Jazz Archives

Samaria Celestial is was the drummer for the SUN RA Intergalactic Cosmo Love Adventure Arkestra.  Isis Sun is his first solo outing and acts as a personal tribute to Sun Ra and his unique collection of musical proteges.  The album was almost completely improvised and utilizes numerous complex rhythm tracks, space synth backwash, his brother's wood flute and Samarai's own unique Intergalactic Space Rap.  The package is completed with stunning artwork with full color tray cards, rainbow spiral galaxies, Egyptian temples, resplendent fractals and even an appearance by Sun Ra himself.

For over thirty years, Sun Ra's Intergalactic Arkestra stretched the creative boundaries of avant-jazz. Sun Ra claimed to be from Saturn, and said that he "arrived" on earth to spread the Creator's greatest gift: music. While his outrageous statements gained him attention, it was his talent as a musician and bandleader that earned him respect. Ra was an amazingly gifted musician, but he also surrounded himself with a like-minded, similarly gifted group of musicians. Samarai Celestial played drums for the Sun Ra Arkestra steadily from 1979-1985, and again from 1994 until he passed away in at age 43 in 1997, after a four-year battle with heart disease. 

Celestial credits Ra as one of the greatest musical masters ever, and he dedicated his first solo album, Isis Sun (1995), to the memory of his teacher (Ra passed away in 1992, and the Arkestra continues to tour under the direction of Marshall Allen).

Celestial's music is a far-out cosmic exploration, full of polyrhythms, funky beats, and ear-bending sound experiments. In the liner notes to Isis Sun, Celestial wrote that he was trying to "create something different in music that contained Masterful Elements of the past, present, and future to give my Master thanks for the hours of lessons, dedicated purity, and the development of the omniversal spirit of the arts." The result is a mixture of lightning-fast drumming, free improvisation, and synthesized insanity that both honors Ra's legacy of creative musical expression and highlights Celestial's innovative skill.

:::taken from fromnowherehere.blogspot.com:::

Samarai Celestial - Isis Sun (1995)

1. Sun Ra   14:26

2. Isis Sun   12:26 

3. Unifying Rhythm   20:50

4. Nation Time   15:13 

5. Sun Ra (Edit Version)   7:47

Credits

Bobby Zankel, 

Jason Oettel, 

Rick Iannacone, 

Samarai Celestial, 

Tyrone Hill

Unlike Ornette Coleman—who wanted to blow orthodox jazz form out of the water—John Coltrane and Eric Dolphy initially worked to change the system from within, making music that fit the jazz standards of the time while injecting their own unique spin. This is why Outward Bound, Dolphy's first recording as a leader, is a not-so-distant relative of Coltrane's My Favorite Things(Atlantic, 1960).

On balance, both discs have a conventional base. While Coltrane stuck to the Great American Songbook, Dolphy penned over half the tunes on Outward Bound; even so, those originals mesh perfectly with classics like "On Green Dolphin Street and Charles Greenlea's "Miss Toni. It's the respective opening tracks that separate both discs from the norm. As Coltrane used an innocuous song from The Sound of Music to launch us into space, so does Dolphy use "G.W. to prove Coleman's theory that "you could play sharp or flat in tune.

A fast 4/4 beat drives borderline-dissonant opening salvos from the front line. While the rest of the band lays down beats and fills that would not be out of place on any bop date, Dolphy steps out of the head to blister us with a mind-boggling, lightning-fingered alto solo that threatens to go over a cliff at any moment. Dolphy and his partners maintain this unorthodox balancing act throughout the 1960 session.

At the time, the bass clarinet was nearly unheard of as a lead instrument, but Dolphy uses it to great atonal effect on the zippy "Miss Toni. It also applies a noir-like patina to the opening of "Green Dolphin Street. Dolphy's flute on Rodgers and Hart's "Glad To Be Unhappy is flat and mournful one second, jumping and dancing (and sometimes screaming) the next, but rarely following a predictable path. Jaki Byard is Dolphy's faithful wingman, contributing Monk-laced lines that stay within "acceptable guidelines while tipping the reality a little bit further out.

George Tucker's foundation on bass is key, rooting the music so the other players can create in space. Roy Haynes displays a range as big as all outdoors, playing drums like a machine gun on the blasting "Les one minute, using brushes like an artist on "Green Dolphin Street the next. Freddie Hubbard's trumpet is as empirical as Dolphy's reedwork is existential; the 21-year old Hubbard's solos (particularly on "Les and the bluesy "245 ) show power and control beyond his years. One wonders what would have happened if he'd stayed with Dolphy and not gone off with Art Blakey.

