Jazz Archives

Hi Everyone!

Some of you might find it very useful an interesting as I recently have updated the following links:

John McLaughlin – Extrapolation (1969)

Peter Brötzmann - Machine Gun (1968)

Guthrie Govan - Erotic Cakes (2006)

V.S.O.P. - The Quintet (1977)

Donald Byrd - A New Perspective (1963)

Keith Jarrett – My Song (1977)

Randy Weston – Tanjah (1973)

Andrew Hill – Judgement (1964)

Miles Davis - In a Silent Way (1969)

Chick Corea – My Spanish Heart (1976)

Duke Ellington - Money Jungle (1962)

John Coltrane - Giant Steps – Deluxe Edition (1959)

 

Enjoy!

While the first installation of the You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore series was a mixture of various songs from different eras of Zappas career, volume 2 comes up in the form of an entire concert, recorded in Helsinki, Finland in 1974. All of the musicians on here were present for Roxy & Elsewhere, which was actually released a few weeks prior to this concert. The group at this time, consisting of George Duke on keyboards, Napoleon Murphy Brock on sax/flute and vocals, Ruth Underwood on percussion, Tom Fowler on bass, Chester Thompson on drums, and FZ on guitar and vocals, is among the most tight and cohesive groups that Zappa ever had, as they could essentially anything at any given moment, for example rapid fire flourishes of every instrument into a call and response game with Zappa, they were one of the most talented incarnations of Zappa's career to say the least. You'll find on this album a wide variety of pieces ranging from A Token of My Extreme (titled Tush Tush Tush), which would end up on Joe's Garage, to Dupree's Paradise (which would eventually be played on The Perfect Stranger) and it's all played magnificently by the band.
The first disc opens with the electric keyboard flourishes of Tush Tush Tush, which is essentially the opening warm up of the group where the members get on the stage. The first song played is Stinkfoot, which while not living up to its studio counterpart, is a very trying effort with some great solo guitar from Zappa. After a rousing version of Inca Roads, the instrumental RDNZL (which would end up on Studio Tan 4 years later) is played in a slightly stripped down form in comparison to the bombast studio version. You'll find many songs that were on Roxy & Elsewhere towards the end of the first disc, in fact 5 of the last 7 songs were on Roxy & Elsewhere. I'm fonder of the fuller sound that R&E had with these pieces, but despite that these are great renditions with some superb work from every member throughout. A nice inclusion for the set was The Idiot Bastard Son, which gets a stellar vocal rendition from Murphy Brock, who in the song prior to this one, Room Service, has fantastic vocal interplay with Zappa and a great beat to it compliments of Chester Thompson.
The second disc opens with a piece from the Grand Wazoo days titled Approximate, which is essentially a tightly constructed free for all piece that has some rampant runs from all instruments. When they perform it vocally in the beginning, as well as stomp their feet to it, you can hear the audience have a good laugh at it. Towards the middle Chester Thompson belts out a great drum solo that really rounds out the rest of the piece. Dupree's Paradise follows, which is essentially a 24 minute instrumental that has a spoken section towards the middle. All the stops are pulled out here musically, with low register synthesizer and moog fills from Duke, droning marimba and percussion from Underwood, a majestic flute solo from Murphy Brock, Zappa's guitar insanity, and some top notch rhythmic work from Fowler (who performs a killer bass solo) and Thomspson. The rest of the show consists of several shorter pieces, ranging from the majestic Uncle Meat/Dog Breath Variations, to a rousing and hilarious working of Montana, and it comes to a close with the opening flourishes of Big Swifty. I'll mention that many unreleased songs are played between these pieces, but they are nothing I would call spectacular (although the Finnish Tango is pretty killer).
In the end, You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore Volume 2 is the perfect summation of this era in Zappa's productive career. If you're just getting into the series I think I would recommend this one first as it is the most cohesive of the entire collection (being that it is just one concert and not a wild combination of many). The setlist is great, as well, and nothing really lets me down about this piece. You can't go wrong with this one.

:::Review by Cygnus X-2:::

Frank Zappa - You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore, Vol.2 (1988)

Disc one
1. Tush Tush Tush (A Token of My Extreme) (2:47)
2. Stinkfoot (4:20)
3. Inca Roads (10:54)
4. RDNZL (8:43)
5. Village of the Sun (4:33)
6. Echidna's Arf (Of You) (3:30)
7. Don't You Ever Wash That Thing? (4:56)
8. Pygmy Twylyte (8:22)
9. Room Service (6:22)
10. The Idiot Bastard Son (2:39)
11. Cheepnis (4:28)

Disc two
12. Approximate [#] (8:12)
13. Dupree's Paradise (23:59)
14. Satumaa [#] (3:51)
15. T'Mershi Duween [#] (1:31)
16. The Dog Breath Variations (1:38)
17. Uncle Meat (2:28)
18. Building a Girl [#] (1:00)
19. Montana (Whipping Floss) (10:15)
20. Big Swifty (2:16)

Credits
- Frank Zappa / guitar, keyboards, vocals
- George Duke / keyboards, vocals
- Chester Thompson / drums
- Tom Fowler / bass
- Napoleon Murphy Brock / saxophone, vocals
- Ruth Underwood / percussion, keyboards

