Free Jazz Classics, Vols. 1 & 2

Free Jazz Classics, Vols. 1 & 2 Artist: Vandermark 5
Label: Atavistic Records
Category: Music



Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 2


UPC: 735286113723
EAN: 0735286113723
ASIN: B00006J3UG


Release Date: 2002-09-10

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Avant Garde & Free Jazz Avant Garde & Free Jazz
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Listmania:

  1. Free/Avant/New Jazz Reading
  2. Anti-Smooth Jazz: Yikes! More Saxophonists! Part III

Tracks:

  1. Happy House - Ornette Coleman
  2. 69L - Anthony Braxton
  3. Conquistador Part 2 - Cecil Taylor
  4. Goodbye Tom B. - Joe McPhee
  5. Saturn - Sun Ra
  6. Gazzelloni - Eric Dolphy
  7. New York Is Full Of Lonely People - Lester Bowie

Tracks:

  1. Wherever Junebugs Go - Archie Shepp
  2. King Korn/Calls - Carla Bley
  3. The Earth/Jerry - Frank Wright
  4. Scootin' About - Jimmy Guiffre
  5. C.M.E./G Song - Julius Hemphill
  6. There Is The Bomb - Don Cherry

Similar Items:

  1. Free Jazz Classics, Vols. 3 & 4
  2. Simpatico
  3. Acoustic Machine
  4. A Discontinuous Line
  5. Single Piece Flow

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars A great intro to the genre.......2002-10-16

These are actually two bonus CDs that were included in limited edition first releases of this group's Burn the Incline and Acoustic Machine. Since those pressings are no longer available, Mr. Vandermark decided to release this double CD of these wonderful live recordings for a truely bargain price. This is one of the great free jazz releases of the year. Or any year, for that matter.
These are all compositions written by heroes of Mr. Vandermark's. The composers, in order, are as follows: on CD1 they are Ornette Coleman, Anthony Braxton, Cecil Taylor, Joe McPhee, Sun Ra, Eric Dolphy and Lester Bowie. On CD2 the songs are composed are Archie Shepp, Carla Bley, Frank Wright, Jimmy Guiffre, Julius Hemphill and Don Cherry.
The players are Jeb Bishop on the trombone, Kent Kessler on the bass, Tim Mulvenna on the drums, the vastly underappreciated Dave Rempis on alto and tenor sax and Ken Vandermark on tenor sax, E flat and bass clarinet.
So what do I mean by my title? I have listened to free jazz pretty much since the late sixties when I came across a copy of Ornette Coleman's Free Jazz. I have often been asked by mystified friends what I heard in this type of music. Over the years, I have used certain albums to try to introduce people to this type of music.
Some of my favorite albums for this purpose have always been Dave Holland's Conference of the Birds or Julius Hemphill's brillant composition, The Hard Blues.
This new CD now belongs to this select group. Part of the reason lies in the sheer number and variety of composers who are represented. These are strong wonderful tunes that represent the free jazz tradition at it's best. For me, the compostions by McPhee, Shepp, Bley and Hemphill are the creme of a very fine crop. The one by McPhee was a particular revelation. I will be looking for his version of it.
As for the playing, it is wonderful. I have sometimes found Mr. Vandermark's playing in the past to be too strident or too prone to overblowing. Not on these recordings. They reveal him to be a master of the saxophone's tonal range. His playing shows great variety and invention.
The others too are in great form particularly Dave Rempis. Someone please record this man as a leader of his own date. He has the entire history of post-WWII alto sax deeply engrained into his improvising soul and he is able to display it all in one cogent soulful playful solo. Simply amazing.
This is a very strong collection of players paying proper due to a very strong collection of composers. My only complaint is the lack of anything by Henry Threadgill. I can only hope that the Vandermark 5 continue to release additional chapters to this series.

5 out of 5 stars yes!.......2002-09-19

It's cool of theses guys to pay tribute like this, not to mention it's two CDs for the price of one basically.

Music CD:

  1. Best of the Big Bands ~ Various Artists
  2. Desafinado: Bossa Nova and Jazz Samba ~ Coleman Hawkins
  3. St. Louis Shoes ~ Greg Osby
  4. The Issued Recordings: 1947-1949 ~ Ziggy Elman
  5. This Is Jazz, Vol. 14 ~ Stan Getz
  6. Live at Ho-Down 2000 ~ Schleigho
  7. Allan and Allen ~ Allan Vach%C3%A9 & Harry Allen
  8. 1935-1936 ~ Django Reinhardt
  9. The Other World ~ Judy Roberts
  10. The Tony Bennett Bill Evans Album ~ Tony Bennett

Music CD

Music CD

Music CD

The Ascension 4-2000 ~ Breeze

Busted Stuff ~ Dave Matthews Band

Alma (Dispositif Anticopie)

Goats Head Soup ~ The Rolling Stones

International Pop Overthrow, Vol. 4 ~ Various Artists

Stepping Stone ~ Exhibit A

Jumping From Springboards

Word of Mouf ~ Ludacris

Politics/Disappointed ~ Tonedeff

Macabre Instincts ~ Macabre Instincts