TRAVELIN' MAN DEPARTURE #1 Stanley Cowell Musa: Ancestral Streams Strata East : 1974 SC, piano, electric piano, kalimba (African thumb piano). We're not sure why it's taken us so long to devote a post to the wonderful pianist and composer Stanley Cowell . Like many fans and critics, we're probably guilty of overlooking and underrating his work from the late '60s and early '70s. He recorded [...]
The year is 1966 and the label is ESP. You sorta know what you're going to get with that combination: fiery, intense rulebreaking jazz. Brown had played sax with Coltrane and Shepp and was just starting to cut his own sessions as a bandleader. Homecoming is taken from the album Why Not? , where the music is free, but with a strong melodic underpinning. It's get a quasi-martial feel to it, with Brown laying down the initial strong beat - come on, Rashied Ali was playing drums, there was no way he was going to [...]
IDITUS Marion Brown Septet Juba-Lee Fontana : 1966 MB, alto; Grachan Moncur III, trombone; Alan Shorter, flugelhorn; Bennie Maupin, tenor; Dave Burrell, piano; Reggie Johnson, bass; Beaver Harris, drums. THE SOUND OF A SONG Marion Brown In Sommerhausen Calig-Verlag : 1969 MB, alto; Jeanne Lee, voice, percussion; Gunter Hampel, vibes, bass clarinet, percussion; Ambrose [...]
The Washington Post reports that legendary jazz saxophonist Marion Brown has died. Though his exact age is in question, it has been reported that Brown was in his late 70s. Born in Atlanta, Brown arrived in New York in the early 1960s and worked with such well-knowns as the avante-garde composer Anthony Braxton, pianist Chick Corea and composer Harold Budd. Browbn released numerous album of his own on label like ECM and Impulse! In his later years, Brown worked as a college porfessor, health problems having forced him to stop [...]
SOUNDWAYS, PART TWO (Edit) Marion Brown/Elliott Schwartz Soundways Century : 1973 MB, alto sax, clarinet, piano, percussion, little instruments; ES, Arp synthesizer, piano, percussion, little instruments. In this corner! A saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist weighing in at trim 150 pounds, featuring a tone that can slice through tin can lids, and a lyricism that can make grown men weep like willows...wearing the withering stare... Marion Brown! [...]
SWEET EARTH FLYING, PART 3 ELEVEN LIGHT CITY, PART 1 Marion Brown Sweet Earth Flying Impulse : 1974 MB, alto and soprano sax; Muhal Richard Abrams, organ, electric piano, piano; Paul Bley, organ, electric piano, piano; James Jefferson, bass; Steve McCall, drums; Bill Hasson, percussion. SWEET EARTH FLYING His Name Is Alive Sweet Earth Flower High Two : 2007 [...]
'Trane-Wild yet meditative free jazz from the Alto legend Marion Brown in an under-heard session from 1965 distributed by ESP Disk; Joining him are trumpeter Alan Shorter adding some tight fills and Reggie Johnson licking the upright bass.' Need I say anymore? Need I say anymore... If Four Tet likes it then why on earth can't you? Get your fill and have a lick at Bleep .
'Monk plays Ellington' was never rated as one of Thelonious's great albums. Yet I have always had a fancy for it, if only for the fascination of hearing one great pianist/composer take on another's work. This is 'I got it bad and that ain't good.' Monk leads in solo, stretching phrases to their breaking point, using almost unbearable periods of silence with the placement of a master. Suddenly bouncing off in a jaunty ride, joined by bass and the subtle tick of Kenny Clarke's drums. Pettiford solos, showing his class. Monk again, staying close [...]
Before I begin, I'd better admit that I know next to nothing about His Name Is Alive - which is rather shameful for a band that's been going for nigh-on 20 years now with what appears to be an excellent, eclectic back catalogue . However, despite this hole in my musical knowledge, it hasn't stopped me being completely smitten for quite some time now by 2007's Sweet Earth Flower, their tribute to jazz great Marion Brown . The album documents the highlights of a 2004 live show, intended as a tribute to Brown, from the [...]
Before I begin, I'd better admit that I know next to nothing about His Name Is Alive - which is rather shameful for a band that's been going for nigh-on 20 years now with what appears to be an excellent, eclectic back catalogue . However, despite this hole in my musical knowledge, it hasn't stopped me being completely smitten for quite some time now by 2007's Sweet Earth Flower, their tribute to jazz great Marion Brown . The album documents the highlights of a 2004 live show, intended as a tribute to Brown, from the [...]
IMPROVISATION SIMILAR LIMITS PORTO NOVO Marion Brown Porto Novo Arista/Freedom : 1967 MB, alto sax; Maarten van Regteren Altena, bass; Han Bennink, drums. Many thanks to everyone who took part in our two contests last week. There were far fewer correct guesses for this blindfold test than on the previous two, owing in part (we presume) because for the first time we didn't pick a cover version [...]
ONCE UPON A TIME BUTTERMILK BOTTOM Marion Brown Geechee Recollections Impulse : 1973 MB, alto and soprano sax, clarinet; Wadada Leo Smith, trumpet; James Jefferson, bass, cello; Steve McCall, drums; William Malone, autoharp, thumb piano; A. Kobena Adzenyah, African drums. C: Marion Brown is an underground jazz legend. But it’s always been mysterious why he isn’t esteemed on the same plane as, say, Archie Shepp or Pharoah Sanders. His music from the [...]
Destination: OUT
Doklands
Fusion 45
Box Musique
wordsandmusic
The Mark Out
I’ll Just Leave This Here #161
BAND OF HORSES – The Funeral (Sound Remedy Remix)
K-Holes - "Frozen Stiff"
Taste And Try Before You Buy
Summer Camp – “Always”
