Month: October 2021

We listened to lots of sounds this October, starting with an 11-year delayed release from an English free jazz supergroup, then a brilliant acoustic guitar recital. Filling out the autumnal roster were the return of an indie rock stalwart, a pair each of futuristic synthesizer landscapes and big bands, and some sparkling straight-ahead jazz. October’s albums came in every shade, just like the leaves on the trees outside.

TNB Pick!
Mujician – 10 10 10
(October 10, 2010, released September 24, 2021, Cuneiform Records)

Keith Tippett – piano
Tony Levin – drums
Paul Dunmall – soprano and tenor saxophones, bagpipes
Paul Rogers – 7-string acoustic bass

Honestly, I’m new to the musicians of Mujician, but now I believe the hype. After putting on this album I was listening in awe at the level of communication between four players who sat down to play with no preconceptions. And even though this is “free” jazz, it does not use noise or energy as a crutch, instead focusing on sustained dialogue, and often delightful sonic exploration (a music box and some small bagpipes make an appearance!). Sadly, this is Mujician’s last studio recording, because Tony Levin passed away a few months after it was recorded. Now to catch up on their extensive catalogue – many of which are on Cuneiform records on Bandcamp here and here.

TNB Pick!
Pittsburgh by Matthew Stevens
(released October 1, 2021)

Matthew Stevens – acoustic guitar

A solo recital is a chance to show off mastery of one’s instrument, emotional and stylistic range, and the ability to hold the attention of the listener for an entire album. How does Mr. Stevens’ Pandemic-composed album fair? Check, check and check. A truly impressive . . . no, a stunning, recital. Press play and listen in wonder.

Low – HEY WHAT
(Released September 10, 2021, Sub Pop Records)

Low seems to have picked up the torch passed by Kevin Shields to explore the emotional content of feedback and sonic texture. But there’s much else going on in the terrific album. All the noise is a perfect vehicle for Mimi Parker and Alan Sparhawk’s patented dual vocals, and their songs about alienation and modern life have a lot of presence. It’s amazing that their music seems this fresh on the group’s 13th record. Now I’ll have to go back and catch up on 2018’s Double Negative, where they developed their current sound.

Masahiro Takahashi – Flowering Tree, Distant Moon
(released April 30, 2021)

Masahiro Takahashi – color wheel electronics, software synthesizers, granular samplers, plug-in FX, MIDI controllers, and a shruti box

Another album that has been a balm through stress. On the album’s Bandcamp page it says “Japanese multi-instrumentalist Masahiro Takahashi’s latest album is a meditation on seasons and distance, recorded in isolation at his temporary home studio in Toronto. Following “the coldest winter I have ever experienced,” he began crafting hushed, lush vignettes.” The music feels rooted in nostalgia, a meditation on beauty and missing places created in isolation. Takahashi says, “I dreamt of places outside my room and traced the music from my memories.” Truly transportive.

The Garden by Rachel Eckroth
(released September 3, 2021, Rainy Days)

Rachel Eckroth – Piano, Voice, Yamaha CP70, Prophet 6, Mellotron
Tim Lefebvre – Electric Bass, Guitar
Christian Euman – Drums
Donny McCaslin – Tenor Saxophone
Andrew Krasilnikov – Soprano Saxophone
Nir Felder – Electric Guitar
Austin White – Modular Synth

I’m sure you don’t need to read about another “Pandemic album” born from new perspectives brought on by confinement during the lockdown, but we have to take the silver linings from the last year and half where we find them. Here Eckroth and her partner Tim Lefebvre have imagined a lush, dark sonic world built around orchestral synthesizer arrangements. Donny McCaslin is the perfect saxophone player for this project, helping to bring home the futuristic vision he’s explored on his own albums. Some of the palette seems drawn from elsewhere, but Eckroth is super talented and I’m enjoying Garden, as well as looking forward to the next one.

Jonathan Blake – Homeward Bound
(released October 29, 2021, Blue Note)

Link to Apple Music

Link to Spotify

Johnathan Blake – Drums
Immanuel Wilkins – Alto Saxophone
Joel Ross – Vibraphone
David Virelles – Keyboards
Dezron Douglas- Bass

Drummer Jonathan Blake interacts with some of the hottest musicians around. I’ve been playing this nonstop since it was released! Blake calls his new group Pentad, created with the intention of having a fuller chordal sound. There’s nobody better to bring on board for that sound than Ross and Virelles, and Wilkins’ solos throughout are pretty amazing. Lots of fun.

