Free Jazz Music

A fascinating album, pairing the Tuvan throatsinger Sainkho Namchylak with the saxophonist (& shakuhachi player) Ned Rothenberg. Namchylak's singing is some of the strangest & most compelling to ever come from a human voice, with an enormous range & an uncanny ability to move from soaringly beautiful tones to birdlike flutters to unearthly rasps & shrieks. The material on this disc ranges from traditional Tuvan song to original compositions to two solo improvisations: Namchylak's solo, "Visions", is very impressive but likely to send the uncommitted running from the room (it consists of a low throb that is relentlessly pushed towards a throaty howl).

Rothenberg's playing draws on the resources of "extended technique"--split tones, freak notes, &c.--but he is basically a melodic player, unlike the more abstract Evan Parker or John Butcher. I actually find this recording far more approachable & rewarding than Namchylak's _Mars Song_ encounter with Evan Parker (on Victo), which with the best will in the world I find unlistenable.

This is not a disc that will appeal to everyone, but it's worth checking out. I once played some of the more songful material on a (jazz) radio show & got a few appreciative phonecalls, mostly from people who were interested in various kinds of ethnic & "world" musics. It's slightly disappointing that the disc contains virtually no instance of Namchylak's solo throatsinging (which involves the singing of a low drone & the creation of high-pitched overtones by using the throat & mouth as a resonator; one can hear an instance of this towards the end of "Low & Away" here). But it's still a compelling disc.

A great collaboration and a truly unique sound in modern jazz. Syncopation is the rule thru most of these intricate cuts. Two bass players, 2 saxes, Cassandra Wilson and the inimitable Marvin "Smitty" Smith on drums. Very glad to see it's been re-released. Put your counting cap on and groove away. For me, (a musician), this kind of music is a joyful adventure: dense tonalities, overlapping time signatures and expert musicianship. There are a couple "normal" sounding songs in the sense of scale and flow, but the majority is a rip-roaring modern electric contraption that is just too elaborate to ever get tired of...

A great collaboration and a truly unique sound in modern jazz. Syncopation is the rule thru most of these intricate cuts. Two bass players, 2 saxes, Cassandra Wilson and the inimitable Marvin "Smitty" Smith on drums. Very glad to see it's been re-released. Put your counting cap on and groove away. For me, (a musician), this kind of music is a joyful adventure: dense tonalities, overlapping time signatures and expert musicianship. There are a couple "normal" sounding songs in the sense of scale and flow, but the majority is a rip-roaring modern electric contraption that is just too elaborate to ever get tired of...

soulfull free playing! more than your average composer's jazz, Dollar Brand makes music that brings together the past and the future, leaving behind any pretense or false obedience to obtuseness.

His playing is natural and full of rhythmic variety, mixing familiar melodies and moods with an edgy willingness draw outside of the lines... sort of a cross between Cecil Taylor and Monk.

Here is one of the very great records by Dollar Brand/Abdullah Ibrahim.Just one of the best ones.Just an outstanding moment of music.
I saw and heard Abdullah IBrahim on stage,one month ago in Besançon,France,playing solo acoustic piano;two hours of the greatest music I've ever heard,and I heard a lot.Abdullah,born Adolph Johannes Brand in Cape Town,1934,is one of the greatest jazz piano players of all times,and one of the last great players still alive,with Hank Jones and Randy Weston.
It's a pity that some of his greatest recorded works are still not available on CD ("live at the Blackhawk with Carlos Ward","Dollar Brand"in Poland with Ward;the immense "autobiography",recorded in Switzerland,1978,is issued now on CD in Europe,but doesn't seem to be available in the USA).
This extremely magnificent album,recorded January 30,.1965,in Copenhagen,will let you listen to Abdullah's african music.Except for "smoke gets in your eyes",the rest of the program is made of african-oriented tunes,even if you can find here Monk's or Elmo Hope's or Herbie Nichols' or Duke's influences.THis south african trio,made of Abdullah,Johnny Gertze on bass and Makaya Ntshoko on drums (the trio which recorded the very great "Duke Ellington presents the Dollar Brand trio",Reprise label),this trio plays here some of the most haunting music ever played.The twenty minutes long suite,which includes "Boulevard East","sunset in blue" and "Easter joy" is a very high moment in the art of jazz,or simply improvised piano playing.Makaya Ntshoko's drive on drums is terrific,you could think of beeing listening to Max Roach or Sam Woodyard.Here is some very great music,by one of the most original jazz piano players.Absolutely essential!!!

I don't know how you've managed to find your way to this obscure page buried deep in the Amazon, but if you have I assume you're already a fan of the Art Ensemble. You should buy this CD whether you are or not (buy it used, of course--as I write there is a copy available for $9.95) but especially if you are, since it's a little unusual.

The first track, Ancient to the Future, is an excellent example of one of the AEC's extended pieces. It starts with an energetic percussion + weird sound effects jam (it sounds like Lester Bowie is playing just the mouthpiece of his trumpet), which yields to a mid-tempo groove not unlike Coltrane's Spiritual or the AEC's own Dreaming of the Master, and finishes with some free jazz squonking accompanied by slightly cheesy "futuristic" keyboard that makes it sound a lot like something by Sun Ra.

But it's the second side that's the real treat. I'm guessing that Lester must have talked his bandmates into doing these covers, because it's very atypical of the AEC to do any covers at all, even jazz covers, but Lester was very fond of doing this kind of thing with his own groups. Anyway, they do a nice job on Ellington's Creole Love Call, with Lester playing in a very traditional style, making like Hot Lips Page or something. Then they do some soulful work on Otis Redding's These Arms of Mine, which is again mostly Lester's thing. But it's the next tune, a nine minute plus workout on Bob Marley's No Woman No Cry, that's the standout. The normally austere and avant-garde Joseph Jarman and Roscoe Mitchell take what are for them quite lyrical solos on this piece--one doesn't often hear them like this, which is too bad. The AEC's take on Purple Haze doesn't work quite as well for me--it's still good, and an interesting take on the song, but it's a little restrained for a Hendrix cover. Fela's Zombie, the closer, fits the AEC to a T--in fact, of the bunch it sounds the most like an AEC tune. This is a little memento of Lester's six month stay with Fela--you can hear him on Fela's tunes No Agreement and Dog Eat Dog, which are available in a two-fer CD with Shuffering & Shmiling (look for it under the latter name).

Good ol' Art Ensemble. They were such a great group and I don't know if they ever quite got the recognition they deserved. Too late now. Lester's gone, now Malichi's gone too...