STREAM THE CHANGING SAME RADIO BROADCAST ON XRAY.FM

FREE THE MIND OF ANALYSIS BECAUSE IT HAS NO MEANING

HARMOLODIC / FREE JAZZ / POST / HARD / AND BEBOP / FUSION / RAGTIME / AVANT GARDE / JASS / SHOUT / 3RD STREAM / STANDARDS / BIG BAND / BLACK MUSIC /FREE JAZZ / POST / HARD / AND BEBOP / FUSION / RAGTIME / AVANT GARDE / STANDARDS / BIG BAND / BLACK MUSIC

31.7.12

ONE OF MY FAVORITE SONGS OF ALL TIME: Music is the Healing Force of the Universe by Albert Ayler


Wes Montgomery - Echoes of Indiana Avenue

Ferocious playing by a young Wes Montgomery. 

 Pat Metheny called Wes "One of the most inspired and consistent improvisers of all time and one of the most transcendent inventors of melody ever." 

This is the first full album of previously unheard Wes Montgomery music in over 25 years, and it is comprised of studio and live performances recorded in Indianapolis in 1957 and 1958. 

Wes is young and on fire in this music.  It is totally badass.  Check out "After Hours Blues." Whoa.



28.7.12

SUN RA - MAKE A JOYFUL NOISE

Here it is, in its entirety.  I remember back in the day when I was in my late teens:  The only way to see this was to rent the VHS copy from the snooty jazz record shop called "The Cat's Meow" in Eugene, Oregon.  The dorks that worked there always liked to remind me they thought Sun Ra was "gay" and that I should be listening to Bill Evans instead, because his music was more "lyrical."  I always thought it was strange that they couldn't tell that Sun Ra  and Bill Evans actually shared similarities other than the fact they both played piano.  

This is Sun Ra.  If you're not familiar with him or his music and art, I suggest you get acquainted.  This video is great way to do this.  


22.6.12

ONE OF MY FAVORITE SONGS OF ALL TIME: SONNY SHARROCK - BLACK WOMAN

This is one of my favorite songs of all time.  The lineup is staggering:  my favorite drummer (tied with Muhammad Ali) of all time, Milford Graves; Sonny Sharrock is one of the most underrated and creative guitar players jazz has ever seen; Linda Sharrock, who was married to Sonny when this album was recorded, lays down a vocal track that is unlike anything I've ever heard:  There's the touch from Ayler in her sound, and her vocal expression is shocking.  The legendary Dave Burrell is on piano, and on bass, none other than Norris Jones (Sirone) from the Revolutionary Ensemble and countless other cornerstone jazz sessions.  This is the title track to the album of the same name, released in 1969, and the album was produced by Herbie Mann.

Anyway, this is what I am talking about:  this is where we left off in 1969.  Music, in my opinion, at least from the Western world, has only back-tracked, or at best, treaded water from this point.  Imagine the possibilities if musicians had continued the voracious exploration of the 60's until now?  Instead, these days, its all regular rock and hipster crap.

...And since you just made fresh pita, you may want some SHAKSHUKA...

Maybe you've tried the shakshuka at Tasty n' Sons here in Portland (which is delicious, BTW).  Anyway, mine is different.


Shakshuka
(Eggs in Purgatory, Tunisian Style)

Two  28-oz. cans good-quality diced tomatoes (e.g., Muir Glen brand)*    
9 ripe Roma tomatoes *                                 
16 large cloves garlic (or to taste)**
1/2 cup olive oil            
2 1/4 teaspoons salt 
Red pepper flakes** to taste; ideally, Aleppo red pepper flakes***, if available
12 eggs

1. Drain canned tomatoes well, but keep the juice; then chop into 1/3-inch pieces. Core Romas; chop into 1/2-3/4-inch cubes. Peel garlic and trim off root nubs; mince finely or put through a garlic press.

2. In a heavy, wide skillet, heat olive oil on high heat, then add all tomatoes—canned and fresh—with the retained tomato juice. Cook until mixture is bubbling hot and raw tomatoes are limp and cooked through, stirring often. Add garlic, salt, and red pepper flakes; cook on medium-low just until flavors blend and garlic is cooked—5-10 minutes. Taste and correct seasonings during this time, adding red pepper flakes gradually and tasting as heat develops.

