Ketchaoua by Clifford Thornton

[ctuck1]

On Bandcamp 

https://bygrecords.bandcamp.com/album/ketchaoua

[clifford_thornton]

great news. One of my favorite Actuels (and this should be obvious, haha).

[Holy Ghost]

And if I'm reading correctly, a CD issue too? Yeeeeah!!!

On 1/28/2025 at 9:53 AM, clifford_thornton said:

great news. One of my favorite Actuels (and this should be obvious, haha).

You should be exceptionally pleased, Mr. Thornton.  

[clifford_thornton]

so all this stuff is from the tapes, huh?

If Charly has the tapes, I wonder if some of the unissued material survived? There's an additional piece from Luna Surface, an unissued Sunny Murray (which has a more complex story), a missing Mal Waldron track, and probably more.

Quote

I created my label in 1969, my record Love's Last Cry and I called my company Infinity. On the record was Jimmy Garrison, Lonnie Liston Smith; it was Frank Lowe's first record, Alan Silva, Joe Lee Wilson was singin,' there was a guitarist, I forget his name but he had a shop on 8th Street, 8th and 2nd Ave. And five children singing, three of them was Alan's and two of 'em was mine. It was a beautiful album. And I brought that one to Europe and licensed it to BYG records and they gave me half the money and then they disappeared.

Lowe thought the pianist was Dave Burrell, so it might be either/or. 

[felser]

I've never heard the Thornton Actuel, look forward to it.  Also would love to hear that "Love's Last Cry" album.

[romualdo]

I was always under the impression that the Charly/Actuel tapes were lost years ago when their basement flooded

[clifford_thornton]

yeah, I too thought the tapes were gone. Maybe not all? Who knows; the label has never been exactly forthcoming with details.

[Holy Ghost]

Whatever the case, I'd be cool to hear it all!

[bertrand]

Picked it up in Paris, it is great!

[Rabshakeh]

It's one of my favourite BYG records too. Certainly my favourite to emerge from that trip to the Panafrican Festival. 

Just an idle thought, but I think that the Paris 1969-70 period is ripe for a book length history. So much happened in such a short time. Its as much a story of the closing of Jazz's canonical era and the opening of the next chapter as Bitches Brew and Red Clay.  

Edited March 18, 2025 by Rabshakeh

[cliffpeterson]

Its been a few years but as I recall there is a chapter in George Lewis' book on the AACM devoted to that time period in Paris. I remember thinking that was the best part of the book.

[Niko]

8 hours ago, cliffpeterson said:

Its been a few years but as I recall there is a chapter in George Lewis' book on the AACM devoted to that time period in Paris. I remember thinking that was the best part of the book.

that's a good tip, I've had that book lying around for ages... maybe I should just start with those 45 pages... 

[romualdo]

23 hours ago, cliffpeterson said:

Its been a few years but as I recall there is a chapter in George Lewis' book on the AACM devoted to that time period in Paris. I remember thinking that was the best part of the book.

thanks for the tip Cliff, just got my copy out

[cliffpeterson]

You are both welcome. I recall really enjoying that chapter because George provided more information about that scene than I had read elsewhere.   It may have been the only chapter that I understood