Friday, February 26, 2016

TONY OXLEY – 4 Compositions For Sextet (LP-1970)




Label: CBS – 64071
Format: Vinyl, LP / Country: UK / Released: 1970
Style: Free Jazz, Free Improvisation
Recorded on February 7, 1970 and released on LP by CBS that year.
Liner Notes – Michael Walters
Engineer by – Mike FitzHenry
All compositions by Tony Oxley

A1 - Saturnalia ............................................................................. 10:09
A2 - Scintilla ................................................................................... 8:56
B1 - Amass ................................................................................... 13:00
B2 - Megaera ................................................................................. 6:09

Personnel:
Tony Oxley – drums
Evan Parker – tenor sax
Kenny Wheeler – trumpet, flugelhorn
Paul Rutherford – trombone
Derek Bailey – guitar
Jeff Clyne – bass

Released in 1970, 4 Compositions for Sextet was one of a pair of records drummer Tony Oxley recorded for CBS, which, at that time, seemed to be very interested in British free jazz -- the label also recorded at least three LPs by avant guitarist Ray Russell and a pair by Evan Parker.


Oxley's band for this outing was a dream group of Brit outsiders: Derek Bailey on guitars, Kenny Wheeler on trumpet and flügelhorn, Evan Parker on saxophones, Oxley on drums of course (the only British drummer besides Robert Wyatt who could play pop or free jazz with equal enthusiasm), Paul Rutherford on trombone, and Jeff Clyne on bass. The four tunes are all outer-limits numbers; all methadrine takes on what were happening improvisations. It's true that there are loose structures imposed on all four tracks, but they quickly dissolve under the barrage of sonic whackery. At times, dynamic tensions present themselves, such as on the beautiful "Scintilla," where Bailey shows what made him Derek Bailey in the first place: his willingness to take even preconceived notions of free improvisation apart. There are also puzzling questions that the sextet cannot resolve (e.g., how far to take harmonic investigation). It's clear not even Parker wants it to completely disintegrate into the ether; he holds forth with Wheeler that some semblance of order, no matter how tenuous, be kept. And while it's true these selections all sound dated by today's standards, and by how far each man has come in terms of musical growth, there is still something compelling here in the chopped-out framework of "Amass" or Parker's attempt to blow Oxley from the room with outrageously long lines that seem to come from the mouthpiece of the horn rather than its bell in "Megaera." There is also a stalwart "anti-Americanism in all of it," an anger directed at the Yankee jazzers who were now moving toward fusion or even the avant cats who relied too heavily on tradition. In any case, this is a fine record historically, for seeing where the Brit free music movement came from. 
_ Review by Thom Jurek



A year on from The Baptised Traveller, Tony Oxley's debut recording as a composer, this LP from 1970 is perhaps even more indicative of how the experimental music of the time ended up in the jazz bin seemingly by default. That said, all the essential attributes which are needed to add to the impetus of jazz are still here in abundance--the extraordinary empathy between the players, the clarity of thinking as to where the music needs to go and the continuing search for fresh and revitalising ideas to help it get there--but Oxley's diverse musical background (which even by this time had ranged from duties as housedrummer at Ronnie Scott's club to military band drumming, classical studies, working with John McLaughlin and forging an increasing commitment to freely improvised music) and natural self-discipline invests these compositions with a more wide-ranging sensibility. Oxley's lucid notes guide the listener through the structural bones of the compositions to which the musicians add improvised flesh and, while the results are no more likely to appeal to staunch traditionalists than they were all those years ago, the sheer vision of these works makes them compulsive listening. 
_ Review by Roger Thomas



If you find it, buy this album!

Sunday, February 21, 2016

NU CREATIVE METHODS – Nu Jungle Dances (LP-1978)




Label: d'Avantage – DAV 02
Format: Vinyl, LP / Country: France / Released: 1978
Style: Free Improvisation, Abstract, Experimental, Space-Age
Recorded in 1978 as an LP on the French label D'Avantage.
Cover (Artwork) by – B. Pruvost
Producer – Dragon Mordoré
Recorded By [Prise De Son] – Daniel Deshays
All composed by Nu Creative Methods

A  -  Nu Jungle Folies ............................................................. 19:34
B1 - Trumpeter Bullfinch .......................................................... 2:38
B2 - Brikhebana ....................................................................... 7:08
B3 - Dervanis Kamela .............................................................. 6:49

Artists:
PIERRE BASTIEN / BERNARD PRUVOST 
contrabass, performer [seïl-korde], piano [préparé], electric guitar, zither [cithare], alto saxophone, sopranino saxophone, cornet [à pistons], shenai [shennaïs], oboe [hautbois pakistanais], flute, clarinet, horn [trompe à coulisse], horn [trompe pakistanaise], vocals, gong, cymbal, bells [cloches, grelots], idiophone [metallophone], tape [bande son], gong [seïl-gong]


