Tony Williams - Play Or Die

[mjzee]

Reissue date July 8:

For the first time on CD and digitally Tony Williams' 1980 "Play Or Die" album is available again. It was a limited edition LP of only 500 vinyl copies when it was originally released. 

Tony Williams certainly counts among those unique drummers in the history of Jazz, whose work has had a lasting influence on styles and still does. At the tender age of 16, saxophonist Jackie McLean brought him to his band in New York. He also made his first recording with McLean. Soon after, aged 17, Williams was already making a splash in the second Miles Davis Quintet. 

Almost twenty years later, in 1980, on May 30 and 31, Tony Williams went to the Zuckerfabrik recording studio in Stuttgart/Germany, together with Tom Grant (keyboards, synthesizer, he joined this band on the recommendation of Jeff Lorber) and Patrick O'Hearn (bass, synthesizer, he joined this band on the recommendation of Tom Grant). In the 1970s and early 1980s, this studio was an illustrious address for audio productions of all kinds. Larry Coryell, Wolfgang Dauner, Stephane Grappeli, Elvin Jones, Martin Kolbe + Ralf Illenberger, Volker Kriegel, Alphonse Mouzon, John Scofield and the United Jazz+Rock Ensemble recorded there, to name just a few. 

Tony Williams and Peter Schnyder produced this recording in tandem. The album was recorded in just two days and mixed right there in the studio. 

This timeless album, released in an edition of only 500 copies, was hardly promoted at the time and may therefore have remained unknown to one or the other. All the better that now for the first time since the release of the Vinyl it is also available on CD, with a significantly improved sound.

TRACK LIST: 

The Big Man
Beach Ball Tango
Jam Tune
Para Oriente
There Comes A Time (Lawra)

A very special LP of this recording will be released later this year!

[bertrand]

Gross cover though.

 

[danasgoodstuff]

This should make some here in Portland happy, including Tom Grant I would imagine.

[Rooster_Ties]

Here’s the whole album, in one 40-minute upload…

…and the group played live a few times, it would seem.  A live tune…

And another…

https://youtu.be/njrsGRYlKQ8

Edited April 22, 2022 by Rooster_Ties

[JSngry]

Is this Tony's punk album? It isn't, right?

[Rooster_Ties]

7 minutes ago, JSngry said:

Is this Tony's punk album? It isn't, right?

I thought that was a different and unreleased project, that did cut some demos that circulate (or at least one of them). There’s a thread about it somewhere around here. Tony sang on it too, iirc.

[mikeweil]

I saw that trio live during that tour, and there was no punk at all. I should get me a copy, if only for nostalgic reasons.

Edited April 23, 2022 by mikeweil

[Rooster_Ties]

More info on Tony Williams’ punk band (which was from 1978)…

http://www.rushcreekeditions.com/steinberg/steinberg-content13.html
 

Ben Sidran also posted about it on Facebook, but I can’t read it — maybe somebody can post a copy of the text over here for me. This might be the link…

https://m.facebook.com/login.php?next=https%3A%2F%2Fm.facebook.com%2Fbensidranpage%2Fposts%2Fin-1978-i-produced-a-record-for-tony-williams-called-barbarians-of-love-cbs-neve%2F10155419324185201%2F&refsrc=deprecated&_rdr

Edited April 23, 2022 by Rooster_Ties

[medjuck]

6 hours ago, Rooster_Ties said:

More info on Tony Williams’ punk band (which was from 1978)…

http://www.rushcreekeditions.com/steinberg/steinberg-content13.html
 

 Ben Sidran also posted about it on Facebook, but I can’t read it — maybe somebody can post a copy of the text over here for me. This might be the link…

https://m.facebook.com/login.php?next=https%3A%2F%2Fm.facebook.com%2Fbensidranpage%2Fposts%2Fin-1978-i-produced-a-record-for-tony-williams-called-barbarians-of-love-cbs-neve%2F10155419324185201%2F&refsrc=deprecated&_rdr

I can read it but for some reason I can't copy it.  It's only a couple of sentences in which he says it's being released. and that even though he produced it he can't even remember who plays on it.  (It may not really be being released if he got the two records mixed up.) 

[mjzee]

Williams also played on this Public Image Ltd. album: