Free Funk

[Alexander Hawkins]

So is Banana a more 'straightforward' BAG free date, or still in the funky mode? Tangentially: I enjoy Thomas regardless of context. His plaing on Billy Bang's 'Sweet Space' is beyond belief (apeshit in the same way that Windo on 'Tes Esat' goes apeshit).

More 'straightforward'! No funk at all, IIRC (haven't listened in a couple of months). Curious about that Bang now!

[ep1str0phy]

.:.--the talk about Tim Berne got me thinking about the late great Mr. Julius Hemphill--whose music, as far as I'm concerned, is among the funkiest free shit out there. Dogon A.D. and 'Coon Bidness are masterworks of groove-heavy progressive improv, no doubt.

-And I'll look into the McCann (I've seen it around, never heard it).

-Moderately off-topic, but 'Sweet Space' is like 'Ming's' evil twin. Similar group of inside/outside 80's avant cats (Wilbur Morris, Steve McCall, Curtis Clark, Frank Lowe, Butch Morris, Bang and Thomas). It's one of my favorite sessions--just brutually hard, swinging, explosive jazz. Bang is pretty funky, too.

-I'm listening to Thomas Chapin's Insomnia right now--a lot of this stuff would probably qualify. Curtis Fowlkes on the tb--now there's a bad cat.

Edited May 3, 2006 by ep1str0phy

[allblues]

.:.--the talk about Tim Berne got me thinking about the late great Mr. Julius Hemphill--whose music, as far as I'm concerned, is among the funkiest free shit out there. Dogon A.D. and 'Coon Bidness are masterworks of groove-heavy progressive improv, no doubt.

Definitely Dogon A.D. and 'Coon Bidness (when will we these be reissued?), also Ornette's Dancing In Your Head and Body Meta, Blood Ulmer's early 80s stuff (Are You Glad to Be in America?, Free Lancing, Black Rock, and Odyssey), and Miles' mid-70s Dark Magus, Pangaea, and Agharta.

[ep1str0phy]

.:.--the talk about Tim Berne got me thinking about the late great Mr. Julius Hemphill--whose music, as far as I'm concerned, is among the funkiest free shit out there. Dogon A.D. and 'Coon Bidness are masterworks of groove-heavy progressive improv, no doubt.

Definitely Dogon A.D. and 'Coon Bidness (when will we these be reissued?), also Ornette's Dancing In Your Head and Body Meta, Blood Ulmer's early 80s stuff (Are You Glad to Be in America?, Free Lancing, Black Rock, and Odyssey), and Miles' mid-70s Dark Magus, Pangaea, and Agharta.

Good call on the Ulmer (pretty surprised no one mentioned him specifically...). 'Coon Bidness is still available in spots (it's a recent Freedom reissue--no frills)... Dogon A.D. was being circulated on the internet not too long ago, although no actual reissue is in sight (and with an album of this caliber--why? If someone cleaned it up, I'd be there in no time).

[JSngry]

Where have you gone, Robert McCollough?

[ep1str0phy]

Where have you gone, Robert McCollough?

I'm actually interested in the real answer.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Just pulled out the two perfect albums for this. Lonnie Smith's "Foxy lady" and "Purple haze", both with John Abercrombie and Smitty Smith. I suppose his "Afro blue" would qualify as well, but perhaps not so well.

MG

[blake]

Spaceways Incorporated and Zu deserve mention.

[ep1str0phy]

Just pulled out the two perfect albums for this. Lonnie Smith's "Foxy lady" and "Purple haze", both with John Abercrombie and Smitty Smith. I suppose his "Afro blue" would qualify as well, but perhaps not so well.

MG

I've been deaf to this stuff for ages--regardless of 'genre' qualifications, are they any good? If so, I may have to make a run to the shop...

As per Spaceways, etc... a lot of Vandermark's stuff is pretty groove heavy. Not just swinging--a lot of his material likes to ride on the beat. William Parker, too, for that matter.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Just pulled out the two perfect albums for this. Lonnie Smith's "Foxy lady" and "Purple haze", both with John Abercrombie and Smitty Smith. I suppose his "Afro blue" would qualify as well, but perhaps not so well.

MG

I've been deaf to this stuff for ages--regardless of 'genre' qualifications, are they any good? If so, I may have to make a run to the shop...

As per Spaceways, etc... a lot of Vandermark's stuff is pretty groove heavy. Not just swinging--a lot of his material likes to ride on the beat. William Parker, too, for that matter.

I listened to them out in the garden earlier today - very loudly. Actually, I liked them better today than I ever have before. (I'm not really very keen on either Hendrix or Abercrombie.) For the first time in 11 years, I noticed that the one original, "Jimi meets Miles" (though what Miles has to do with it, I don't know), is yet another version of Lonnie's car chase number, which he's recorded four (three other) times under different titles.

I might give them another go in a couple of months, to see if the effect was just the weather...

MG

[Guest akanalog]

amalgam hasn't been mentioned yet, has it? though it came up in funny rat recently.

for some acoustic-ish free funk-ish sort of stuff i recommend the earlier "innovation" and for more ornette and primetime kind of stuff i would recommend "sammana" and a bit less, "another time". these last two albums were coming out pretty much at the same time ornette was doing his thing, so they could be thought provoking as amalgam was trevor watts outfit in the UK.