Nu Creative Methods was formed by Pierre Bastien & Bernard Pruvost in the 70's. 
500 copies of their first Lp, Nu Jungle Dances, came out in 1978, on the d'Avantage label. A very few copies were actually sold, despite some excellent critics. The music featured on Nu Jungle Dances is improvised, played with Asian, African and Western instruments. To cut short a long story, let's say the result is human, exotic, and free. Because of the Lp musical qualities, of its scarceness, because of Pierre Bastien and Bernard Pruvost individual works, and maybe because Nu Jungle Dances is on the Nurse With Wound (Steven Stapleton) list, this Lp became cult.




The title of the album Nu Jungle Dances is the very explicit wording of the LP contents. The duo played over twenty instruments, saxophones, prepared piano, double bass, oboe and horn Pakistan, glockenspiel, flute ... From this bric-a-brac (odds and ends) are born as the sounds evoking fairy creations on percussion various of the Art Ensemble of Chicago, People in Sorrow including an Ecuadorian forest atmosphere, sounding animal included too. We hear birds and frogs, a saxophone may borrow the language of the primate like the pachyderm. Nu Creative Methods are at the heart of free music, improvised music totally free and natural. It draws on several continents, not even limited to human activity.

Another interesting information:
The original design was to be black and white, but because of an printer mistake, the cover of this edition of 1978. is white and pink...?!.............



If you find it, buy this album!

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

TIM BERNE SEXTET – The Ancestors (LP-1983)




Label: Soul Note – SN 1061
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album / Country: Italy / Released: 1983
Style: Free Jazz, Free Improvisation
Recorded live on February 19, 1983 at the School of Visual Arts, NYC.
Recording Engineer: Kazunori Sugiyama
Produced by Empire Productions & Giovanni Bonandrini
Cover – Pick Up Studios
Cover painting by Betsy Berne
Photography By [Cover] – Kim Anway

A1 - Sirius B .............................................................................................. 10:47
A2 - Shirley's Song - Part I ........................................................................ 13:10
B  -  Shirley's Song - Part II / San Antonio / The Ancestors ...................... 21:00

Tim Berne — alto saxophone
Mack Goldsbury — soprano and tenor saxophones
Clarence Herb Robertson — pocket trumpet, trumpet, cornet, flugelhorn
Ray Anderson — trombone, tuba
Ed Schuller — bass
Paul Motian — drums, percussion

The Ancestors is an album by Tim Berne and which was released on the Italian-based Soul Note label in 1983. It features two (or four) compositions by Tim Berne performed by the Tim Berne Sextet which consisted of Clarence Herb Robertson, Ray Anderson, Mack Goldsbury, Ed Schuller, Paul Motian and Tim Berne.

Alto and baritone saxophonist Tim Berne combines influences from avant-garde jazz, modern classical music, rhythm 'n' blues, and experimental rock. The harmonic sophistication of his composition and improvisations, honed in collaboration with like-minded musicians such as John Zorn, Vinny Golia, and Nels Cline has helped him carve a niche in the vast sea of modern jazz...

 Tim Berne
 Ray Anderson / Ed Schuller

His fascination with jazz began after hearing saxophonist Julius Hemphill's 1972 album Dogon A.D.
In 1974, Berne left college and moved to New York City to pursue a career in music. In the fall of 1974, Tim briefly studied with saxophonist Anthony Braxton who proved to be too busy to teach Berne, but suggested he study with Julius Hemphill. Over the next year, Berne studied with Hemphill, who encouraged him to start composing his own music.

During his early years in New York, Berne supported himself by working in a record store and renting out loft spaces to host his own gigs. In 1979, Berne founded the record label Empire Productions and released his debut album, The Five Year Plan. The following year, he released his second album 7X, which featured contributions from Cline, Golia and bassist Robert Miranda.

From 1981 until 1983, Berne led an ensemble that featured saxophonist Mark Goldsbury, bassist Ed Schuller, and drummer Paul Motian. Berne's early records and performances eventually caught the attention of producer Giovanni Bonandrini, who released Berne's 1983 album The Ancestors and 1984's Mutant Variations on the Soul Note label.



Tim Berne's playing on Ancestors is fluid, warm and conveys a relaxed levity. For this live recording Berne enlarges his regular quartet (Mack Goldsburg, tenor sax, soprano sax; Ed Schuller, bass; Paul Motian, percussion) to include Herb Robertson (trumpet) and Ray Anderson, perhaps the finest trombonist of the past five years. As usual, the tunes are all Berne originals and display the sectional and harmonic structures that so much of his music seems to exhibit.

