Archive: April, 2007

julius hemphill | coon bid’ness

Monday, April 30th, 2007

‘COON BID’NESS (Arista AL 1012)

Julius Hemphill / alto saxophone, Black Arthur Blythe / alto saxophone, Hamiet Bluiett / baritone saxophone, Abdul Wadud / cello, Barry Altschul / drums, Daniel Ben Zebulan / congas.

On Side Two: Julius Hemphill, Hamiet Bluiett, Abdul Wadud; and Baikida E.J. Carroll / trumpet; Phillip Wilson / drums.

Recorded: Side One: January 29, 1975; Side Two: February 1972.

Julius Hemphill is a composer and an improviser: a composer in the tradition of Ellington, Mingus, and Ra, and an improviser with deep roots in the blues.

Side one of ‘Coon Bid’Ness (four tracks) works as a single composition. The opening piece, “Reflections,” begins with a slow lament, the three horns and cello creating dark, rich harmonies and utilizing a subtle vibrato to underline the music’s pathos. “Lyric” continues in this vein; then the space begins to open up. Hemphill, it seems, likes to work with several layers of sound, to slowly take them apart - to the point of near dissolution - then to put them back together again (though not necessarily the same as they were before). This is what happens during “Lyric” and also during “Skin 1.” The latter piece especially works its way into some very free space. Then “Skin 2” offers alternate choices as to the side’s resolution; yet there is no real resolution, only lingering afterthoughts.

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bells | Comments (0) | 464 Views

metropolis | we are on vacation…

Sunday, April 29th, 2007

just for a couple of days……………………………we will be back on monday the 30 of may 2007. A great weekend to all metropolis readers.

general | Comments (1) | 271 Views

oliver lake | performances of december 1975 and 1976

Saturday, April 28th, 2007

Photo: Juan Carlos Hernandez

PERFORMANCE OF DECEMBER 29, 1975 at the Blue Dolphin, San Francisco

Oliver Lake / alto and curved soprano saxophones, percussion, Eddie Edwards / soprano saxophone (one tune only).

PERFORMANCE OF JANUARY 5, 1976 at Keystone Korner, San Francisco

Oliver Lake / alto and curved soprano saxophones, Baikida E.J. Carroll / trumpet and flugelhorn, James Leary / bass, Eddie Marshall / drums, Eddie Edwards / soprano saxophone, George Sams / trumpet, added for one piece.

Oliver Lake was in town for the holidays and presented two concerts of his music. They were hastily put together affairs, but each managed to attract some two to three hundred people.

Hearing Lake first hand, it became obvious that my previous analogy of his work to that of Anthony Braxton (see review of Heavy Spirits) was not entirely correct. While Lake’s methods are similar to those of the Chicagoans, his music is much more compressed and considerably more direct. Like the Chicagoans, though, Lake is a dramatist, and his music tends to unfold in contrasting chunks. Often, the various configurations are stated in elongated “heads,” then developed, but they may also appear independently, each tending to extend the implications of the previous one.

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bells | Comments (0) | 318 Views