A PERSONAL JOURNEY
Reviews of music spanning some 45 years.

1958: Art Blakey - 1958 Paris Concert (Universal/Gitanes 4228326592)

Can you imagine hearing them live, first time out, a band of Philadelphians; Benny Golson, Lee Morgan, Bobby Timmons, Jymie Merrit - and Arthur! A new repertoire of mostly Benny Golson tunes; "Just by Myself", "I Remember Clifford", "Blues March" and "Whisper Not", Bobby Timmons' "Moanin'", and Monk's "Justice" constituting the program.

Benny Golson's soft-edged tenor, at any tempo, airy and so relaxed. The 20 year old Lee Morgan's focussed round-toned trumpet fleet and articulate, showing a beautiful lyricist. Together they reveal an immaculate front-line partnership. Bobby Timmons' finger poppin' blues drenched piano, Jymie Merrit's bass anchoring this youthful energy, walkin' confidently, and Art, a powerhouse guiding the dynamics, creating the energy force.

This is a group of musicians completely in tune with each other, exciting and excited in the first blush of creativity. Perhaps the next best thing to being there is a live recording. This one is superb.

1969: Michel Donato Quartet - Jazz en Liberté (Just A Memory JAM 9150-2)

The music of the sixties, Sonny Rollins in particular, laid the foundations of a language taken up by many players over the ensuing years. His "Freedom Suite" from a decade earlier than this recording, perhaps describing the attitude motivating this music. A loose rhythmic and melodic form dealing with tunes and solos, a form that allowed imagination to transcend the confinement of chordal formulae. Quick witted and humorous with a thorough knowledge of jazz history. This may not appear to be a unique situation given what had happened in USAmerica, but in Canada few stretched beyond convention. Even rarer, this comes from a live, weekly, CBC Radio broadcast entitled Jazz en Liberté, which took place at L'Hermitage in Montreal. Making it a document important from not only its musical standpoint. Rare!

The players: Leader/bassist Michel Donato is one of Canada's foremost musicians with a portfolio that ranges from Oscar Peterson to the Montreal Symphony, and in partnership with the detailed and energetic drumming of Claude Ranger and the inspired saxophone playing of the late Brian Barley — also associated with symphony orchestras as a clarinetist in New York, Cleveland and Vancouver — had played together as the adventurous trio Aquarius Rising the previous year. A sample of that configuration is included for one long cut (13:40). The other six compositions are by the quartet, which is completed by the rather circumspect melodic trumpet work of Alan Penfold. A musician also in much demand in Montreal in this period.

The program includes Wayne Shorter's "Pinocchio", and "Solar" by Miles Davis, both suitable subjects for this free-wheeling excursion. A highly recommended document of Canadian jazz.

1980: Roscoe Mitchell and the Sound Ensemble - Snurdy McGurdy and her Dancin' Shoes (nessa ncd-20)

Perspectives change. After a recent performance a young man described our music as "old fashioned avant garde". Who would have thought that? So this music from 23 years ago — from the ancient to the future — no longer seems dangerous, in fact has a certain charm about it, a logic that belongs in Mitchell's penchant for organization. The titles of the compositions, all his except for "March" by Braxton (as expected), in some way describe the music, a music that throughout, even at extravagant moments, never loses its intention. There is considerable movement contained within each piece, the tempos, metres, and melodies expanding and contracting, invariably arriving at new information. Two slow pieces, "CYP", an austere soundscape, the colour of cold blue, and "Round"; delicate, thoughtful and through composed, are completely different in temperament. The funky get down shambling walk through two notions of the blues is "Stomp and the Far East Blues", and the title track, a grown-up children's song, is surely for the small girl dancin' in the cover illustration.

The members of this quintet have all become important individuals in improvised music, and act as a perfect foil for Mitchell's compositions and his slightly out-of-tilt saxophone playing. Hugh Ragin's sparklingly bright brass invigorates the arrangements, and the "rhythm section" of Spencer Barefield, Jaribu Shahid and Tani Tabbal contribute the colouristic energy that supports and motivates the whole.

2001: Trevor Watts & The Celebration Orchestra (ARC CD010)

Although this is the most recent of the recordings, Trevor Watts, as one of the pioneers of British improvised music, has a history spanning close on four decades. The story has been told of the three mates who were together in the Royal Air Force; Watts, Paul Rutherford and John Stevens, likely creating the first truly original modern British improvised music. The legendary Spontaneous Music Ensemble. Watts continued with Amalgam, Moire Music (Drum Orchestra), and now The Celebration Orchestra, all ensembles with a certain character that is achieved with strong melodies and exciting rhythms. The earlier influence of Ornette Coleman still exists to a certain degree, although over the years he has developed a most personal vocabulary. And this recording extends his love of ethnic rhythms and his compositional skills, one more step.

The Orchestra is only eight strong — four saxophones, guitar, bass guitar, hand drums and drum kit — but often feels larger, and at times reminds one of the Brotherhood in its joyous exuberance. Six compositions, all penned by himself, have the common factor of a rhythm section supplying an infectious beat, overlayed melodies with sparkling section work, and ecstatic extended solos.

If this music don't make you dance in some way, in body, or as Ornette would say, in your head, then good times ain't in your character.

2001: The Wild Mans Band - The Darkest River - Ninth World Music NWM 027CD

This is the fourth in a series of recordings by The Wild Mans Band — reedist Peter Brötzmann, bassist Peter Friis Nielsen and drummer Peter Ole Jørgensen —, the second and third with guests: trombonist Johannes Bauer and saxophonist Mats Gustafsson, and this with guitarist Pierre Dørge.

The music is freely improvised, its energetic, linear character harkening back to the free jazz world of Frank Wright and Albert Ayler. Not surprising considering the history of Peter Brötzmann. Since his legendary recording, Machine Gun, 35 years ago, early recorded evidence of a new European improvised music, he has maintained and cultivated his personal brawny brawling style.

His use of various wind instruments creates selective attitudes through their inherent characters; his taragota insinuating the middle east, his bass clarinet described by "Aeolus" the mythic god of wind, and his alto and tenor saxophones persistently rough and strident.

This of course is not a one man band, as is clear from the marvellous interaction among them all. Pierre Dørge's experience in many music forms — his guitar ranging from lazily loping crystalline soundscapes to the occasional scorching squall resting on the edge of free rock — contributes considerably.

The centre-piece of this recording, the extended "Biolumescence" (19:10) — the other seven songs ranging in time from 2:25 to 9:31 — could conceivably be perceived as a suite. A delicate, melodic, song-filled line with a ghostly interior that progressively expands through Dørge's guitar into skittering rapid fragments that eventually peak in a conflagration of ferocious energy.

Magnificent music