John Stevens, Trevor Watts

[ep1str0phy]

I've been getting increasingly involved, in a listening sense, with the music of this duo, recently. The character of the collaborations between these two--drummer Stevens and reedman Watts--are widely varied; between the two musicians we have at least a couple major innovations/transformations in European improvisation (pointillistic--to borrow an Evan Parker adjective--dynamically and texturally-oriented group improvisation with the Spontaneous Music Ensemble; rock, soul, and funk-based freer improvisation with Amalgam). Stevens and Watts have appeared in too many different environments to really encapsulate here, but a lot of it makes interesting room for discussion, I think...

A couple of months ago, I picked up Mining the Seam- The Rest of the Spotlite Sessions--Watts, Stevens + similarly versatile European stalwart Barry Guy--having not heard the original album that was culled from these sides (No Fear), I'm fairly impressed (though there's a lot of duplication between these albums--and within Mining the Seam, which would make for some tedious listening, were it not for the quality of the improvisation). The trio works excellently together--Watts sounds like a rock/R&B saxophonist on a tear--not quite so abstract with that vocabulary as Ayler was, far more rhythmically "in the pocket", but extremely energetic--Barry Guy's playing, especially his pizz, has a phenomenal rhythmic poise, and Stevens--something like a less chaotic, but equally propulsive, Elvin Jones.

Innovation, recorded under the Amalgam appellation, is an entirely different affair. A lot of it sounds like a perverse riff on a Stax or Hi Records sound--four-square rhythms juxtaposed with melodically angular, sometimes very abstract improvising. Watts shines in this context, rough and sharp, like corroded plastic. Stevens is a little more reined in here, but he gets his moments to shine. Of special note, I think, is the presence of pianist Keith Tippett--as florid as one might expect but very well placed.

[Nate Dorward]

The Spotlite stuff is excellent but the label Hi4Head did a truly terrible remastering job to judge by the one I've hears (Application Interaction And). Very unfortunate.

One great one is Chemistry which I have on LP but I think is available on CD from Konnex as part of a twofer.

[Guest donald petersen]

pestro, check out "prayer for peace" which is a beautiful album by the trio of watts/guy or clyne/stevens. a little bit free-ish. i think the penguin guide loves this one. if it matters.

i like "innovation" a lot. i wish some of the tracks (the last one, if i recall, particularly) weren't faded in and out. maybe it was just the last one. but tippett sounds awesome on here, funky and out at once. the penguin guide, speaking of it again, i remember dogging stevens playing on this one. i guess if you are used to stevens on other albums, he stays pretty "tight" on here. i like it. i guess i can see why people wouldn't be crazy about his playing. not very stevens-ish.

another album where i have seen his drumming dogged, which has watts and i like is the emanem bobby bradford album "loves dream". when you read the liner notes you suspect the album could be even better (it is live material) since the producer keeps mentioning better takes and better performances (if i remember right-i guess they weren't taped). but it's good and interesting to hear watts taking on the ornette role, which you know he is capable of.

i don't know how well you know watts, but even though stevens is missing...the other amalgam albums after "innovation" and "prayer for peace" are kind of prime time kind of things, with electric guitars and basses. very interesting stuff. the drummer, liam genocky, is pretty good. keith rowe is even the guitarist on one of the dates, playing some pretty avant fusion!

there is another good straighter stevens/watts date with i think kenny wheeler and jeff clyne and maybe someone on trombone? this is on a konnex two-fer and oh wait, it is probably the one nate is talking about. the othe album on the two-fer isn't my cup of tea-a long live dirge with maggie nichols and julie tippetts and pepi lemer all doing vocals, if i remember. it is a tribue to ayler.

i have another konnex two-fer which i don't enjoy as much which has more stevens/watts material-this time a live quarter with ron hermann or ron matthewson on bass (can't remember) and julie tippetts on vocals and acoustic guitar. i just don't like her bird noise thing. maybe you do. it's ok i guess. the other part of the two-fer is stevens with alan holdsworth and some other people and i think stevens released it sort of sketchily because holdsworth asked for it not to be released and it was rehearsal material or previously rejected material. it's ok. sort of interesting to hear holdsworth adjusting to playing with a looser and lighter drummer, as stevens is compared to what holdsworth was used to in soft machine, lifetime, etc. there is a more official stevens/holdsworth album i am searching for but i can't find it around anywhere...konnex is almost as bad as collectibles with their weird two-fers.

[clifford_thornton]

Prayer for Peace is a wonderful record - I have it on a Transatlantic LP. Ditto the Spotlite stuff.

There's a lot of SME to be had, and none of it has hit me negatively so far.