[ep1str0phy]

amalgam hasn't been mentioned yet, has it? though it came up in funny rat recently.

for some acoustic-ish free funk-ish sort of stuff i recommend the earlier "innovation" and for more ornette and primetime kind of stuff i would recommend "sammana" and a bit less, "another time". these last two albums were coming out pretty much at the same time ornette was doing his thing, so they could be thought provoking as amalgam was trevor watts outfit in the UK.

I've been hearing some fine things about the group, although I can't locate any of their albums (anything out on CD?). I'm a fan of Watts, although I'm not entirely familiar with his 'leader' work.

MG--I guess I'll be looking into the Lonnie Smith...

[Д.Д.]

amalgam hasn't been mentioned yet, has it? though it came up in funny rat recently.

for some acoustic-ish free funk-ish sort of stuff i recommend the earlier "innovation" and for more ornette and primetime kind of stuff i would recommend "sammana" and a bit less, "another time". these last two albums were coming out pretty much at the same time ornette was doing his thing, so they could be thought provoking as amalgam was trevor watts outfit in the UK.

I've been hearing some fine things about the group, although I can't locate any of their albums (anything out on CD?). I'm a fan of Watts, although I'm not entirely familiar with his 'leader' work.

http://www.fmr-records.com/

[Clunky]

Tatas-Matoes (1968).

Here comes the man!

Put that one on my iPOd when I go out running, makes me go faster, it's an absolute master piece.

[Alexander Hawkins]

Tatas-Matoes (1968).

Here comes the man!

Put that one on my iPOd when I go out running, makes me go faster, it's an absolute master piece.

Blimey - a bit *too* fast for me, I'd think!

[ep1str0phy]

amalgam hasn't been mentioned yet, has it? though it came up in funny rat recently.

for some acoustic-ish free funk-ish sort of stuff i recommend the earlier "innovation" and for more ornette and primetime kind of stuff i would recommend "sammana" and a bit less, "another time". these last two albums were coming out pretty much at the same time ornette was doing his thing, so they could be thought provoking as amalgam was trevor watts outfit in the UK.

I've been hearing some fine things about the group, although I can't locate any of their albums (anything out on CD?). I'm a fan of Watts, although I'm not entirely familiar with his 'leader' work.

http://www.fmr-records.com/

Thanks--I saw a few of these at the SF Amoeba yesterday (and I'm considering shelling out for one or two).

[freeform83]

Sort of carrying this over from the avant-grease thread... I may not be too knowledgeable about this issue, but the soundtrack to the movie SWEET SWEETBACK'S BAADASSSSS SONG actually reminds me a lot of the sound being discussed here. There are some arty free-jazz tenor sax squeals placed over deep grooves at certain points. It goes really well with the visuals and spirit of the film.

[AndrewHill]

Ornette's Of Human Feelings (Antilles) gets free and funky. I'm playing it now, and its getting down!

Edited because when it comes to Ornette's Prime Time records, this one hardly ever gets mentioned, and its probably my favorite.

Edited June 22, 2007 by Holy Ghost

[K1969]

Three words:

THEME DE YOYO

An awesome groove if ever there was one. Malachi Favors and Don Moye showing the world how to do it.

p.s. in my excitement, I see I was beaten to it!

YES YES YES! This is the one. It can't be too repeated in any thread.

"Your voice is like a long fuck that's music to my brain" - just about says it all. Nice and twisted like I like my funk.

I neither like free jazz or pure funk that much, but loooooooooove FREE FUNK. why's that???????. I've always felt that this niche didn't explored enough. Second only to Yoyo, two words, the title track, First Impressions. if you don't know this you're in for a real treat.

Edited June 22, 2007 by K1969

[blajay]

Tatas-Matoes (1968).

Hey Chuck, will this be reissued ever? I missed the AEC Box.

[Chuck Nessa]

Tatas-Matoes (1968).

Hey Chuck, will this be reissued ever? I missed the AEC Box.

Later this year. Half the studio work is done at this point. I'll ago back in the (Chicago) studio when the friggin' snow stops.

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

good topic (even though i dont know 1/2 the people u guys are name-checking): for me, LANQUITY!!

[blajay]

Tatas-Matoes (1968).

Hey Chuck, will this be reissued ever? I missed the AEC Box.

Later this year. Half the studio work is done at this point. I'll ago back in the (Chicago) studio when the friggin' snow stops.

Excellent! Thanks.

[AndrewHill]

for me, LANQUITY!!

Oh hell yeah! And add (if no one has done it yet) Strange Celestial Road. And that's just scratching the surface of Ra's avant garde/grease/free funk period.

[Niko]

don't know whether this 1974 album fits the category but it definitely wasn't what i would have expected of a Jacques Pelzer album... there is some jazz rock in it (reminded me of soft machine in places), but the vocals also have a soul influence, and the two flutes/saxophones add a bit of freedom... (electric) pianist and singer Ron Wilson possibly was a member of Horace Tapscotts LA scene before emigrating to the Netherlands... Jacques Pelzer and his nephew Steve Houben on flute and saxophones, Pelzer's daughter Micheline on drums, her husband Michel Graillier on percussion plus Wilson on electric piano and Janot Buchem on electric bass...

can be found cheaply with a little searching on ebay or the like...

Open Sky Unit - Open Sky Unit

soundsamples:

http://www.whatmusic.com/info/productinfo....+more+info.y=26