3. Make small depressions in the tomato stew and drop a raw egg into each. Cover skillet and cook until egg whites are set—about 5 minutes. Serves best in a shallow soup/pasta bowl. Accompany with warmed pita or sturdy, European-style bread for scooping up sauce.

Serves 6

*In season, use all fresh tomatoes, no canned, for authentic shakshuka. 6 lbs. ripe Romas, (about 35 medium-large) should do the trick. The above recipe is adapted to the long off-season, when fresh tomatoes are less flavorful than good-quality canned. A few fresh Romas are added for texture. Use canned tomatoes only, no fresh ones, if time is short or fresh tomatoes are awful.
** Garlic and red pepper are typical of Tunisian shakshuka. Decreasing or eliminating both from part of a batch to suit children’s tastes is still tasty, like Italian Eggs in Purgatory.
***Aleppo red pepper flakes are available in most Middle Eastern markets, including the Middle Eastern aisle at Plaza Latina market on 7th Avenue in Eugene. Better quality Aleppo flakes are available by mail order from Kalustyan’s, 123 Lexington Avenue, New York 10016; Tel:212-685-3451; e-mail:sales@kalustyans.com. Using Aleppo flakes—less hot than regular chili flakes and  roasted for some sweetness—an average quantity is 2 1/2-3 tablespoons.   

BEST PITA RECIPE. EVER.


THIS IS HANDS DOWN THE BEST PITA RECIPE. PERIOD.* 

*(and its 100% traditional - Bonus!)

Making Pita

1. Follow recipe, “Bread Dough, Basic Yeast  for European-Style Baguettes, Pita, Pizza, etc.” below.  When dough has risen and been punched down once, preheat oven and an ungreased baking sheet to your oven’s maximum heating capacity on “Bake” setting. Divide dough into 12-14 equal pieces (or 24-28 for miniature pitas). Shape each one into a tangerine-sized-and-shaped roll that is smooth on top and sides. You can do this by repeatedly pulling the protruding edges and corners of the piece of dough down and tucking them under, into the very bottom of the roll, while rotating dough ball in your two cupped hands. Alternatively, roll dough ball on work surface or between palms until totally smooth on top and sides. Dust entire roll with flour, cover with a clean, dry cloth, and leave to rest for no fewer than 10 minutes and no more than 15 minutes. Resting is crucial to the pocket forming properly. (Repeat…)

2. Working with one rested dough ball at a time, place on a floured surface, pat the dough ball  down hard, repeatedly, to force out the air. Then roll out, with a rolling pin, to about 6 inches in diameter and a little less than 1/4-inch thick; turn over several times and rotate as needed to make a round shape. Slap disc between your palms to shake off excess flour and place on a very lightly floured baking sheet or board to rest, covered with a clean, dry towel, for another 10-15 minutes. (Again, crucial.)

3. After the 15 minutes, carefully transfer by hand as many pita rounds as will fit onto the preheated, ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 2-3 minutes, or until ballooned, then remove to rack to cool. If your oven door is glass, watch the process for the fun of it and to monitor doneness. If not, check after 2 minutes then each 30 seconds thereafter for doneness. Don’t be concerned with apparent whiteness: “grill marks” on commercial pita are an affectation used to mimic Middle Eastern baking techniques (and distract the consumer from the mediocrity of packaged pita). Remove from oven and cool, spaced, in a towel-lined bowl or basket; add a layer of toweling whenever adding a layer of pita to the top of a cooling layer to keep condensation from sogging bread discs. Cover all with a towel to keep warm and avoid drying out.    

4. Serve immediately; or, when just cool, stack and wrap in a clean, dry kitchen towel (to absorb excess condensed moisture as pita cools further) and place inside a heavy, sealed plastic bag to use later. Reheat 1 pita, or a few at a time, by microwaving for a few seconds towel-wrapped in a sealed plastic bag. Or oven-warm by encasing in aluminum foil and placing in a pre-heated 300-degree oven; if there are several pita, rearrange contents of foil every few minutes to guarantee even warming and prevent drying out.

