India Navigation

[Chalupa]

OK, I admit I'm a little late in discovering the India Navigation label. I've been impressed by everything I've heard so far. I did a search and couldn't find an Organissimo thread(I did find one over at AAJ but I tend to avoid that site if possible) devoted to the label, so here goes. I'd like members to share recommendations for future purchases(what to get, what to avoid), stories about the label(its history) or Bob Cummins. Any info about the current status of the recordings would be welcomed. I found this discography which is helpful but it doesn't tell me what recordings have made it to CD.

Here's what I have:

Chico Freeman - Chico, Kings Of Mali, The Outside Within, The Search

Jay Hoggard - Mystic Winds, Tropic Breezes; Riverside Dance

Bob Neloms - Pretty Music

Dennis Moorman - Circle Of Destiny

Edited March 28, 2008 by J.H. Deeley

[Chalupa]

Crimped from the AAJ thread posted by Marcello(thanks for this!!)

The Last Post

Bob Cummins

Record producer and label owner

Born: 1932

Died: August 17, 2000 in New York City, New York

Valuable Documenter of the Loft Jazz Scene

Copyright © 2000

The Scotsman, 2000

Bob Cummins earned the gratitude of anyone who followed the New York-based free jazz scene, particularly if they did so from afar. Cummins, a corporate lawyer by profession, launched and ran the small but influential record label India Navigation, which played a crucial role in helping document and preserve the music emerging from the radical loft-jazz scene in Manhattan in the 1970s and 1980s.

That scene focused on the downtown district, where musicians often took over unused buildings or obscure clubs as venues for their musical experiments. Cummins was a devoted follower of the scene, and made his first recording in 1972, featuring the Revolutionary Ensemble, a trio of violinist Leroy Jenkins, bassist Sirone, and drummer (and pianist) Jerome Cooper.

Although he often worked in the recording studio, Cummins liked to record the music in a live setting, valuing the immediacy and spontaneity of such on-the-wing creation. Some of the label’s most celebrated recordings were made in this way, including saxophonist David Murray’s seminal Flowers For Albert, recorded at the Ladies Fort in the East Village in 1976, and his subsequent Live at the Lower Manhattan Ocean Club in 1977, which also featured the late Lester Bowie on trumpet.

India Navigation’s record sleeves were often illustrated with photographs taken by his daughter, Beth Cummins. He oversaw all of the label’s releases, which numbered around 70 at the time of his death, and in addition to Murray, featured musicians like saxophonists Hamiet Bluiett, Chico Freeman and Arthur Blythe, flautist James Newton, vibraphonist Jay Hoggard, pianists Muhal Richard Abrams and Kenny Barron, bassists Anthony Davis and Cecil McBee, and drummers Billy Hart and Jack De Johnette, as well as Bluiett’s Clarinet Summit group and an album matching Chico Freeman with his tenor-playing father, Von Freeman. Many of the label’s original vinyl releases were reissued on CD on the 1990s.

Cummins continued to work as a lawyer throughout his career, and often acted for jazz musicians who were facing legal or contractual problems. He worked for Western Union, then formed his own corporate law firm. He set up his own studios in several locations over the years, one of which, in an ironic echo, was located in the former Western Union Building in TriBeCa. More recently, he built a studio in a disused water bottling factory in Grand View, New York, which also served as a family home for a time.

Bob Cummins died of prostate cancer on 17 August, at the age of 68. He is survived by his wife, Nancy; his daughter, Beth; his son, Thomas; and a grand-daughter.

and.........

o INDIA NAVIGATION

Bob Cummins was a lawyer who specialized in government contracts; but he had a passion for jazz. When he came to New York in 1968, he quickly got involved in what was called "the loft scene." Musicians played in loft spaces and audiences gathered to bear witness to vigorous, creative jazz. Cummins bought a Tandberg tape recorder to capture the sessions for those musicians who wanted a document. From this experience, India Navigation was born. A couple of these recordings, including a Chet Baker/Lee Konitz performance, actually ended up on the label. Much praise has gone to India Navigation's Clarinet Summit -- Live at the Public Theater. It captures an astonishing event that produced remarkable music. The rare concert featured a clarinet quartet that spans jazz history -- Alvin Baptiste of New Orleans, Ellington stalwart Jimmy Hamilton, and avant-gardists John Carter and David Murray.

The label's support probably helped make the concert possible. The musicians prepared in India Navigation's office.

"I heard them rehearse," recalls Cummins, "and I said God do you know how good this sounds?"

TYPE: Jazz

ARTISTS: Arthur Blythe; Anthony Davis; Chico Freeman; Jay Hoggard; Cecil McBee; David Murray; James Newton.

CATALOG: Free

FORMATS: CD, Vinyl

ADDRESS: 177 Franklin St.

New York NY 10013 PHONE: 212.219.3670

CONTACT: Bob Cummins

[Chuck Nessa]

Bob Cummins was a friend of mine. I miss his warm spirit.

I have the following cds:

Arthur Blythe - In Concert

Clarinet Summit - In Concert at the Public Theater

Chico Freeman - Chico

Chico Freeman / Von Freeman - Freeman & Freeman

Chet Baker & Lee Konitz - In Concert

David Murray - Live at the Lower Manhattan Ocean Club

Somewhere I have a complete list of the issued cds but can't locate it right now.

[AndrewHill]

I only have one: David Murray-Flowers for Albert:The Complete Concert. Pretty smokin' for early Murray. Passed on a Pharoah Sanders live disk because it got so-so reviews. Can't think of the title of it right off hand.