[Guest donald petersen]

just bought the amalgam wipeout box. no stevens on here-3 discs of watts/rowe/genocky and one of two bassists.

is FMR getting more legit? i can never tell...this box is nicely done. but other watts stuff i have gotten looks like sketchy CDRs with poorly produced liner art.

oh there is another nice amalgam album with watts and stevens called "amalgam plays higgins and blackwell"...forget the other guy on it...maybe one of two bassists on this one as well...acoustc live ornette-ish jamming. the intention i guess was to sort of represent the two different vibes of ornette's bands with the two drummers in the album title...does it succeed? it's good music. john stevens is who he is. his blackwell is pretty good. the higgins is ok. maybe this is because to my ear blackwell has a more distinctive sound than higgins. doesn't matter...its a good concept and its good music. sound quality is not as good as the album nate recommended but i am not sure which i enjoy more. probably the "blackwell and higgins" one.

[Guest donald petersen]

ok...the first amalgam live album with rowe i got was called "above the ranbow" (or over the rainbow?) and it is good. sort of free and gets sort of floaty and rhythmless sometimes and a little frantic hectic sometimes but DAMN!!! the wipeout box is crazy. this is punk jazz. F jaco. bad sound quality live jams with rowe rocking hard. i have avoided AMM stuff and i think him with amalgam was sort of slumming...he does a lot of his trick but they work well. but he also just rocks. the whole thing sounds dubby at times due to the terrible sound...some parts sound like punk rock...some are danceable...sometimes a bassist appears and gets funky for a moment...but i think rowe does a lot of the bassey droney stuff on his weird guitar...but this is awesome. really...3 CDs of poor audio quality raging older british jazz guys rocking out in the late 70s.

[Guest donald petersen]

and some of the previous amalgam electric stuff sounded like prime time-this does not. this is a lot harder and rawer.

i mean reading some of the liner notes, i guess rowe was rocking at some points in parody...but it all works. very comprehensive liner notes with the musicians commenting on each track...well done, FMR. why does my copy of "moring glory" look so shady???

[clifford_thornton]

I really want that Blackwell & Higgins LP. It hurts my feelings!

Jeff Clyne and Ron Herman share bass duties.

[Joe]

[Guest donald petersen]

well yes "share"-one plays on one track and one on the other...no double bass attackage...maybe "split" duties?

so today i saw the "mining the seam" disc and the sister disc...these are both worth it. the one epestro got seemed to have the same tracks over and over since it is outtakes so i thought maybe it was better to get the original first? the original looked like it had bad production values-the hi4head one. is this the one nate says was a bad transfer or did he just mean this label in general? the outtakes and the original album appeared to be on different labels, with the outtake disc looking less sketchy.

[clifford_thornton]

I have the Hi4Head disc and didn't think there was a problem...

[ep1str0phy]

-I think I posted a response, but it got lost in the shuffle...

-Like to note that it was probably donald's post in an earlier thread that got me to check out Amalgam in the first place...

Prayer for Peace is perhaps my favorite, maybe the most successful of the acoustic Amalgam dates. There's of course some composition duplication (three versions of "Judys' Smile"), but it doesn't get monotonous; it's a conceit here employed after the fashion of some of Ornette's albums (Dancing In Your Head, Three Women/Hidden Man)--a lot of things "done" with very little thematic material. Watts rouses the ghost of Albert Ayler, although Watts's phrasing is more plain--dagger-direct where the earlier innovator was ethereal, eldritge. Stevens is a stone dynamo, Barry Guy is fine on his (brief) appearance, and Jeff Clyne is excellent here (always excellent in the Stevens stable, I think).

I have the first Konnex twofer donald mentions, and the Ayler tribute, despite some interesting harmonic and rhythmic textures, comes across as largely monochromatic. The freebop sides that occupy the second half are far more interesting--derivative, but Stevens really shines in this context and the horns dig straight in.

I also have 1.2 Albert Ayler, which, based on personnel, looks to be part of the other Konnex joint donald mentions. It's really an SME-type affair--"pointillistic", to borrow an Evan Parker term, with an emphasis on coloristic group interplay and extreme dynamic contrast. I like Tippetts and her wacky guitar here--it's not virtuosic, but I don't think that this sort of ensemble work demands that caliber of talent--and she blends beautifully with Watts's soprano. This album reminds me of the Quintessence stuff that's been in and out of Emanem circulation.

Oh yes, and Over the Rainbow is a bitch--Of Human Feelings-vintage Ornette mixed with 80's Sonny Sharrock and some Material-ish dub. Keith Rowe here is much more the Sonny-type skronk-and-melody man than the texturalist from AMM. Watts sounds like he's swallowed some acid.

Still intending to buy the Bradford/Stevens sides, but I'm not quite there yet...

[Guest donald petersen]

pestro-check out the wipeout box if you like over the rainbow. a lot tougher to digest but there are some great moments.

rowe sounds really pretentious in the liner notes, though.

"samanna" (or however you spell it) and "another time" are even more prime time-ish. i like "samanna" better, i think. but both are really good. the long final track on "another time" can be a bit wearying with it's unrelenting repetitive bassline. these two are more um commercial sounding than the albums with rowe but definitely more challenging than ornette's groups, imo. less dense-more space. in a good way.