Michael Cosmic Reissue finally here

[clifford_thornton]

ha, I wouldn't mind tele-transporting myself somewhere else a lot of the time!

[mjazzg]

First listen to CD 1 and it's apparent that this is a very worthwhile release that's been carried out with care and attention. I look forward to getting to know all the music.

It's already prompted me to order a copy of Musiki reissue on Holidays (more of your persuasive words Clifford appear against its Discogs entry)

Edited December 7, 2017 by mjazzg

[jazzbo]

Must mention the excellent sound on this reissue. Spacey yet precise, atmospheric without gimmicks.

[clifford_thornton]

Thanks! We did take a lot of care in mastering these from original reel tapes, but I think the initial recordings themselves were very well done.

I can say that the Ertunç record is great as well.

[ep1str0phy]

Hey, folks--I disappeared up the crevice for a while and so I'm not sure how much weight this recommendation brings, but this reissue is legit. I say this with full acknowledgment for the fact that Clifford's been a friend and supporter for a long time--I speak purely to musical considerations, since ultimately that's all that matters.

I went on an obsessive box binge over the holidays, and the clear winners were this one and the Joe McPhee Nation Time recording box from a few years back. I think that the music of this vintage arrived at moment when the exigencies of spontaneity and identity affirmation had to confront, by virtue of time and external realities, things like structural innovation and technical achievement. The AACM guys are the deserving, historically acknowledged masters of this era, but it's deeply instructive to peek in on all these regional scenes to see how the same philosophical and conceptual considerations were being dealt with in different, often divergent ways.

I've been listening, too, to Sunny Murray's music in the wake of his passing, and I'm reminded a bit of something the former Marvin Patillo said to me once--that many of the guys from this vintage "could not play" and this was a well-traded truth. The people who could, or whose concepts were coherent enough to survive the era--capital letter people like Ornette or lesser known lights like Noah Howard--found ways to adjust or pivot out of the pure, dispersive free thing of the 60's. The rub against this is the (controversial) reality that people with incomplete technical concepts--like McPhee, who started playing tenor in '68 and recorded Underground Railroad in '68-69 (!)--can and did make substantive contributions to the embodied intellect of the music. 

This speaks a little to Cosmic's music but also, I think, says a lot about some of the reservations I have about both contemporary free jazz and the composite picture of modern day avant-garde composition/improvisation. There's just a lot of flail-y, unrealized free jazz and a lot of overwrought, technically sterile avant-garde stuff traded about. There's also a lot of deeply brilliant regional and "big city" music that goes unheard because of the philosophical dint of modern jazz criticism. I can only imagine my excitement at hearing something as bloody and real as the Cosmic/Musra group or Nation Time in the early 1970's--and take stock in the understanding that there's a lot of similarly exciting music happening everywhere, right now. 

This is all a circular way of saying that things like Peace in the World are absolutely invaluable documents of both the era and the un-dimming spirit of (in the romantic sense) unheard music. I was only peripherally attuned to this music before, and I can hear the debt to things like the early AACM music, the Paris guys, and Center of the World, but it's absolutely it's own thing--played with conviction and energy and its own ragged precision, and not so dissimilar to, say, the wilder experiments of the UGMAA or earlier William Parker. It's big, blustery, loping music, but there's a clear compositional and technical impetus at play, and most important of all, it's as far away from boring as the needle can get. 

[clifford_thornton]

Thanks so much for your insight!! I'll pass this along.

[Stefan Wood]

I'm late to this, but ordered.  Haven't been buying much jazz in the past year.

[OliverM]

Received and enjoyed it very much while the site was down so only reporting now. Congratulations and thank you very much for allowing us to access to this music in such an informative way. Looking forward to plunging into this again, as it's very new to me, not much to compare to yet. Loving the instrumentation.

[clifford_thornton]

Ah, swell -- great to hear, thanks!

[felser]

Ordered today.

[Stefan Wood]

Got this last month.  Heard 2/3 of it.  Great reissue!

[Chuck Nessa]

Nicely done.

[clifford_thornton]

Thanks, all!

And as always, anyone having trouble finding this release can contact me.

Edited February 15, 2018 by clifford_thornton

[sidewinder]

I’m torn between picking up the LP version or the CD version of this one, Clifford. Recommendations/preferences?

[clifford_thornton]

CD version has extra music, one piece of which is particularly good, but abbreviated notes/booklet. LP set of two has a bit less musical content but the booklet is a lot fleshier and also retains the original paste-on style cover art.

[sidewinder]

Thanks Clifford  - in that case I might go LPs.

[clifford_thornton]

**** 4 stars in next month's Down Beat! That makes me unbelievably happy.

[Misterioso]

Just finished listening to these records. Love the music, great discovery for me. The "liner notes" are extensive and very interesting. I certainly did not expect to find a link between these musicians and KonstruKt. Great piece of research. I particularly liked the pictures of the original flyers, a miracle they survived.

The sound quality exceeds my expectations and is really good. Always afraid of bad pressing quality, I was relieved to find perfectly pressed and quiet vinyl. 

Congrats to all involved in this reissue!

[clifford_thornton]

Thank you! So glad you are enjoying it.

[felser]

Any thoughts or descriptions on this one?  Worth my $20?

[jcam_44]

Appears this being reissued didn’t hurt the Value.

[felser]

11 hours ago, jcam_44 said:

Appears this being reissued didn’t hurt the Value.

Up a bit from the $24.99 price it was listed at.  Bet the seller is having a happy day!

[jcam_44]

On 11/11/2020 at 8:45 AM, felser said:

Up a bit from the $24.99 price it was listed at.  Bet the seller is having a happy day!

Agreed. Hell of an auction. I was outbid on all 5 items I bid for. They all seemed to be inflated by the bidding process. 

[clifford_thornton]

Yeah, I kinda can't believe how much the Cosmic went for, but records aren't getting any cheaper.

The prices on the East New York Ensemble and the Leo Jones are pretty outrageous too -- excellent albums, but jeez!

[jcam_44]

Definitely. I was surprised that Pat Patrick went for what it did. I think there has been multiple reissues. I know of the P-Vine one from a couple years ago for sure.