Alan Gowen was involved in some of my favorite albums. He more or less made them to what they are. He is most known for his decisive influence on the likes of National Health and Gilgamesh. Alan Gowen was diagnosed with leukemia back in 1980. His illness was fatal. But before he passed away, he invited his friends Phil Miller, Richard Sinclair and Trevor Tomkins to a recording session in his own flat. The result was his epitaph and final farewell to a music scene he had served so well. Alan Gowen passed away only weeks after this recording, later released as this album after his death.
The making of this album makes this a very poignant album. Those of us into the Canterbury Scene owes Alan Gowen a huge debt of gratitude. It is therefore not easy to write a 100 % objective review. Well, this review is a failure in that respect. But I am only a human being and it is my right to, in my own way, mourn the passing of a man who died in 1981. People still mourn the passing of Ludwig Van Bethoven when they listen to the symphony which he wrote as his own epitaph. Noone of his mourners attended his funeral of obvious biological reasons. So please forgive my tears......
This album is pretty much dominated by Alan Gowen's keyboards and his playing is flawless. The rest of the musicians do a brilliant job too and this album is a credit to their superb musicianship too. This album was recorded in a flat where a man was dying. So the sound is therefore surprisingly flawless. I cannot find anything wrong with it. But if you have a $ 10 000 sound system, you may find some flaws. I suspect the tapes was heavy doctored in a proper studio.
The music is in the Gilgamesh vein. That means laidback jazz with a quirky Canterbury slant. Some influences from National Health can be detected too. The best song here is the title track and it is a funeral dirge. A very haunting, dark funeral dirge too with some children voices at the end. The symbolism is obvious. Overall, the album does have a dark, sad feeling over it. This is not a happy album. It is what it was meant to be; an epitaph.
Quality wise, this album is very strong at times. The title track has been mentioned and it is among the best songs Alan Gowen ever did. Songs like Umbrellas and Above & Below is very strong too. I have difficulties finding any flaws with this album. It has become one of my favorite Canterbury Scene albums during the last weeks. That is not due to sentimentalism. It is due to the music here makes my heart strings sings. Yes, the music is sad and somber. But this album has it's own identity which I feel the two proper studio albums from Gilgamesh was sadly lacking. The label "dark Canterbury Scene jazz" may apply to this album.
This is an excellent album from the Canterbury Scene. I do not think I am overly sentimental or too influenced by the tears in my eyes when I give it four stars. I honestly think this is a great album. Alan Gowen got his fitting epitaph and we can only be grateful with his decission to invite his three friends into his flat during the final weeks of his life. R.I.P.

:::Review by toroddfuglesteg:::

Miller, Sinclair, Tomkims & Gowen - Before A Word Is Said (1981)

1. Above & Below (7:41)
2. Reflexes In The Margin (4:00)
3. Nowadays A Silhouette (4:30)
4. Silver Star (2:24)
5. Fourfold (6:15)
6. Before A Word Is Said (7:58)
7. Umbrellas (3:54)
8. A Fleeting Glance (7:33)

Credits
- Alan Gowen / keyboards
- Phil Miller /guitar
- Richard Sinclair / bass, vocals [1 - 7]
- Trevor Tomkins / drums

Releases information
Before A Word Is Said [LP Europa 1982] [CD Voiceprint 1995]
Rec: 25-27 Apr & 2-4 May 1981 -Loc: Alan Gowen's house, Tooting, London - Eng: Peter Ball - Pr: Jean-Pierre Weiller

Sometimes written off as an also-ran to her more famous husband, Alice Coltrane's work of the late '60s and early '70s shows that she was a strong composer and performer in her own right, with a unique ability to impregnate her music with spirituality and gentleness without losing its edges or depth. Ptah the El Daoud is a truly great album, and listeners who surrender themselves to it emerge on the other side of its 46 minutes transformed. From the purifying catharsis of the first moments of the title track to the last moments of "Mantra," with its disjointed piano dance and passionate ribbons of tenor cast out into the universe, the album resonates with beauty, clarity, and emotion. Coltrane's piano solo on "Turiya and Ramakrishna" is a lush, melancholy, soothing blues, punctuated only by hushed bells and the sandy whisper of Ben Riley's drums and later exchanged for an equally emotive solo by bassist Ron Carter. "Blue Nile" is a case where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts; Coltrane's sweeping flourishes on the harp nestle in perfectly with flute solos by Pharoah Sanders and Joe Henderson to produce a warm cocoon of sound that is colored by evocations of water, greenness, and birds. Perhaps as strong as the writing here, though, are the performances that Coltrane coaxes from her sidemen, especially the horn players. Joe Henderson, who can always be counted on for technical excellence, gives a performance that is simply on a whole other level from much of his other work -- freer, more open, and more fluid here than nearly anywhere else. Pharoah Sanders, who at times with John Coltrane seemed like a magnetic force of entropy, pulling him toward increasing levels of chaos, shows all of the innovation and spiritual energy here that he is known for, with none of the screeching. Overlooked and buried for years in obscurity, this album deserves to be embraced for the gem it is.

:::Review by Stacia Proefrock:::

Alice Coltrane - Ptah The El Daoud (1970)

1. Ptah, The El Daoud 13:58
2. Turiya And Ramakrishna 8:19
3. Blue Nile 6:58
4. Mantra 16:33

Credits
Bass - Ron Carter
Composed By - Alice Coltrane
Drums - Ben Riley
Harp, Piano - Alice Coltrane
Saxophone [Tenor], Flute [Alto, Left Channel] - Joe Henderson
Saxophone [Tenor], Flute [Alto], Bells [Right Channel] - Pharoah Sanders

Larry Coryell stands on equal footing with John McLaughlin as one of the premier jazz fusion guitarist and this probably represents his finest achievement. Many people consider his earlier work with McLaughlin, 'Spaces' as writing the textbook for fusion style guitarwork, but to me, this is his greatest overall musical achievement. Comparisons to the original Mahavishnu Orchestra may seem to be inevitable considering the power and attack of the band's performance, but stylistically, the band plays much closer to the fusion/funk style of Herbie Hancock's Headhunters. Their is not as much of an eastern influence as the Mahavishnu Orchestra and there seems to be a wider variety of tempo and stylistic diversity on this recording. The synthesizer runs and Randy Brecker's trumpet keep pace rather well with Coryell's intensity and the compositional framework is elaborate and melodically sophisticated. But the highlight, of course, is the blitzkrieg of notes being pummelled out of Coryell's guitar mostly trading with synthesizer and trumpet, intermingled with more mid tempo improvisations; but the dynamics and interaction feature not just beautifully intricate work, but ingenious melodic and harmonic scales befitting musicians of the highest technical accomplishment. This is probably the most technically perfect fusion recording I have ever heard; a joyous and awesome performance!

