Joe McPhee

"Joe McPhee's solo album, Tenor literally changed my life. The recording (one of his first for Hat Hut, in September 1976) displayed his unique ability to integrate unconventional sounds and extended techniques with pure melodicism, and it permanently altered my perspective on what the saxophone could do and what music could be. Nation Time was recorded six years earlier, but ideas regarding the integration of means and methods were already at the forefront of McPhee's approach to improvisation. For this concert on December 12, 1970 (the other half of which was released in 1975 as the first Hat Hut LP, Black Magic Man), Joe McPhee mapped out a stylistically expansive set list, one that embraced methods as diverse as those developed by New Thing-era Archie Shepp, late 60s Sun Ra and Art Ensemble of Chicago, Grant Green, Cecil Taylor (Candid period), & Sonny Rollins. He and his band, through vision and work, made these various approaches their own. This set represents real 'free jazz' -- the freedom to pursue the sounds and rhythms that inspire players to improvise with individual vitality and passion, no matter what different kinds of music are represented."-Ken Vandermark