What is it to play "free"? We use the definition quite liberally these days, attributing the word to a variety of improvisational groupings. This includes music clearly recognized as jazz, unstructured improvisation, collective improvisation, electroacoustic improvisation, the list goes on. We can point out jazz players like Albert Ayler, Cecil Taylor, Sun Ra, or John Coltrane who adopted free principals early in the game, or we can look at European artists like Peter Brotzmann or Alexander von Schlippenbach who took up the gauntlet and added a new voice. We can look at collective improvisation like Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza or AMM, who departed from traditional jazz structures to make something new. Today the concepts of free playing are hardly radical, and are incorporated into a vast set of playing environments, where free elements and structure are tools for modern players to express themselves. Freedom has opened our ears and shown us new opportunities.
One of the great early free players, who's name is closely associated with free jazz, is Ornette Coleman. From his first recording session, which lead to the album "Something Else!!!!", Coleman eschewed standard approaches to jazz and assembled a set of young players who could adapt to his concepts. It wasn't the first album of free playing, but it was the touchstone that seemed to shake the foundations of melodic jazz with a then-radical approach to playing. Like iconoclasts before him, his music seems accessible by today's standards, no longer radical or earth-shattering. There can be no greater testament to a musician, that his forward-thinking approach to music would become part of our collective ears; that his challengers would come to praise his work; and that music inspired a generation to innovate.
Ornette Coleman passed away on June 11, 2015 at the age of 85. He leaves an impressive recorded legacy. But even more impressive is his influence, coining the term "free jazz" in the title of his album, and adding the concept of harmolodic playing to the arsenal of jazz musicians around the world. It is a testament to the man that his name is synonymous with freedom. He received a storm of criticism at the start, yet remained faithful to his concepts and reaped the rewards in accolades and influence. Like the name of one of his tunes, Coleman is at "Peace". We're grateful to him for his innovative mind, and his persistence to share it with the world.
It's also a sad moment to reflect that everyone in Coleman's band that released Something Else!!! has now passed with the exception of bassist Don Payne. Charlie Haden, Don Cherry, and Billy Higgens, Walter Norris. Generations of players have been influenced by these great players, who understood Coleman's approach, and who took those ideas into their own music. Free music has been acknowledged since 1958, nearly 60 years ago. In that time music and sound has evolved to embrace elements that would were scoffed and derided previously, or that only existed in academia as curiosities. Intrepid explorers like Coleman and his associates didn't simply introduce new ideas, they threw the door open to players who heard something different. We owe them a debt of gratitude, which we repay every time we put one of their records on.
A few personal favorites over the last couple of weeks. One is a record that grew slowly on me, the duo of Yannis Kyriakides + Andy Moor on UnSounds, A Life Is A Billion Heartbeats. As our abstract describes: Yannis Kyriakides and Andy Moor's exploration and mining of the rich and mysterious terrain of Greek rebetika music from early 20th century, using a combination and juxtaposition of rebetika elements with their own distinct sonic explorations.
I first came to Rebetika through Dave Kerman, who brought a large number of Rebetika titles to his ReR USA store. Those albums celebrated the original Greek Rebetika musicians, but Kyriakides and Moor take the music into the 21st century by processing their favorite tunes, and using them as a matrix for electric guitar, live sampling and electronics. The album is often groove based, but very subtle, with rich melodies taken on a journey in modern rock and improvisatory approaches. Each song is a journey that captivates through their confident pacing and rich use of sound.
❦
Another recent favorite is quite well celebrated already: Jim O'Rourke's Simple Songs. If you haven't had a chance to listen to the album, be assured that the songs are anything but simple. The album was recorded with a set of Tokyo musicians, which is O'Rourke's current stomping ground. O'Rourke's studio skills are well known, and his mixing on this album is a textbook example of organizing and making clear each layer and sound. Which would be nothing if the songs themselves weren't compelling. O'Rourke's voice is deep, self-assured; the melodies are strong and distinctive; the lyrics are powerful statements with enough innuendo and abstraction to make them emotionally evocative and sometimes perplexing. The hooks keep the listener engaged, and to these ears, it's one of the strongest song albums in quite a while. O'Rourke is a chameleon, equally at ease in purely experimental environments or in a rock band (reference his time with Sonic Youth). All of that seems to come to play with this album, which is sure to place in my 2016 "best of" list.
❦
It's really great when your early heros continue to be heroic. One other important item on my listening list: Henry Threadgill's In for a Penny, In for a Pound on Pi Recordings. Threadgill has been one of my favorite composers and musicians for decades, following him from his Novus and Black Saint albums to the present. I associate him with the players I followed in my early collecting days — Oliver Lake, Chico Freeman, Arthur Blythe, James Newtwon, David Murray, &c. — all creative players who never left melody behind, who looked forward and past to compose and improvise, and who assembled bands of amazing musicans around them.
Threadgill hits his stride with Zooid, a 5-piece band that uses tuba, cello and drums for the rhythm section, with Threadgill's sax and flute, Liberty Ellman's guitar and Jose Davilla's trombone in the front. The compositions have a chamber jazz feeling to them, but are so wonderfully interactive with a swinging jazz feeling that brings out an almost Ellington feeling at times, and is certainly as sophisticated as many of Ellington's works. Threadgill has spent 14 years developing the Zooid concept, writing compositions that encourage his musicians to use interactive counterpoint and unusual harmonic approaches to their playing. The music feels like jazz, but it also has a unique abstraction of the form which becomes more interesting with each listening, as the interaction between players in group sections often is comprised of four-part polyphony. To me it feels like New Orleans jazz meets chamber compositional music, an unlikely pairing, with rich and unexpected textures from the guitar, tuba and cello.