David Sanford Big Band – A Prayer for Lester Bowie
(released September 24, 2021, Greenleaf Music)

Personnel:
SAXOPHONES
Ted Levine and Kelley Hart-Jenkins – alto saxophones
Anna Webber (tracks 1, 2, 7, 8),
Marc Phaneuf (tracks 3-6) and
Geoff Vidal – tenor saxophones
Brad Hubbard – baritone saxophone

BRASS
Brad Goode (tracks 1-7), Tony Kadleck (track 8),
Tim Leopold, Wayne J. du Maine,
Thomas Bergeron and Hugh Ragin – trumpets
Mike Christianson, Jim Messbauer,
Ben Herrington (tracks 1, 2, 4, 6-8)
and Mike Seltzer (tracks 3, 5) – tenor trombones
Steven Gehring – bass trombone
Raymond Stewart – tuba

RHYTHM SECTION
Dave Fabris – electric guitar
Geoff Burleson – piano
Dave Phillips – electric and acoustic bass
Mark Raynes – drums
Theo Moore – percussion

CONDUCTORS
David Sanford (tracks 1-4 and 6-8)
Hugh Ragin (track 5)

David Sanford pays tribute to the great Lester Bowie. The music captures the depth and spirit of Bowie, but also reminds me of David Murray’s 1980’s and 1990’s large groups, which also often featured Hugh Ragin. Make sure you hang out for Sanford’s terrific cover of “Dizzy Atmosphere.” The Bandcamp page helpfully provides the solos, by players who are distinctive and should be better known.

Arturo O’ Farrill – …Dreaming In Lions…
(Released September 23, 2021, Blue Note)

Link to Apple Music

Link to Spotify

Arturo O’ Farrill – Keyboards
Adam O’Farrill – Trumpet
Zack O’Farrill – Drums
Vince Cherico, Carlos “Carly” Maldonado and Victor Pablo Garcia Gaetan – Percussion
José “Bam Bam” Rodriguez Platiau – Bass
Rafi Malkiel – Trombonist and Euphonist
Alejandro Aviles – Flutist/saxophonist
Travis Reuter – Guitar
on “Dreams So Gold” – Alison Deane

O’Farrill creates two exuberant suites that have dancing in mind. Of “Despedida’, the first piece here, O’Farrill says “There’s something noble about being able to say farewell — not, ‘I’ll see you later.’ It’s about embracing despedida [separation, parting], knowing that there’s a finality to life.” But the music is much more positive than you might expect! The second suite, “Dreaming In Lions” draws inspiration from Ernest Hemingway’s novella The Old Man and The Sea. O’Farrill says of the source material (and his music) “To me the book is about being still in the midst of great movement. It’s about being caught in the stillness of the moment while life swirls around you, which can be a kind of sacred holy experience.” At its best (such as on the tracks The Deep and Intruso) the music is truly magnificent. It’s all lively and entertaining – don’t forget to dance to it!

Gabriele Mirabassi – Nando Di Modugno – Pierluigi Balducci – Tabacco e Caffè
(Mar 30, 2021, Dodicilune – ED423)

Link to Apple Music

Link to Spotify

Bass Guitar – Pierluigi Balducci
Clarinet – Gabriele Mirabassi
Classical Guitar – Nando di Modugno

A sort of music tribute to coffee and tobacco of which clarinetist/leader Mirabassi says: “Both invite to rituality, to sociability, up to meditation. The music we share here with Pierluigi and Nando was born in the friendliness of the kitchens of our homes, precisely between a coffee and a cigar, telling and playing distant and exotic worlds, ” The music here is by turns evocative and fun, and seem to product of the rapport among these musicians, no doubt over shared espresso and cigars.

(Photo credit: AP Photo/Bob Schutz)

Archie Shepp – Attica Blues
(Recorded January 24–26, 1972; Impulse! AS-9222)
Music discussed:
Attica Blues
Steam (Pt. 1)
Steam (Pt. 2)
Blues for Brother George Jackson
Ballad For A Child

Archie Shepp – tenor saxophone and soprano saxophone
Brass and reed section
Clifford Thornton – cornet
Roy Burrows, Charles McGhee, Michael Ridley – trumpet
Charles Greenlee, Charles Stephens, Kiane Zawadi – trombone
Hakim Jami – euphonium
Clarence White – alto saxophone
Roland Alexander, Billy Robinson – tenor saxophone
James Ware – baritone saxophone

String section:
John Blake, Leroy Jenkins, Lakshinarayana Shankar – violin
Ronald Lipscomb, Calo Scott – cello

