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VLII just keeping u in line
Recorded in 1973, Frank Lowe (tenor saxophone) pulled in Joseph Jarman (soprano and alto saxophones) and William Parker (bass) to fly into the eye of free jazz. Lowe was into the music after John Coltrane's Ascension (Impulse!, 1965), and the influence and impact can be felt right through. Lowe went out on a musical limb here; the genre was not a long-term residence for him.It all opens quietly enough with "In Trane's Name." Lowe plays with control, giving the melody its due, but when the tune erupts, the power and the force are incendiary. Both Lowe and Jarman propel and edge the music onwards, fermenting and brewing ideas on the go. There is howl and yell and intensely volatile notes shooting into the stratosphere. Jarman hits the high squiggles, squeezing out the notes, the torque tight. Lowe swipes a broader swath as he gets into a conversation with Jarman, if that's what the charged atmosphere can be called. Give the band credit though for not letting the tune spiral out of control, they bring it down, cooling the pace for the mid-section....http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=29370
Whole generations of musicians and listeners experienced a dramatic and irrevocable awakening in the years after Albert Ayler's Spiritual Unity came out in 1964, and the record has a certain timeless quality that makes it just as important today. The piercing emotional emphasis and startlingly voice- like qualities of Ayler's saxophone playing turn childishly simple melodies into expanded voyages of personal discovery and spontaneous invention. Bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Sunny Murray share an abstract, ethereal connection where norms of meter and harmony seem quite naturally irrelevant.But Spiritual Unity remains enigmatic even now, nearly 35 years after Ayler's body was mysteriously found in the Hudson River. Part of that mystique comes from Ayler's own shrouded references to religion and spirituality, with revolving titles like "Ghosts" and "Spirits" evoking milennia- old cycles of meditation, discovery, redemption, and rebirth...http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=17016.
She & Him - Volume II, LPIt's not as good as the first, but it's growing in me.
This is some of the most agressive, brutal, and dark music ever created. So muchso that Swans makes Black Sabbath look like a jangle pop band. Early Swans is definitely an acquired taste, with its proto-industrial grind and noise. I have most of the band's recordings on vinyl and all of their music on CD, so I'm a definite fan. Still, I wouldn't want to listen to this stuff all the time. Not for the musically conservative.It's hard to believe that The Church has issued 23 albums. This is a great albumfrom a great veteran band that still knows how to write and play excellent music. Highly recommended for fans of dream pop and neo-psychedelia.--Jerome
An adventurous and flexible improviser, Tony Coe has long been one of England's top jazzmen. He has performed in settings ranging from straight-ahead bop and borderline Dixieland to post-bop and free, keeping his own strong musical personality intact throughout his career. Coe started on clarinet and was self-taught on tenor. He performed in an Army band during 1953-1956 and played with Humphrey Lyttelton's mainstream group during 1957-1962. After heading his own band (1962-1964), Coe was offered a spot with Count Basie's Orchestra, but difficulties with immigration foiled that opportunity....The singers include Marianne Faithfull, Ali Farka Toure, Maggie Bell, Abed Azrie, Françoise Fabian, Marie Atger, and Juan José Mosalini, to name but a few.If only others composed for songs in this way, wit might be reinvented in the context of Anglo-European music. This is one of Coe's finest hours.
