Vibrations

My 22-month old daughter has learned how to get a record onto the turntable and start it.  Of course, yesterday she tried to put a cassette tape on the turntable, so she still has plenty to learn.  I have a few old 45’s that are pretty beaten up, so I let her experiment with them.  Once the music starts, she quickly communicates her endorsement or critical disappointment, with the latter typically displayed by a guttural noise akin to a cat trying to hack up a hairball.  I blame her mother.  However, she expresses her approval by doing a strange dance – bending her arms at the elbows, swaying them, and bouncing around.  Again, I blame her mother.  Or at least I’d like to, but I am pretty sure she is doing a pretty spot-on portrayal of her dancing father.  And of course you can't help but dance around the room with her, imitating her dancing style, which likely results in a vicious positive-feedback loop.  But I guess middle-school dances are a long way off.

So far she has given the hair-ball-wretch review to singles by Crosby, Stills, and Nash (who can blame her really?), David Bowie, and Emerson Lake and Palmer.  However, she dances like crazy to Led Zeppelin’s “Black Dog.”  Again, I blame her mother. 

A couple days ago, I put Charles Lloyd’s “Forest Flower” LP on the turntable.  I’ve listened to this album several times after picking it up in the used bin a couple years ago, finding it pleasant but not particularly moving.  However, I stumbled into a really positive review of it recently so I decided to give it another chance.  I was working on other things, so admittedly it didn’t have all of my focus, but I was really surprised at how much I was enjoying it.  I didn’t remember the driving energy and passion of this album!  How did I miss this!  Then the announcer came on at the end of the record, with a voice like Alvin the Chipmunk.  This time, I blame my daughter.  Yes, I played the entire record at 45 rpm instead of 33 rpm, because that is where the setting was left after the last "Black Dog" dancing session.  I listened to a bit more of the Charles Lloyd record at normal speed and it is much less exciting.  If you have a copy of this album, definitely give it a spin at 45 rpm. 

Anyway, I actually have been listening to quite a bit more than bad Crosby, Stills and Nash, vinyl-pop laden takes of “Black Dog,” and hopped-up Charles Lloyd.  Although I haven’t had time to post on this blog for a couple months, I have had plenty of time for free jazz, so that brings me back to Ayler….

In the fall of 2006 I noticed “Vibrations” available for download at the Itunes store for around 6 dollars.  The availability and price surprised me and given that the “money was (still) not strong enough,” for the real thing I purchased the download.  Albert Ayler, Gary Peacock, Sunny Murray, and Don Cherry….six dollars well spent.  Someday I’ll get the CD or the vinyl. 

Albert Ayler, Vibrations

Freedom (among others), 1964

Albert Ayler:  alto and tenor saxophones

Don Cherry:  trumpet

Gary Peacock:  bass

Sunny Murray:  drums

“Vibrations” was recorded in Denmark on September 14, 1964, about two months after “Spiritual Unity” and “New York Eye and Ear Control.”  Don Cherry joins the Spiritual Unity trio and the result is an exhilarating, fast-paced, free-for-all frolic, structured by the repetitive simple melodies so associated with Albert.  At least for me, the emotional feel of the album is not quite as varied as the previous albums of 1964, and I think this is mostly because Don Cherry’s trumpet adds a bright and upbeat quality to the music – even when Albert seems to be taking things to deeper and darker emotional places.  The album is must-have for any Ayler collection, and not a bad place for the uninitiated to begin.  Get it.  Play it.  Maybe even play at 45 rpm.  You can blame me.   

Buy it at Amazon

New York Eye and Ear Control

The next of my three emusic downloads was "New York Eye and Ear Control," a raucous collective improvisation that is notable for its lack of recurring march-like themes.  For me this album has been a bit difficult to sink my ears into, and I fully anticipated that it would again be difficult to engage with it. Without the occasional structure imposed by the recurrent themes, I have felt a bit like I'm in the middle of Lake Superior, without a raft on an overcast day, trying to figure out which  direction to swim.  However, this week I jumped in, told myself I didn't need a raft or my compass (and yes sometimes I still use a compass), and forced myself to intensively tread water with this thing.  

Albert Ayler, New York Eye and Ear Control

1964, ESP

Albert Ayler:  tenor saxophone

Don Cherry:  trumpet

John Tchicai:  alto saxophone

Roswell Rudd:  trombone

Gary Peacock:  bass

Sunny Murray:  drums

I have been pleasantly surprised by my enjoyment of this album; in fact, it has become increasingly enjoyable with each listen.  Prior to this week, I would have described the album as unstructured cacophony, with little apparent interaction among the musicians, filing it away with other less-than-successful efforts at collective improvisation.  However, upon repeated listening the album has really started to grow on me, and I can't believe that I overlooked how strikingly successful the group interaction really is.  Once I allowed myself to float along, and really become a part of this spontaneous musical landscape, I found myself in awe at how downright amazing these guys really were.  I have discovered this recording for the first time this week.

"New York Eye and Ear Control" was recorded on July 17th, 1964 by Paul Haines for Michael Snow's avant-garde film of the same name.  The gathering took place only a week after "Spiritual Unity" was recorded,  and the same trio is supplemented here by three top-notch and highly creative musicians: Don Cherry, John Tchicai, and Roswell Rudd.  The first track, entitled "Don's Dawn" is only a minute long and features Cherry playing especially smoothly on trumpet with very sparse accompaniment, most prominently Gary Peacock on bass.  A lyrical, short piece, it is quite a contrast to the subsequent two tracks, which are each over 20 minutes long and are comprised of mostly unstructured collective improvisation.  These two longer tracks ebb and flow in intensity, at times are quite spacious, and for the most part Ayler dominants the proceedings.  There are moments when Ayler states what sounds like the fragment or the beginning of a march theme, but each time it is quickly disposed of.  The interaction among the musicians is at times awe inspiring, and this is truly a collective effort.  

Disorienting? Yes.  

Cacophonous? Yes. 

Unstructured?  Yes.  

Spontaneous?  Absolutely. 

Beautiful? At times strikingly so.

Inspiring? Tremendously. 

Do I care which direction I should swim anymore? No.

Below are a couple of relevant audio clips, again taken from the radio show that ESP put together.  The first is Bernard Stollman talking about the album and the participants, and the second is Sunny Murray talking about the album and Albert.

Buy it directly from ESP.

But it from amazon.