It makes sad sense we lost Coltrane and Dolphy too soon—Trane from cancer, Dolphy of complications from diabetes. Stars burn out, meteors crash... but while they live, they burn oh so bright. Outward Bound is Dolphy's first burst of light, a beautiful and frightening glow that must be experienced.

:::Review by J Hunter:::

Eric Dolphy Quintet - Outward Bound (1960)

1. G.W.

2. On Green Dolphin Street

3. Les

4. 245

5. Glad to Be Unhappy

6. Miss Toni

Credits

Eric Dolphy - alto sax, bass clarinet & flute

Freddie Hubbard - trumpet

Jaki Byard - piano

George Tucker - bass

Roy Haynes - drums

Ted Curson - trumpet

Kenny Drew - piano

Jimmy Garrison - bass

Dannie Richmond - drums

Eberhard Weber's first record remains his most well-known and influential. An ambitious work of what might be called symphonic jazz, The Colours of Chloë helped to define the ECM sound -- picturesque, romantic, at times rhythmically involved, at others minimalistic and harmonically abstruse. Weber at various points combines strings, choir, synthesizer, and small jazz ensemble. It's a brew that can bring to mind some of the progressive rock and fusion of the era, although Weber's vision is a good deal more idiosyncratic than that. The disc is comprised of only four tracks. First is the atmospheric, stage-setting "More Colours," followed by the title track, during which pianist Rainer Brüninghaus and drummer Ralf Hübner become active. Next is "An Evening With Vincent Van Ritz," featuring deft Rhodes chording from Brüninghaus and a flügelhorn solo by Ack van Rooyen. Finally, there's the nearly 20-minute "No Motion Picture" (this was originally side two of the LP), based on a fast, repetitive bass riff that keeps re-emerging throughout the course of the composition. People will disagree about whether The Colours of Chloë stands the test of time, but Weber's aesthetic played a significant role in the creative music of the '70s, attracting a fair share of emulators.

1. More Colours 6:40

Now into its twelfth consecutive year, Zooid can finally lay claim as Henry Threadgill's longest running ensemble, having superseded the tenures of the venerable composer's most celebrated lineups, including Air, Sextett and Very Very Circus. Tomorrow Sunny / The Revelry, Spp is the idiosyncratic chamber group's fourth release for Pi Recordings, which was founded in 2001 to simultaneously release a pair of albums by the esteemed AACM multi-instrumentalist: Everybody's Mouth's a Book, by the electric Make a Move quintet; and Zooid's debut, Up Popped the Two Lips. This Brings Us To, Volume I and II were subsequently issued in 2009 and 2010, after an eight year recording hiatus by the acoustic unit.

As testament to Threadgill's leadership capabilities, Zooid has enjoyed fairly consistent personnel since its inception. Acoustic guitarist Liberty Ellman, trombonist/tubaist Jose Davila and drummer Elliot Humberto Kavee are all original members, with only acoustic bass guitarist Stomu Takeishi not part of the very first incarnation. The most notable difference between this record and the previous two is the addition of cellist Christopher Hoffman, whose inclusion restores Zooid to the sextet configuration documented on its first outing.

For the uninitiated, Zooid is named after "a cell capable of independent motion within a living organism." Threadgill has adapted this concept into a systematic series of rules to govern collective improvisation. Each musician is assigned a separate range of intervals, which facilitates melodic, harmonic and rhythmic independence from the core group, while contributing to the music's overall communal structure. The cumulative effect is a contrapuntal latticework of polyphonic harmonies, kaleidoscopic textures and modulating cross-rhythms.

Sequenced in a series of dramatic arcs, the session vacillates between myriad moods, veering from the simmering fervor of "A Day Off," to the subdued pointillism of "Put On Keep / Frontispiece, Spp." Functioning as a unified cooperative, the individual members' contributions coalesce into a shimmering mosaic, their prismatic statements ebbing and flowing from foreground to background. Some of the most expansive variations come from Hoffman, whose multihued fretwork ranges from sinewy funk on "Tomorrow Sunny" to understated lyricism on "See the Blackbird Now," which also includes dulcet trombone work from Davila and Threadgill's haunting bass flute. The leader's acerbic alto leads the brief avant-blues tone poem "So Pleased, No Clue," his trenchant testimonials setting the stage for the roiling "Ambient Pressure Thereby," which presents the band at its most vivacious, hemmed by strikingly melodic extrapolations from Threadgill and Ellman.

Bolstered by the unswerving dedication of his longstanding sidemen,Tomorrow Sunny / The Revelry, Spp continues the ongoing documentation of Threadgill's Zooid, a consistently fascinating endeavor from one of the most compelling composers of our time.

