physical manifestations of the love and respect that NoBusiness Record’s
Danas Mikailionis has for NYC loft era free jazz (we’re working with PDFs
and digital files but I, for one, have my copy on
pre-order!). Over the years, NoBusiness has been dedicated to unearthing and releasing
long-unheard music from a number of musicians (like
Peter Kuhn,
Billy Bang,
Jameel Moondoc, among others) and quite notably, in 2019, the label began releasing a
series of CDs from woodwind player and composer Sam Rivers’ extensive
archive. Working in conjunction with the dedicated researcher and author Rick Lopez,
who recently published a 768-page
Sessionography of Rivers, and along with Ed Hazell, who has provided wonderful
liner notes for all of the NoBusiness Sam Rivers releases, Mikailionis has picked several choice needles from the haystack of recorded sessions that
Sam Rivers’ family has made available.
This 5 LP box-set is a summary of the six volumes in the
Sam Rivers Archives Project series and also adds some additional
previously unheard music to the series. In addition to the LPs, the set is
accompanied by an excellent book that includes pictures from the RivBea Loft in
downtown NYC in the 1970s to Rivers’ final, productive years in Orlando, as well
as new text from Hazell and the original CD liner notes. (For a little more on
the loft scene, check out Mikailionis and Hazell’s visit to the former fabled
loft spaces in 2011
here as well as other coverage
here.)
dimensions. Picking up after Rivers’ progression towards free jazz traced
on his Blue Note recordings from the 1960s and his seminal contribution to
Dave Holland’s
Conference of the Birds (ECM, 1972), the archive series is a nice documentation of the RivBea loft
time and later. For Mikailionis, it was the “depth of the music, freedom of
thought, explorative idea and expression,” that brought him to loft era music
in general. (If you can find copy, the Wildflowers: The New York Loft Jazz Sessions is a compilation of recordings from various artists at the RivBea
loft.) For a little more background, a Q&A
with Mikailionis follows this review.
expressive music found in the limited edition Sam Rivers Archive from
NoBusiness records.
Emanation, the first of NoBusiness’ Sam Rivers’ series from 2019. The
recording was made on June 3, 1971 at the Jazz Workshop in Rivers’ former
hometown, Boston. The trio is Rivers, bassist Cecil McBee and drummer Norman
Connors, the same trio that appeared on the Impulse LP Streams, a live
recording from the 1973 Montreaux Jazz Festival. This earlier set is noted in Hazell’s liner notes, dripping with metaphor, as the “headwaters of his trio
work, the spring from which a large portion of creative output would flow for
the remainder of the decade.”
starting with Rivers’ playing an extended introduction until Conner’s cymbals
pan up into the mix, giving a lithe, driving pulse to the evolving free-form
melody. As the density of the drumming temporarily dies down, the bass can be
heard moving freely, supporting the music. Rivers’ reaches a gripping
crescendo at about nine minutes into the track, before suddenly backing off
into a melodic passage that gives the trio a moment to gather themselves
before climbing quickly to another peak of intensity. And then it happens
again, Rivers ablaze, and the others reacting quickly. McBee then goes into an
extensive solo full of quick runs and expressive phrasings. Rivers rejoins,
after stretch, on flute and the group start digging deeper and deeper.
a momentarily a recognizable melody. The bass and drums come in together,
offering both support as well as counter melodic efforts that seem to build
with some ebb and flow into a stronger current of sound. In a rather
noticeable change, the trio drops into a free-jazz-funk groove. Rivers can be
heard letting out a scream as the group reaches a dizzying peak of intensity
towards the end of the 20 minute track. What a fantastic beginning to the set!
The second record of the set is from 1977, a single day (“Jazztag”) in
Berlin. The two sides are ostensibly a continuous performance (more about
“ostensibly” in a minute) featuring Rivers on tenor, flute, and piano, Joe
Daley on tuba and euphonium, Dave Holland on Bass, Barry Altschul on drums,
and Charles Persip, also on drums.
“Universal Message, pt 1” is side one and is a tenor tour de force
for Rivers, beginning in a noodling space and speeding up like a fast
talker, zero to sixty. The bass, brass, and drums all talk to each other
(including some screaming, groaning vocalizations). It’s a frenetic
pulseless rant, with the two drums providing a power source. And that’s all
in the first three minutes. Space opens up after that opening declaration.
Rivers is such a strong blues-based player that he will always come back to
melody. There’s a solid groove about halfway through, and then a bass solo
that carries us to side two (“Universal Message, pt. 2). Rivers re-enters on
flute, creating a different soundspace that we travel in for seventeen
minutes. At the seventeen-minute mark there’s a break. Applause seems to
rise, like the piece is over. There’s a fade and then Rivers is on piano
with the crew, completely wrecking the place. How can I forget what an
extraordinary piano player Rivers is? But I do. I forget. And then I’m
reminded.
LP 3: Richochet
For the third record, we’ve got the trio of Rivers, Altschul, and Holland
playing to us from 1978. The three tracks are “Richochet” parts 1,2, and 3.
I’m going to pause for a minute to talk about Holland and Altschul. I’ve
been aware of this duo since first hearing Anthony Braxton’s “Five
Compositions 1975,” and his other records from that period. Then I heard
Holland’s Conference of Birds, (yes, I know it came out before the
Braxton recs), featuring Altschul, Braxton, and Sam Rivers. I
remember thinking, “What a unique pair Braxton and Rivers are.” And I still
think that, but Holland and Altschul are extraordinary. They were one of the
pillar rhythm sections of This Kind of Music. I’m probably not telling you
anything you don’t know. I’m just expressing appreciation.