Marion Brown – alto saxophone, bamboo flute, flute, percussion
Walter Davis, Jr. – electric piano, piano
Dave Burrell – electric piano
Cornell Dupree – guitar
Roland Wilson, Gerald Jemmott – Fender bass
Jimmy Garrison – bass
Beaver Harris – drums
Ollie Anderson, Nene DeFense, Juma Sultan – percussion

Vocals:
Henry Hull, Joe Lee Wilson – vocals
William Kunstler, Bartholomew Gray – narrator
Joshie Armstead, Albertine Robertson – backing vocals

Frederic Rzewski – Coming Together/Attica/Les Moutons De Panurge
(1974, Opus One)

Music discussed:
Coming Together
Attica

Piano, Electric Piano – Frederic Rzewski
Jon Gibson – Alto Saxophone
Richard Youngstein – Bass
Alvin Curran – Synthesizer
Garrett List – Trombone
Karl Berger – Vibraphone
Joan Kalisch – Viola
Steve Ben Israel – Voice
Sam Melville – Text

September 13th, 2021 marked the 50th anniversary of the massacre which occurred at Attica State Penitentiary in New York State, the deadliest prison uprising in United States history. Driven to rebellion by inhuman conditions and racist-fueled abuse, on September 9th, 1971 the prisoners at Attica took control of the prison, demanding humane treatment. Four days later, hundreds of state troopers retook Attica, leaving 33 inmates and 10 correctional officers and civilians dead. The Attica rebellion immediately caught the attention of the American public, and has lived in infamy since. The lessons of Attica are no less relevant today, seen in the deplorable conditions at Rikers Island, or the recent prison uprising in Philadelphia. This edition of TNB will look at the Attica revolt, and two artists who took the message of Attica and reacted to it through their music.

In July 1971, a politically motivated group of Attica prisoners organized themselves as the Attica Liberation Faction and sent a letter with 27 demands to the Head of the New York Department of Correction, Russell Oswald, and to Governor Nelson Rockefeller. The demands were prompted by terrible conditions at the prison – the prisoners sought reform of parole hearings, better medical care, the end of punishment based on race and political belief, the end of solitary confinement as punishment for minor infractions, and improvement in wages for work done in prison. Unfortunately, these demands did not result in any immediate change, and conditions at Attica reached an exploding point.

It did not take much to cause that explosion. On September 9, 1971, pent-up frustration from inmates caused an altercation with guards that quickly got out of control. The inmates took control of the D yard, and took 42 guards and civilians hostage, demanding that the government make the changes they had been seeking. The inmates set up impromptu leadership and their primary spokesperson was Richard X. Clark, a Muslim and a pacifist who insisted that staff members taken prisoner not be harmed. A tense standoff ensued over four days, which drew widespread media attention. Progressive leaders became involved in ending the stalemate, with politicians and community leaders serving as negotiators. Famed lawyer William Kuntzler was a lead negotiator and later represented many of the prisoners. Eventually, Bobby Seale, leader of the Black Panthers, visited in a show of solidarity.

Attica inmates negotiating with Commissioner of Prisons Russell Oswald. Richard X. Clark is seated at right side of table in center

Yet all of this effort and attention was fruitless. Governor Nelson Rockefeller, who had his eye on winning the White House, did not want to be perceived as weak on crime and would not make substantive concessions, including refusing the prisoners’ request for amnesty. Sensing that delay would be perceived as weakness, Rockefeller ordered an overwhelming attack by State Troopers on the prison. The police involved were driven by revenge, and indiscriminately used shotguns, rifles and gas on unarmed prisoners. Inmates and hostages alike were killed.

National Guard troopers before the assault
(Photo credit: AP)

The botched raid was quickly followed by an extensive cover-up. The Governor’s office falsely told the New York Times that the civilians killed by state troopers were murdered by the inmates. Prosecutors aggressively pursued cases against the prisoners, but there was no investigation of the methods used by the State Troopers who retook the prison. Prisoners widely reported that prison staff retaliated by torturing those who took part in the rebellion. To this day, documents related to the State’s actions that lead to this massacre remain sealed.

It is in times of crisis and challenge that we most need the arts, to help us digest, interpret, and feel the world. It did not take long for musicians to respond to Attica. Two albums from the world of creative music helped process Attica are Archie Shepp’s Attica Blues, and Frederic Rzewski’s Coming Together/Attica/Les Moutons De Panurge.