Makes 12

BasicYeast Dough  (Note: if inexperienced, first see “Bread, Yeast, Basic Instructions for”)
(for Baguettes, Pita, Fatayir, Pizza*, rolls, breadsticks, bread pretzels, etc.)

2-2 1/2 cups warm water
1/4 teaspoon sugar
2 packets (4 1/2 teaspoons) active dry yeast, e.g., Fleischmann’s (but not Rapid Rise or other "instant")
6 1/4-6 1/2 cups white bread flour or all-purpose flour**, preferably, unbleached, organic
1/2 cup rye flour (optional—see* and **, below)
1 tablespoon salt
75 grinds of extremely coarse black pepper if making pizza (optional)*

1. Combine 2 cups of the water, the sugar, and yeast; stir well. Leave for 5-10 minutes, until bubbly. If it doesn’t bubble, it’s dead; replace it before proceeding. Note: Name-brand yeast is more reliable than bulk.

2. Combine 6 cups of the flour and the salt (and pepper, if wanted in pizza dough) in a large mixing bowl or the work bowl of a standing mixer (e.g., KitchenAid). Mix well with a wooden spoon if working by hand, or on low speed by machine. Add yeast mixture when bubbly, and mix until too sticky to stir; by machine, use low speed.

3. Clean spoon and sides/bottom of bowl with some of the loose flour from bottom of bowl. Continue mixing with a twisting motion of your closed fist, turning dough over often to pick up dry flour, until you have one shaggy mass of dough. By machine, increase speed to medium once flour is incorporated. Either way, gradually add a little of the extra flour if dough is too sticky to pull cleanly away from the sides of the bowl; or dribble in some/all of the extra 1/2 cup of water if surface looks dry and dough feels “tight”, not bouncy, when prodded.
 
4. By hand: Turn out onto a lightly floured surface; knead 10-15 minutes; add only enough flour at one time to keep dough from sticking to kneading surface. By machine: Mix on medium speed about 10 minutes, scraping down bowl/hook as needed; only add flour if dough sticks to bowl. Either way, dough is ready when it feels smooth, elastic, bouncy, not sticky. A finger poked into dough 1/3-inch should indent but “bounce back”.

5. Place dough in an ungreased bowl and cover with a clean, fuzz-free kitchen towel that has been dipped in hot water and wrung out well. Put in a warm place to rise. An unheated oven with the light on is always good, especially in cold weather. After about 1-1 1/2 hours, when dough is near 2 1/2 times its original bulk, punch down, knead briefly to release gasses, and turn out onto a clean, floured surface to shape. Or, at this point, you can: a) Allow dough to rise a second time in the bowl; it will take a shorter time than the first rise, and produce a finer-grained loaf.  b) Store refrigerated or frozen for later use. If storing, not baking, punch down dough every 20 minutes until thoroughly chilled and no longer trying to rise. Will keep refrigerated with only a little  loss in rising power for up to a week. For long-term storage—a week to a month—freezing is preferable; but frozen dough, once thawed and shaped, rises increasingly unevenly after the first couple of days frozen.

Makes 3 1/2 lbs. dough, enough for: 4 regular baguettes (or 8 skinny ones); 14 large pita (or 28 small ones); four 12-inch fatayir za’tar; 28 filled fatayir, two 14-inch x 17-inch pizzas—see recipes.

*For great chew, substitute 1/2 cup of rye flour for 1/2 cup of white flour in pizza dough (see below). Also: For uniquely tasty pizza crust, add about 75 grinds of extremely coarse black pepper in step #2. (above).
**Bread flour may require a little extra water, but makes superior bread of any type that is supposed to be dense, chewy and/or have a crusty exterior. All-purpose flour also works; it is more commonly stocked in home kitchens; it produces ideal sandwich bread, rich and/or sweet breads, and “quick” breads. If using all-purpose flour in this recipe, or anytime you are making pizza—even with bread flour: Substitute 1/2 cup of rye flour for 1/2 cup of the white flour in this recipe to produce better chew without changing flavor. (A little extra water may be needed.) Whatever size batch you’re making, ratio is 1 part rye to 15 parts white flour.   