:::Review by wooty:::

Larry Coryell - Introducing The Eleventh House (1974)

1. Birdfingers ( 3:07 )
2. The Funky Waltz ( 5:10 )
3. Low Lee Tah ( 4:17 )
4. Adam Smasher ( 4:30 )
5. Joy Ride ( 6:08 )
6. Yin ( 6:03 )
7. Theme For A Dream ( 3:26 )
8. Gratitude ( 3:21 )
9. Ism-ejercicio ( 3:59 )
10. Right On Yàll ( 4:21 )

Credits
- Larry Coryell / guitar
- Randy Brecker / trumpet
- Mike Mandel / keyboards
- Danny Trifan / bass
- Alphonse Mouzon / drums

Spiritual Unity was the album that pushed Albert Ayler to the forefront of jazz's avant-garde, and the first jazz album ever released by Bernard Stollman's seminal ESP label. It was really the first available document of Ayler's music that matched him with a group of truly sympathetic musicians, and the results are a magnificently pure distillation of his aesthetic. Bassist Gary Peacock's full-toned, free-flowing ideas and drummer Sunny Murray's shifting, stream-of-consciousness rhythms (which rely heavily on shimmering cymbal work) are crucial in throwing the constraints off of Ayler's playing. Yet as liberated and ferociously primitive as Ayler sounds, the group isn't an unhinged mess — all the members listen to the subtler nuances in one another's playing, pushing and responding where appropriate. Their collective improvisation is remarkably unified — and as for the other half of the album's title, Ayler conjures otherworldly visions of the spiritual realm with a gospel-derived fervor. Titles like "The Wizard," "Spirits," and "Ghosts" (his signature tune, introduced here in two versions) make it clear that Ayler's arsenal of vocal-like effects — screams, squeals, wails, honks, and the widest vibrato ever heard on a jazz record — were sonic expressions of a wildly intense longing for transcendence. With singable melodies based on traditional folk songs and standard scales, Ayler took the simplest musical forms and imbued them with a shockingly visceral power — in a way, not unlike the best rock & roll, which probably accounted for the controversy his approach generated. To paraphrase one of Ayler's most famous quotes, this music was about feelings, not notes, and on Spiritual Unity that philosophy finds its most concise, concentrated expression. A landmark recording that's essential to any basic understanding of free jazz.

:::Review by Steve Huey:::

Albert Ayler Trio - Spiritual Unity (1964)

1. Ghosts: First Variation 5:14
2. The Wizard 7:23
3. Spirits 6:48
4 . Ghosts: Second Variation 10:02

Credits
Bass - Gary Peacock
Percussion - Sunny Murray
Saxophone - Albert Ayler

Due to its previous rarity, Nipples has been something of a free jazz cult item, even championed by Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore. Now with a more easily found CD available, listeners can hear that it's not quite a lost classic but still comes by its reputation honestly. To be fair, the slightly muffled sound quality doesn't help music this detail-oriented, but perhaps listeners should be glad it was even recorded. The 18-minute title track (the original LP's first side) is a performance by improvisers who would become well-known names but were still making their marks in 1969. Brotzmann, of course, is on tenor sax with Evan Parker also playing tenor (instead of his usual alto), guitarist Derek Bailey, pianist Fred Van Hove, drummer Han Bennink, and the now mostly forgotten Buschi Niebergall on bass. They create a swirl of sound with saxes locking into repeated riffs that generally change slowly but sometimes take abrupt leaps while the drum, bass, and guitar roll in waves and the piano jumps in with hyperactive runs. The music's dense, everything-at-once nature sometimes makes it seem like a hot-headed competition, but in the end it's the musician's construction of intricately detailed patterns that really matter.
The 15-minute "Tell a Green Man" finished the album. A performance by just Brotzmann, Van Hove, Niebergall, and Bennink, the piece offers a contrast by a closer focus on each instrument instead of group improvisation. The piece opens with Bennink alone on drums at a mid-tempo before Niebergall enters with bowed bass. Brotzmann and Van Hove eventually jump in, pushing the others. Nipples is certainly not the best introduction to these musicians but nevertheless offers a fascinating look at their early careers.

:::Review by Lang Thompson:::

Peter Brötzmann Sextet/Quartet - Nipples (1969)

1. Nipples 17:54
2. Tell A Green Man 15:32

Credits
Bass - Buschi Niebergall
Drums - Han Bennink
Guitar - Derek Bailey
Piano - Fred Van Hove
Saxophone [Tenor] - Evan Parker
Saxophone [Tenor], Artwork By [Cover Design] - Peter Brötzmann

Released in late 1967, Electric Bath shows Ellis already using the odd-metered rhythms and exotic instrumentation that will be trademarks of his big band for the rest of his career. Likewise, the album also shows him leaning a bit towards rock, although I think to a lot of young people parts of this album could sound like late show type jazz, or even Vegas styled big band lounge music. Although not as 'proggy' or rockin as some of Ellis' later work, he definitely was breaking the pre-existing big band mold with this recording by using electronic keyboards, percussion from around the world, and some influences from modern concert hall music as well.

