October Revolution in Jazz 1964... Any recordings?

[paul secor]

A bit of info and a photo of Midge Pike here: http://electricjive.blogspot.com/2012/05/hidden-winston-mankunku-ngozi-gem-found.html

[JSngry]

So look - 90 days that changed the music forever. You can't even get a 90 day warranty for some shit these days.

1 hour ago, paul secor said:

A bit of info and a photo of Midge Pike here: http://electricjive.blogspot.com/2012/05/hidden-winston-mankunku-ngozi-gem-found.html

Midge!

[romualdo]

lots of downloadable (free) audio containing Midge from Ian Bruce Huntley's recordings (60's to early 70's) in South Africa

http://electricjive.blogspot.com.au/p/ibh-audio-archive-posts.html

[gvopedz]

On ‎11‎/‎12‎/‎2017 at 4:48 PM, JSngry said:

Also - JIMMY GIUFFRE. That Resonance(?) set of a few years ago, pay attention if not already done, Jimmy Giuffre being there for this was no accident.

 

 

Who believes that Giuffre's "being there" was an "accident"?  In a 1964 article about the October Revolution in Jazz, the student newspaper of Columbia University published this comment about GIuffre:

 

Jimmy Guiffre [sic] is one of the leaders and masters of the new element of jazz which is actually an experiment in sound.  He performed alone on clarinet, and everyone listened…I am sure no one could have predicted what would follow, but today Jimmy Guiffre stands straight, closes his eyes, and then clicks the keys of his horn, plays two (and occasionally three) tones simultaneously, plays without his mouthpiece, plays the mouthpiece alone, squeals, roars, groans, whispers and rumbles.  All the debates about whether such sound experiment is still music are worthless.  Guiffre prefaced his playing by saying that he was "not a Subversive," that everything he did was "between me and the stick and the maker."  He forgot to mention the audience.  It is evident that this will not be the pop music of any tomorrow.

Edited March 16, 2018 by gvopedz

[corto maltese]

On 11/13/2017 at 11:48 PM, JSngry said:

I'll see your Ali Jackson and raise you a Midge Pike. Who the hell was/is that???? I kinda go out of the path whenever confronted with a person named "Midge", it's just one of those names that freezes me up for some reason.

Don Heckman, not so much. I don't know how many records of his own, if any, have been released, but excerpts from this https://books.google.com/books?id=LqTZ6SrMkF0C&pg=PA35&lpg=PA35&dq=don+heckman+john+benson-brooks&source=bl&ots=u1BOogOfNM&sig=xqQfWCWqlwkevWtTHtJx6ZSEe84&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj21f2O47zXAhUrhlQKHUDnD84Q6AEIRjAI#v=onepage&q=don%20heckman%20john%20benson-brooks&f=false

probably are the source for what is heard here in excerpts of the audio-collage that is: https://www.discogs.com/John-Benson-Brooks-Trio-Avant-Slant-One-Plus-1-II/release/5535957

This is a record I casually but repeatedly like to throw out there, not because it's "good", but it is definitely interesting. John Benson-Brooks should not be casually dismissed in any way. Just sayin'.

And it's the same Don Heckman who co-produced, annotated, and played clarinet/bass clarinet on BS&T 4, which once you get past it being Blood, Sweat & Tears and all that comes with that, is not at all a bad record. Or maybe it is. But I like it better than any other from this run of the band. So...maybe it is bad, but still, since you asked, yeah, Don Heckman (later long-time music critic for the LA Times, right?) got around more than might be evident to the casual observer, at least as much as Robert Palmer, quite possibly more, and definitely earlier.

People often come with stories, Don Heckman certainly does, so what about Midge Pike?

Also - JIMMY GIUFFRE. That Resonance(?) set of a few years ago, pay attention if not already done, Jimmy Giuffre being there for this was no accident.

 

Also, in my life this remains one of the iconic "jazz" photos, taken shortly after the concerts of the OP:

It didn't/couldn't last in this form, but there they are, look at them and don't be confused, there they are.

 

That concert by the Free Form Improvisation Ensemble has been released under Burton Greene's name.

[AllenLowe]

just a historical note, though I think it's important - according to what Bley told me (and he may have also discussed this in his autobio) the whole thing gradually fell apart due, in large part, to Shepp's contract to record for Impulse. This pulled him out of the organization, and there was a lot of jealousy, people saying he was 'selling out." Paul's feeling was 'why shouldn't he take the opportunity?"

[clifford_thornton]

Yes, that's true. Also Ra did not like Carla Bley being involved.

[JSngry]

As an organization, it was probably doomed to fail. As a movement, there was no option for it to do anything but grow. Personalities are what they are, but so is the momentum of inevitability.

[Simon Weil]

4 hours ago, AllenLowe said:

just a historical note, though I think it's important - according to what Bley told me (and he may have also discussed this in his autobio) the whole thing gradually fell apart due, in large part, to Shepp's contract to record for Impulse. This pulled him out of the organization, and there was a lot of jealousy, people saying he was 'selling out." Paul's feeling was 'why shouldn't he take the opportunity?"

"When I showed up, the Jazz Composers Guild had already been in place for several meetings. There was already tension in the group, because of Bill [Dixon]'s notion that we were all going to form a cooperative against the record companies of the world. We would deny our services collectively to band leaders, to any record company, until we could form our own record company, which would take the lion's share of the profits in return for minor administrative tasks, which is how the musicians perceived the record companies. However, Archie Shepp had just been offered a contract with Impulse, and Bill believed that he should turn it down. You could see his point; it was built into the name: guilds strike. Historically, that's what they do.

But Archie had a family to support and he sure wasn't going to turn down any money, certainly not a lump of money like an Impulse contract. That was is for Bill. He got up and left the meeting. He didn't return until months later. That was a problem because he was the founder.

After that, Roswell Rudd and I ran the Guild for over a year[.] We started putting on weekly concerts where 5 bands would play...

After the "October Revolution" Concert at The Cellar  in 1964, enthusiasm was high - the phone started ringing and didn't stop ringing. We found the New York press loved the idea of a musician-run co-op...

Months later, Bill Dixon showed up at a meeting and announced he was taking over the Guild again. We said. "OK, no problem. We're overworked and we'd love to have you."

At this point the meetings were very well attended, because we realized that if we stopped showing up at meetings, the Guild would cease to exist...

Bill said "...I want to have meetings at my house."

The meeting was called, everyone agreed to show up, and we filed out. But when the meeting time came....nobody showed up..."

Stopping Time - Paul Bley p92-7

 

 

Edited March 16, 2018 by Simon Weil

[AllenLowe]

thanks; I miss Paul.