❦
In my last "Shaking the Squid" entry I was writing about the new Clean Feed releases, of which there were 10! This time we're lending our ears to the new releases on Lithuania's excellent NoBusiness label, of which there are 5. The numbers don't make any difference here, as each label has and continues to release extraordinary jazz at a remarkable pace with consistently high standards.
NoBusiness has three LPs, presenting artists who have been on the label previously. The first album to focus on is a new configuration: the trio of Stefan Keune, Dominic Lash, and Steve Noble. Squidco customers will be familiar with all 3, with Keune showing up on albums from Emanem, Creative Sources, and FMP; this is his first time appearing on a NoBusiness. Dominic Lash is well known on a variety of labels — Another Timbre, Creative Sources, Clean Feed, Emanem, FMR, Foghorn, Kadima, psi, and rhizome.s. These labels have such diverse focus that it's a testament to the curiosity and versatility of Lash that he is at ease in so many settings. Drummer Steve Noble is an indefatigable player, appearing on a wealth of releases from labels including Bo Weavil, Emanem, Otoroku, Clean Feed, FMR, Fataka, Incus, Red Toucan, &c. &c. Here the trio is performing live at London's Vortex Jazz Club in 2013 for five freely improvised performances that range from scrabbly technical quick discussion to more introspective inner dialog. Not an album to miss!
Here is the full list of new NoBusiness releases for June, 2015:
Hubweber / Schubert / Schlippenbach / Thomas / Wllers: Intricacies [2 CDs] Click to View @ Squidco
Here are some upcoming releases we expect in the short term. You can request to have us email you when any or all of these are in stock on our Upcoming Releases page.
Otomo Yoshihide: Guitar Solo 2015 LEFT
Doubtmusic (dms-155)
Seijiro Murayama/Jean-Luc Guionnet: Mishima, Day & Night
Ftarri (ftarri-990)
Chris Dingman: The Subliminal and the Sublime
Inner Artist ()
Chuck Bettis: Pixel Bleed
Living Myth (004)
Chris Pitsiokos Trio (Pitsiokos / Max Johnson / Shea): Gordian Twine
New Atlantis (NA-CD-023)
Elliott Sharp + Scott Fields: Akra Kampoj
New Atlantis (NA-CD-022 CD)
Invisible Things: Time AS One Axis [VINYL]
New Atlantis (NA-LP-008)
Madav Ido Bukelman Masel: Ground Brids
OutNow Recordings (ONR019)
Juan Pablo Carletti, Daniel Levin: Iluusion of Truth
OutNow Recordings (ONR018)
New: Hanut Trio (Bukelman / Masel / Sabag): Book II [2 CDs & BOOK]
OutNow Recordings (ONR021)
Yoni Kretzmer 2Bass Quartet: Book II [2 CDs & BOOK]
OutNow Recordings (ONR020)
Andrew Yoni Kretzmer Drury
OutNow Recordings (ONR022)
Bryan Eubanks & Stephane Rives: fq
Potlatch ()
Les Rhinoceros: III
Tzadik (TZA-CD-7812)
John: Zorn Pellucidarna Dreamers Fantabula
Tzadik (TZA-CD-8333)
Clara Iannotta : A Failed Entertainment. Works 2009-2014
Edition Rz (DAAD ed. RZ 10023 (parallele 23) )
ARNOLD: DREYBLATT Second Selection [VINYL 2 LPs]
Black Truffle (BT 016LP)
ALBERT: AYLER Spirits Rejoice [VINYL]
ESP (ESPDISK 1020LP)
Tiger Hatchery: Sun Worship
ESP (ESPDISK 5003CD)
TIGER HATCHERY: Sun Worship [VINYL]
ESP (ESPDISK 5003CD)
BILL/STEVE NACE BACZKOWSKI/CHRIS CORSANO: Stolen Car [VINYL]
Golden Lab (ROWF 061LP)
JOE MCPHEE & JOHN SNYDER: To Be Continued [VINYL]
Kye (KYE 035LP)
Thollem / Wimberly / Cline: Radical Empathy
Relative Pitch (RPR1041)
JOE: MCPHEE Solos: The Lost Tapes (1980-1981-1984) [VINYL]
Roaratorio (ROAR 038LP)
ART ZOYD: Generation Sans Futur
Sub Rosa (SR 380CD)
ART ZOYD: Generation Sans Futur [VINYL]
Sub Rosa (SR 380LP)
Icepick (Nate Wooley, Ingebrigt Haker-Flaten & Chris Corsano): Amaranth [VINYL]
Astral Spirits (MF100/AS018)
In The Sea: Henry Crabapple Disappear [CASSETTE]
Astral Spirits (AS020)
Joe McPhee: Zurich 1979 [VINYL]
Astral Spirits (MF102/AS019)
Kid Millions & Jim Sauter: Bloom [CASSETTE]
Astral Spirits (MF097/AS015)
Mazzarella/Haker Flaten/Ra: Azimuth (Live at Constellation) [CASSETTE]
