mr improv
Posts: 80
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« Reply #15 on: 23:53:21, 14-10-2008 » |
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Quote from: supermarket_sweep on Today at 22:25:37
he leaves disturbing masses of sound hanging in the air in a very unjazzy way.
that was his job wunnit
dear old derek
now then
have i got somethin with derek and wadada leo smith on??
i dont think so
i'll go and have a look
may have to settle for bailey and braxton
let's see now
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mr improv
Posts: 80
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« Reply #16 on: 00:20:31, 15-10-2008 » |
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crikey
bailey braxton lewis
live pisa 1982
is what i've found
ti's a cracker
george lewis is making some find and strange sounds on here
anyone know anything about this album?
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Ubu-Impudicus
Posts: 44
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« Reply #17 on: 18:29:33, 15-10-2008 » |
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have i got somethin with derek and wadada leo smith on??
i dont think so
i'll go and have a look
may have to settle for bailey and braxton
let's see now
[/quote]
There is Company 5, which I like a lot. Bailey, Altena, Honsinger, Braxton, Lacy, Smith, Parker...I sometimes laugh with joy when I hear this music.
Braxton & Steve Lacy do some very nice duos on what was side 2 of the LP (this was 1977, the 1st Company I think).
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King Kennytone
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« Reply #18 on: 11:22:26, 16-10-2008 » |
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ethical - well Derek is no longer with us & Zorn won't mind if we don't tell him ha ha: Pieces for Guitar |
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« Last Edit: 11:24:20, 16-10-2008 by King Kennytone »
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mr improv
Posts: 80
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« Reply #19 on: 13:04:20, 25-10-2008 » |
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mister barratt
where is your story
regarding mr leo waddada smith?
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richard barrett
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« Reply #20 on: 16:38:09, 26-10-2008 » |
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Oh yes, sorry, got distracted there. Well, in 1996 I had the privilege to spend three weeks in the company of Mr Smith (and Mr Lewis, who had invited both of us) where I got to know him and his thinking somewhat.
He gave a talk about his own music which began (and went on for some while) with almost the entire history of jazz from King Oliver onwards. What I got from this was a clear and inspiring demonstration of how someone can have a deep involvement with and respect for the tradition that stands behind their own music, and at the same time (and more importantly) the idea that engaging with it and "keeping it alive" involves radicalising and changing it, not trying to keep it static and "pure" like another trumpeter we could name.
Secondly, later in the talk he described (not in enough detail though!) the very individual graphic notation he uses, not just to write his own pieces but also to encode music while he's hearing it. I also gave a talk about some of my stuff later in the same event, during the course of which I played a recording of a quite complex 25-minute piece, and afterwards Leo showed me the notation he'd made of it as if working in shorthand, enabling him to describe many details with great precision, which I found quite astonishing. I couldn't really grasp how the system worked, and I imagine it's not really a "system" that anyone else could make to work, but it certainly does work for him without any doubt.
Anyway, he struck me as an extremely wise and insightful musician who spreads enlightenment to those around him. I've only ever met a few people like that.
The next time I saw him was in the Total Music Meeting a couple of years ago when he played a solo set with some effects pedals, and I must say I couldn't make head or tail of what he was getting at. I don't know any of the recordings he's made under his own name. Does anyone here?
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Ubu-Impudicus
Posts: 44
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« Reply #21 on: 18:04:12, 26-10-2008 » |
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Yes, Tzadik has released quite a few. The 4-CD 'Kabell years' (Kabell was his label) is reissued on Tzadik & covers a lot of the 1970s work, rewarding but not easy; some samples of his notation (is that what he calls Akhrea invention?) are shown in the booklet. The fact that almost half of the material is solo is reflected on by a passage in his notes about the new emboldened phase of unaccompanied concerts. He cites a number of instruments, but not trombone- we can suppose this was before George Lewis's solos on record. Of course there's been no looking back from this- Evan Parker, John Butcher, Jeffrey Morgan, Eddie Prévost, Peter Evans & quite a few more are well into doing solo gigs & recordings.
I also like 'Spirit-catcher' (Nessa) which I don't think is out on CD. Apart from the concerto for trumpet & 3 harps, which is not as 3rd steam as you might imagine, there are 2 longer pieces by his working quintet of the day (Dwight Andrews, Bobby Naughton, Wes Brown, Pheeroan akLaff) which might be called 'time, no changes' but that wouldn't do it justice, since I'm still not 100% sure what the 'time' involves, tho I think it's based on variable modules rather than any predictably repeated continuo.
'Human rights' was a joint release by Kabell & an Icelandic label, with a cover that proclaims his conversion to Rastafari. It's worth it for the live side from Japan with Peter Kowald, Gunter Sommer & Tadao Sawai on koto, improvised music of a really high order. The other side, a good bit shorter, features lyrics (yes) delivered by Wadada himself, in a variety of settings from his own mbira to a kind of Mwandishi revival unit with James Emery, Thurman Barker & an Icelandic electronics dude. Mr.i was asking if he'd done funky stuff; this isn't quite, but it's the closest I've heard & it's bizarre. I can't say I'm in a great hurry to hear his takes on 70s Miles with Henry Kaiser.
'Lake Biwa' (21st century) on Tzadik I can also recommend, but these are just a fragment of what he's done.
Apart from Company all those years ago, the only other time I heard him live was at Camden arts centre in August & that brief solo improvisation along with films convinced, or reminded me what a master he is.
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« Last Edit: 18:06:43, 26-10-2008 by Ubu-Impudicus »
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King Kennytone
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« Reply #22 on: 20:28:59, 26-10-2008 » |
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Yea ~
I bin listening to a recent (if you can call 2002 recent?) Leo Smith CD called Luminous Axis: Caravans Of Winter & Summer - trumpet with various laptop / electronics stuff by Ikue Mori, Tim Perkis, John Bischoff & some other cats .. it's on Tzadik but I've left it at "work" ha ha so I cant telly ou ansjajyu
more
abt it
in it
I have a few LPs though right here, those that Ubu mentions
all very fine ('cept that daft stuff with synth bass on side 1 of Human Rights)
3 harps tune is very nice
blah
I can't ..
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richard barrett
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« Reply #23 on: 20:55:39, 26-10-2008 » |
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John Bischoff, eh. He's quite interesting too. This is a nice CD I think:  (Tim Perkis I'm not so sure about.) But I like the sound of this Lake Biwa. |
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