Archie Shepp was first to react, recording Attica Blues only four months after the prison rebellion. While Attica Blues is born out of protest and outrage, Shepp’s masterpiece does not limit itself to a literal reaction to the rebellion. Rather, Shepp (with his drummer, Beaver Harris, who wrote the lyrics to the album) addresses the universal way that the exploitation and degradation of humans endangers us all. The album starts with the track “Attica Blues,” which uses urgent electric guitar and the high energy vocals of gospel singer Carl Hall to deliver a palpable message to the listener – “I got the feeling that something’s goin’ wrong and I’m worried ’bout the human soul!” The message is clear – the conditions that led to Attica are not just a tragedy that affected the prisoners in Attica, but part of an oppression that undermines humanity itself.

The album’s cover, which perfectly captures it’s political and musical depth

There’s not enough room here to itemize the great aspects of Attica Blues and its enduring relevance. The album features string arrangements by the legendary Cal Massey, using the incredible violin playing of John Blake, Leroy Jenkins and Lakshinarayana Shankar. More poetry written by Beaver Harris is read between songs by William Kuntzler, who brings a firsthand experience from Attica to his readings. Harris’ words spoken by Kuntzler are no less relevant today. For example he states “some people think that they are in their rights and on command to take a Black man’s life.” Attica Blues contemplates the same concerns that gave rise to the Black Lives Matter movement, four decades later.

Shepp masterfully deploys a range of styles on this record. In addition to the funk and gospel-based opening track, the album has a churning R&B-based instrumental in “Blues for Brother George Jackson.” This track is a tribute to George Jackson, a prisoner whose death at San Quentin Prison in the August of 1971, served as a prelude to the Attica uprising one month later.

Perhaps the most memorable moments of this album are on “Steam Part 1” and “Steam Part 2,” which dominate the first side of the record. This two part song is sung by Joe Lee Wilson, whose deep baritone is backed by Massey’s complex strings, and together bring an overwhelming emotion to the words “Summer, soft as the rain, and sweet as the end of pain.” Both parts of “Steam” capture in the most poetic terms the terrible reality other humans are subjected to – degraded to the point where death itself is a sweet release.

But there is much hope on this rich album as well. Shepp pays tribute to touchstones of Black culture in “Invocation to Mr. Parker” (for Charlie Parker), and “Good Bye Sweet Pops,” (for Louis Armstrong, who had recently died). Fittingly, Attica Blues ends with the voice of a child, Massey’s eight year old daughter, who sings hopefully “It’s quiet dawn, and life moves on.” A fitting end to one of the truly great politically-minded albums.

Frederick Rzewski

Another landmark album reacting to Attica is Frederic Rzewski’s Coming Together/Attica/Les Moutons De Panurge. Rzewski, most famously the composer of The People United Will Never Be Defeated!, is often an overtly political artist. Rzewski believed the Attica rebellion was a “milestone” because it laid bare the oppression of the police state, compelling citizens to take action. Rzewski looked at letters written by prisoner Sam Melville, who was slain in the retaking of the prison. The track “Coming Together” is formed from an excerpt from one of those letters, which depicts life in prison as not just painful, but surreal. The text of the letter is here, but you really have to hear the performance to appreciate how Rzewski has created an empathic depiction with the mind of a human being subjected to challenge.

Radical actor Steve Ben Israel performed the text, repeating groups of the letter’s words in a steadily increasing and frenzied desperation. The music is a remarkable backdrop. Rzewski creates a structure that sets an optional ensemble size, and instructs the performers to play in a modal framework with one note per beat, but in a prescribed pattern. However, the other performers follow the same rhythmic pattern, but with a differing set of notes. The cumulative effect is kaleidoscopic, gripping, and most importantly focuses the listener on the words penned by Mellville only months before he was killed. The next track, “Attica” is also inspired from the same events, borrowing the words of Richard X. Clark. It’s also great music, but doesn’t have the force of “Coming Together”, which is an all-time classic.

We at TNB hope you enjoy this remarkable music, and that it brings some attention to an enduring problem for our society. The United States has the largest prison population in the world, and while there have been some superficial reforms since the Attica rebellion, 50 years later, many of the same problems persist in our prisons. These problems have been even further exacerbated by the COVID-19 epidemic, which has exposed how the jails are overcrowded, understaffed, degrading, filled with racism, and mired in a mindset that values punishment over rehabilitation. Further, prisons continue to be hidden far from society, and the mental and experiential gap between most citizens and prisoners is immense, contributing to a lack of empathy between these groups. But the continuing problems with our judicial and prison system are a reflection on how unjust our society continues to be. Shepp and Rzewski show that the arts have an important role in signaling the problem to those who will listen, and creating a world of understanding and empathy that will enable people to enact change.

The aftermath
(Photo credit: NY Daily News via Getty Images)