★AlAy
Emergency
"In the beginning, the legend goes, it was Miles Davis’ electrifying jazz on In A Silent Way and Bitches Brew – modernizing the ensemble sound as well as reconfiguring compositional flow with repetition and variation – that begat what was to become known as fusion, exemplified by the subsequent spinoffs Weather Report (Wayne Shorter and Joe Zawinul), Mahavishnu Orchestra (John McLaughlin), Headhunters (Herbie Hancock), and Return to Forever (Chick Corea), all of which emerged after 1970 and con…
From Fargo Live 1940
"It was, all things considered, just an unexceptional whistle stop on a wearying circuit of dance halls and theaters – the night before they had played in Winnipeg, Manitoba and, conveyed by train the 200 miles to this evening’s North Dakota gig, would immediately afterwards find themselves en route to Duluth, Minnesota for their next show. There was certainly no expectation that the on-site recording, made by two South Dakota fans, Jack H. Towers and Dick Burris, on a single acetate disc recor…
Reference: Miles Davis’ 3rd Quintet Bitches Brew Live 1969 in Europe
"The shock and awe that Bitches Brew produced within and without the jazz world on its release in March 1970 was largely unexpected, the result of the music’s uncompromising power and what many felt to be its perplexing, eccentric sound and structure. In retrospect, we know how Miles’ unconventional studio methodology and Teo Macero’s subsequent compositional editing of the voluminous taped material innovated the remarkable finished product. But what has only marginally been discussed is the ext…
Reference: Bix Beiderbecke With The Wolverines, Sioux City Six, His Rhythm Jugglers & Frank Trumbauer 1924 to 1928
Books have been written, recordings analyzed, colleagues questioned, and nevertheless Bix Beiderbecke remains as much an enigma today, ninety-five years after his death, as he was to friends and fellow musicians during his all-too-brief, personally and professionally erratic odyssey through the 1920s. The body of work he left behind both reveals and conceals crucial aspects of his creative reality and unfulfilled potential, while innovating a subtle, eloquent manner of expression that would sugg…
Reference: Marion Brown Capricorn Moon Why Not? & With Burton Greene Quartet
The rhythm team by Rashied Ali and Reggie Johnson (with former Sun Ra member Ronnie Boykins adding texture on "Capricorn Moon") establishes a solid foundation, complemented by Alan Shorter's sharp trumpet, while Benny Maupin's close expressions in monophonic form also support it. The fact that pianist Burt Green recorded an almost unnoticed ESP album (just a month later) with Brown as a sideman illustrates how fluid and negotiable musical activities were within this nascent community.
Although R…
Reference: Albert Ayler Spirits & Spirits Rejoice
The album "Spirits," released by a debut label based in Copenhagen, marked the first opportunity for Ayler to record his "free music" in February 1964 in New York. The musicians selected by him included notable figures such as Cecil Taylor (with drummer Sunny Murray), members from Sonny Rollins' band (bassist Henry Grimes), and musicians from his Cleveland period (trumpeter Norman Howard, bassist Earl Henderson). This work also represents his first focus on his own compositions, which includes H…
Hot Five & Hot Seven at 100
On Hot Five & Hot Seven at 100, Louis Armstrong’s seminal Chicago sides are reborn in vivid new mastering, letting his trumpet solos, daring rhythms and easy charisma speak afresh as the very moment jazz pivots into a true soloist’s art.
Copenhagen, Bordeaux 1966 & Newport 1967 Live First Release
"These powerful performances from Copenhagen and Bordeaux, released officially here for the first time, and the Newport Festival in the U.S., provide further evidence of the music’s collective necessity – the true ensemble coordination which Ayler adopted, elaborated and romanticized, from his awareness of historic New Orleans precedents." - Art Lange
The Piano In The Room And The Blues
“I didn’t realise it at the time, but this recording, made in 2006, marked a change in my musical thinking. All the elements came together – my roots, the use of blues structures and the lifelong search for expression in music. I had unlimited time to think, to return again and again to a subject, to dig deeper into the blues.Falmouth is a large town by the sea in Cornwall. This recording was made at Falmouth Arts Centre on the Steinway grand in the main gallery where my wife Kate had a show. Th…