[Dan Gould]

I only have the Big Nick LP. I ought to add that one to my list of potential BFT tracks.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I only have the Pharoah Sanders (on LP), which is one of his I like a lot.

MG

[rostasi]

I've got these. Quite a variety, so it's a bit hard to recommend things

to someone I don't know. You've got Baraka's poetry and solo piano from

Anthony Davis and with James Newton you've got something bordering on "chamber jazz", etc...

I'll need some time to go thru the list.

the Ocean Club, just as an off-hand thought, is great

as well as the "modern music" things

(what's with the "Thomas 'Snake' Johnson"? - never heard Tom call himself that? -

betcha 7/4 will find that amusingly weird)),

but I need to look at the list later and refresh my memory about these titles.

R~~

[clifford_thornton]

I only have one: David Murray-Flowers for Albert:The Complete Concert. Pretty smokin' for early Murray. Passed on a Pharoah Sanders live disk because it got so-so reviews. Can't think of the title of it right off hand.

Yeah, the Murray titles on the label are sweet, and that's a great place to start!

I've long had a fondness for the Alan Braufman, which isn't on CD. It's a very early recording of Cooper-Moore, then going by his birth name, Gene Ashton.

Though they don't get a lot of love by some, I think the minimal music issued on the label is pretty great - Yoshi Wada, Arnold Dreyblatt, Phill Niblock.

[Head Man]

This is/was a terrific label which released some of my favourite 1970's music. I have 15 albums including all the ones previously mentioned and my favourites are the two by Chico Freeman playing ballads - 'Spirit Sensitive' & 'Still Sensitive'. They are both wonderful.

[Chalupa]

So is there any truth to the rumor that the ownership of the recordings reverted back to the performers w/ Bob Cummins' death?

[clifford_thornton]

I wouldn't be surprised, but Chuck probably knows more.

I also heard a rumor that Bernard Stollman gave his "blessing" to Cummins to pick up where ESP left off - whatever that means!

[AllenLowe]

I basically set up the recording session that Bob Neloms did for Cummings, so I got to know him a little, he was a good guy - he was married and I suppose his wife is still around so she may own the masters - as I recall she owned some kind of small cafe in NYC - but this goes back about 20 years or so -

also, has anyone mentioned the "live" Lee Konitz/Chet Baker record that India put out? Nice LP, as I recall, recorded at one of the NYC lofts -

Edited March 31, 2008 by AllenLowe

[Christiern]

I agree with Chuck, Cummings was a very pleasant man with a wonderful label. The Bernie Stollman story does not have a plausible ring to it--there was a big difference between the two labels. My stylus was never clogged up by silkscreen ink when I played India Navigation LPs.

[rostasi]

Stollman's Last.FM page:

http://www.last.fm/user/EbeSstP/

[7/4]

as well as the "modern music" things

(what's with the "Thomas 'Snake' Johnson"? - never heard Tom call himself that? -

betcha 7/4 will find that amusingly weird)),

I'm not familiar with it.

.

[clifford_thornton]

The Bernie Stollman story does not have a plausible ring to it--there was a big difference between the two labels. My stylus was never clogged up by silkscreen ink when I played India Navigation LPs.

Right, and there's no Tony Snell on India Navigation!

[king ubu]

I think this is the only one I've heard - very good: Hamiet Bluiett - Im/Possible to Keep (2CD)

This double-CD, released for the first time in 1996, has the 37½-minute performance "Sobra Una Nube" that was originally released as the LP S.O.S., plus five other previously unreleased selections (two of which are quite lengthy) from the same engagement. Recorded at a small club during the now-legendary loft period in New York City, baritonist Hamiet Bluiett (who also plays some effective clarinet and flute) is featured with pianist Don Pullen (who was really coming into his own during this era), bassist Fred Hopkins and drummer/percussionist Don Moye. Not having to worry about time or style restraints, the four brilliant musicians really have an opportunity to stretch out, yet the music never flags or wanders. Bluiett uses his mastery of screeching high notes on the baritone fairly sparingly, while Pullen's percussive yet free improvising is surprisingly accessible. Although it helps greatly to have open ears, this music communicates pretty well. One of Hamiet Bluiett's best early recordings.

ARTISTS

Hamiet Bluiett (baritone sax, clarinet, wood flute, flute); Don Pullen (piano); Fred Hopkins (bass); Don Moye (percussion)

[rostasi]

as well as the "modern music" things

(what's with the "Thomas 'Snake' Johnson"? - never heard Tom call himself that? -

betcha 7/4 will find that amusingly weird)),

I'm not familiar with it.

We certainly are having our communications problems...

It's the "Thomas 'Snake' Johnson" moniker I was referring to.

[Chalupa]

$122.50 w/ over 4 hours to go.....

http://cgi.ebay.com/Spiritual-Jazz-LP-Indi...1QQcmdZViewItem

Dang.

EDIT: sold for $127.50

Edited April 8, 2008 by J.H. Deeley

[Chalupa]

Though they don't get a lot of love by some, I think the minimal music issued on the label is pretty great - Yoshi Wada, Arnold Dreyblatt, Phill Niblock.

FWIW.... There's a big article on Yoshi Wada in this month's Wire. His India Navigation album has just been reissued on CD by EM Records (Japan).

[king ubu]

Found James Newton's "Paseo Del Mar" - halfway through my first listen now - the overdubbed solo piece is very fascinating!

[Pim]

Does anyone own the 2008 unofficial release of the Pharoah LP? I wonder what the sound quality is like. 

Dont get me wrong, I never buy unofficial stuff  but I really don’t see any other way to buy this music in a physical form.

Edited February 28, 2019 by Pim