Hasaan Ibn Ali – Metaphysics: The Lost Atlantic Album

[king ubu]

Hasaan Ibn Ali – Metaphysics: The Lost Atlantic Album
Omnivore, 2LP/CD, 5 March 2021

Hasaan’s 1965 Atlantic recordings, restored from long-lost acetate copies of the sessions.
“He had ideas as deep as the sea. I mean I never heard anybody, even today, play like that.” – Odean Pope – tenor saxophonist

“The pianist, Hasaan Ibn Ali, whom saxophonist Odean Pope calls “the most advanced player to ever develop [in Philadelphia],” had practiced intensively with John Coltrane in the early 1950s and is thought, by Pope and others, to have been the influence behind Coltrane’s so-called sheets of sound as well as the harmonic approach that underlay Coltrane’s breathrough Giant Steps, and also, with Earl Bostic, one of the two role models behind Coltrane’s strict work ethic. Yet he was rarely employed, even by musicians who respected his playing and his knowledge, thus leaving him with little chance to develop an audience. When he sat down at the piano at the Woodbine, an after-hours club in Philadelphia, all the horn players would leave the stand for they were unable to play with him, so unfamiliar were his harmonic concepts.” —from the liner notes

In 1964, drummer/composer Max Roach convinced Atlantic Records to record him with producer Nusuhi Ertegun at the helm. Sessions were held in December of 1964 and the resulting album, The Max Roach Trio Featuring The Legendary Hasaan was released three months later. Atlantic invited Ali to record again in August and September of 1965, but before mixing sessions could turn the recorded material into a releasable album, Ali had become incarcerated on a narcotics possession. Atlantic shelved the album. Thirteen years later that tape went up in flames in an Atlantic Records warehouse in Long Branch, New Jersey. For years a rumor circulated, that a copy of the sessions had been made, but attempts to locate it never turned up a source… until now.

Restored and mastered by Grammy® Award-winning engineer, Michael Graves from a tape copy of long-lost reference acetates of the sessions and with notes from producer Alan Sukoenig and author/pianist/teacher, Lewis Porter, Omnivore Recordings is proud to present this long-thought lost piece of jazz history. The project, co-produced by Alan Sukoenig and Grammy® Award-nominated producer, Patrick Milligan, and Grammy® Award-winning producer, Cheryl Pawelski, features the seven surviving tracks from the album sessions along with three surviving alternate takes. Packaging includes photos from December of 1964 by notable photographer Larry Fink, who refers to Ali as, “the Prokofiev of jazz.”

Personnel on the August 23 and September 7, 1965 sessions that took place at Atlantic Studios in New York City were Hasaan Ibn Ali, piano; Odean Pope, tenor sax; Art Davis, bass and Kalil Madi, drums and all are profiled in the liner notes.

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TRACK LIST:

ATLANTIC ONES
VICEROY
EL HASAAN
RICHARD MAY LOVE GIVE POWELL
METAPHYSICS
EPITOME
TRUE TRAIN
TRUE TRAIN (Short Version) [Bonus Track]
VICEROY (Short Version) [Bonus Track]
ATLANTIC ONES (Short Version) [Bonus Track]

Cat: OV-411

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source: http://omnivorerecordings.com/shop/metaphysics/

Yowzah!

Mods, please move/merge/delete if this has been posted already, a search only brought up threads on Roach's trio album and Brian Marsella's recent tribute album.

[soulpope]

YESSS !!!

[Rooster_Ties]

  

[Joe]

Whoa!

[Rooster_Ties]

 

[colinmce]

Incredible.

[JSngry]

1 hour ago, Joe said:

Whoa!

Took the words right out of my mouth.

[jlhoots]

On my short list!!

[ghost of miles]

2 hours ago, Joe said:

Whoa!

Whoa indeed!  Amazing news.  

[ejp626]

Will wonders never cease?  Really exciting news, and I'll definitely be checking this one out.

[Justin V]

Hot Sam!

[JSngry]

Two questions -

Who has direct experience ordering from Omnivore?

What is to keep this from getting Palo Alto-ed?

[Rooster_Ties]

For those like me, who didn’t recognize the drummer...

 

[king ubu]

7 minutes ago, JSngry said:

What is to keep this from getting Palo Alto-ed?

stfo now, willya! 

[JSngry]

Omnivore seems to have a good relationship with is now the home label, so they probably handled this up front...but it would be nice to see that confirmed in some fine print somehere...

[king ubu]

int'l shipping is 13 something US $ ... if the Bayete was in stock right now, I might try for two, but I guess I'll wait for it to reach the shores of Catalonia  

Just now, JSngry said:

Omnivore seems to have a good relationship with is now the home label, so they probably handled this up front...but it would be nice to see that confirmed in some fine print somehere...

I sure hope they did!

They seem to have done fine on the Art Pepper reissues, or else we'd all know, right?

[JSngry]

One would think, yes. They also have a lot of other stuff in their catalog that seems to have gotten blessings from the original owners.

Still, once bitten...hell hath no fury like a global conglomerate that wants to get pissy.

Also available for pre-order at Amazon, how does the shipping work out for you doing that?

[Rooster_Ties]

Any guess as to whether Dusty will carry this?

At least they often often have scheduled releases listed super early (though not this one yet).

[king ubu]

8 minutes ago, JSngry said:

Also available for pre-order at Amazon, how does the shipping work out for you doing that?

Over here, fine (3-4€ shipping, free shipping if I combine a few items), only a.de has it with a price tat, and that one's bit on the high side (25€, though that will certainly change as the release date comes closer) - but I don't like to make that fegher even more dirty rich. Ordered plenty of stuff from musicians and labels and (particularly Bandcamp Fridays) during this year, and plan to stick to that as much as possible (though I still occasionally do need my A account, alas).

For a.com orders, shipping is in that same range, i.e. 12-14 $ for a CD, I think - it's been a while that I had to go that route.

[Dub Modal]

I've never ordered from Omnivore but they have some excellent reggae albums in stock from the Nighthawk label. And I'm wondering about those Ru-Jac comps too...

[brownie]

Great news...

Hope  we wont wait too long now to listen to this!

[JSngry]

13 minutes ago, Rooster_Ties said:

Any guess as to whether Dusty will carry this?

At least they often often have scheduled releases listed super early (though not this one yet).

I looked, they don't yet have it.

[Rooster_Ties]

42 minutes ago, Dub Modal said:

I've never ordered from Omnivore but they have some excellent reggae albums in stock from the Nighthawk label. And I'm wondering about those Ru-Jac comps too...

I see they have a brand new Matthew Sweet album coming out in January too.

[Justin V]

I had lost hope that we'd ever hear this one.  I don't know the drummer, but I am drooling over the thought of Odean Pope and Art Davis digging into Ali's music.

[bertrand]

How many more Atlantic sessions lost in the fire may not be totally lost? Where do they keep their other reference acetates?

Edited December 15, 2020 by bertrand