The trio starts with Rivers on soprano. Each instrument – soprano, tenor,
piano – opens up different possibilities for Rivers, but they all sound so
like him. The two sides are 45-ish minute travelogue through the
trio’s conversations. Tenor shrieking follows mid-range melody over a bass
played with melodic cellismo, and always those shimmering drums.
LP 4: An Evening in Hamburg, Part I / Blossoms (previously unreleased)
bass, and Thurman Barker on drums, who opens with a groove that stops and
starts – a bit like a radio signal going in and out on a rainy night while the
rest of the band are perfectly audible throughout. Daley goads Rivers and
Holland to creating circular patterns of melodic invention. The music builds
toward a very mid-70s Holland/Rivers/Altschul dynamic with tuba counterpoint
for accentuation. It’s completely exhilarating and engrossing right up until
the death scene at the end of a spaghetti western. “Blossoms” was previously
unreleased in the series. It explores a lot of sonic terrain, including a
general aura of 1960s sci-fi and a surrealistic duck fight. The highlight
occurs during the last part of the piece in a bizarre space between Baroque
and Tropicalia, which features Holland playing folk melodies and chords in the
upper register of the bass.
“Undulation, Parts I-III” are superb & are from a performance in
Florence, Italy from 1981. Guitarist Jerry Byrd adds nice texture to the
standard sax/bass/drums mesh we are used to hearing from Rivers’ trios from
around this time period. Hard to describe how intense this collaboration
gets without it sounding like superlative overkill, so I’ll just say WOW.
Sonically, the drums are too far back in the mix most of the time and Rivers
is waaaay out in front; but in no way does this distract from the intensity
and fascinating interplay between the musicians. After an unaccompanied solo
from Rivers, drummer Steve Ellington and electric bassist Rael-Wesley Grant
break loose and bring the funk they’ve been dying to drop. It is definitely
more JB’s than Prime Time as Rivers blows multicultural spew somewhere
between Maceo and Pharoah. One of the best sets in the box, for sure.
Q&A with NoBusiness’s Danas Mikailionis
Loft-era in NYC. What interests you in this era / music?
before starting the label. I was struck by the depth of the music, freedom of
thought, explorative ideas and expression. Lofts attracted so many new, young
and talented musicians, who had a strong will to share their inner urge and
that strongly stimulated other musicians and music lovers and resulted in
forming a special atmosphere around Lofts and building musical communities.
This must have been a very exciting time for all those involved.
and reading Valerie Wilmer’s book As Serious As Your Life I understood
that there should be plenty of unheard and beautiful performances from that
time. Naturally, after starting the label, I began digging into the
possibilities of releasing this music. The first true inspiration was my
discussion with Jemeel Moondoc when he was playing in Vilnius, Lithuania. He
spoke a lot about those times and eventually I decided to come up with the
first NoBusiness Jazz Lofts release – Muntu Recordings. That was a significant
first step for me working together with Ed Hazell, who wrote liner notes for
the book, which became a part of the CD box set. He drew a map of the Lofts
and wrote a short history of the Lofts and how everything started. Since then
we continued working together on other historical releases. Lofts Era music
still remains one of my favourite and I am willing to work further on other
unheard performances.
Which other Loft-era recordings / musicians do you recommend listeners check
out?
Art-Tet, the music of Peter Kuhn, Arthur Williams’
Forgiveness Suite, Ted Daniels’
Energy Module and William Hooker’s
LIGHT.
These are all great releases that could be of great interest for those who
want to get into the culture of the Jazz Loft Era music. All of them come
accompanied with extensive stories written by Ed Hazell, include many
interesting photos and original posters.
Sam Rivers has been a focus, you’ve released a number of CDs of his work
already, what is the inspiration behind the new box set?
on important historical music. Ed Hazell has done a tremendous job getting in
contact with Sam Rivers’ daughter and working on Sam Rivers’ archive. It took
time to choose the music for the series and work on the remastering of the
sound. It resulted in six volume releases of Sam Rivers music. I am happy that
we made it available for jazz listeners and I received a tremendously positive
feedback from many people encouraging me to come up with this box set release.
It was planned at the beginning, but the reactions I received made me
from the series and include some previously unreleased tracks. This box set is
a very strong document covering Sam Rivers’ music from 1971 to 2002 and
showing his musical journey through 30 years of his creative activities.
What tips do you have for listeners of the box set? What makes it unique?
compilation of Sam Rivers music collected under one release and it’s going to
be the fist and only existing vinyl box set of Sam Rivers’ music. I worked a
lot on the outer box itself and wanted to make it exceptionally good and long
living.
photos and stories written by Ed Hazell. I hope that those who’ll obtain this
release will be happy with it.
Chap-Chap Series
together with my friends from Japan, documenting concerts produced by Takeo
Suetomi and releasing other great Japanese and Korean musicians and their
cooperation with the musicians from the West. One of the upcoming releases
will be a performance of Peter Brotzmann and Sabu Toyozumi duo from 1987. My
focus will remain on other historic performances and another release will a
document of Barry Altschul / David Izenson / Perry Robinson trio from 1978. I
will also continue working on the early European free jazz music. Releases of
Free Jazz Group Wiesbaden,
Modern Jazz Quintet Karlsruhe
and
Total Music Association
inspired to work further on other not well broadly known groups and musicians.
The music sounds as fresh and exciting as it was back then and I want others
to join me in enjoying it.
The Sam Rivers Archive Series can be pre-ordered from the NoBusiness
website
or can get in contact via
nobusinessrecords@gmail.com.
