Fitz Gore - Tenor Sax

[Unk]

Don't know this gentleman, but the "reviews" and press releases are interesting, as are the sound samples. Search didn't reveal much here. Share what you know.

Excerpt from Dusty Groove: Fitz originally hails from Jamaica, but worked heavily on the French, German, and Scandinavian scenes of the 70s – blowing some mighty mean tenor that has equal doses of Sonny Rollins and Albert Ayler – the amazingly fresh tone of the latter, and the soulful style of improvisation that marked the best bold work of the former. Yet Fitz is very much his own man too – as you'll hear in this hip selection of recordings pulled from some of his rare albums – beautiful work that features piano, electric piano, bass, drums, and congas – all brewed up together in a blend of spiritual and soul jazz styles, often with some slight African influences too – especially considering the use of congas.

Excerpt from Amazon: Plastic Strip Press presents the rare recordings of Jamaican born saxophone player Fitz Gore and his group The Talismen recorded between the years 1975-1979. The selection is carefully picked by Gore's wife Gisela, and the material is sourced from three extremely rare private pressed LP's Soundmagnificat (1975), Soundnitia (1975), Soundmusication (1976), and the EP Soundnova (1979), all originally released by Gisela's and Fitz's private label GORBRA RECORDS, based in Bonn, Germany. ... For Gore the spiritual meanings - to be for real and authenticity - to play a meaning - was more important than to play licks. Gore lived for a period in London, Copenhagen and then in Paris where he acquainted with legendary musicians like Dexter Gordon, Johnny Griffin, Mal Waldron, Steve McCall, and Jimmy Woode (sound samples here too)

[clifford_thornton]

Man, I haven't pulled out that Talismen collection in a while. I remember liking it quite a bit, but specifics are foggy. WIll get back to you unless someone chimes in with something better.

[.:.impossible]

Rollins Ayler. I'll be watching this thread.

[Unk]

I'm on the verge of an impulse buy...

[clifford_thornton]

OK, I'm listening to this reissue LP now after a long and boring day at work, so my judgment might be clouded. BUT...

He's certainly got that Rollins/Ayler/Shepp thing going on in terms of tone and little phrase bubbles, but his rhythm and ideation isn't all that confident. He sounds like Marzette Watts before he got his shit more together (which probably isn't saying much).

The rhythm section pretty consistently keeps a very, very conservative backing groove the entire time, which isn't all that easy I suppose given Gore's very isolated sense of where he is in the tune/improvisation. They tend to drop the time at some of Gore's more unpredictable flourishes. The best thing about the music is Lamont Hampton's conga playing; he's pretty strong - worked with Noah Howard some in the 70s. The acoustic piano is pretty out of tune (venue) and there's a long bass solo on the third track where it seems like the cat completely forgets where he is. The best track is the first piece on the flip where they're playing a little more open and there's less of a chance to fuck things up, but they're still out of tune.

So, pretty amateur shit that on a better day might have its charm - might be fun to put on in a nuJazz DJ set to mess with people - but I can't say it's something you need to rush out and buy. There must be some redeeming quality that made me keep it for two years after buying it, but...

Edited May 4, 2011 by clifford_thornton

[Unk]

Thanks. I'll say you saved me ten bucks. I'll pass on this for $16, but if I see it for $6, maybe.

[clifford_thornton]

I bought it from Dusty when the reissue / comp came out. I assume it was around 16-18 bucks.