AOTW Aug 21-27 05

[relyles]

Side bit of information: Soweto Kinch's second album is due in the next few weeks. It will be interesting to see where he's gone from the much praised debut.

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Thoroughly enjoyed the first disc and eagerly looking forward to the second disc. Also, I plan to hear Kinch live for the first time later this month in NYC.

[Alexander Hawkins]

I quite agree, it'll be interesting to here the new Soweto Kinch...

There was an interesting show on channel 4 a few months ago hosted by Branford Marsalis. I don't know if you saw it - there was a not-so-veiled 'warning' to Soweto against going the Courtney Pine route (Branford said he was friends with CP, but was fairly openly disapproving of Pine's direction).

Did you here the BBC jazz awards on Radio 3 the other week? Tony Kofi playing with Guy Barker's band. Kofi was fine - the backing group, however...

[A Lark Ascending]

Yes, I saw the Marsalis programme. I very much thought Marsalis was twisting things to his own agenda - warning Kinch that it was OK to play around with rap but one day he'd have to make his choice if he wanted to be a real jazz musician. I found him terribly patronising. I'm no rap fan but I trust Kinch smiled politely and ignored him.

Didn't see that awards programme.

[Alexander Hawkins]

I very much thought Marsalis was twisting things to his own agenda ... I found him terribly patronising.

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Quite! Although I have to say I did enjoy much of the rest of the programme.

[A Lark Ascending]

I very much thought Marsalis was twisting things to his own agenda ... I found him terribly patronising.

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Quite! Although I have to say I did enjoy much of the rest of the programme.

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Yes, I enjoyed it too. There were many faces in that programme I never expected to see on UK TV!

The sequence of Branford looking non-plussed at Arve Henriksen was priceless!

[Guest akanalog]

i have heard some more stevens lately-

i finally heard bobby bradford's "loves dream" or whatevr and like it a lot. it does have an ornette-ey vibe. most reviews i read tend to say stevens was having some trouble getting the right feel for this session and makes a few missteps-but i like his playing. i guess he isn't really known for this moffett-ish kind of propulsive playing but it works for me. as does trevor watts playing in this context.

i also heard a stevens konnex record which has music from 1977-1980 on it, but the name escapes me. it's ok. many guitars in the ensemble and i don't know-it got a great AMG review but i don't love it too much.

i also heard a trio from 1982? with johnny dyani and frode gjerstad (i know that is mispelled, sorry). i like dyani and stevens playing a great deal but i wish it was someone who interested me more on saxophone. or that there was another voice to add some more to the conversation (or even just a duo between dyani and stevens).

stevens is certainly a versatile player, to my ears-and i haven't even heard the stuff he was known for-the more freeish brit stuff (not that i will explore it)

my favorite stevens (and keith tippett) is still amalgams "innovation". and again, i remember the penguin guide saying stevens had a hard time getting into that kind of a groove-but to my ears, though a little heavy handed, i like stevens playing a lot. i wish tippett did more like this too. his fills and just general comping style on this are insane-a real shining example of simultaneously playing inside and outside-a description which is used often not so usefully.

[Alexander Hawkins]

my favorite stevens (and keith tippett) is still amalgams "innovation".  and again, i remember the penguin guide saying stevens had a hard time getting into that kind of a groove-but to my ears, though a little heavy handed, i like stevens playing a lot.  i wish tippett did more like this too.  his fills and just general comping style on this are insane-a real shining example of simultaneously playing inside and outside-a description which is used often not so usefully.

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Sounds great - I'll be having a look for this.

Yes, I enjoyed it too. There were many faces in that programme I never expected to see on UK TV!

The sequence of Branford looking non-plussed at Arve Henriksen was priceless!

My thoughts exactly, on both counts! I enjoyed hearing from Roscoe Mitchell, for instance. [i have to say, whilst I hope I would have made a bit of an effort to look interested at Henrikson, I see where Branford was coming from...not really my thing!]

[A Lark Ascending]

Oh, I have no problem with Branford not enjoying Henrikson. It's a world away from the part of the jazz world he works in. None of us can like everything.

It was his attempt to built his personal lack of interest into some wider thesis about what jazz is that I can't agree with him on. But giving where he's coming from that view was not surprising.

Despite his 'issues' I thought he made a very good presenter.