The Champion - In The Tradition - The Best and Most Authentic: Tahini Sauce


Just in time for summer and its salads, tahini sauce.  This is the way its supposed to taste.  Unlike that other weirdness you get at pretty much every other place that sells food that is traditionally incorporated with tahini sauce, this stuff will blow your socks off AND belongs on baguettes, or better yet, fresh made pita, (yes, I'll post my pita recipe next - which is also the best pita recipe - and 100% traditional ((and if you have the ambition to attempt this next to a camp fire without an oven, like the real thing in some places, like Sinai, then you should go right on ahead (((at least around here its less likely you'll get sand in the dough))) as well as salads.  Make sure to sprinkle some sesame seeds on top of that salad you just tossed with cucumber, romaine, tomato, and read onion.  

Tahini Sauce

25 very large cloves fresh garlic

10-20 lemons, depending on size and freshness (to yield 2 cups strained juice)

2 cups (16 ozs. liquid measure) canned sesame tahini – Sahadi or Joyva brand*

2 1/4-2 1/2 teaspoons salt

1. Peel garlic, trim off tough root nubs, and chop coarsely. Squeeze and strain enough lemons to total 2 cups of juice. If making a partial batch (i.e., not using whole can of tahini paste), stir tahini paste until totally re-homogenized and smooth before measuring out to be sure that sesame oil and pulp are evenly distributed.
2. Puree garlic to a totally smooth, almost silky paste by processing with the salt in a food processor (or a blender, if no processor is available). Scrape down contents often with a rubber spatula. Ideally, process garlic and salt in a small—“mini”—food processor, if available. If no machine is available: Put cut up garlic cloves through a garlic press, or chop super finely with a knife; then grind with the salt in a mortar w/pestle until totally smooth; or grind garlic and salt to a paste on a wooden board with the flat side of a heavy knife blade or with a smooth rock—any heavy, blunt object will do—using circular, pressing-down motion. (Salt works like sand  to abrade and grind down garlic fibers.).
3. In a normal-size food processor with motor running (or in a blender, 1/4 batch at a time), process garlic mixture with the tahini paste while drizzling in the lemon juice. Process until totally blended. If working by hand, not machine, beat ingredients together in a bowl with a large spoon. Taste and correct flavor balance. Note: Sauce should be tasted on bread or it will seem too strong even if it is perfect.
4. Sauce is now suitable for adding to cooked, drained, ground chick peas to make humus (see recipe); to roasted, mashed eggplant to make baba ghannoush (see recipe); to chopped Italian parsley for a traditional Middle Eastern sauce or dip; or to be thinned with a little water for salad dressing. Refrigerated, keeps well for over a week and never actually spoils; but, over time, you will notice diminished and changed flavor as garlic and lemon both weaken and ferment slightly. So freeze for long-term storage.
Makes 1 quart plus 1/2 cup
*Sahadi brand is first rate and (in Eugene) has been available at the Red Barn from time to time. P.C. Market on Franklin Ave. stocks Joyva, which is second best. Both are made to Middle Eastern (as distinct from “new age”) standards—seeds are well roasted, etc. Do not substitute Maranatha, Jerusalem or any other unroasted (raw) or lightly roasted product; it doesn’t taste correct. Other authentic brands of Middle Eastern tahini paste are available in Middle Eastern markets and the Middle-Eastern aisle of Plaza Latina market, in Eugene.

Tahini Salad Dressing

For dressing, add water—a couple of tablespoons at a time—to a quantity of tahini sauce slightly less than looks “right” for a single salad, whisking or beating in until homogenized. Vegetables will further dilute dressing; so take this into consideration when you taste to correct balance of tahini sauce to water.

9.6.12

Joseph Jarman - Don Moye: Earth Passage/Density /// BLACK SAINT/SOUL NOTE 1993


Black Saint/Soul Note records out of Milan, Italy, is one of the handful of ultra crucial jazz record labels. 
Ranging from jazz classics the the avant garde obscure, they've put out hundreds of albums that I consider to be some of the best examples of what the genre has to offer, not to mention some of the best albums in the history of the entire world, in my humble opinion. 

