Roswell Rudd, Blown Bone

[Eloe Omoe]

From the Emanem home page:

ROSWELL RUDD

BLOWN BONE

EMANEM 4131

ROSWELL RUDD trombone, misc perc

ENRICO RAVA trumpet

STEVE LACY soprano saxophone, misc perc

WILBUR LITTLE double bass

PAUL MOTIAN drum set

SHEILA JORDAN voice [on 2 & 3]

1 - IT'S HAPPENING - 10:59

2 - BLUES FOR THE PLANET EARTH - 3:57

3 - YOU BLEW IT - 5:35

Analogue studio recordings made in New York City

by Eddie Korvin - 1976 March 28

ROSWELL RUDD piano

ROBIN KENYATTA alto saxophone

KARL BERGER vibraphone

LEWIS WORRELL double bass

RICHARD YOUNGSTEIN double bass

HORACE ARNOLD drum set

4 - LONG HOPE - 4:27

Analogue studio recording made in New York City

- 1967 September

ROSWELL RUDD trombone, mbira, sanza, misc perc

KENNY DAVERN clarinet, soprano saxophone

STEVE LACY soprano saxophone, misc perc

TYRONE WASHINGTON tenor saxophone

PATTI BOWN electric piano

WILBUR LITTLE double bass

PAUL MOTIAN drum set

LOUISIANA RED electric guitar & voice [on 6]

JORDAN STECKEL bata drum [on 8]

5 - BLOWN BONE - 3:32

6 - CEMENT BLUES - 8:55

7 - STREET WALKING - 2:21

8 - BETHESDA FOUNTAIN - 11:08

Analogue studio recordings made in New York City

by Eddie Korvin - 1976 March 27

Total time 51:15

All except 4 originally issued in 1979 as Philips RJ-7490

4 previously unissued

Excerpts from sleeve notes:

Eddie Korvin's Blue Rock Studio on Greene Street in Soho was a great place to record because it was so comfortable for musicians. Eddie was relaxed, there was a room upstairs for privacy, and the studio felt more like a living room. Eddie's studio and the players on this album just happened to be available on these two days March 27th and 28th, 1976 in NYC - Steve Lacy and Enrico Rava, both living in Europe but passing through NY at this time. The chances of getting all these people together at one time would be one in a million and this was that time.

They were all in my life at the time - Steve Lacy, Kenny Davern, and Sheila Jordan going back to the late 1950's and early 1960's; Patti Bown, Paul Motian, and Enrico Rava from the 1970's; Wilbur Little, Tyrone Washington, Louisiana Red and Jordan Steckel from the time of the recording. The continuity that I had with Steve Lacy until his passing in 2004 and still have with Sheila Jordan, Enrico Rava, and Kenny Davern is very emotional for me.

BLOWN BONE was the name of a jazz suite conceived in the late '60's but not recorded until 1976. The personnel were exactly right and they all just happened to be at the same place ten years after I wrote it. BLOWN BONE is about New York City and the beauty, the energy, and the struggle. BLOWN BONE, CEMENT BLUES, STREET WALKING and BETHESDA FOUNTAIN was the conceived order of the suite.

IT'S HAPPENING is the first movement of a later jazz suite, HEARTBREAK AND REFORMULATION written around 1974, dedicated to Albert Ayler.

BLUES FOR THE PLANET EARTH and YOU BLEW IT were originally conceived for symphonic wind band (and performed at the Peace Church in Greenwich Village in 1968) as my reaction to garbage scows polluting New York Harbor. If that desecration provoked such anxiety in me at that time you can imagine my anxiety now! Sheila took out the 'S' and 'F' words and improved on the lyric as she has always done on my music. Of course the version here with a sextet is scaled way down from the originally conceived version. The important part for me was always the programmatic message of the earth calling out to human beings to alert them to the impending crises.

I've recently listened to the original vinyl recording, which was released only in Japan in 1979. I still have the same feeling - that the players and the music converged in a way that made it noumenal.

To separate the two 1976 sessions, the previously unissued 1967 recording of LONG HOPE has been inserted. This was the prologue to my first jazz opera: THE GOLD RUSH. The lyrics are shown on a screen while the band plays and a Native American Chief smokes a peace pipe and gestures: 'People, we were put here on Earth to take care of each other........'