Side one is the more aggressive side with Ellis and crew rocking out a bit old school style, with loud brassy punches and choruses, and a driving group of drummers and percussionists. This Side closes with the song Electric Bath,, something that might appeal to fans of Zappa's late 60s - early 70s big band music with it's snaky atonal melody and middle odd-metered groove section. Ellis' influence on Zappa's music is obvious during this time period.

On side two things get a bit more interesting when the big band fades to more of a background orchestra as percussion and echoed electric pianos provide atmosphere. Open Beauty starts like a modern acid jazz tune with spacey Fender Rhodes sounds before Ellis' mini-orchestra slowly fills in the background.

This side is the more 'exotic' side also with drums often replaced by congas, tablas and other percussion instruments, it also contains Ellis' infamous trumpet solo through an echoplex, one of the first jazz solos ever recorded this way. Loved by the California youth that Don was starting to appeal to, but hated by the jazz critics, this solo brought Ellis a lot of attention, but not all of it good.

The album closer, New Horizons, opens with neo-classical melodies before a beatnik bongo beat drives a trio of flutes in an intertwining cool jazz improv; five finger snaps! Later, mellow Debussy horn harmonies are topped with another Ellis horn solo while Mike Lang's electric piano echoes in the background.

Finally more hard groovin odd-metered horn driven jazz takes us to some modern orchestrated diversions and the final big horn showdown.

While fans of Soft Machine III thru V, and early Frank Zappa might find some music to like here, I think a lot of rockers would be turned off by some of the old school big band jazz sounds.

1. Indian Lady 8:07

2. Alone 5:32

3. Turkish Bath 10:29

4. Open Beauty 8:27

5. New Horizons 12:21

6. Turkish Bath (Single) 2:52

7. Indian Lady (Single) 2:58

- Don Ellis / trumpet

- Ruben Leon / alto sax, soprano sax, flute

- Joe Roccisano / alto sax, soprano sax, flute

- Ira Shulman / tenor sax, piccolo, flute, clarinet

- Ron Starr / tenor sax, flute, clarinet

- John Magruder / baritone sax, flute, clarinet, bass clarinet

- Steve Bohannon / drums

- Frank DeLaRosa / bass

- Alan Estes / percussion, timbales, vibraphone

- Bob Harmon / trumpet

- Michael Lang / piano, keyboards, clavinet

- Ron Myers / trombone

- Tom Myers / trombone

- Ray Neapolitan / bass, sitar

- Dave Parlato / bass

- Mark Stevens / percussion, timbales, vibraphone

- Glenn Stuart / trumpet

- Chino Valdes / bongos, conga

- Edward Warren / trumpet

- Alan Weight / trumpet

- Alan Wight / trumpet

- Terry Woodson / trombone

- Mike Lang / piano, clavinet

- David Sanchez / trombone

Not counting a couple of sessions he co-led with John Coltrane and Albert Ayler, Complete Communion was the first album Don Cherry recorded as a leader following his departure from the Ornette Coleman Quartet. It was also one of the earliest showcases for the Argentinian tenor saxophonist Gato Barbieri, who Cherry discovered during a stay in Rome. While the music on Complete Communion was still indebted to Coleman's concepts, Cherry injected enough of his own personality to begin differentiating himself as a leader. He arranged the original LP as two continuous side-long suites, each of which incorporated four different compositions and was recorded in a single take. In practice, this meant that several melodic themes popped up over the course of each side; all the musicians free-associated off of each theme, engaging in intense, abstract dialogues before moving on to the next. As the album's title suggests, every member of the group not only solos, but shares the total space selflessly. Bassist Henry Grimes and drummer Ed Blackwell both play extremely active roles, especially Grimes, who solos powerfully and sometimes carries the main riffs. Often the music sounds more like a conversation, as opposed to a solo with support, because the musicians make such intelligent use of space and dynamics, and wind up with a great deal of crackling, volatile interplay as a result.
The leader remains recognizably himself, and his burnished tone is a nice contrast with Barbieri's fiery approach; for his part, Barbieri's playing has a lot of speechlike inflections, and he spends a lot of time in the upper register of his horn, which makes him sound quite similar to Ornette at times. As a whole, the project comes off remarkably well, establishing Cherry as an avant-garde force to be reckoned with in his own right.

:::Review by Steve Huey:::

Don Cherry - Complete Communion (1965)

1. Complete Communion 20:38
a. Complete Communion
b. And Now
c. Golden Heart
d. Remembrance

2. Elephantasy 19:36
a. Elephantasy
b. Our Feelings
c. Bishmallah
d. Wind, Sand and Stars

Credits
Bass - Henry Grimes
Cornet, Composed By - Don Cherry
Drums - Edward Blackwell
Saxophone [Tenor] - Leandro 'Gato' Barbieri

Named after the Indian sacred book of creation, this (at first) studio experiment recorded very quickly their first album (within two months of their creation) and it was released on the small Aronda label in April 72. Graced with an impressive artwork, the quintet's album develops an impressive sung jazz-rock that embodied almost every aspects of the genre, but there is a general Canterbury feel pervading through the album.
Dzyan's jazz-rock spectrum ranges from the full-blown early fusion ala Nucleus (the opening Emptiness) to the much rockier Dragonsong, the electronic and cello Hymn and the very vocal Bud Awakes (where the group shows an excellence sense of harmony). The first side of the albums holds two major tracks (one of which is slightly ethnic-sounding and strange: Wisdom) sandwiching a short one and is clearly my favourite. The excellent Fohat's Work (not really Gong here, although the sax.) is maybe the album's most accessible track with clear-cut solos, while Dragonsong has vocals that can resemble Wyatt's in SM's Third or Rock Bottom, but this dramatic piece can be considered like the highlight of the album as Bock's sax reminds of Malherbe and Karwalky's bass lines are driving the track at 100 MPH cruising speed. Comes a short Wyatt-esque interlude and then the album closes on the Rocking Back To Earth, indeed making come back from a great fusion trip as the artwork indicates.
By the time of their second album's recording, the group was completely different, being just a trio with only bassist Karwalki (who was the main writer anyway) left, but the sound of the group remained jazz-rock but veered much more towards experimental jazz mixed with ethnic music. Although this debut album is non-representative of Dzyan, it might just be their most accessible and a good intro to the band. Rounded up to the upper unit to reach the fourth star.