The magical...it's a measured authoritative set, rhythmically coherent.



If you find it, buy this album!

Thursday, February 11, 2016

MISHA MENGELBERG and ICP ORCHESTRA – Japan Japon (LP-1982 + 7inch single)




Label: Instant Composers Pool ‎– ICP 024, DIW ‎– DIW 1014,
           International Music Activity ‎– IMA 1
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album / Country: Japan / Released: 1982
Style: Free Improvisation
Recorded on 11 May 1982 at Osaka and 17 May 1982 in Tokyo.
Recording Engineer by – Tsutomu Suto
Painting and design by – Tomiyasu Shiraiwa
Back cover photos by – Mitsuyoshi Nishida and Tsutomu Suto
Includes liner notes in Japanese by Kazunori Sugiyama
Produced by IMA (International Music Activity)
Co-produced by ICP (Instant Composers Pool)

This Japanese release included limited bonus 7inch single:
ICP ORCHESTRA – Caravan, DIW  1001, 33 1/3 rpm, (JAP) 1982

A1 - Salute To Fujisawa Shukoh ................................................ 2:50
A2 - Kwela ................................................................................ 17:42
a)      Hap
b)      Boodschappen
c)      Welkom
d)      Briefkaart
e)      Maurits
B1 - Habanera ............................................................................ 6:21
B2 - Carnaval ............................................................................. 3:35
B3 - Japan Japon ....................................................................... 7:10
B4 - Zing Zang Zaterdag ............................................................ 3:14
+
C  -  Caravan (7inch single) ........................................................ 7:12

Artists:
Misha Mengelberg – piano, voice
Han Bennink – drums, percussion
Peter Brötzmann – tenor sax, alto sax, bass sax, voice
Keshavan Maslak – tenor sax, alto sax, voice
Michael Moore – alto sax, clarinet
Toshinori Kondo – trumpet, voice
Walter Wierbos – trombone
Joep Maassen – trombone
Larry Fishkind – tuba
Maurice Horsthuis – viola

Recorded live on May 11th (Osaka) and 17th (Tokyo),  ICP Orchestra Japan Tour in 1982.

Instant Composers Pool (ICP) is an independent Dutch jazz and improvised music label and orchestra. Founded in 1967, the label takes its name from the notion that improvisation is "instant composition". The ICP label has published more than 50 releases to date, with most of its releases featuring the ICP Orchestra and its members.


In 1967 saxophonist Willem Breuker, pianist Misha Mengelberg and drummer Han Bennink founded the ICP label in Amsterdam. Mengelberg and Bennink had been playing together since 1961 and found success as members of Eric Dolphy's quartet in 1964, as documented on his live album Last Date. Mengelberg had also been involved in the Fluxus art movement and was developing a composition style that involved musical games. As European free jazz musicians, they were butting up against disinterest in their music from contemporary jazz labels, so they formed a cooperative as a means to release their own recordings. Mengelberg coined the label's name as a testament to improvisation being composition at the instant that the music is played. ICP's first records documented Breuker and Bennink's New Acoustic Swing Duo, and a trio of Mengelberg and Bennink with John Tchicai, whose album was titled Instant Composers Pool...

Breuker left ICP in 1974 to concentrate on his group, the Willem Breuker Collective, and went on to found his own record label, BVHaast. Mengelberg and Bennink intensified their collaboration and, widening their own musical project as the Instant Composers Pool Tentet with saxophonist Peter Brötzmann and cellist Tristan Honsinger. Throughout the 1970s, the ICP label continued to release records, many as co-productions with other European independent labels, including albums by Jeanne Lee, Derek Bailey, Dudu Pukwana, Steve Lacy, Paul Rutherford, Evan Parker, Maarten Altena and Peter Brötzmann. Most of these releases were of limited (and sometimes even numbered) edition and featured a distinctive idiosyncratic graphic design by Bennink.


 LP Japan Japon + 7inch single – Caravan


A stunning early 80s performance from pianist Misha Mengelberg – working here with the ICP Orchestra, and at a level that's completely fresh and very striking – at a mode when the Dutch jazz approach was something very new indeed, and handled here with a wonderful balance between playful arrangements and fierce improvisations! In addition to Misha on piano, the lineup also includes Han Bennink on drums and percussion, Keshavan Maslak on alto, Walter Wierbos on trombone, Peter Brötzmann on alto and baritone, Maurice Horsthuis on viola, and Toshinori Kondo on trumpet – and most of the players vocalize at some point – but in ways that aren't really singing, and instead act as a great addition to their improvised musicianship. Larry Fishkind also throws in some incredible work on tuba – really amazing sounds – and titles include "Kwela", "Japan Japon", "Habanera", "Carnaval" and "Zing Zang Zaterdag".........

