Frank Lowe

[Late]

Fans of Frank Lowe here? What are your favorites?

Are the duos with Rashied Ali on compact disc? I haven't heard those ... but want to.

[JSngry]

[Late]

Yep, Decision in Paradise is a good one. Exotic Heartbreak, Lowe's other Soul Note, is also good. So is his sole Black Saint, The Flam.

If you can find Lowe's Fresh on Black Lion, snatch it up! Transferred from pretty hissy vinyl, but an engaging listen.

[JohnS]

The Flam is especially good and a favourite of mine, the Soul Notes are fine too. The final recordings on CIMP are a little sad, not surprising in the circumstances but he does make a telling appearance on Billy Bang's Vietnam. There's also Black Beings on ESP, but I've not palyed that for a while.

I recently sold my vinyl Duo Exchange - good stuff really but not the music I'm listening to now.

[Late]

Dang! I hope you transferred a copy to CD for your personal collection.

[JSngry]

If you can find Lowe's Fresh on Black Lion, snatch it up!

Agreed, and strongly so.

Even better would be to find the Arista/Freedom LP. That way, the hiss is built in and ain't a problem.

[paul secor]

A second on Exotic Heartbreak

A third onDecision in Paradise

I like Frank Lowe Quintet: Live from Soundscape (DIW)

and Out of Nowhere (Ecstatic Peace), a one sided EP - duets with Phillip Wilson - is a good one.

[jlhoots]

Frank Lowe Quintet: Soul Folks

[Alexander Hawkins]

Are the duos with Rashied Ali on compact disc? I haven't heard those ... but want to.

I think I'm right in saying 'Duo Exchange' is available on emusic - I don't know whether or not it also exists on CD!

[ep1str0phy]

If I weren't so depressed about Dewey leaving, I'd be a little more enthusiastic--so here goes:

-'Duo Exchange' is terrific and on CD. Some of Rashied's heaviest work.

-'Black Beings' is some explosive shit--some of the hardest post-Trane free blowing on record (although not very dynamic).

-I'm a huge fan of the CIMPs, although they're not as explosive as the earlier sides. A lot of sensitivity here.

[Kalo]

Yes, great record.

[Late]

Oh f*ck. Didn't know this one had made it to cd.

Ka-ching.

[Head Man]

'The Flam' & 'Fresh' are very good early recordings, as is the recently re-released CD on the Marge Label called 'Tricks of the Trade'.

'Exotic heartbreak' & 'Decision in paradise' on Soul Note are both excellent but the bestest Frank Lowe in my opinion is 'Live from Soundscape' on DIW. A terrific live set from 1993 with Frank playing in a quintet with 'Butch' Morris - Cornet; Amina Claudine Myers - piano; Wilbur Morris - bass & Tim Pleasant - drums.

[jazzbo]

Black Beings is the one I'm most familiar with. EXCELLENT. Need to investigate others.

[Late]

For Frank Lowe enthusiasts, pick up a copy of pianist/composer Steve Cohn's The Beggar & The Robot in Diamonds. Lowe's only on half the session (and his contributions are strictly in a supporting role), but this is a great cd. Cohn is a recent discovery for me — very atmospheric music.

[alocispepraluger102]

laz vega at blue lake has a beautiful tape of a very moving live lowe performance very late in his life with billy bang at blue lake fine arts camp.

just ask and i bet he'll play it for you.

[P.L.M]

THE FLAME (BLACK SAINT) comes first for me.

The others on SOUL NOTE are worth to have, particularly EXOTIC HEARTBREAK with BUTCH and WILBER MORRIS and AMINA MEYERS.

DUO EXCHANGE is warmly recommanded.

THE CIMP are fine albums by any standard.

My favorite is BODIES AND SOUL (with CHARLES MOFFET & bassist TIM FLOOD) but VISION BLUE is nearly as good (with STEVE NEIL on bass and ANDERS GIFFEN on drums).

But my two favorites albums with THE FLAME comes from the session that LOWE recorded in france with bassist BERNARD SANTACRUZ who have huge and warm bass sound.

The first AFTER THE DEMON'S LEAVING (AA), from 1996, is a trio with DENIS CHARLES on drums, the second, SHORT TALES (BLEU REGARD), from 2000, is a calm and beautifull duet between the two men.

One worth hearing too, is another duet, the one he recorded with EUGENE CHADBOURNE (who really "plays" on this record), DON'T PUNK OUT on EMANEM.

It's also the occasion to hear FRANK LOWE in unaccompanied solo on three tracks recorded years later.

[JohnS]

Remember this one?

[Late]

Never heard it, John — care to share details?

[HW!]

'Twas with Olu Dara, Leo Smith, Philip Wilson and Freddie Williams. Not his best, but haven't spinned it in a long time.

Talking about oddities, my favorite is the Jerome Cooper double set on Kharma, "Positions 369". Lowe blowing against Kalaparusha, and Cooper doing wild percussions... They all have their solo spots, and there are incredible duets between FL and McIntyre.

At the end of 1976 he made a short sojourn in France which provided two fine records on Marge and Palm:

The "french" rhythm section consists of Didier Levallet and George Brown, and Butch Morris is on cornet. "Tricks of the Trade", the Marge one, is on CD.

Edited September 4, 2006 by HW!

[king ubu]

Here's the Marge, a pretty noisy affair, plenty of non-LP material on the CD (it's about twice as much music as was on the LP):

No Lowe expert at all, but I love "Bodies and Soul" (CIMP) quite some. A few very, very moving tunes on it.

Then I can add yet another recommendation for "Fresh".

But I still need to hunt "The Flam"... and a few others, I assume, reading this thread!