Avant-Garde Jazz differs from free jazz

Avant-Garde Jazz differs from free jazz in that it has more structure in the ensembles (more of a "game plan") although the individual improvisations are generally just as free of conventional rules. Obviously there is a lot of overlap between free jazz and avant-garde jazz; most players in one idiom often play in the other "style" too. In the best avant-garde performances it is difficult to tell when compositions end and improvisations begin; the goal is to have the solos be an outgrowth of the arrangement. As with free jazz, the avant-garde came of age in the 1960s and has continued almost unnoticed as a menacing force in the jazz underground, scorned by the mainstream that it influences. Among its founders in the mid-to-late '50s were pianist Cecil Taylor, altoist Ornette Coleman and keyboardist-bandleader Sun Ra. John Coltrane became the avant-garde's most popular (and influential) figure, and from the mid-'60s on, the avant-garde innovators made a major impact on jazz, helping to push the music beyond bebop. -- Scott Yanow  

New Thing at Newport (Impulse!)

More than a simple long player, New Thing At Newport stands as a symbolic snapshot; the meaning of this package lies not only with the music, but with its context. Recorded at the Newport Jazz Festival on July 2, 1969, the “New Thing” of the title refers to the term used at the time for the wave of young musicians who sought to probe the boundaries of jazz. They were following a trail started by Coltrane, whose own perpetual quest is represented in his two extended performances here which find him searching for a voice outside what his classic quartet could provide. Shepp’s performance in the second half of the album, with the throaty howl of his horn and his brazen taste for experimentation, acts as rejoinder and instigant to Coltrane. In the months following Newport, Coltrane would disband his immortal quartet and reconstitute his music with a whole new set of young free-thinking musicians. Shepp’s music developed parallel to Coltrane in a series of classic albums for Impulse and Actuel. A period of such intense transformation could never be traced to a single starting point; however, New Thing at Newport feels like the final moment before jazz was pushed off its precipice only to sprout a whole new set of wings.

1. Spoken introduction to John Coltrane's set by Father Norman O'Connor - 1:08

2. "One Down One Up” - 12:42

3. "My Favorite Things” - 15:14; Spoken conclusion to John Coltrane's set by Father Norman O'Connor

4. Spoken introduction to Archie Shepp's set by Billy Taylor - 1:41

5. "Gingerbread, Gingerbread Boy” - 10:26

6. "Call Me By My Rightful Name” - 6:38

7. "Scag” - 3:19

8. "Rufus (Swung His Face At Last To The Wind, Then His Neck Snapped)” - 5:17

9. "Le Matin Des Noire” - 8:20

Recorded July 2, 1965 at Newport Jazz Festival.

John Coltrane — tenor saxophone/soprano saxophone

McCoy Tyner — piano

Jimmy Garrison — double bass

Elvin Jones — drums

Archie Shepp — tenor saxophone, except "Scag", recitation

Bobby Hutcherson — vibes

Barre Phillips — double bass

Joe Chambers — drums

Ornette Coleman Sextet - video

Ornette Coleman - sax, violin - Ben Nix - guitar - Charlie Ellerbee - guitar - Albert Arnold - bass -  Shannon Jackson - drums; Denardo Coleman - drums  - 1978 Germany.

video link: Ornette Coleman Sextet

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Archie Shepp - Four for Trane

This is Archie Shepp’s first album for Impulse (1964); in a gesture of gratitude to the man who got him the gig, he records four Giant Steps -era Coltrane tunes plus one original in an unusual large-ensemble arrangement. It is newly available in a pristine 20-bit remastering.

One listen to this album reveals the debt Shepp owes not only to Coltrane but to Mingus. The group sound here, although Shepp’s ensemble is smaller, recalls nothing more than Mingus’ Impulse recordings The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady and Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus. Shepp does it with a sextet that achieves a fuller sound by containing four horns and no piano: Shepp’s tenor is combined with John Tchicai’s alto, plus the brass of Alan (The Other) Shorter on trumpet and the impeccable Roswell Rudd on trombone. Reggie Workman plays bass and the late, great, criminally underrated Charles Moffett mans the drums.

Shepp did the arranging. At the time his work received mixed reviews, for some of the propulsive dynamism of the original Coltrane quartet recordings of these songs ("Syeeda’s Song Flute," "Cousin Mary," and "Naima" from Giant Steps and "Mr. Syms" from Coltrane Plays the Blues ) is necessarily lost as Shepp transforms the heads that were originally performed by Coltrane’s sax alone into vehicles for four horns. Indeed, if one turns immediately from Giant Steps to Four for Trane, the effect can be jarring. Yet it is only a drop-off in quality if one expects simply to hear Archie Shepp playing Coltrane tunes (an experience that can be had on innumerable lesser Shepp records). Dropping expections and taking these arrangements on their own terms, they succeed beautifully, not in restating Coltrane’s work on these pieces, but making them something new. Check out especially the strikingly imaginative alternating-note head arrangement on "Naima." Four for Trane illustrates the ability of Coltrane as a composer. While Coltrane’s songs were widely thought of as empty platforms for blowing, Shepp shows here that they have the depth to stand a different treatment.