Two cornerstone members of the Art Esnemble of Chicago and the AACM, Joseph Jarman and Don Moye never cease to blow minds. 

This one is courtesy of Nothing Is v2.0

Enjoy. 

Personnel:
Joseph Jarman - Flute, Clarinet (Bass), Flute (Alto), Flute (Bass), Piccolo, Sax (Alto), Sax (Soprano), Sax (Tenor), Clarinet (Alto), Bamboo Flute
Famoudou Don Moye - Percussion, Chimes, Drums, Triangle, Bells, Cowbell
Rafael Garrett - Bass, Clarinet, Flute, Pan Flute, Conch Shell, Bamboo Flute
Craig Harris - Flute, Percussion, Trombone, Vocals, Voices, Didjeridu, Cowbell, Bamboo Flute

Tracks:
1. Zulu Village (13:11)
a. Hommage
b. Summoning The Elders
c. Children's Sun Celebration
2. Happiness Is (10:15)
3. Jawara (12:15)
4. Sun Spots (11:00)

Recorded on February 16 & 17, 1981 at Barigozzi Studios, Milan, Italy, and released on Black Saint in 1981. The album saw one reissue in 1993.

ALICE COLTRANE - LORD OF LORDS


Tracks:
1. Andromeda's Suffering (9:04)
2. Sri Rama Ohnedaruth (6:12)
3. Excerpts From The Firebird (5:43)
4. Lord Of Lords (11:17)
5. Going Home (10:02)

Credits:
Bass - Charlie Haden
Cello - Anne Goodman , Edgar Lustgarten (2) , Jan Kelly , Jerry Kessler , Jesse Ehrlich , Raphael Kramer , Ray Kelley
Drums, Percussion - Ben Riley
Harp, Piano, Organ, Tympani, Percussion - Alice Coltrane
Producer - Ed Michel
Viola - David Schwartz , Leonard Selic , Marilyn Baker , Myra Kestenbaum , Rollice Dale , Samuel Boghosian
Violin - Bernard Kundell , Gerald Vinci , Gordon Marron , James Getzoff , Janice Gower , Leonard Malarsky , Lou Klass , Murray Adler , Nathan Kaproff , Ronald Folsom , Sidney Sharp , William Henderson (2)

Music arranged and conducted by Alice Coltrane
Produced by Ed Michel under the direction and inspiration of Alice Coltrane
Recorded and mixed at The Village Recorder, Los Angeles, from July 5 to July 13, 1972
Engineering by Baker Bigsby

Hannibal Marvin Peterson - The Tribe

Sam Rivers Tuba Trio/James Newton - Flutes! (Circle Records, 1976/1977)


Sam Rivers Tuba Trio/James Newton - Flutes!(Circle Records, 1976/1977)

This serves both as an alternative transfer of the final section of the Sam Rivers Tuba Trio at the Bimhuis in 1976 and as the first installment of The Complete James Newton on Circle Records.




Sam Rivers Tuba Trio/James Newton: Flutes!
Circle Records RK 7677/7

Sam Rivers, flute
Joe Daley, tuba & French horn
Warren Smith, drums & percussion

A1 Essence - Part XI (Rivers/Daley/Smith)

Recorded live September 2, 1976 at Bimhuis, Amsterdam by Rudolf Kreis

James Newton, flute

B1 Woman (Bobby Bradford)
B2 The Dean (James Newton)
B3 Choir (James Newton)

B1 recorded live January 16, 1977 at the Smudge Pot, Claremont, CA by Bruce Bidlack
B2, B3 recorded live May 21, 1977 at Studio A, KPFK Pacifica Radio Los Angeles, Cahuenga Blvd., N. Hollywood, CA
Produced by Rudolf Kreis

DL link in comments at Inconstant Sol

BILL DIXON TRIO WORCHESTER, MA, (1981)


BILL DIXON TRIO WORCHESTER,MA,NEW ENGLAND,USA (1981)


Bill Dixon, trumpet
Mario Pavone, bass
Laurence Cook, drums

1. announcement by BD & (unknown titel) 16:36
2. (unknown titel) 19:20
3. (unknown titel) 11:26
4. (unknown titel) 06:50
5. (unknown titel) 08:58

Live at the New England Repertory Theater,Worchester,MA, New England - June 15, 1981.