[Alexander Hawkins]

Oh, I have no problem with Branford not enjoying Henrikson. It's a world away from the part of the jazz world he works in. None of us can like everything.

It was his attempt to built his personal lack of interest into some wider thesis about what jazz is that I can't agree with him on. But giving where he's coming from that view was not surprising.

Despite his 'issues' I thought he made a very good presenter.

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Sure - I agree, he's definitely quite personable, despite his own views (in a way, for instance, his brother might not have been!)

[Nate Dorward]

OK, here goes. Discographical info & personnel are given at the start of the thread. This was recorded live at the Crawley Jazz Festival in 1992. I don’t know anything about the 3 young players here: I’m sure some of the British residents on the board can fill me in. The liner notes have stills from a video: tantalizing, as I’d love to see the band in performance. I don’t think that the stills are from the same performance, as they look like they’re on a set. In the tray behind the CD is a snap of what looks like the actual Crawley gig, though.

1. “Dudu’s Gone,” a memorial to Dudu Pukwana in the line of Ornette’s rhythm-changes tunes--the band’s signature tune, as Stevens announces at the end of the track. This wasn’t on the original disc because the engineer was still adjusting levels; Martin Davidson of Emanem has fiddled the sound on this to even it out, & it’s perfectly acceptable, though acoustically variable. A cool, slightly bent trumpet solo form Wallen that seems to shake the bebop out of itself with a snatch of “Parisian Thoroughfare” & then gets more into a squirting-from-between-your fingers Don Cherry fragility/quizzicalness: as it heats up you can hear Crosby try a brief snatch of Coltrane movement in thirds, & Stevens’ cries of pleasure are quite audible here. When Jones comes in Crosby seems to settle on the Traneish chord substitutions for a while; Jones has a fluid approach that seems to virtually ignore any notional barlines & you can hear the music getting more intense & opening up, leaving behind the changes and 4/4 feel. This is the passage in the track that really makes this outtake a valuable recovery (it's quite different from the version at the end of the set).

2. “Do Be Up”, which the liner notes reveal is Stevens’ take on Ornette’s faster (“up”) pieces like “Ramblin’”, though it’s got a minor feel rather than Ornette’s majorkey feeling. It’s worth quoting Steve Beresford’s excellent liner notes to get an idea of what’s going on here: “What John calls ‘rhythmelodics’ – a quality he hears in the music of Ornette Coleman, Sonny Rollins and Chet Baker – can bring out hidden qualities in an individual’s playing. ‘Rhythmelodic players are ones who get cloest to a speech-like approach as opposed to an arpeggios type of playing. Any rhythm has an innate melodic content.’ And vice versa. Listen to Gary Crosby’s repeated figure under Byron in that section of ‘Do Be Up’ – singable, danceable bass lines you thought had been lost with Wilbur Ware. Rhythmelodics can involve musicians dedicated to playing within the tradition but put them in places they have never been before. And do that without sacrificing grace or flow. That’s a rare thing to do, especially in Great Britain, in a culture that insistently devalues spontaneity and innovation.”

Anyway: A little jump-up tune with a quirky told-you-so bassline (Stevens's tunes always give the bassist something simple but interesting to chew on). A little three-way collective soloing & then it’s Jones’s turn, over a rhythm which as so often with Ornette’s music seems to be harking back to a springy two-beat feel. I’m struck, listening to this, how Stevens, compared to say Blakey or Blackwell, has a rather “suspended” feeling & rarely seems to be breathing down the soloists’ neck: he responds to them (usually with blistering-hot cymbals) rather than forcing them to interact with him. A hot tenor solo, then Stevens drops out as Wallen comes in, pushing it into more of a Cherry + Chet Baker bag, playing off earlier forms: the blues, and (notably) an extended sequence where they work through a few choruses of “Softly As In a Morning Sunrise,” which flips into “You & the Night & the Music” briefly. After the melting trumpet (actually I think flugel?) solo, the harshness of Stevens’ cymbal attack at the start of his solo feature is startling; it turns out to be mostly snares, rather military-sounding actually (made me remember that Stevens & Trevor Watts met while in the military).