The playing is fine. Shepp’s soloing is typical for the period; whoever first called him a sheep in wolf’s clothing should get an award for precision of statement. His tone is tinged with the multiphonic "scream," but his choices always tend toward lyrical statements. When the tension between these two elements is balanced, as it is here, he is a delight to hear. Wayne’s brother, heard most extensively on "Mr. Syms" and "Cousin Mary," plays a trumpet of similar emotional intensity that to my ears recalls no one’s trumpet work more strongly than that of Mr. Ornette Coleman. Were it not that this album precedes by a year any recorded appearance of the Coleman trumpet, I’d go so far as to say that Shorter actually betrays Ornette’s influence. Perhaps it’s the other way around, or that both Shorter and Coleman take Don Cherry as their primary trumpet exemplar. Rudd, the trombonist, is astonishing. He is a good match for Shepp (as they both obviously knew; he appears on a good many more Shepp albums of the time) in that the playing of both betrays an awareness of the entire jazz tradition. Finally, Rudd is probably the world’s only Dixieland / swing / free jazz trombonist, and virtually any recording with him on it is worth hearing.

Archie Shepp

Four for Trane

Impulse! A-71

Stereo

1964

Side 1

1. Syeeda’s Song Flute
2. Mr. Syms

Side 2

1. Cousin Mary
2. Naima
3. Rufus (Swung his face at last to the wind, then his neck snapped)

Personnel

ARCHIE SHEPP; tenor sax

JOHN TCHICAI; alto sax

ALAN SHORTER; trumpet

ROSWELL RUDD; trombone

REGGIE WORKMAN; bass

CHARLES MOFFETT; drums

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POINT OF DEPARTURE - ANDREW HILL

Andrew Hill (born June 30, 1931 – April 20, 2007) was an American jazz pianist and composer. Hill first recorded as a sideman in 1955, but his reputation was made by his Blue Note recordings as leader from 1963 to 1969, which featured several other important post-bop musicians including Eric Dolphy, Bobby Hutcherson, Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard, Woody Shaw, and Tony Williams, as well as two of John Gilmore’s rare outings away from Sun Ra. Hill also played on albums by Hutcherson (Dialogue, 1965), Henderson (Our Thing, 1963), Hank Mobley (No Room for Squares, 1963), and Sam Rivers (Involution, 1966).

Track Listing

1. "Refuge" - 12:12
2. "New Monastery" - 7:00
3. "Spectrum" - 9:42
4. "Flight 19" - 4:10
5. "Dedication" - 6:40

All Compositions by Andrew Hill

• Andrew Hill - piano
• Eric Dolphy - saxophone, bass clarinet, flute
• Joe Henderson - saxophone
• Richard Davis - bass
• Tony Williams - drums
• Kenny Dorham - trumpet

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Billie Holiday, "Fine And Mellow"

This is generally acknowledged as the greatest jazz moment ever broadcast on national television. And with good reason. Billie Holiday is joined by an all-star band and delive

rs a deeply felt version of "Fine and Mellow." This was a song that Holiday seemed to sing better with the pas

sing years - not a claim one could make for most of her repertoire. But this is a world-weary composition, and no lady was more worldly or weary than Billie Holiday, circa 1957. Lester Young delivers a t

ouching solo that even moves the vocalist. His TV studio reunion with Holiday may have inspired him, but I have a hunch that the proximity of Coleman Hawkins and Ben W

ebster in the room (these being the real three tenors by the measure of any swing jazz fan) may have had something to do with it too.

Link:

Billie Holiday (1957) Fine and Mellow Video

The Sound of Jazz

Billie Holiday performed Fine and Mellow

Roy Eldridge (trumpet) 6th solo
Doc Cheatham (trumpet)
Vic Dickenson (trombone) 3rd solo
Lester Young (tenor sax) 2nd solo
Coleman Hawkins (tenor sax) 1st and 5th solos
Ben Webster (tenor sax)
Gerry Mulligan (baritone sax) 4th solo
Danny Barker (guitar)
Mal Waldron (piano)
Milt Hinton (bass)
Osie Johnson (drums)

Mal Waldron - Impressions

Mal Waldron (August 16, 1926 – December 2, 2002) was an American jazz and world music pianist and composer.

Born in New York City, his jazz work was chiefly in the hard bop, post-bop and free jazz genres. He is known for his distinctive chord voicings and adaptable style, which was originally inspired by the playing of Thelonious Monk.

Personnel:

Mal Waldron, piano;

Addison Farmer, bass;

Albert “Tootie” Heath, drums

Recorded in Hackensack, New Jersey, March 20, 1959.

