles for the (talented) musicians to solo over.

i am glad collier used john webb. that guy is an underrated drummer.

[clifford_thornton]

I'm hit-or-miss w/r/t Collier, but for sure, the first several dates are particularly strong. I am very fond of the Fontanas, and will probably get this disc.

Cuneiform is a rather admirable label, even if I don't always like what they choose to put out. The Brotherhood of Breath material they've issued is WAY stronger than any of that band's commercial LPs, or even the Oguns.

[ep1str0phy]

Collier's early albums are masterpieces in that particular idiom, methinks. In his less poetic moments, though, he may come across as a little arid--even when his writing/playing is technically together (and I have yet to hear an example otherwise).

I'll have to disagree on the BoB Cuneiforms, although those live dates are indeed strong in a ragged sort of way. What almost always comes off better in the studio (for the BoB) are the intricacies of the arrangements--which, it seems, ceased to be "the point" not long into the band's existence (when performances got wilder and formally extended). If not debating the merits of the performances themselves I will say that I prefer the studio material for actually miking Dudu Pukwana well (which isn't the case on a lot of live BoB stuff we've got--which is odd, as he effectively led the reed section). We're dealing with another case of fidelity v. spirit, although in this case fidelity makes it really difficult to hear what the heck is going on in spots (probably what Passing Ships sounded like in that early mix, but to a far less severe degree).

I'll say this, though--that Isipingo disc is a monster, and probably as successful a live date as anything we've gotten out of the extended BN family (which is saying a lot).

Edited January 22, 2007 by ep1str0phy

[clifford_thornton]

For the two BOB studio LPs that I have - both on RCA - I can agree with you that the lushness of certain pieces is a value that one rarely hears on the live recordings. For my money (and personal taste), it's the ragged energy, fire and swing of the band that is most important, and that's why I dig those Cuneiforms.

I'm a simple man, with simple tastes!

[Guest the mommy]

i think that cuneiform ipsingo disc is kinda boring. but i guess it is a good encapsulation of a loose live gig.

pestro, that is a good way to put it-there is an "arid" feeling to much of collier's work that i have heard.

[clifford_thornton]

I like the Harry Miller, but haven't spun it a ton since getting it.

Tippett is on fire on that one, regardless.

Yeah, EP1 nailed it w/r/t Collier, as he often does!

[sidewinder]

I am very fond of the Fontanas, and will probably get this disc.

Reminder to self to pull out 'Down Another Road' and 'Mosaics' this week for a spin !

[robinjessome]

I like his concept of 'modular compositions' and 'composer as improvisor' ... He's an interesting mind as a composer and some surprising musical moments pop out in unexpected/unintended places.