and +

ICP ORCHESTRA – Caravan, DIW  1001, 33 1/3 rpm, (JAP) 1982
One sided rare 7” , released together with ”Japan Japon” 12” LP

Another Japan released musical BOMB…. The legendary ICP Orchestra  under chef Mengelberg´s  leadership playing Ellington´s Caravan in a very wonderful and dreamy way… until… until… Peter Brötzmann enters the stage with some WILD blowing that makes hearts and clocks stop. Totally beautiful playing from Brötzmann, absolutely over the top. The greatest story teller of them all, hits again.

Listening to this music makes the world feel like a better place to be.

Enjoy!



If you find it, buy this album!

Saturday, February 6, 2016

EDDIE PRÉVOST BAND – Live Volume 1 (LP-1978)




Label: Matchless Recordings – MR 01
Format: Vinyl, LP / Country: UK / Released: 1978
Style: Free Jazz, Free Improvisation
Recorded live of a concert at the Cambridge College of Art and Technoloy on May 19, 1977.
Mastered By – George Peckham
Recorded By – Pete Nesbit
Concert Organized By – Jane and Roger Giddings
Published By – Matching Music Publishing Co. Ltd.

A - The Fireman's Act .............................................................. 18:00
B - Green King ......................................................................... 25:02

Musicians:
Eddie Prévost – drums, percussion
Geoff Hawkins – tenor saxophone
Gerry Gold – trumpet, flugelhorn
Marcio Mattos – double bass

This is the first of a two volume, recordings of a concert at the Cambridge College of Art and Technoloy on May 19, 1977. ["Live - Volume 2" (Matchless Recordings - MR 02)]



Aside from working with the influential avant-garde ensemble AMM, percussionist Eddie Prevost led some highly challenging British free jazz groups in the '70s. These sessions from 1977 showcase a project featuring Geoff Hawkins on saxophone, Gerry Gold on trumpet, and the phenomenal talents of Marcio Mattos on bass. With Prevost's always inventive and high-energy drumming holding it all together, the quartet explores the tradition of free jazz with the astute wit of classical musicians. The excellent recording and sequencing of the pieces make this LP a compelling collection of avant garde jazz...



...Prévost's jazz origins are still quite clearly audible on 'Live', the album which inaugurated his own Matchless label, and one on which he delivers, as a obstretrician might, one of the best recordings of this period of British free jazz.

Gold and Hawkins make a marvellous partnership, ranging from austere fury to jovial reave-ups which occasionally recall the more experimental Mingus's workshop bands. Gold in particular has a clear, emphatic signature, idiosyncratic enough to make one wonder why he hasn't recorded more often.
Prévost is one of the most articulate exponents of the music. He is author of a book called 'No Sound is Innocent' in which he argues the existence of an aesthetic in which music is inseparable from the realm of ideas and soclal exchanges. The quartet might seem conventioanlly distant from what he has done with AMM and other groups, but it dies illuminate how generously he opens himself to situations in which hierarchis collapse. There is no 'front line' here, no 'rhythm section.' It is the equivalent of total football, everyone contributing at every level...



If you find it, buy this album!

Monday, February 1, 2016

MIT – Knoten (LP-1981)




Label: Hat Hut Records – hat Hut EIGHTEEN (1R18)
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album / Country: US/Switzerland / Released: 1981
Style: Free Jazz, Free Improvisation
Recorded live at Restaurant "Zur Mägd" in Basel/Switzerland on Saturday June 21, 1980.
Artwork By – Klaus Baumgärtner
Basic Design By – Robine Clignett
Photography – X
Recorded By – Peter Pfister
Mastered By – David Crawford
Mixed By, Edited By – Mit, Peter Pfister, Werner X. Uehlinger
Producer – Pia & Werner X. Uehlinger

A1 - Xopf .............................................................................................. 12:25
A2 - Spross ............................................................................................ 4:45
A3 - Kopftai ............................................................................................ 7:40
B1 - Knoten .......................................................................................... 14:50
B2 - Ydospar .......................................................................................... 8:20

All composition by MIT

Instrumentation:
Felix Bopp  –  piano
Alex Buess  –  alto sax and bass clarinet
Knut Remond  –  percussion and xylophone
Alfred Zimmerlin   cello


Hat Hut Records (1R18) Year: 1981. Original issue, never re-issue. Very very rare gatefold cover edition.




About this album I did not find any data (reviews or interviews), but anyway, enjoy in his uniqueness. Really remarkable LP, a rarity for collectors.



If you find it, buy this album!