The Sountrack CDs are Ready - and the film will be ready soon.....

[AllenLowe]

The soundtrack is a  3-CD set to go with the film, "I Should Have Stayed Dead: The Death and Life of Allen Lowe."

The 3 cds include Wadada Leo Smith, Matthew Shipp (all new material) and some older recordings with Julius Hemphill, David Murray, Roswell Rudd, Doc Cheatham and others.  The film will be done in a few weeks. Official ESP release date for the CD thing is September 4, but I have them now and can ship immediately, $20 shipped in the USA.  My paypal is [email protected]. Or contact me at that same email. 

Here is the cover, an amazing thing done by BBC cartoonist Naiel Ibarrola, though I have had to reduce the size radically.

 

 

Edited June 20 by AllenLowe

[jazzbo]

Congrats Allen! I know how hard this has been worked on.

[Holy Ghost]

I know from here you have been through a lot of scary shit, but I am curious of the choice of title for this project; e.g., why does the theme of death play such a predominant role in your documentary? Why death before life?  

[AllenLowe]

11 hours ago, Holy Ghost said:

I know from here you have been through a lot of scary shit, but I am curious of the choice of title for this project; e.g., why does the theme of death play such a predominant role in your documentary? Why death before life?  

well, several reasons.....first of all, I almost died and then I had to fight to not only survive but to start playing again and working. I had 25 total surgeries to get where I am today - 

However, on more than one occasion, given how age-ist the industry has become while my reviews have been amazing and the music we are doing is as good as anything else around, I did feel like I should have stayed dead, more or less. But image has become everything in the jazz field, and I see so much mediocre music being pushed and booked. I was actually told by one NYC club owner, "we would rather deal with younger musicians." Whereas I have one gig for the entire rest of the year (after we received standing ovations in other venues) - so it's an expression of my personal frustration; the arts grant scene has been totally racialized and I feel like I, like more than a few others, been racially profiled and excluded. Plus, in a lot of venues you have to be either famous or young, and I am neither. 

And it's not death before life, or I wouldn't still be doing this. But I do think the industry, which finds my writing and advocacy embarrassing (I get a lot of private messages agreeing with me about various things that have caused me trouble, but nobody wants to go public), would rather I just disappear. But I will not go away.

 

Edited June 21 by AllenLowe

[clifford_thornton]

I'm exited for both the CDs and the documentary -- congrats, Allen!

There's a line that Alan Bates supposedly laid on John Stevens when he tried to get his masters back, something like "you are worth much more to me once you're dead."

[ep1str0phy]

Looking forward to checking this out, Allen! Insane roster of talent on these.

[king ubu]

Started listening yesterday, now far into disc two and enjoying this a lot - congrats, Allen!

I created an inlay (in A4 format, just in case) to have the information handy on one page. All mistakes mine (unless copied from Allen's website  )

Allen Lowe - I Should Have Stayed Dead - inlay.docx

Edited July 11 by king ubu

[jazzbo]

Thanks for the review. Hope I get a copy soon.

[kh1958]

That's a bounty of good music for $20.

[Peter]

Just sent you my 20 bucks by PayPal. Looking forward to it.