Bassist Gary Peacock passed away earlier this month, leaving behind a vast and varied discography. The Free Jazz Blog pays tribute to the great bassist with a selective and subjective look back on his some of the recordings that made their impressions personally and musically.
Albert Ayler Trio – Spiritual Unity (ESP-Disk, 1965)
By Nick Metzger
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Gary Peacock, photo by Roberto Masotti.Bassist Gary Peacock passed away on Friday, September 4th at age 85. Peacock’s work in free jazz goes back to nearly to the genre’s beginning with his work in saxophonist Albert Ayler’s groups, recording the highly influential Ghosts (Debut, 1964), Prophecy (ESP-Disk, 1964), New York Eye and Ear Control (ESP-D…
Open Border has been with me for many, many months. I’ve listened to it numerous times, and each time thought “ok, now, I will sit down a write something.” However, it wasn’t until I plugged in my earbuds and took a walk that it finally happened.One way to listen to music is of course to listen closely, intentionally, and with minimal background so…
© Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian – Vera MarmeloI’m very thankful for the excellent condition of my rented mountain bike’s brakes at the moment. Since picking it up from a shop near the river, I had been riding up, up the Avenue de Liberdade, past the tourist shops with cork hats and colorful tiles, past the many restaurants and upscale shops, pa…
© Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian – Vera MarmeloJuly 31, 2020PrologIt is quiet in Lisbon, relatively speaking. The same streets that were teeming with tourists this time last year, even impassable at times, now allow for wide berth. Even the precipitous, winding streets of Barrio Alto, with its (at best) foot wide sidewalks, seem spacious. The se…
A number of relatedly unrelated things come to mind each time that I listen to 85bears. First there is how the winding lines of the windy instruments in the foreground bop and weave around each other with melodically free abandon, kind of like the early recordings of Ornette Coleman. Then of course, Chicago. Allusions to the Chicago Bears football …
Who isn’t up for a pleasant surprise from time to time? Especially these days when the surprises tend to be the less welcoming kind, The No Base Trio from Puerto Rico is definitely of the better type, and their eponymous debut is most certainly a welcome one.The group, formed in San Juan 10 years ago, is Jonathan Suazo on alto saxophone and EWI, Ga…
Interview with Ken Vandermark. Photo (C) Cristina Marx/Photomusix
and Stef Gijssels
There is hardly a more hardworking musician as Chicago-based, and world renowned, woodwind player and composer Ken Vandermark. Just in the past few months he has released a large band recording, ENTR’ACTS’ Soigne Ta Droite, as well as one with a new qua…
Guitarist John Scofield has long been tangentially associated with ECM records. His first appearance dates back to a Peter Warren release on the related JAPO label in 1982. Since then he has appeared on several recordings with bassist Marc Johnson’s Bass Desires group, and with Trio Beyond, a take on Tony Williams’ Emergency with organist Larry Gol…
It begins with a crash, I suppose it’s all 10 musicians striking at once. A lingering note from a flute blends into a bright melodic phrase carried by the piano and sax. A thrum from the bass and static laden electronic buzz provides a slightly textured musical canvas. The track, ‘Perpetual Desk (for Ikue Mori)’, is the shortest of the three …
A few weeks ago drummer/composer Devin Gray released the thoroughly engagingSocialytics.The 24 minute release is also a powerful one, driven by his trio with guitarist Ryan Ferreria and trumpeter David Ballou.
Long time associates of Grey, Ferreria is a nuanced sound explorer who notably worked with Tim Berne’s Snakeoil on the 2015 releas…
The Few, a trio from Chicago, released Beauty at Low Temperatures last Autumn. The CD was swept atop my piles of music over the winter, where it stared it at me expectantly for months. Then, a rather random post on Facebook following the meme of “post the cover of an album each day that has influenced you … ” had me searching my other o…
