Eclectic Grooves

Cecil Percival Taylor is world renowned for being one of the progenitors of the free jazz movement that took the jazz world by storm in the mid 1960's. After working with Hot Lips Page and Johnny Hodges for a short duration, Cecil formed his own quartet in 1955 featuring Steve Lacy on soprano sax, Buell Neidlinger on bass and Dennis Charles on the drums. From 1961 to 1986, Cecil primarily performed and recorded with alto saxophonist Jimmy Lyons, drummer Sunny Murray and Andrew Cyrille. Over the past two decades his recordings have mainly been released on European record labels, with the rare exception of a few select recordings that can be found in the US. Cecil's approach to playing the piano is with a visceral percussive style that evokes the drumming of Milford Graves or Sunny Murray. I was first introduced to Cecil's music when I heard his fantastic debut album Jazz Advance featuring Steve Lacy on soprano saxophone. While it's been awhile since I've listened to...

Brotzmann/Hopkins/Ali- Songlines Let me start off by saying that I am in no way responsible if your eardrums start bleeding from the sheer intensity and volume of this recording. It's not pure cacophony like Machine Gun or Nipples , but it is definitely not cocktail party jazz for the bachelor pad generation. Peter Brotzmann has played with so many free jazz greats that if I was to list them all here it would take up the entire post. "Songlines" was recorded in 1991 as part of the mythical "Total Music Meeting" with Fred Hopkins and Rashied Ali joining Brotzmann for an intensely spiritual meeting of the minds. This meeting was apparently meant to bring three saxophonists, three bassists and threee drummers from both sides of the Atlantic to play together in all sorts of interesting combinations. This record is the end result of one of these fantastically creative collaborations. "Songlines" features virtuoso performances by all three members, but you...

Ric Colbeck Quartet- The Sun Is Coming Up [UK Fontana, 1970] This one was featured on Church Number Nine back in May, but the link was removed a couple months ago. I want to dedicate this post to them, because I most likely wouldn't have been exposed to Ric Colbeck if they hadn't posted it. Thurston Moore from Sonic Youth proclaims this as #5 on his top 10 from the Free Jazz underground list, and I can definitely see why. "Aphrodite" starts with a frenzied drum solo right out the gates that stands up to Rashied Ali's dynamic work on Coltrane's "Interstellar Space". The drums continue this erratic tempo throughout the entire song but are joined by flurries of intense blowing from Mike Osborne on Alto Sax and Ric Colbeck on trumpet. There are some electrifying parts around the ten minute mark of the song where Ric's trumpet and Mike's alto sax combine for a dissonant mind-melting excursion. Towards the end of the track, a bass solo slows down t...

Thanks for the positive comments on the Steve Reid post. I enjoy turning people on to creative and interesting music that they might not have been exposed to yet. That's the whole reason that I keep this blog up and running. I know that I haven't exactly been a prolific poster, but I hope to post more frequently in the future. First, I want to expose your ears to the euphoric sounds of the ethno-spiritual free jazz sextet, the Evolutionary Jass Band . Evolutionary Jass Band's founding members Jef Brown and Michael Henrickson(formerly of the Portland avant garde collective JOMF ) started the Evolutionary Jass Band around 2001 with the idea of creating spontaneous music with heart and soul. They were originally named the Steele Street Revolutionary Jass Band, but Jef felt that the band should be more about change and evolving. With a similar open-door membership policy to JOMF , their band members have included many of the talented multi-instrumentalists that have been emerg...

Johnny Jenkins- Ton Ton Macoute, 1970, Capricorn Johnny Jenkins recorded this legendary funk-inflected swamp blues album in 1970 at the ripe age of 31. Jenkins was a huge influence on the playing of Jimi Hendrix and on Ton Ton Macoute, Jenkins concocts a heady brew of Hendrix-flavored psychedelia mixed with gospel, delta blues and swamp rock. Beck liked the sound of his rendition of the Dr. John classic "I Walk on Gilded Splinters" so much that he sampled the infectious drum beat for his hit song "Loser". On "Sick and Tired" Johnny really funks it up with an infectious mix of wah wah guitar, tight beats and gutsy vocals that really make you believe in the power of soul. Other standouts include the psychedelic gospel soul of "Voodoo and You" and the wonderful organ and slide guitar driven "Leaving Trunk". Check out this underappreciated classic in all it's glory while the getting's good. Get it here Apryl Fool- S/T, 1969, Label ...

I know I said that the Evan Parker show would be up in a couple days, but the Christmas season has been kickin' my arse so far. In the meantime, I have been listening to loads of Free Jazz gems that I discovered on Pharaohs Dance , Reality Unit Concepts and Church Number Nine . They have live shows and out-of print records from artists such as Sun Ra, Pharaoh Sanders, Frank Foster and Milford Graves that are free to download for your listening enjoyment. Be sure to check them out as well as Destination Out , which featured a link to an article from the New York Times on the state of Jazz music in the blogosphere. This article was inspired by a posting made by the pioneering composer and trumpeter Dave Douglas on his label's website, Greenleafmusic . Douglas was essentially challenging writers or lovers of jazz music to create an unbiased overview of jazz music from 1973-1990. Eventually, Ethan Iverson, the pianist from the Bad Plus, responded to this challenge by making a ...

Sam Rivers - Part 1- Instrumental Solo of the Tenor Sax and Part 4- Group With Tenor Sax From: Vol 1- Essence- The Heat and Warmth of Free Jazz [Circle Records, 1976] Sometimes I go for quite some time without exposing my ears to the mind-expanding sounds of Free Jazz. This is an unfortunate thing, since I am inspired to create and write everytime I hear it. Now when one usually thinks of Free Jazz, they think Sun Ra , Coltrane -late 60's, and the man who coined the term Free Jazz- Ornette Coleman . In my opinion, one of the most underrated free jazz saxophonists is Sam Rivers . His ensemble, the Sam Rivers Rivbea Orchestra, recently released a record on Aurora releases called Aurora, but unfortunately I haven't heard this yet. I want you to listen to a couple tracks from a live recording from the Bim Huis in Amsterdam-1976 called Essence- the Heat and Warmth of Free Jazz. As I listen to this record, I feel the raw spontaneity combined with skilled music...