:::Review by Sean Trane:::

Dzyan – Dzyan (1972)

1. Emptiness (9:39)
2. The bud awakes (2:57)
3. The wisdom (10:21)
4. Foghat's work (6:31)
5. Hymn (1:12)
6. Dragonsong (7:31)
7. Things we're looking for (1:52)
8. Back to Earth (4:11)

Credits
- Ludwig Braum / drums, percussion
- Gerd Ehrmann / saxophone
- Reinhard Karwatky / bass
- Harry Kramer / guitar
- Jochen Leuschner / percussion, lead vocals

The aesthetic and cultural merits of Eddie Gale's Ghetto Music cannot be overstated. That it is one of the most obscure recordings in Blue Note's catalogue -- paid for out of label co-founder Francis Wolff's own pocket -- should tell us something. This is an apocryphal album, one that seamlessly blends the new jazz of the '60s -- Gale was a member of the Sun Ra Arkestra before and after these sides, and played on Cecil Taylor's Blue Note debut Unit Structures -- with gospel, soul, and the blues. Gale's sextet included two bass players and two drummers -- in 1968 -- as well as a chorus of 11 voices, male and female. Sound like a mess? Far from it. This is some of the most spiritually engaged, forward-thinking, and finely wrought music of 1968. What's more is that, unlike lots of post-Coltrane new jazz, it's ultimately very listenable. Soloists comes and go, but modes, melodies, and harmonies remain firmly intact. The beautiful strains of African folk music and Latin jazz sounds in "Fulton Street," for example, create a veritable chromatic rainbow. "A Walk With Thee" is a spiritual written to a march tempo with drummers playing counterpoint to one another and the front line creating elongated melodic lines via an Eastern harmonic sensibility. Does it swing? Hell yeah! The final cut, "The Coming of Gwilu," moves from the tribal to the urban and everywhere in between using Jamaican thumb piano's, soaring vocals à la the Arkestra, polyrhythmic invention, and good old fashioned groove jazz, making something entirely new in the process. While Albert Ayler's New Grass was a failure for all its adventurousness, Ghetto Music, while a bit narrower in scope, succeeds because it concentrates on creating a space for the myriad voices of an emerging African-American cultural force to be heard in a single rchitecture.

:::Review by Thom Jurek:::

Eddie Gale - Ghetto Music (1968)

1. The Rain 6:23
2. Fulton Street 6:47
3. A Understanding 7:50
4. A Walk With Thee 6:06
5. The Coming Of Gwilu 13:37

Credits
Bass - James "Tokio" Reid , Judah Samuel
Drums - Richard Hackett , Thomas Holman
Lead Vocals - Elaine Beener
Saxophone [Tenor], Flute - Russell Lyle
Trumpet, Recorder [Soprano], Kalimba [Jamaican Thumb Piano], Steel Drums, Whistle [Bird], Composed By, Arranged By, Conductor - Eddie Gale
Vocals - Art Jenkins , Barbara Dove , Edward Walrond , Evelyn Goodwin , Fulumi Prince , Mildred Weston , Norman Right , Sondra Walston , Sylvia Bibbs

The OM first appeared on the scene in 1970, particularly in the Show "Toxic and Electric horn 6" with Toti Soler, Josep Polo Montaberry and Doro. They recorded two singles for Edigsa (Vindra the Llum) and sang a theme (Waiting of Godot). In May 1971 they recorded their first single and album namesake Edigsa. In late 1971 they began to record an album titled "Death of Butterfly". In 1972, after a brief reappearance, the group separates and Jordi Toti Soler recorded a solo album in July 1973 entitled "Gat blanc" which reflects his inclination to the Flemish and the use of the guitar espanola.

Excellent guitar driven jazz rock on this album!! Sometimes a bit mellow and Miles Davis-like, sometimes more rocking. The instrumental performances are way above average, and even the occasional vocals are good. The last track, called "Waiting of Godot" is perhaps a bit unnecessary, since it's a bit too easy going, but overall a very much recommended album, for the lovers of jazz, instrumental music, and guitar rock.

