Records

  By Bill Adler  

     One of the most exciting and encouraging aspects of contemporary popular music is the extent to which jazz elements have become incorporated and accepted as a part of that mainstream.  Surely it was unthinkable as little as four years ago that jazz composer/pianist Herbie Hancock would top the pop charts in 1974 with a funky little ditty called "Chameleon."  Herbie's ideas and success have spurred any number of imitators, and this was only to be expected.  In any art form, but perhaps in no other as in the ever mutating discipline of jazz, there are innovators and there are codifiers.

     The airwaves, generally, are full of the work of imitators, and the astute listener may have already noticed a certain staleness in recent "jazz-rock" releases.  Business people and aspiring pop artists alike are aware that most people buy records (or anything) with which they're already familiar or which are similar to other records they've heard.  It's only good sense, marketing-wise, to capitalize upon an existing desire and "give the people what they want."

     The records under discussion here are the products of artists who are most likely aware of popular trends and who deliberately seek to create something new, to serve their own artistic needs first and not some nebulous idea of "mass taste."  Albert Ayler, the hugely-talented Afro-American saxophonist, was asked at one time why he turned his back on be-bop, the prevalent jazz idiom of his day.  He replied, "It's too simple.  I'm an artist.  I've lived more than I can express in bop terms."

     That explanation can probably serve just as well today as a key to the motivations of the artists represented here.  They are all innovators, part of the left-wing of the contemporary musical spectrum, and if that doesn't necessarily guarantee consistent quality, it does insure honesty and freshness.

     Three of these six albums feature musicians associated with the Association for the advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM)--an artists' cooperative out of Chicago formed in 1966 to nurture and organize the "New Musicians'' there and, what's more, to take the business matters of the creation, production, and distribution of their art into their own hands.

The Paris Session

     The Art Ensemble of Chicago is (on this album) Lester Bowie, trumpet, flugelhorn, percussion; Roscoe Mitchell, numerous reeds, percussion; Joseph Jarman, reeds, percussion; and Malachi Favors, bass, percussion.  They've played their magnificent, thoroughly original music as the Art Ensemble since 1967 or so (including an appearance at the 1972 Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival) but had to leave this country in 1969 to discover if Europe would be any more hospitable to the presentation of that music than America had been.  It was, apparently, and they recorded a minimum of half a dozen albums there, including this session.  It is not one of their better efforts, primarily because they lack a drummer.

     Now, the A F.C is deep into percussion.  They come onstage with shakers, whistles, and bells from every hamlet on the planet and use them, usually, to great coloristic and humorous effect.  (Their live performances are stunning.)  And even considering all the "little instruments" in evidence, the "Paris Session" seems sluggish and uninspired compared to works like Les Stances A Sophie (on Nessa) or Fanfare For The Warriors (Atlantic).  The difference is a drummer.  They need a Philip Wilson or a Don Moye at the traps to keep their motion together.  Apart from that, it's still odd that there's little here of their much vaunted, and absolutely essential, group empathy.  However, there are nice tastes throughout of Bowie's singularly unadorned and affecting trumpet-playing and of Favors' extra-fat bass antics.  Still, skip this one, look for those others, and jump at the chance to see the AEC perform live.

Creative Construction Company

     The Creative Construction Company was an AACM offshoot that resettled in New York City and recorded this album live in May, 1969.  It is like the Art Ensemble album, music of collective improvisation and doesn't feature soloists to the conventional extent.  However, there is an organic ebb and flow here, on the 34 minutes of "Muhal," that was lacking on the AEC date.

     This performance breathes.  The music is texturally very dense but recorded well enough so that each player's contribution is remarkably clear.  Highlights include Leroy Jenkin's (now with the Revolutionary Ensemble) pure, singing violin work, and the superb bass playing one has come to expect from Richard Davis in any situation.