"Dixonia" by Ben Young says:

Unknown ["Play your open 'E'..."] 14:18
Unknown [starts with BD unacc] 18:18
Unknown [starts with BD unacc] 10:47
Unknown ["...Latin..."] 6:22

Unknown [starts with BD unacc] 8:26

DL link in comments at Inconstant Sol

Anthony Braxton - The Complete Braxton 1971


Anthony Braxton - The Complete Braxton 1971

1 Up Thing 4:35 (a)
2 Quartet Ballad 16:35 (b)
3 March 5:15 (b)
4 Four Sopranos 15:00
5 Be Bop (b) 9:47
6 Five Tubas (c) 8:01
7 Soprano Ballad (a) 14:32
8 Contra Basse 6:18

Anthony Braxton - soprano, alto saxophones, clarinet, contrabass clarinet, flute
(a) Chick Corea - piano
(b) Kenny Wheeler - trumpet, flugelhorn; David Holland - bass, cello; Barry Altschul - drums
(c) The London Tuba Ensemble: Geoffrey Adams, James Anderson, John Fletcher, Michael Barnes - e flat tubas, Paul Lawrence - c tuba

Tokuma Japan Communications / Freedom 32JDF-185 (CD 1988)

flac DL in the comments at Inconstant Sol

9.1.12

INTERPLANETARY SAM RIVERS MONTH CONTINUES with 1975's "SIZZLE" for Impulse!





I really want to avoid any cheesy jazz adjectives or idioms here. But I don't really know what else to say; the title of this album very aptly suits its sound. I mean shit, this album is NUTS. Play the above YouTube video, you'll hear what I mean. Dave Holland on cello? WTF! The depth of the compositions is astounding, which is not something I generally associate with music that is this funky. Sam Rivers, all the way up through his most recent recordings, managed to keep everything extremely funky without falling into some of the trappings that are lent to musicians that make "funk." My friend Jonathan Sindleman often remarks on the level of content contained in Sam Rivers music. "Content" is a good word to describe his body of work.  But I don't use the word "content" in the same way I would use the word "content" in describing my scientific keys I use for botanical identification purposes; although I would use the word "content" in that way when describing Sam Rivers music a little bit, sometimes. I mean it this like this: His music is not dry, overly complex, or too "wordy:" Though as far as I am concerned, it contains a level of information only comparable to what is found in certain botany related textbooks I use when I'm identifying plants in the woods here in the Pacific Northwest. And you'd have to be about as passionate about your art as these nerds that write these botany books to produce such works of music. Like, I have to be searching pretty hard to identify what I see, and still be completely excited about what I found through my searches. Ya dig?

Rest In Peace, Samuel Carthorne Rivers - September 25, 1923 – December 26, 2011

Info in comments.

7.1.12

SAM RIVERS - THE COMPLETE BLUE NOTE SESSIONS




Sam Rivers recorded for Blue Note from 1964 to 1967. While recording for Blue Note, he was an avant-garde innovator with an inside/outside hard bop sound. Wrote Steve Huey on Allmusic.com: "[Sam Rivers] took his music as far out as he could while maintaining a recognizable structure; his work fearlessly explored wildly dissonant harmonies and atonality, dense group interaction, cerebral rumination, and passionately intense, free-leaning solos."

Rivers recorded four albums for Blue Note: The classic "Fuchsia Swing Song," the avant-bop masterpiece "Contours," the radical standards album "A New Conception," and the brilliant "Dimensions and Extensions" which also comprised Rivers' half of the split double LP "Involution" with Andrew Hill

I paraphrased and plagiarized much of this info from Allmusic.com. But WTF? It doesn't really matter. All that matters here is that this is Sam Rivers on Blue Note. Everything else is tiny details.

