Braxton Iridium box set - Yes or No?

[jeffcrom]

Okay, I'm in Tuscaloosa for the first two concerts of the Anthony Braxton's residency at the University of Alabama. He brought some copies of the Iridium box set, which are for sale at somewhat below market price. So - should I buy one at the concert tomorrow night? Braxton's Ghost Trance music is my least favorite part of his output, but I'm open to new things and willing to learn. I've been wanting to hear Steve Lehman with Braxton.

You've got 20 hours or so to advise me. Go!

[B. Clugston]

It's good, but it's sheer size is daunting. You really have to spend a lot of time with this music. There's a one disc CD of this band on Victo if you prefer smaller portions.

[MomsMobley]

If you're not already a GTM adept, pass. It won't change your mind and same lessons can be learned elsewhere for less, either in the first Braxton House run or the four-cd 2006 quartet set on Important. It's cool the Iridium box exists but if you're talking a 100 bones... i'd start smaller & only jump for the box when you're craving more.

[clifford_thornton]

yeah, I got mine for free and still haven't made my way through all of it. The Important box, however, has been jammed a bunch.

[Leeway]

I would heartily recommend it. It's central to Braxton's work, and, on a more subjective note, I've enjoyed listening to it. You can usually pick up sets for around $85 on the Net. If he's got it for much less, grab it.

PS: plus it supports the artist!

Edited February 19, 2015 by Leeway

[colinmce]

I would also vote yes (though I don't own it...yet, but have sampled it). I think it will reward you for many years to come. I do get the feeling this is as advanced as the GTM music gets and the ensemble is redoubtable.

[Leeway]

Yes, it is GTM, but already emerging from GTM into new areas, so there's a flexibility and vibrancy to it. It's quite absorbing music, and like Colin said, it rewards repeated listening. And look at the marvelous corps of musicians:

Musicians: Mary Halvorson - electric guitar; Nicole Mitchell - flute, alto and bass flutes, piccolo, voice; Sara Schoenbeck - bassoon, suona; Reut Regev - trombone, flugelbone; Carl Testa - acoustic bass, bass clarinet; Anthony Braxton - alto, soprano, and sopranino saxophones, clarinet, Eb contralto clarinet; James Fei - alto and soprano saxophones, clarinet, bass clarinet; Andrew Raffo Dewar - soprano and c-melody saxophones, clarinet; Jay Rozen - tuba, euphonium; Stephen H. Lehman - alto and sopranino saxophones; Jessica Pavone - viola, violin; Aaron Siegel - percussion, vibraphone; Taylor Ho Bynum - cornet, flugelhorn, trumpbone, piccolo and bass trumpets, shell.

[erwbol]

I don't know how late accelerator class GTM compares to earlier GTM (I own Iridium, Quartet (GTM) 2006, & London 2004), but have you sampled accelerator class performances yet?

The 56 page booklet from the Iridium set is also really informative for listeners new to GTM. Just pick a couple of discs based on the set-to-set reviews (by the participating musicians among others) from the second half of the booklet and focus on those for the time being. I would recommend this box set to anybody interested in Braxton's music.

Getting your hands on the most relevant recordings from Braxton's earlier output is expensive anyway, and you're already committed.

Edited February 19, 2015 by erwbol

[David Ayers]

Iridium is on Spotify. Might take out some of the guesswork.

[jeffcrom]

Thanks to all for your input. I ended up buying it tonight, for some reasons that are logical and some that are emotional. The latter includes the fan-boy excitement I have felt over the past two days. The music has been intoxicating, and I suspect that this is the last time I will hear Braxton in person.

More rationally, I've listened to some samples, and liked them. The price was right, and I assume that Braxton will get a considerably larger chunk of that than if I bought it elsewhere. But the deciding factor was that, as I drove around central Alabama today, I listened to several discs of Six Compositions (GTM) 2001. I was disappointed in this album when I bought it, but today it clicked with me as never before. The monolithity* of the ensembles didn't bother me at all, and I heard the changing colors in a way I hadn't previously. I think I have turned a corner with the Ghost Trance thing.

*I don't think this is actually a word, but I like it, and will use it in the future.

[mjazzg]

Enjoy it! Fanboy reasons can be good reasons, I find. And now I kind of regret not buying it from him a month or so ago. I didn't for the same doubts about GTM in your original post and bought the set with Fujiwara and Rainey instead. I'll make do with Spotify for a while and then one day......

let us know what you make of it?

Edited February 20, 2015 by mjazzg

[jeffcrom]

let us know what you make of it?

Three discs in, I'm very favorably impressed. These are long pieces, but there is a lot of variety in each one. Written melodies lead to improvisations; new melodies appear underneath improvised passages; the colors and textures change frequently. This music must be fiendishly difficult to perform well, but this ensemble makes it sound easy.

And Steve Lehman's quarter-tone scale near the end of disc two cracked me up.

[CraigP]

I need to revisit this. Later period Ghost Trance music finally helped me turn the corner on this segment of Braxton's music, because as Jeffcrom said, the monolithity* of the sound is more varied and "broken up" by groupings of instruments.

[jlhoots]

The DVD in the box is nice too.

[Chuck Nessa]

I was about to post the same thing.

[Face of the Bass]

Is this the set to get if one wants to best get acquainted with Braxton's GTM period? Or would one of the earlier releases be better?

[jeffcrom]

Is this the set to get if one wants to best get acquainted with Braxton's GTM period? Or would one of the earlier releases be better?

There may be others more qualified to answer this than me, but here's my two cents. Musically, this is the best GTM I've heard (for my tastes anyway). And the ensemble is top-notch, with some of Braxton's most important collaborators of the past few years. So from those standpoints, yes, this would be a great introduction. But as others have said, the scope of this set is a little daunting - I still haven't heard a couple of the discs yet. It's hard to think of ten discs as an introduction.

I had previously enjoyed Four Compositions (GTM) 2000 on Delmark quite a bit, compared to other GTM I had heard. It's a little more approachable in several ways - it's a standard jazz quartet format, and a single disc, with four compositions. It's certainly a cheaper and safer way to start.

[JSngry]

FWIW, I might have mentioned that my first exposure to the whole GTM thing was a while back, travelling back on 1-20, cold, misty weather, traffic stopped and backed up for miles due to some kind of an accident. I had it on while waiting for things to get moving, left lane, stuck, and out of the bad-weather distance came some road crew people, vests, boots, hard hats, the whole deal, and they were just...moving, but not much else, just a slow, dulled walk to god knows where. I noticed that their walk was somehow eerily in sync with the music. Bad weather, stuck in one place, ghostly moving people walking past, I got Ghost Trance Music right then and there in a way I might never have elsewise elsewhere. Or may I didn't really get it, maybe I just formed an association that made sense to me. Either way, I've dug it ever since.

[David Ayers]

I guess folks already know of this video, but just in case"

[Face of the Bass]

FWIW, I might have mentioned that my first exposure to the whole GTM thing was a while back, travelling back on 1-20, cold, misty weather, traffic stopped and backed up for miles due to some kind of an accident. I had it on while waiting for things to get moving, left lane, stuck, and out of the bad-weather distance came some road crew people, vests, boots, hard hats, the whole deal, and they were just...moving, but not much else, just a slow, dulled walk to god knows where. I noticed that their walk was somehow eerily in sync with the music. Bad weather, stuck in one place, ghostly moving people walking past, I got Ghost Trance Music right then and there in a way I might never have elsewise elsewhere. Or may I didn't really get it, maybe I just formed an association that made sense to me. Either way, I've dug it ever since.