:::Review by Troy Collins:::

Henry Threadgill - Tomorrow Sunny / The Revelry, Spp (2012)

1. A Day Off (5:50)

2. Tomorrow Sunny (6:30)

3. So Pleased, No Clue (3:34)

4. See the Blackbird Now (9:27)

5. Ambient Pressure Thereby (10:34)

6. Put On Keep/Frontispiece, Spp (6:25)

Credits

Henry Threadgill - Flute, bass flute, and alto saxophone

Liberty Ellman - Guitar

Jose Davila - Trombone and tuba

Christopher Hoffman - Cello

Stomu Takeishi - Bass guitar

Elliot Humberto Kavee - Drums

Existence with the ability of the performance and the composition might be a valuable element. The element always appeared remarkably in the work after she had announced the debut album.

If it borrows her word, the music character is pursued. Or, the possibility to the music created by a minimum unit. They had the flow always calculated as a search for her music.

An overwhelming technology and the idea to make the listener listen by "Another Mind" and "Brain" were Jazz/Fusion that an exactly original quality that was is high. She tries so that may promote the flow further and may complete her original theme by her.

The possibility as the music that she thought about in "Spiral" and Trio might have received one the top. The part where "Movement" and "Quietness" in "Spiral" were had both ..composition.. had been finished about the possession fast and slow walking. And, the woman who drew out the possibility as Trio enough tries to proceed to the next step.

If the inquiring mind of Hiromi is considered of course, the flow that aims at the top further might have been able to be selected, too. However, the plan and the idea that she was always considering in the flow of the activity since "Spiral" that she announced in 2005 and the cultivated idea reach this album with some necessity.

The creation and the idea of the woman who reached a climax in "Spiral" started making the listener pleased to give width to the music character further with the form of the project. This album to which David Fiuczynski that participates in the recording in the debut album receives the guitar as a member and is recorded has the form of the project and the band. David Fiuczynski is a guitar player known by the performances such as Screaming Headless Torsos and Gongzilla. Hiromi was declared to be a fan of Screaming Headless Torsos. And, it will be able to be said that the appointment of David Fiuczynski is inevitable as the idea as the band that she was drawing after it competes in the debut album. To create the tune staring at the performance that four people do for the composition naturally, each musician's capability and ability will be tested. It is said that Hiromi will not do Improvisation to the subject for originally making the tune. It is said that the idea constructed as an impression almost completely will repeat the trial and error. 

The challenge as the complete music character that Hiromi creates might continue exactly. The theme of "Spiral" was a content to make the element of the wave exactly repeated, the life, and the impression in space an embodiment. And, "Time" is included as a theme in this album. People are differences at thinking time and time. Or, it is expressed as an album with the part where the element to make life and the change of people who unconsciously process time an embodiment as music has been given.

"Time Difference" continues the tension from a sublime unison of the piano and the guitar. Ensemble of the band has the flow considerably calculated. The sound of the keyboard also continues her originality. And, the conversation of responding keyboard and guitar will have width as a new possibility as the band. It is ..Jazz/Fusion with the tension.. finished as a complex rhythm is continued.

"Time Out" is a tune of which the element of Funk went out. However, the originality of Hiromi appears everywhere. The performance of the band that answers Ad-Rib of the guitar also contributes well. It carries exactly out the function as the band by introducing the guitar. A progressive element is strongly put out as complex development twining.

"Time Travel" starts from the sound with the anacatesthesia and the line of Bass. The progress of Chord twines round the impression that Jazz is good the flow of Fusion well and gives the tension. The tune might be completely calculated as a composition as the band. 

The piano and the guitar in close relation to legato fast continue the dash feeling. The flow of the chromatic scale has acted well as an impression of the tune, too.

"Deep Into The Night" is a tune with the flow that fast and slow overflows. The part as Jazz has been strongly considerably put out. 

The music character of Hiromi that bases the experience as Trio might act well. The width of the tune extends further with the flow pulled with the part of Fusion that the guitar is good.

Twining of the guitar processed by the effect and the piano of "Real Clock vs. Body Clock=Jet Lag" is impressive. It is a tune where the originality of Hiromi was expressed enough while having both the part of the complexity and the humour. The creation of Hiromi by which this tune also stared at the sound as the band has acted well.

"Time And Space" continues the flow with the anacatesthesia from the sound with the part of mellow. However, the band is given original development everywhere and progresses. It is a tune where the element as the band with a variegated sound was expressed well.

"Time Control,Or Controlled By Time" pulls the band with the melody with a fast piano. Progressive development and the sound are high-quality Jazz/Fusion. The flow that shifts from the flow of an overwhelming unison to Solo of Bass has succeeded as a tune, too. And, it might be a part where Solo of the drum also played the role as the band enough. The flow of an advanced tune exactly contains the possibility of the band enough with development to which the forecast doesn't adhere.