:::Review from http://progres-agitation.blogspot.com:::

Om – Om (1971)

1.Excusa 6-8 (12:21)
2.No ho sap ningu (6:23)
3.Zitro's Ache (5:33)
4.Excusa Num.1 (12:54)
5.Vindra La Llum (4:30)
6.Waiting of Godot (4:36)

Credits
Bass - Manuel Elias (tracks: 1 to 4)
Bongos - Xavier Batllés (tracks: 1 to 4)
Drums - Peter Hodgkinson
Drums, Organ, Tambourine - Martí Soler (tracks: 5, 6)
Electric Bass - Manuel Elias (tracks: 5, 6)
Electric Guitar, Cello - Jordi Soler (tracks: 5, 6)
Guitar - Martí Soler (tracks: 1 to 4)
Guitar, Percussion - Jordi Soler (tracks: 1 to 4)
Maracas, Percussion - Francesc Pi De La Serra (tracks: 1 to 4)
Percussion - Rafael Poch (tracks: 1 to 4)
Trumpet - Xavier Garcia

The P.C. in the title refers to Pierre Courbois, the drummer whose country of origin I keep forgetting - Belgium or Holland - in any event the group contained people who were known in Northern European early 70s jazz-rock circles - in particular keyboardist Jasper van't Hof and guitarist Toto Blanke, whose later 70s group Electric Circus gets mentioned in the recent Krautrock discographies. [BB]

In their classic configuration, Association P.C. were comprised of percussionist Pierre Courbois, keyboarding Jasper Van't Hoff, bassist Siggi Busch, and guitarist Toto Blanke. Earwax retains the swing of jazz rhythms, although much of it is electrified and the playing abandons structure almost as often as it embraces it.  Best cut is "Round A'bout Nine" (sic), which is centred on a solo acoustic bassline, evocative of some traditional European folksong and accented with crazy percussive and electronic voicings -- eventually even the bassist dissolves into pure sound investigation.  Good free playing, although not particularly kozmik.  The linernotes to Earwax drop Soft Machine, MEV and er, Burnin' Red Ivanhoe as references. Sun Rotation immediately sounds heavier, tho I attribute some of this to Conny Plank's engineering role.  Courbois is playing more rock-based rhythms, and even gets into some near-funk at the beginning of "Totemism." Still, don't mistake this for Miles' fusion-- this album is very progressive and European and is closer aligned to some of the early ECM black sheep. Lotsa weirdo time signatures too (11/8 on "Neuteboom" and 7/8 on "Fran Theunissen".)  This is the record with the controversial slagging of free jazz on the back cover-- ironically, much of this album is without a groove. The live Erna Morena set sees them moving deeper into free rock, with a greater emphasis on textural playing.  Karl Wiberny guests on reeds and contributes to the album's best moment, on "Space Erna" where Van't Hoff's dense organ washes are roughed up by Wiberny's alto clarinet squonks.  By this point, the transgressions were established and although (or maybe because) Wiberny's blowing wasn't particularly virtuous, it lended itself perfectly to the group.  Nice and scrappy, an aesthetic which sadly became endangered-- shunned, really-- in jazz-rock as the 70s progressed. [DW]

The liner notes to Erna Morena throw around the Soft Machine comparisons pretty liberally but think post-Robert Wyatt when most "rock" elements (aside from electric instruments) have been lost - the liner notes also consider mentioning Chicago, Colosseum, Blood Sweat and Tears, Cream and Tony Williams' Lifetime in the same breath as a thinkable proposition so the historical element is invaluable. Although the LP, in part no doubt because of it's obscurity has always been a bit of a prize of mine, I was listening to it hard recently and all the experimental parts and ring modulator squawks are cool, when it's time to actually "blow" (you know, like Coltrane or something), they don't quite stack up. With titles like "Space Erna" and "Erna in India" there's a certain drone/trance aesthetic at work that gives it some appeal and it's important to remember that some people really thought those recently reissued Miles Davis double-lives from the era were crap at the time too, so you don't want to get really bogged down in evaluating it in some kind of purist jazz terms. [BB]

Joachim Kuhn joined Association PC for their final two recordings, Rock Around The Cock and Mama Kuku, replacing Jasper Van't Hoff when the latter took leave to form the much lesser project, Pork Pie. While the playing on these lps may tend toward the complex and technical, it's employed as a vocabulary rather than as something cosmetic. Listening to it as I type, I'd haveta say this occasionally evokes the powerhouse attack of Miles' lost quintet (cf. the 1969 Antibes gig, "In A Violent Way.") Worthy. [DW]

:::Review from http://www.freeform.org/music/a/Association_PC.html:::

Association P.C. - Erna Morena (1972)

1. Frau Theunissen's Kegel (8:05)
2. Erna Morena (37:12)
a) Space Erna (9:35)
b) Erna In India (5:50)
c) Erna Audi Maxima! (2:28)
d) Only Grass In My Stomach (12:17)
e) Schnoor 8 (7:02)

Credits
-Toto Blanke/ Guitars
-Jasper van't Hof/ E-Piano, Organ
-Siggi Busch/ Bass, Kontrabass
-Pierre Curbois/ Drums, Percussion

guest:
-Karl H. Wiberny/ Sax, Clarinet

When I was hearing the young French band NeBeLNeST for the first time, I instantly understood that they have to be one of the most interesting avant-garde progressive rock bands today. "Nova Express" is actually their second album, but unfortunately I haven't had the opportunity to hear that album. My first thought was that they had reminiscences to KING CRIMSON, but without being clones. Later on I could also hear similarities to MAGMA, MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA, MATS & MORGAN, THINKING PLAGUE, UNIVERS ZERO. The music is energetic and intricate with intense drum playing masterly performed by Michael Anselmi. His one of the most interesting drummers I've heard recently. All the members are highly technical top musicians and the album is not surprisingly released on one of my three favorite labels: Cuneiform Records. Without doubt one of the best releases this year.

:::Review by Greger:::

NeBeLNeST - NoVa eXPReSS (2002)

1. BLaCKMaiL (9:35)
2. STiMPy BaR (5:12)
3. ReDRuM (11:03)
4. CiNeMa 1920 (5:00)
5. NoVa eXPReSS (15:32)

Credits
- Michael Anselmi/ drums
- Cyril Malderez / guitar
- Gregory Tejedor / bass
- Olivier Tejedor / synthesizers, devices

Like the weather itself, this band would assume a new shape with virtually every release - and this album, half recorded in the studio and half live in Tokyo, set the pattern of change. Exit Airto Moreira and Alphonse Mouzon; enter percussionist Dom Um Romao, drummer Eric Gravatt, and a slew of cameo guests like guitarist Ralph Towner, flutist Hubert Laws, and others. The studio tracks are more biting, more ethnically diverse in influence, and more laden with electronic effects and grandiose structural complexities than before. The live material (heard in full on the import Live in Tokyo) is even fiercer and showcases for the first time some of the tremendous drive WR was capable of, though it doesn't give you much of an idea of its stream of consciousness nature.