ROSWELL RUDD (2006)

Roswell Rudd and Steve Lacy were reunited in 1976 following the original issue of the 1963 SCHOOL DAYS on Emanem (now on Hatology). Lacy's first visit to America in several years began with his recording TRICKLES (on Black Saint) with Rudd, Kent Carter & Beaver Harris, and ended with Rudd's BLOWN BONE. In between, Lacy played several solo concerts in various cities, including New York on March (not May) 16 (SNIPS on Jazz Magnet) and Montreal on March 24 (HOOKY).

Most of the musicians on these 1976 sessions are well known in jazz circles, so it perhaps only necessary to comment on those who are not. Patti Bown first appeared on record with Dinah Washington in 1957, and went on to record with Quincy Jones, Oscar Brown Jr, Gene Ammons, Etta Jones and others, as well as making her own trio date. Tyrone Washington's recording debut was with Horace Silver in 1966. He went on to record with several others, and led four dates of his own. BLOWN BONE appears to have been the last appearance on record for both of the above. (It also appears to have been the last date in the USA for Wilbur Little and Louisiana Red who both migrated to Europe.) Jordan Steckel is primarily a sculptor, who builds his own drums among other things. BETHESDA FOUNTAIN is his only recording.

All the musicians play well on these sessions, but it is perhaps the composing and arranging skills of Roswell Rudd that make such an unlikely line-up work so beautifully together.

MARTIN DAVIDSON (2006)

[CJ Shearn]

sorry, the album title made me chuckle

[Nate Dorward]

Thanks for posting this--I'd already put a heads-up in the Tyrone Washington thread. This is a great, great album--been playing it a lot ever since I got the promo from Martin.

[Late]

I'm all over this one. Thanks for the heads-up.

Did Emanem and Psi merge? Squidco (where I usually buy Emanem discs) lists these two labels together. Maybe that's just for convenience.

[Nate Dorward]

They're essentially the same in terms of distribution, &c., but Emanem is Martin Davidson's label, Psi is a label under the Emanem umbrella tghat's curated by Evan Parker.

[Guest akanalog]

i went into downtown music gallery and kims to look for this. not at either place. oh well.

[Nate Dorward]

Wouldn't have been there yet, most likely--I got my copy hot off the presses from Martin just the other day.

[Guest akanalog]

i hate it when that shit happens at DMG.

i go in and ask for something new and if they don't have it they act like i am insane and suggest what i must mean and then when i say, "no i mean what i said' then they say it wasn't listed or they haven't heard anything about it and suggest other things i must be confusing said item with instead of just saying "oh cool, we will see if it is available".

[clifford_thornton]

I know what you mean. That attitude is RE-TAR-DED. Like if they don't know of it, it must not exist.

Anyway, I am sort of surprised Emanem is reissuing it (and sorta not), also never heard positive things about the record which kept me from being a nerd and buying the LP in the first place. It's since become somewhat expensive.

What's most attractive to me is this:

ROSWELL RUDD piano

ROBIN KENYATTA alto saxophone

KARL BERGER vibraphone

LEWIS WORRELL double bass

RICHARD YOUNGSTEIN double bass

HORACE ARNOLD drum set

4 - LONG HOPE - 4:27

Analogue studio recording made in New York City

- 1967 September

But I wish there was an extra ten minutes of a track like that to get excited about. The band is majorly hip! Youngstein was/is(?) a fine player, if not quite the poet that Worrell is.

[JSngry]

I've had an LP dub of this one for a few years now, & it's a pretty downhome affair. Kenny Davern is a gas!

[paul secor]

I've had the LP since it came out, and to me it always seemed like it should have been a better record than it was. Sometimes a lot of good names don't always add up to good music. For me, the record's always seemed like a bit of a mish-mash. Just one man's opinion.

[Guest akanalog]

do you think "inside job" will ever come out on CD?

i like that one.

the negativity for "blown bone" in this thread reduces my excitment for it greatly.

maybe i won't buy it.

Edited September 28, 2006 by akanalog

[Chuck Nessa]

Good to have it available but no big deal.

[clifford_thornton]

the negativity for "blown bone" in this thread reduces my excitment for it greatly.

maybe i won't buy it.

You could chewy-it and listen online first!