Tracks:

1. Les Champs Elysées 6:22 (Mal Waldron)

2. All About Us 4:04 (Elaine Waldron)

3. Ciao! 9:55 (M. Waldron)

4. All the Way 5:47 (Cahn-Van Heusen)

5. With a Song in My Heart 6:38 (Rodgers-Hart)

6. You Stepped Out of a Dream 5:05 (Brown-Kahn)

7. Cest Formidable 3:40 (M. Waldron)

Mal Waldron Trio: Impressions (CD: New Jazz- US Import)
In his first three albums for Prestige, Mal Waldron utilized horns to present his ideas. Then he switched to a trio format. Impressions is the second of these and shows off both his playing and composing abilities. On the writing side, three related pieces entitled Overseas Suite are presented here, although they are not in consecutive order. Among the standards, “All the Way” came out of Billie Holiday’s liking for Frank Sinatra’s recording of the song. Waldron was Holiday’s accompanist at the time and, in fact, wrote Overseas Suite after returning from a European tour with Lady in 1958. Today Waldron is a global traveler with an enthusiastic following in Japan and Europe, as well as in the United States, where he has once again begun to make more frequent appearances since the Eighties. Impressions represents the beginning of that internationalism and, if you will, universality. (Fantasy, Inc.) 

Sonny Clark Trio

Conrad Yeatis “Sonny” Clark (July 21, 1931 – January 13, 1963) was an American hard bop pianist. An underappreciated jazz artist during his time, Clark’s work has become much more widely known after his death. Strongly influenced by Bud Powell, Clark is known for his unique 

touch, sense of melody and complex, hard-swinging style.

As a band leader, it’s Clark’s albums Sonny Clark Trio (1957), with Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones, and Cool Struttin’ (1958), that are often considered his masterpieces.

Tracklist

  Track Duration Listeners

1 Be-Bop 9:51

2 I Didn't Know What Time It Was 4:21

3 Two Bass Hit 3:44

4 Tadd's Delight 6:00

5 Softly as in a Morning Sunrise 6:33

6 I'll Remember April 4:54

7 I Didn't Know What Time It Was (Alt Tk) 4:20

8 Two Bass Hit (Alt Tk) 4:01

9 Tadd's Delight (Alt Tk) 5:01

The Art of the Improvisers - Ornette Coleman

ART OF THE IMPROVISORS is a collection of outtakes culled from sessions between 1959 and 1961, a period--which many praise as Ornette Coleman's finest--that yielded such landmark recordings as THE SHAPE OF JAZZ TO COME and FREE JAZZ. Given the explosive, revolutionary quality of Coleman's musical vision (these compositions sound futuristic even today) and the impeccable personnel (a variation on Coleman's early Atlantic quartet), ART adds up to much more than a bundle of odds and ends.

Tracks like "The Circle With a Hole in the Middle," and "The Alchemy of Scott La Faro" (in which La Faro provides a blistering bass line that propels the song into the stratosphere) highlight Coleman's frenetic "free" mode. On these cuts, Coleman's elastic alto lines, with their expressive, emotional illogic, counterbalance Don Cherry's jagged, fast-forward trumpet solos. Elsewhere, the ensemble uses tradition as a springboard for invention, as on the swinging "The Legend of Bebop" and the tender, evocative ballad "Just For You." As with most of Coleman's work, the presence of challenging ideas, keen technical facility, and an exploratory sensibility makes for fresh, engaging material. This set is a valuable supplement to the artist's already legendary Atlantic albums.

Recorded between 1959 and 1961 with Ornette's classic quartet of Don Cherry, Charlie Haden and Ed Blackwell (with the notable additions of Scott LaFaro and Jimmy Garrison on a couple of tracks) this record, though not nearly as well known as This Is Our 

Recorded at Radio Recorders, Hollywood, California on May 22 and October 8 & 9, 1959; Atlantic Studios, New York on July 26, 1960, January 31 & March 27, 1961. Originally released on Atlantic (1572). Includes liner notes by Martin Williams.

Personnel: Ornette Coleman (alto & tenor saxophones); Don Cherry (trumpet, pocket trumpet, cornet); Charlie Haden, Jimmy Garrison, Scott La Faro (bass); Ed Blackwell, Billy Higgins (drums).

Tracklist

  

 

 

1

The Circle With A Hole In The Middle (LP Version)

4:53

533

2

Just For You (LP Version)

3:52

516

3

The Fifth Of Beethoven (LP Version)

6:38

386

4

The Alchemy Of Scott Lafaro (LP Version)

9:50

359

5

Moon Inhabitants (LP Version)

4:34

1,519

6

The Legend Of Bebop (LP Version)

7:16

383

7

Harlem's Manhattan (LP Version)

8:09

685

8

Music Always (LP Version)

5:30

399

9

Brings Goodness (LP Version)

6:35

502

Personnel:

All tracks have Coleman on alto, except “Harlem’s Manhattan”, where he plays tenor.

All tracks have Don Cherry on trumpet, pocket trumpet, or cornet.

Ed Blackwell plays drums on al tracks except “The Circle with the Hole in the Middle” and “Just for You”, where the drummer is Billy Higgins.

All tracks have Charlie Haden on bass except “Harlem’s Manhattan”, where the bass player is Jimmy Garrison.