:::Review by Richard S. Ginell:::

Weather Report - I Sing the Body Electric (1972)

1. Unknown Soldier 7:57
2. The Moors 4:40
3. Crystal 7:16
4. Second Day In August 4:09
5. Medley: Vertical Invader, T.H., Dr. Honoris Causa 10:10
6. Surucucú 7:42
7. Directions 4:37

Credits
Bass - Miroslav Vitous
Drums - Eric Gravátt
Flute - Hubert Laws  Jr.
Guitar [12-string] - Ralph Towner (tracks: 2)
Keyboards [Electric & Acoustic] - Josef Zawinul
Percussion - Dom Um Romao (tracks: 2)
Reeds - Wayne Shorter
Trumpet [D And Piccolo] - Wilmer Wise
Vocals - Chapman Roberts , Joshie Armstrong , Yolande Bavan

Imagine writing for an instrumentation of two electric guitars, two tubas, French horn, drums and Henry Threadgill's alto. Threadgill was up to the challenge and his four avant-garde originals utilize the odd combination of tones to great advantage. Two additional songs feature Threadgill, just one tuba, drums, a

few exotic instruments and three strings to create some particularly unusual music. It's for the open-eared listener only.

1. Little Pocket Size Demons 10:48

2. In Touch 8:48

3. Paper Toilet 5:38

4. Better Wrapped, Better Unwrapped 13:04

5. Too Much Sugar 2:59

6. Try Some Ammonia 12:22

Composed By - Henry Threadgill

Drums - Gene Lake (tracks: 1 to 4, 6) , Larry Bright (tracks: 2, 4)

French Horn - Mark Taylor 

Guitar - Brandon Ross , Masujaa

Oud - Simon Shaheen (tracks: 2, 4)

Percussion [Fulia, Culo'e Puya] - Johnny Rudas (tracks: 2, 4) , Miguel Urvina (tracks: 2, 4, 5)

Producer - Bill Laswell , Henry Threadgill

Saxophone [Alto] - Henry Threadgill

Tuba - Dorian L. Parreott II (tracks: 2, 4, 6) , Edwin Rodriguez , Marcus Rojas

Violin - Jason Hwang (tracks: 2, 4) , Leroy Jenkins (tracks: 2, 4) , Simon Shaheen (tracks: 2, 4)

This is a major set, "new" music from John Coltrane that was recorded February 15, 1967, (five months before his death) but not released for the first time until 1995. One of several "lost" sessions that were stored by Alice Coltrane for decades, only one selection ("Offering" which was on Expression) among the eight numbers and three alternates was ever out before. The music, although well worth releasing, offers no real hints as to what Coltrane might have been playing had he lived into the 1970s. The performances by the quartet (with pianist Alice Coltrane, bassist Jimmy Garrison, and drummer Rashied Ali) are briefer (from two-and-a-half to five-plus minutes) than Coltrane's recordings of the previous year, but that might have been due to the fact that this music was played in the studio (as opposed to the marathon live blowouts with Pharoah Sanders) or to Coltrane's worsening health. Actually 'Trane (who sticks exclusively to tenor here) is as powerful as usual, showing no compromise in his intense flights, and indulging in sound explorations that are as free (but with purpose) as any he had ever done. Coltrane's true fans will want to go out of their way to acquire this intriguing CD.

:::Review by Scott Yanow:::

John Coltrane - Stellar Regions (1967)

1. Seraphic Light 8:54
2. Sun Star 6:05
3. Stellar Regions 3:31
4. Iris 3:50
5. Offering 8:20
6. Configuration 4:01
7. Jimmy's Mode 5:58
8. Tranesonic 4:14
9. Stellar Regions (Alternate Take) 4:37
10. Sun Star (Alternate Take) 8:05
11. Tranesonic (Alternate Take) 2:48

Credits
Bass - Jimmy Garrison
Drums - Rashied Ali
Piano - Alice Coltrane
Producer, Composed By, Saxophone [Tenor] - John Coltrane

Of pianist McCoy Tyner's seven Blue Note albums of the 1967-1970 period, Expansions is the most definitive. Tyner's group (comprised of trumpeter Woody Shaw, altoist Gary Bartz, tenor saxophonist Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter on cello, bassist Herbie Lewis, and drummer Freddie Waits) is particularly strong, the compositions (four Tyner originals plus Calvin Massey's "I Thought I'd Let You Know") are challenging, and the musicians seem quite inspired by each other's presence. The stimulating music falls between advanced hard bop and the avant-garde, pushing and pulling at the boundaries of modern mainstream jazz.