3. “You’re Life”. This is also “modelled upon” (sez Beresford) Coltrane’s “Lonnie’s Lament”. A bluesy little bass solo with Garrisonian double stops, to a softly jingling free-time Stevens accompaniment on just cymbals & hi-hat, almost an SME thing. A simple elegaic tune for the horns, almost amorphous in its melancholy; Stevens gradually opens up into his version of an Elvin triplet feel, though it has a suspended feel rather than the racing danger of Elvin. (Stevens can be volatile too but it’s in the unpredictable slashes and sudden heightenings of activity & volume rather than a continuous feeling.) A two-horn improv passage of elegaic fragments, coalescing into a darker, more intent passage for Wallen, his high notes functioning like little rhythmic jabs, his runs whisking upwards. Stevens doesn’t tend to construct performances as “gradually intensifying”: the changes of mood jump out at you, like the big cymbal smashes that intrude 8 or 9 minutes in. The edges get blurry at the end of Wallen’s solo, hinting at freespace, but as Jones takes centrestage the music centres itself again tonally. Inevitably there’s a Coltrane flavour to Jones’ solo & Stevens to respond to this moves into close-quarters dialogue with the horn, often violent interjections that at one point near the end tip over into a heavy blues/rock pattern. There’s a short bass solo & then a free section culminating in a seagull-cry passage for both horns before the head returns.

4. “2 Free 1” – which is, according to Beresford, about freeing up the relation to the “one” in meter, about “people imprisoned”, and “the spaciousness of the sky and quality of light in Norway”. It starts with Stevens solo, on brushes, playing very ambiguously to suggest all sorts of flavours of triple meter, duple meter, freetime, of various sorts. The theme is a drooping little phrase, with a nudging bassline. A little creepy, actually: I could imagine this done as scary-movie music, & Stevens’ drumming here builds a lot of tension just through being so slippery & unpredictable. Wallen’s solo is sharp little fragments, upwards-lifting whoops & flares, & disconsolate seesawing figures. Jones is on soprano, & it’s as if he’s feeding off the elegaic mood of “You’re Life”, a strong contrast with Stevens’ shimmering rush of percussion, & the drummer steps aside for a soft-sad lyrical sax/bass passage that could be John Surman & Dave Holland in duet. Stevens comes in with a soft but still dangerous waltztime. All the ambiguousness gets a temporary respite with a straight swinging passage, rather “cool”, so it’s something of a shock when the droopy theme turns up again as a stinging-bee conclusion with a smeared, distorted coda. A rather mysterious piece, I find.

5. “Dudu’s Gone” again, to end the set, a little shorter & taken faster than before. A fun piece (it’s not an elegy, it’s township freebop). Wallen is one of those cheeky sidekick bebop trumpeters here, full of quotes – a little “Rhythm-ning”, a bit of Ferde Grofe via “All the Things”, some Charlie Parker, “Parisian Thoroughfare” again, &c. The bassist takes a rather Monkish tack compared to the first version. Jones is on soprano, & this gives the tracks a bright upbeat feeling – and there’s a surprise in store, a rocking blues that gives the thing a rather wistful sendoff.

I think this is a really fine release: in its own way this is as fresh & as revelatory as Stevens' SME work. It was recorded two years before his death, and it's hard not to regret his too-early passing, & that he didn't record more in the 1980s & 1990s.

[gnhrtg]

Thanks for bringing this up, Nate. For once, I feel like I'm lacking the necessary span of attention and stamina to read your walk-through, I'm sure it's as well written and informative as always. Still, I will pick this up soon as you've hardly ever steered me wrong (to think I would've slept on Bik Bent Braam's Growing Pains).

[Nate Dorward]

Gokhan--no need to bother with the elaborate writeup! It's mostly just taking notes for myself--I have to do a "formal" writeup for the end of the month & figured I might as well post the notes here to get things going.

Glad you like Growing Pains. I really like Braam a lot. Next time I have a little dough I think I'll be picking up his intriguingly titled Foamy Wife Hum.

[gnhrtg]

Next time I have a little dough I think I'll be picking up his intriguingly titled Foamy Wife Hum.

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I've been eyeing that for a while too, a very promising line-up. Well, anyway, I'll try to make my next post here on topic.

