mdpm99
09-29-2003, 10:12 AM
Subj: Solo Sun Ra / Miles Davis - Jack Johnson Box Set
JAZZ ALBUM OF THE WEEK:
Ten years without SUN RA? Yes, hard to believe, but it was 1993 when the free-jazz prophet and leader of the Myth-Science Arkestra -- a combination time-warping big band and cosmic clambake -- rejoined his fellow spirits in the sky. Fortunately, his musical impact was so strong, and his earthly recordings so timeless and plentiful, that it seems as if he's never really left. Case in point, the previously unavailable 'PIANO RECITAL/TEATRO LA FENICE' (Leo/Golden Years of New Jazz, 4 stars), a live 1977 concert from Venice, newly released. Despite his multi-keyboard prowess at the helm of the Arkestra, Sun Ra made precious few solo documents, so this is both a rare and revealing sample of his unadorned musical vision, past and future. The first "Free Improvisation" opens with rich, Ellingtonianly suggestive chords that are resolved alternately as a tender ballad and a pummeling toccata a la Prokofiev, and along the way it's easy to notice how earlier ivory ticklers like James P. Johnson and Fats Waller influenced Ra's two-fisted attack -- leaning heavy on syncopated phrases and striding left-hand bass figures. When he plays the blues -- both the original ("Blues") and stylized W.C. Handy ("St. Louis Blues") variety -- traditional licks come into focus, including a patented Earl Hines tremolo. But he also telescopes time and space in "Take the 'A' Train" and "Honeysuckle Rose" -- free fantasies that explode with episodes of polytonality and multiple tempos -- and sprinkles the sentimental '30s "Penthouse Serenade" with pungent Monkian tongue-in-cheek harmonies. Okay, so the recorded sound isn't as good as a studio recording -- anyway, it's better than a telepathic projection from Saturn. (By ART LANGE)
"I'll play it and tell you what it is later"
--Miles Davis--
JAZZ ALBUM OF THE WEEK:
Ten years without SUN RA? Yes, hard to believe, but it was 1993 when the free-jazz prophet and leader of the Myth-Science Arkestra -- a combination time-warping big band and cosmic clambake -- rejoined his fellow spirits in the sky. Fortunately, his musical impact was so strong, and his earthly recordings so timeless and plentiful, that it seems as if he's never really left. Case in point, the previously unavailable 'PIANO RECITAL/TEATRO LA FENICE' (Leo/Golden Years of New Jazz, 4 stars), a live 1977 concert from Venice, newly released. Despite his multi-keyboard prowess at the helm of the Arkestra, Sun Ra made precious few solo documents, so this is both a rare and revealing sample of his unadorned musical vision, past and future. The first "Free Improvisation" opens with rich, Ellingtonianly suggestive chords that are resolved alternately as a tender ballad and a pummeling toccata a la Prokofiev, and along the way it's easy to notice how earlier ivory ticklers like James P. Johnson and Fats Waller influenced Ra's two-fisted attack -- leaning heavy on syncopated phrases and striding left-hand bass figures. When he plays the blues -- both the original ("Blues") and stylized W.C. Handy ("St. Louis Blues") variety -- traditional licks come into focus, including a patented Earl Hines tremolo. But he also telescopes time and space in "Take the 'A' Train" and "Honeysuckle Rose" -- free fantasies that explode with episodes of polytonality and multiple tempos -- and sprinkles the sentimental '30s "Penthouse Serenade" with pungent Monkian tongue-in-cheek harmonies. Okay, so the recorded sound isn't as good as a studio recording -- anyway, it's better than a telepathic projection from Saturn. (By ART LANGE)
"I'll play it and tell you what it is later"
--Miles Davis--