ED BLACKWELL QUARTET "TIN PALACE 1979"

 

This concert was most probably part of a double bill with the Moffett Family.

The picture above is from the Tin Palace. But obviously and unfortunately after it was used as a location for many wonderful concerts... And don't miss the interview Ted Panken conducted with Edward Blackwell in May 1986 https://tedpanken.wordpress.com/2011/07/21/edward-blackwell-wkcr-may-4-1986/ 

 

Ahmed Abdullah, trumpet
Charles Brackeen, tenor saxophone
Mark Helias, double bass
Ed Blackwell, drums

1. ann speaker 1:16
2. title 11:01
3. title 09:16
4. title 11:34

32:59

Recorded at the Tin Palace, New York, NY on December 3, 1979 (maybe it's only the WKCR broadcast date).
(fm)

Thanks to jazzrita. 

Ahmed Abdullah Sextet live at Ali's Alley, NY, 1978

Yet another repost, from early 2013, this one with reference to another loft turned performance space in NY, Ali's Alley.

Following on from the former posting of the Group live in 1987, here is an older date from 1978 with some of the same players. As I said in that post, some of the members of the Group emerged during the loft movement in the 1970s. This was a musicians' initiative to create their own spaces for players to express themselves and interact with others. Perhaps the most well-known was Sam Rivers' Studio Rivbea, and another was Ali's Alley, run by Rashied Ali who was the drummer with John Coltrane during his last days, before launching a solo career with his own group. Ali made a duo record with Frank Lowe in the early 70s and the latter can also be heard on this date.

As I said in the former post, both Abdullah and Bang emerged as major players on the loft scene during the 70s and Frank Lowe was very much a part of that scene as well, having cut his debut record for the legendary ESP label, "Black Beings" with, among others, Rashied Sinan on drums who is "coincidentally" also on this date. So it's all interlinked.

Close to two hours in all here with music, though tending towards the free side, that still has a strong rhythmic pulse and melodic core. Lively, propulsive, energetic, thorougly enjoyable. Dig in!

The sonics on this recording may not be the optimal as this clearly is an audience recording, also capturing the ambience of the space in which it was performed. But don't let detract from the joyous and uplifting music on display here!

The facts:


Abdullah Ahmed Sextet

NYC, Ali's Alley

July 12, 1978

Ahmed Abdullah - tp
Frank Lowe - ts
Billy Bang - viol
Jay Hoggard - vb
Jerome Hunter - b
Rashied Sinan - dr

No set list given, so if anyone can help out, it would be appreciated.

Jay Hoggart is here on vibraphone and today teaches music at Wesleyan. Jerome Hunter, the bassist, has played with Sun Ra, among others, another common link.

Abdullah is still active today, educator, curator and musician and writer, though his book on his years with Sun Ra still remains unpublished. He maintains his own web site which can be accessed here:

http://www.ahmedian.com/

His curatorial work in later years has been linked to thia place:

http://sistasplace.org/

which is in the Bedford-Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn, one node in a network of community organising. A place to check out for jazz-loving brooklynites and newyorkers?

There'll be more posts on the NY 70s/80s club scene, so stay tuned!

The Group live in Cambridge, Mass. 1987

I am reposting this one from late 2012 because it very much ties in with the theme of NY loft/club jazz in the 70s, although this specific one was later.

There has been jubilation in jazz circles about the release, after 26 years, of a live recording by the Group at the Jazz Center of New York on 13 September 1986. The tapes had languished in Ahmed Abdullah's possession ever since until the Nobusiness record label out of Vilnius, Lithuania, was told about them and expressed an interest in releasing them. The cd (and an lp) is now out in limited circulation of 1000 copies so readers are advised to rush out and get a copy before it disappears. However, it is not the only recording in circulation. In the course of the short life of the Group, up to the end of 1987, they also gigged around the East Coast, including a date in Cambridge, Mass., on 21 January 1987. This is briefly mentioned in Abdullah's liner notes to the cd release. There is no mention of the gig being recorded, so this is in all likelihood an unofficial audience recording.

Who was the Group? It was a collective composed of five members, some of whom had cut their teeth on the NY free jazz scene in the 60s (Brown, Cyrille) and others who had emerged as part of of the loft scene in the 70s (Bang, Sirone, Abdullah). After the loft scene had pretty much subsided, there was a scramble to look for new opportunities for players on a NY scene less hospitable to innovative jazz than before and to look for new collaborative models to work from. So, in that spirit, there was no leader of the Group and each member was encouraged to contribute their own compositions, even though the repertoire made room for covers of standards. As Abdullah writes, there have been several revivals of the Group, buth with the passing away of Brown, Bang, Sirone and also of Fred Hopkins (who is on the cd, though not on this gig), replacements have become a duty of necessity.

In the pic above (a flyer for their very first appearance, courtesy of the Nobusiness website), all five members are present and these are the five you will hear on this Cambridge date.

The Group
Cambridge, Mass. (USA)
1369 Club
January 21, 1987


Marion Brown as
Ahmed Abdullah tp
Billy Bang violin
Sirone b
Andrew Cyrille dr

1) 16:47 Assunta
2) 08:47 Warm Valley
3) 14:16 Fortified Nucleus
4) 06:21 La Placita – cut -
5) 17:39 cont´d - La Placita
6) 17:18 The Glow Of Awareness
7) 12:13 The Music In Us
8) 08:12 I Remember Clifford
9) 21:43 Restore Africa

This is a historical recording of five great musicians. I'm not going to single out anyone in particular, though I would like to say that anything that has Marion Brown on it is pretty much essential. All five should be familar to followers of the blog (and parenthetically, I should try to find more from Abdullah).

Two hours of goodness for y'all.

Arthur Blythe-The Grip & Metamorphosis-1977

A little request fulfillment,2 monster live sets by one of the great bands of its day, 

These are among my favorite jazz records period!!!

.

. To my knowledge, both were also issued in Japan by Paddle Wheel , and once on CD combined  in the early 90's..

The Band has a very distinct unique sound, with Bob Stewart and Abdul Wadud  given plenty of space , all the instruments more or less have an equal weight.

in the ensemble passages, there's a lot here that is delightfully  reminiscent of earlier free wheeling New Orleans , collective playing....

Beautiful Stuff .

and btw,Blythe hasn't been well the last couple of years, and you can help him by buying some of his available cds from reputable sources, such as the labels Cadence..Enja or in an out .

for Info Click on the back Covers or go Here and Here

ENJOY!

KAZUTOKI UMEZU "SEIKATSU KOJYO IINKAI" (SKI, 1975)

It's Sunday - so I'll make an extra effort.

Kazutoki "Kappo" Umezu, alto saxophone
Yoriyuki Harada, piano, bass clarinet
Ahmed Abdullah, trumpet
William Parker, bass
Rashied Sinan, drums

1. Stravizauls (Harada)    21:29
2. Kim  (Umezu)            22:50
3. Not So Long Don (Umezu) 02:02

Recorded by Ali Abuwi at Studio WE, NYC, 11th August, 1975.

SKI No.1  (vinyl rip)