Check out all the info in the comments

6.1.12

SUN RA - I AM LISTENING


SAM RIVERS TRIO - W/ DAVE HOLLAND - LIVE IN GERMANY NOVEMBER 14 1979

Sam Rivers Dave Holland Anthony Braxton = San Francisco 1978

Dave Holland e Sam Rivers = Pisa , Italy 1980

DAVE HOLLAND/SAM RIVERS




English contrabass monster Dave Holland and Sam Rivers made a two part album of duets for Paul Bley's  Improvising Artists Inc. record label in the mid 1970's.  The recordings are abnormally special:  The two men maintain an improvised musical dialogue that sounds like two old friends catching up in front of a fire with a bottle of especially good wine.  They delicately dance around each others statements reacting to the combined sounds in nano-time, with a level of empathy and attention rarely heard in duet recordings.  Sam switches instruments throughout the albums:  tenor sax, piano, flute soprano sax.  

These recordings are rich with content.  They are expressions of a level of communication that hardly exists in the human experience in any form, let alone musically.  We are lucky to have these conversations documented.  

On a side note:  The Improvising Artists Inc. small catalogue of releases is flush with rare gems.  Sun Ra has an album of solo piano.  Not only is this album great, it is rare to hear Sun Ra without his Arkestra, and even when he's performing with his ensemble, he tends to leave the soloing to the rest of his band.  The label also sports a two totally badass logo designs, only one of which I have the time to find online:
I don't know about you, but I think that would be a great tattoo ;)

INFO LINK IN COMMENTS

3.1.12

DON PULLEN FEATURING SAM RIVERS - CAPRICORN RISING (BLACK SAINT, 1975)








PERSONELL:
Bass – Alex Blake (2)
Drums, Tambourine – Bobby Battle
Executive Producer – Nuccio Rinaldis, Paolo Tofani
Photography By – Giuseppe G. Pino*
Piano – Don Pullen
Producer – Giacomo Pellicciotti
Recorded By – Tony May
Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone, Flute – Sam Rivers
Recorded October 16-17, 1975, at Generation Sound Studios, New York.
BLACK SAINT RECORDS, ITALY, 1993

Don Pullen is a legend. And an avante-garde jazz icon. His 1966 duet recordings with legendary master musician Milford Graves "Nommo" and "Live at Yale" are probably the two most rare and sought after pieces of free jazz vinyl in history. Why they have never been reissued, considering their desirability, is a conundrum of great mystery.

Continuing our celebration of Interplanetary Sam Rivers Month, we visit a release from one of my favorite record labels, Black Saint/Soul Note Records from Italy. I was, until today, unfamiliar with "Capricorn Rising." Another tip from my man, Jonathan Sindleman, has led me to post this album. After first listen, I must say I am honored to share this work of art with you. It is organic, stunning, and energetic. A must have for any Sam Rivers and/or Don Pullen fan. Check out the frenetic, soulful "Fall Out.' And of course, pay attention to the wonderful Black Saint production value. Classic, beautiful.

Info here and in comments.
Stay tuned for the continuing celebration of Sam Rivers in the days to come.

2.1.12

CHARLIE PARKER



Charlie Parker (Alto Sax), Buddy Rich (Drums), Hank Jones (Piano) and Ray Brown (Bass)

ANTHONY BRAXTON - ORNITHOLOGY (CHARLIE PARKER) - CONTRABASS CLARINET



ANTHONY BRAXTON - CONTRABASS SAXOPHONE

ANTHONY BRAXTON - CHESS, MATH, MUSIC

CHIEF JOSEPH, MY HERO

KEN BABBS - MERRY PRANKSTER - STAR SPANGLED BANNER

INTERPLANETARY SAM RIVERS MONTH: DAVE HOLLAND QUARTET / CONFERENCE OF THE BIRDS


This is one of my all time favorite records.  It is also the first album posted in celebration of Interplanetary Sam Rivers Month that features Sam Rivers as a side man.  Some of you hardcore fans are familiar with Sam Rivers and Dave Holland's duet albums that appeared on Paul Bley's Improvising Artists Inc. label; we here at The Changing Same will be approaching those overlooked gems in the coming weeks.  I felt that Wikipedia hit the nail on the head as far as an accurate description of this recording, so read on about this amazing music there.  

I gotta dedicate this post to my power homie and forever and continual 1-6 sense searcher, Jonathan Sindleman, for introducing this awesome album to me.  

INFO HERE AND IN COMMENTS.