:::Review by Scott Yanow:::

McCoy Tyner – Expansions (1968)

1. Vision 12:15
2. Song of Happiness 11:55
3. Smitty's Place 5:20
4. Peresina 10:20
5. I Thought I'd Let You Know 6:25

Credits
Bass - Herbie Lewis
Cello - Ron Carter
Drums - Freddie Waits
Piano - McCoy Tyner
Producer - Duke Pearson
Recorded By - Rudy Van Gelder
Saxophone [Alto], Flute [Wooden] - Gary Bartz
Saxophone [Tenor], Clarinet - Wayne Shorter
Trumpet - Woody Shaw

Now this is more like it. In its Connoisseur Series, Blue Note is making available a completely unreleased Andrew Hill date from 1969. Passing Ships wasn't even included in the Mosaic box because the master tape wasn't found until 2001. The band Hill employed on this session was a nonet, featuring Woody Shaw and Dizzy Reece on trumpets, Joe Farrell on reeds, woodwinds, and English horn, Howard Johnson on tuba and bass clarinet, Ron Carter on bass, Lenny White (on only his second recording date) playing drums, trombonist Julian Priester, and French horn player Bob Northern. The music here is ambitious. Hill's scoring for one reed, two trumpets, and low brass is remarkable for the time. In fact, it isn't until his big-band album of 2002 that he ever ventured into these waters again. The title cut, with its bass clarinet and English horn counterpoint, is almost classical in structure but nearly Malian in melody. While the cut's dynamics are restrained, its color palette -- especially with the lilting muted trumpets playing a mysterious harmonic line -- is flush and royal.
"Plantation Bag" is a showcase for Farrell's tough, grooved-out soloing as he blows blue and free in response to Hill's funky, large-spread chord voicings. The trumpets layer one another in the middle of the tune, alternately soloing and punching comp lines through the middle. The Asian melodic figures at the heart of "Noon Tide" add exoticism to one of the most adventurous tunes ever written by Hill. Rhythmically it turns on pulse rhythms that shift and slide methodically as Priester takes the tune's first solo, playing against Hill's left-hand stridency. Of the remaining three selections, "Cascade," with its staggered harmonic architecture that goes against all common wisdom for big-band harmony, is remarkable for its precision and rhythmic invention. Why this isn't going to be out there for the general public for all time is beyond reason. Why punish the artist that way? Conventional wisdom would suggest that something that has been unearthed for the first time in 34 years deserves to be a part of the general catalog. Get it quick.

:::Review by Thom Jurek:::

Andrew Hill - Passing Ships (1969)

1. Sideways 4:09
2. Passing Ships 7:08
3. Plantation Bag 8:32
4. Noon Tide 9:49
5. The Brown Queen 6:22
6. Cascade 6:27
7. Yesterday's Tomorrow 5:11

Credits
Bass - Ron Carter
Clarinet [Bass Clarinet] - Howard Johnson , Joe Farrell
Drums - Lenny White
English Horn - Joe Farrell
Flute [Alto] - Joe Farrell
French Horn - Bob Northern

Piano - Andrew Hill
Producer - Francis Wolff
Saxophone [Soprano Sax] - Joe Farrell
Saxophone [Tenor Sax] - Joe Farrell
Trombone - Julian Priester
Trumpet - Dizzy Reece , Woody Shaw
Tuba - Howard Johnson

After leaving Soft Machine after their fifth album (in 72), Elton dean returned to the jazz scene for a few years and created his own groups and projects like Just Us, Elton Dean Quartet and big band Ninesense. Around Jan 78, Soft Heap was created by him with ex- Hatfield and Gligamesh members Pip Pyle and Alan Gowan, and Elton thought of inviting his old buddy and ex-Machinist Hugh Hopper. Thus the name of the band being a bit of revenge, using the Soft part of the Machine, the Heap being their respective forename's first letter. (Thus Soft Head was the same, when Pyle was unavailable and they called upon Dave Shean). Sadly Esoteric Record did not find any extra tracks lying around for this album's only second reissue, but deliver some neat liner notes.
Starting slowly , as if from a Tery riley album, the gorgeous Circle Line is the only Hopper- penned track, but certainly the most poignant on this album, in no small part due to Elton's impression of Coltrane. The collective jamming AWOL is a much more furious affair, breathing Elton's intentions with Phil Howard's short tenure of the drum stool in Soft Machine. Demented and sometimes spacey, but never really totally dissonant either. Gowen's Petit 3's is a much quieter affair with the dominating electric piano, but the slow groove is evolving a bit in an early Nucleus lava stream, pouring down a volcano's cone. Cool yet torrid, but not reaching the apex you'd wish it had.
The flipside starts on the Terra Nova were the Softs would be meeting Coltrane on the way to Ascenscion, but not reaching the summit either, even though this is the album's best track. The other Dean composition Fara is a slow jazz, close to standard granddaddy jazz and it sticks out a bit from the rest of the album. Not even old Tippettt mate Mark Charig can bring much excitement to this crooning jazz track that's only missing Louis or Ella's vocals. The closing short Hand is a free-form jazz piece written by Gowan, and sticks out just as muchas its predecessor, but in the opposite direction. True enough, Soft Heap has the inevitable Soft machine traits, but you won't catch this writer to say that they were trying to revive a spirit, even though by now, the SM mothership had folded after much more line-up changes.
A very worthy one shot album from a group that would go on to record under this name but with different personnel, their debut remaining their best. Both owan and Pyle woud go on in National Health (this album was a bit delayed to that group's schedule), but today as I write this review, Soft Heap is the first prog group (let's put aside Jimi Hendrix Experience), with Hugh Hopper's death, this group is the first to extinct by all of its members, something I'd have rather not seen or known.

:::Review by Sean Trane :::

Soft Heap - Soft Heap (1979)

1. Circle Line (6:54)
2. A.W.O.L. (9:35)
3. Petit 3's (6:17)
4. Terra Nova (10:03)
5. Fara (6:42)
6. Short Hand (3:11)

Credits
- Hugh Hopper / bass
- Elton Dean / saxes
- Alan Gowen / keyboards
- Pip Pyle / drums and percussion
- Mark Charig / cornet and trumpet
- Radu Malfatti / trombone