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Archive for the ‘jaren 60’ Category

Ambitious, atonal, challenging — all are accurate descriptions of Dimensions and Extensions, Sam Rivers’ fourth album for Blue Note. Sam Rivers remains grounded in hard bop structure, working with a sextet featuring Donald Byrd (trumpet), James Spaulding (alto saxophone, flute), Julian Priester (trombone), Cecil McBee (bass), and Steve Ellington (drums), but he explodes the boundaries of the form with difficult, dissonant compositions. With his unique, mercurial tone and edgy solos, he keeps pushing the sextet in different directions. It’s intense, cerebral music, but since it has distinct themes and strong rhythms, the forays into free jazz, dissonant harmonies, and unpredictable tonal textures are actually quite accessible.

Sam Rivers simply burns on each track, whether playing tenor, soprano, or flute. Donald Byrd doesn’t display the wild imagination of Sam Rivers, yet he keeps the pace with alternately languid and biting solos. Similarly, each of the remaining musicians makes a lasting impression with his individual time in the spotlight. With music as risky at this, it’s forgivable that it occasionally meanders (especially on the slower numbers) but, overall, Dimensions and Extensions offers more proof that Sam Rivers was one of the early giants of the avant-garde.

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Bron: wolfgangsvault.com

2 1/2 years after his last recording as a leader for Impulse, pianist McCoy Tyner emerged to start a period on Blue Note that would result in seven albums. Having left John Coltrane in late-1965, McCoy Tyner was entering a period of struggle although artistically his playing grew quite a bit in the late 1960’s. For this release, the pianist is teamed with tenor-saxophonist Joe Henderson, bassist Ron Carter and drummer Elvin Jones for five of his originals. Highlights of the easily recommended CD reissue include “Passion Dance,” “Four By Five” and “Blues On The Corner.”

Bron: The Real McCoy

Paul (Peter Fonda) is a director of television commercials who feels the need to go on a journey of self-discovery now that his marriage is over. He meets up with John (Bruce Dern) and they go to a party so that Paul can try LSD for the first time, with John as his guide. Paul relaxes as the drug takes hold, but is unprepared for the barrage of images that he sees, and ends up wandering the streets, stoned…

Bron: thespinningimage.co.uk/cultfilms

Donald Byrd, a talented hard bop trumpeter during his prime (although rarely reaching the technical heights of Lee Morgan and Freddie Hubbard), performs a varied repertoire on Mustang!. “Dixie Lee” has dated rhythms, and “Mustang” was an attempt to achieve a hit on the level of Morgan’s “The Sidewinder.” However, Byrd sounds fine on those numbers; he digs into the complex chord changes of “Fly Little Bird Fly,” is sensitive on “I Got It Bad,” swings on his “I’m So Excited by You,” and performs his memorable countermelody to “On the Trail,” which had been recorded earlier by several other musicians. Teamed with a typically impressive Blue Note crew (altoist Sonny Red, tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley, pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Walter Booker, and drummer Freddie Waits), Byrd performs high-quality straight-ahead jazz that fits the modern mainstream of the era. Also on the CD reissue are a pair of selections (“Gingerbread Boy” and “I’m So Excited by You”) from an earlier quintet date (with tenorman Jimmy Heath, Tyner, bassist Walter Booker, and drummer Joe Chambers) that, despite being excellent, went unissued until 1997.

Bron: discography

Bill Graham’s first New Year’s Eve Bash was a legendary, all-night affair with additional bands dropping by to supplement the advertised fare, and this second Bash continued the tradition. The music played ’til dawn, sometimes falling on the deaf ears of the somnambulent, and Graham and his staff served breakfast to those who stayed the night. The Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane were at all the early New Year’s concerts, and the Dead made it an annual gig for years. The grey letters cascading through the woman’s hair are silver on the original print.

Bron: wolfgangsvault.com