[Nate Dorward]

Just a quick note to say that my formal writeup of this + another Stevens disc is now posted here:

http://www.paristransatlantic.com/magazine...sep_text.html#8

[Guest akanalog]

i just saw a copy of a john stevens album called just spontaneous music ensemble and it seemed to be on marmalade and it had johnny dyani and maggie nichols and trevor watts on it and a few other folk like perhaps derek bailey on one of the two tracks. how is this one? a real blow out or something more structured?

[clifford_thornton]

I want that one. Ouch!

[Nate Dorward]

i just saw a copy of a john stevens album called just spontaneous music ensemble and it seemed to be on marmalade and it had johnny dyani and maggie nichols and trevor watts on it and a few other folk like perhaps derek bailey on one of the two tracks.  how is this one?  a real blow out or something more structured?

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I haven't heard that one as it's not been reissued: here's the entry on the EFI site:

John Stevens - Spontaneous Music Ensemble (aka "Oliv")

Kenny Wheeler (fh), Trevor Watts (as), Johnny Dyani (b), John Stevens (perc), Maggie Nicols (voc), Pepi Lemer (voc), Carolann Nicholls (voc). Rec. by Eddie Offord at Advision Studio, London, February 7th, 1969.

Waiting for Giorgio 14:02 unissued

add Derek Bailey (g), Peter Lemer (p)

Waiting for Giorgio 22:50 -

Oliv I (Stevens/Nicols) 19:33 Marmalade 608008/Polydor 2384 009 (lp)

all out except Watts, Dyani, Stevens, Nicols

Oliv II (Stevens/Nicols) 16:02 Marmalade 608008/Polydor 2384 009 (lp)

7.5ips mono copy of Waiting for Giorgio (short take) + Oliv II: C577/111, 7.5ips st. copy of Waiting for Giorgio (long take): C577/112. The two (very different) versions of Waiting for Giorgio were recorded by the ensemble whilst waiting for producer Giorgio Gomelsky to arrive at the studio but they are partly composed. The tapes held at the NSA suffer from distortion in places but the masters may be unaffected. PolyGram may have one or more unissued takes of Oliv as the issued Oliv II was actually the third take of this piece. Brief notes by John Stevens, Giorgio Gomelsky and Eddie Offord. Reviewed in Jazz Monthly 09/69, by Graham Boatfield in Jazz Journal (8/70) p32, by Richard Williams (briefly) in MM 27/6/70 p26 & MM 2/8/69 p18. Jak Kilby took photographs at this session.

---

It's likely to be free-improv but quite orderly, along the lines of other SME records from the time; SME was generally Stevens' project for free improvisation, whereas other groups of his could be straight jazz or jazz-rock. It wouldn't be a "blow-out" probably as Stevens' music was often very quiet and detailed, even chamberish at times. -- If you saw it at a low price then by all means pick it up as I'm sure if you don't like it you can sell it for a good price to Stevens fans.

[John B]

I finally had a chance to pick up this album and, after three listens, want to second everything Nate had to say about it.

It is an excellent live date, adventurous without being too "out" (I feel like I am saying this a lot today.)

Very highly recommended. If you dig Masada, Exploding Customer or any jazz that pushes things beyond the classic post-bop sound without sacrificing lyricism, melody and groove then there is no reason why you wouldn't really enjoy this album.

I need to get some more of Stevens' releases.

[Nate Dorward]

I finally had a chance to pick up this album and, after three listens, want to second everything Nate had to say about it.

It is an excellent live date, adventurous without being too "out" (I feel like I am saying this a lot today.)

Very highly recommended. If you dig Masada, Exploding Customer or any jazz that pushes things beyond the classic post-bop sound without sacrificing lyricism, melody and groove then there is no reason why you wouldn't really enjoy this album.

I need to get some more of Stevens' releases.

John--thanks for pulling teh htread back up--yeah, it's a superb disc. If you like this one, hunt down Chemistry with Watts & Wheeler & the underrated Ray Warleigh; unfortunately I believe it's out of print, though it was available as part of a twofer on Konnex if I remember rightly (under a different name, maybe someone can help here)...

[John B]

If you like this one, hunt down Chemistry with Watts & Wheeler & the underrated Ray Warleigh;

Will do. Thanks for the recommendation!

[gnhrtg]

I'm pretty sure the reissue Nate mentions is: John Stevens Works - SME Big Band & Quintet (Konnex),