It is a tune where the sound of the keyboard that "Time Flies" is variegated appears. The processing of the sound of a beautiful piano and the keyboard might be along the theme of the album. A good guitar for the flow with the anacatesthesia twines with the piano. The flow that the sound of the band twines round the flow with the anacatesthesia in union will call impression.

"Time's Up" makes the flow from "Time Flies" more chaotic and reports the end of the album. The flow that plays the role of Outro gives reverberations to the entire flow of the album.

The challenge to the music of Hiromi was made an embodiment further by the form of this project.

:::Review by Kazuhiro:::

Hiromi's Sonicbloom - Time Control (2007)

1. Time Difference (6:19)

2. Time Out (6:39)

3. Time Travel (8:37)

4. Deep Into the Night (9:02)

5. Real Clock vs. Body Clock = Jet Lag (5:53)

6. Time and Space (7:56)

7. Time Control, or Controlled by Time (8:29)

8. Time Flies (8:01)

9. Time's Up (0:46)

Bonus track on Japanese release

10. Note From the Past (12:08)

Credits

- Hiromi Uehara / keyboards

- David Fiuczynski / electric and fretless guitar

- Martin Valihora / drums

- Tony Grey / bass

Moondog's second self-titled album (the first one came out in 1956 on the independent jazz label Prestige) was the idiosyncratic composer's first release in 12 years, and it shows how much Moondog's already rich music had matured since 1957's The Story of Moondog. Where Moondog's '50s records were jazz-based, Moondog showcases the composer's orchestral side; producer James William Guercio assembled an orchestra of over 40 musicians from the classical and jazz worlds (including flutist Hubert Laws and bassist Ron Carter), and although the pieces are quite compact -- ranging from the expansive three-part ballet suite "Witch of Endor" to the eight-second spoken poem "Cuplet" -- Moondog uses the expanded range of tonal colors and dynamics impressively. For someone who spent most of his career performing solo on a street corner in Manhattan, Moondog's arrangements on pieces like the jazz-canon's "Stamping Ground" are not only admirably complex, but also richly melodic. Although Moondog is often thought of as a mere exotica novelty, thanks to the composer's eccentricities, it is, in fact, one of the finest third stream jazz albums of its era. The best-known track on this album, "Bird's Lament," was the uncredited basis for dance DJ Mr. Scruff's "Get a Move On," which was used in an extended series of minivan commercials in 2002.

:::Review by Stewart Mason:::

Moondog - Moondog (1969)

A1. Theme 2:35

A2. Stamping Ground 2:36

A3. Symphonique #3 (Ode To Venus) 5:51

A4. Symphonique #6 (Good For Goodie) 2:45

B1. Minsym #1 5:45

B2. Lament I, "Bird's Lament" 1:42

B3. Witch Of Endor 6:29

B4. Symphonique #1 (Portrait Of A Monarch) 2:36

Credits

Baritone Saxophone – Wally Kane

Bass – Alfred Brown, George Duvivier, Louis Hardin, Ron Carter

Bass Clarinet – Ernie Bright

Bassoon – Don Macourt, George Berg, Jack Knitzer, Joyce Kelly, Ryohei Nakagawa, Wally Kane

Cello – Charles McCracken, George Ricci

Cello [Contrabass] – Joe Tekula

Clarinet – George Silfies, Jimmy Abato, Phil Bodner

Composed By, Liner Notes – Louis Hardin

Design – Ron Coro

Engineer – Arthur Kendy, Fred Plaut

English Horn – Henry Shuman, Irving Horowitz

Flugelhorn – Joe Wilder

Flute – Andrew Lolya, Harold Bennett

French Horn – Brooks Tillotson, James Buffington, Ray Alonge, Richard Berg

Percussion – Bob Rosengarden, Dave Carey, Elayne Jones, Jack Jennings

Photography By [Cover] – Don Hunstein

Photography By [Inside] – Fred Lombardi

Piccolo Flute – Harold Jones, Hubert Laws

Producer – Alfred Brown, James William Guercio

Tenor Vocals – Eugene Becker, Raoul Poliakin

Trombone [Bass] – Paul Faulise

Trombone [Tenor] – Buddy Morrow, Charles Small, Tony Studd

Trumpet – Alan Dean, Joe Wilder, Mel Broiles, Teddy Weiss

Trumpet [Bass] – Danny Repole

Tuba – Bill Stanley, Don Butterfield

Tuba [Tenor] – Bill Elton, Bill Stanley, John Swallow, Phil Giardina

Viola – David Schwartz, Emanuel Vardi, Eugene Becker, Raoul Poliakin

Violin – Aaron Rosand, Paul Gershman