Reflectativity

     Reflectativity is trumpeter Leo Smith's second date as a leader.  His sound, while occasionally shrill and pointed, is mostly warm, sad, and to the point.  The group Leo is working with now, the New Dalta Ahkri, plays music of spontaneous composition, and there's little here in the way of conventional dynamics, or of harmonic or linear development.  But they sure do know how to use space, know when not to play, and I found that the silences created a sense of tension, of suspense, that was enough to carry me along.

     Side one, the title cut, is in memory of Duke Ellington--one of the warmest tributes I've heard.  Anthony Davis, strongly influenced by Monk and Cecil Taylor, plays an encyclopedic piano solo:  fiery, angular, occasionally dissonant, with snatches of stride and ragtime audible.  It is effectively driven by cymbal splashes and bonging gongs.  Side two is more written, still very economical, not to say sparse, and again very affecting.  There's solid, 3 o'clock-in-the-morning blue vibe to "Reflectativity" and well worth that time.  Write Kabell Records (a self-determination outfit), P.O. Box 102, New Haven, Conn., 06510.

Coon Bid'ness

   Coon Bid'ness is alto-saxophonist Julius Hemphill's first major album release as a leader, and it is the best of this bunch.  Hemphill grew up in Texas (the birthplace of numerous bluesy, hard-playing saxophonists), gigged with Ike Turner, and later moved to St. Louis where he became a member of the Black Artists Group (BAG), the musicians' cooperative in that city.  He recorded side two, "The Hard Blues," in 1972.  It is absolutely brilliant.  Hemphill scores simply but writes rich horn voicings over the basic blues.  He then launches into one of the hurtinest, roaringest, most absorbing alto solos I've ever heard.  There's a heartbreaking wail to his sound much like Ornette Coleman's.  But Hemphill's an original and he gets singular help from Abdul Wudad, cello (played mostly pizzicato) and the great Philip Wilson, drums.  The selections on side one, recorded this year, are each different and interesting and feature Hemphill's unique compositional and arranging skills and exceptional group interplay (I especially like the way the three saxophonists interrelate). Coon Bid'ness is intelligent and emotional and captivating straight through.  Don't miss it.

There's A Trumpet in My Soul

     Saxophonist/composer Archie Shepp is the grand old man of this group of New Musicians.  Once an unrepentant fire-breather who kept in close touch with his deep blues roots, he has, in the past five years, turned increasingly to big band arrangements.  Four different people arrange the tunes on There's a Trumpet in My Soul, but not one is earth shakingly arresting.  There are lots of great things happening anyway:  Semenya McCord sings the haunting title tune of her own composition in a voice as strong and pure as sunlight.  Archie plays his own "Samba da Rua" with a huge, aching sound that recalls Ben Webster.  "Zaid" is lots of strong percussion from drummer Beaver Harris and bassist Jimmy Garrison behind more strong solos by Archie.  "Trumpet," finally is varied and cohesive, a tasteful combination of avant-garde and mainstream elements.

Infinite Sound

     Infinite Sound was a reeds/band duo (from the West Coast) when they appeared at the Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival in 1973.  Since then Roland Young and Glenn Howell have added vocalist Aisha Kahlil.  They make a lot of music for three people.  They're remarkably empathetic and do a lot of things comparing and contrasting Aisha's flexible, pure voice and Young's horn playing.  The music is occasionally programmatic (dig the very evocative "The Ocean Moves Primitively") and a little too thought-out, but it is mellow and very pretty.  Bassist Howell supplies the needed warmth.  Write to 1750 Arch Records, Box 9444, Berkeley, Ca 94709.

     Keep in mind that all these records assume a passionate listener at the other end.  Given your undivided attention, they will enrich your life and open up a vast whole world of music and feeling beyond the radio desert.

JAZZ:  THE AVANT-GARDE IS STILL 'OUT THERE'

Art Ensemble of Chicago, The Paris Session, Arista-Freedom

Creative Construction Company, Muse

New Dalta Ahkri, Reflectativity, Kabell

Julius Hemphill, Coon Bid'ness, Arista-Freedom

Archie Shepp, There's A Trumpet In My Soul, Arista-Freedom

Infinite Sound, Contemporary African-Amerikan Music, 1750 Arch Records