Record Reviews

ALBERT AYLER ~ LIVE IN GREENWICH VILLAGE: THE COMPLETE IMPULSE! RECORDINGS IMPULSE! 273 (Barcode: 011105027328) ~ USA ~ Jazz Recorded: 1965 - 1967 Released: 1998 One of the greatest pioneers of the Free Jazz in the 1960’s, Albert AylerFind albums by this artist is universally recognized for his contributions but remains the most controversial of the period’s figures. There are quite a few reasons for this controversy: his relatively limited output (due to his tragic death in 1970 he recorded just for about 9 years between 1962 and 1970), his background (Ayler arrived at the Free Jazz scene from Rhythm And Blues unlike Ornette ColemanFind albums by this artist or John ColtraneFind albums by this artist who had years of Bebop behind them) and his radical approach to improvisation based less on personal virtuosity and more on expressiveness and attack. In addition Ayler based his improvisations on many world music influences (one of the first US musicians to do so), rather than on the blues and jazz standards. Ayler started his career in Scandinavia, where he lived in the early 1960’s and where he first recorded (similar to many other US jazz musicians, who found the US scene to be unappreciative of their innovations as opposite to the Europeans who were much more open-minded – this being true to this very day). Upon his return to NY, Ayler recorded a series of visionary and now legendary albums for the no less legendary NY based “underground” ESPFind albums on this label label, which was the first American label to provide its artists a total artistic freedom and control of their output. Later on Ayler signed with Impulse!Find albums on this label, where he recorded until his untimely (and mysterious) death. This exquisite album collects all the live recordings Ayler made for Impulse! between 1965 and 1967 in various venues in the NY Greenwich Village. It captures him (and his group) at the absolute peak of his improvisational ability. Strongly influenced by Coltrane’s late period output (one of the pieces here is dedicated to Coltrane and was recorded just after Coltrane’s death) the music presents turmoil of emotions and brilliant group improvisations. Ayler’s group includes his brother Don AylerFind albums by this artist on trumpet, Michael SampsonFind albums by this artist on violin, Henry GrimesFind albums by this artist on bass, Beaver HarrisFind albums by this artist on drums and many other prominent NY Free Jazz players. This is an essential piece of the Free Jazz history and a great portrait of an Artist at his best moment. Brilliant!

Updated: 08/05/2023Posted:

CD 2 Digipak Oversampling Remastered Bonus Tracks Recommend To A Friend

SONNY ROLLINS ~ FREEDOM WEAVER: THE 1959 EUROPEAN TOUR RECORDINGS RESONANCE 2065 (Barcode: 617270122860) ~ USA ~ Jazz Recorded: 1959 Released: 2024 This is an archival live album by the American Saxophone Colossus - Sonny RollinsFind albums by this artist, recorded on a trio setting during his 1959 European Tour, with bassist Henry GrimesFind albums by this artist and drummers Pete La RocaFind albums by this artist, Joe HarrisFind albums by this artist or Kenny ClarkeFind albums by this artist (all four are sadly not with us anymore). The tour spanned Sweden, Switzerland, Holland, Germany and France and the 3CD album presents twenty-six tracks, recorded at radio, concert halls and a club and the sound quality of these recordings is absolutely stunning. As usual with the ResonanceFind albums on this label label releases, the album is accompanied by extensive booklet with in-depth interviews and articles by musicians and critics and brilliant photographs. It was 1959 and Bebop was still the King of jazz, but Rollins was never playing exactly by the “rules”, so these tracks beautifully depict how cleverly and ingeniously he bends the established trends tradition and does his own thing. Especially interesting are the three tracks on CD3, which are all between fifteen and almost twenty minutes long and offer Rollins playing super-long solos of the finest possible quality. The fact that all the music was recorded in Europe, where the response to Jazz in general, and advanced forms of it in particular, were warmly embraced and appreciated, in contrast to what happened in the US at the time, is probably why the atmosphere is obviously warm and receptive. I talked to Rollins about this during my telephone conversation with him a while ago, about his recordings in Finland, and he also expressed his appreciation of the European audiences. In a short interview included on CD1 Rollins explains why he decided to play in a saxophone trio format, which was highly unusual at the time. Some of these tracks have been available in bootleg form, but this is the first time the entire 1959 European Tour is available together in exquisite sound quality and with proper care and respect. It is also remarkable that there is very little repetition as far as the compositions are concerned, although all the music was recorded within the span of nine days between March 2 and March 11, 1959. What an incredible level of creativity. Overall, this is an incredible piece of Jazz history and a sublime collection of music by one of the finest and greatest Godfathers of the genre. Regardless of how many albums by Rollins one already owns in one’s collection, this album is an absolute and essential must have!

Updated: 03/01/2025Posted: 03/01/2025

CD 3 Mini-Sleeve Remastered Essential Recommend To A Friend

MCCOY TYNER / JOE HENDERSON ~ FORCES OF NATURE: LIVE AT SLUGS` BLUE NOTE 602465975147 (Barcode: 602465975147) ~ USA ~ Jazz Recorded: 1966 Released: 2024 This is a live archival album by American Jazz Giants pianist McCoy TynerFind albums by this artist and saxophonist Joe HendersonFind albums by this artist, playing in a quartet setting with bassist Henry GrimesFind albums by this artist and drummer Jack DeJohnetteFind albums by this artist. The music was recorded at the NYC club Slugs’ sometime in 1966. The 2CD album presents five tracks, two of which are original compositions by Henderson, one by Tyner, another one is an improvised piece credited to all four musicians and finally one is a standard. Two of the pieces are close to thirty minutes in duration. The sound quality of the live recording is acceptable, but far from perfect. The album comes with an extensive booklet, with articles by musicians and critics, similar to the format of albums released on the ResonanceFind albums on this label label, which is not surprising since this album was produced by Zev FeldmanFind albums by this artist, the person behind Resonance. All four musicians are brilliant players of course so anything they play can’t be bad of course, but this album captures just one random night where they play just another gig, so basically there is nothing here that we have not heard a thousand times before. Tyner was not with John ColtraneFind albums by this artist anymore, but he plays as if he still is, and Henderson tries to play like Coltrane, which is not his true call. In short everybody plays a lot of notes, and I mean a lot, and the neck breaking tempo is not doing much good to the music. Of course, again, these are great musicians, just not such a great album. Overall, this is a meeting of Giants, who are somewhat confused as far as the musical direction of the music, other than playing as many notes per minute as humanly possible. For completists only IMHO, and almost all this music could have fitted on a single CD, making the cost of the album more reasonable.

Updated: 23/01/2025Posted: 23/01/2025

CD 2 Digipak Remastered Recommend To A Friend