Joe McPhee: Alone together

Avant Jazz / Free Improvisation / Avant-Garde
premiera polska: 2019-09-05
opakowanie: kartonowe etui
opis:
Editor's info:
In his upstate NY secret laboratory, home-based in Poughkeepsie, Joe McPhee diligently documented his activities throughout the '70s, with the help of Craig Johnson, the producer who started CjR as an outlet for McPhee's music. Among the unreleased tapes waxed in that span, Alone Together is unique and especially beautiful. Like Sound on Sound (released by Corbett vs. Dempsey in 2010), these recordings make use of multitrack recording, overdubbing McPhee upon McPhee, however where those earlier recordings had an experimental tendency, the Alone Together tracks were more compositional in nature, allowing the multi-instrumentalist to build and sculpt each piece, creating complete wind ensembles one track at a time. In 1974 and then again in a longer session in 1979, McPhee recorded in concise solo, duo, and trio contexts, and in more extensive brass and reed quartets – all McPhee, all the time. Going head-to-head with the best of the saxophone foursomes of the era, McPhee is a one-man-WSQ, his probing investigations and lyrical statements as incisive and insightful as those of his best-known recordings. McPhee's own enthusiasm for these never-before-heard recordings betrays their significance in his large and ever-mounting discography. Corbett vs. Dempsey is honored, after so long, to finally make them available.

Downbeat * * * *:
Joe McPhee is a confirmed multi-instrumentalist. He first learned trumpet from his father as a youth, and first picked up a tenor saxophone when he was in his late 20s. Since then he’s taken on a couple dozen brass, reed, keyboard and electronic instruments, usually focusing on two or three at any given session. While he often mixes brass and reeds, as he does on Alone Together, the album still stands alone in his discography. Its tracks, which were recorded in 1974 and 1979, comprise nine overdubbed horn ensembles framed by two brief solos. With rare exception, McPhee has devoted himself to the immediacy of improvisation; most of his recordings are live, and in recent decades he has preferred to do his composing at the moment of performance.
. . .
This is not a perfect recording. Despite some evident cleanup work, there are a few tape glitches. But rather like Sun Ra, who likewise valued diligent documentation over sonic refinement, McPhee seems determined to show us what he has done.
By Bill Meyer

muzycy:
Joe McPhee, soprano saxophone, alto saxophone; tenor saxophone, alto horn, flugelhorn, trumpet

utwory:
1. Theme (1:50)
2. Soprano/Alto/Tenor Trio (7:06)
3. Tenor/Alto Duo (5:22)
4. Flugelhorn/Alto Duo (5:04)
5. Trumpet/Tenor Duo (1:00)
6. Alto Saxophone Quartet (5:17)
7. Brass/Reed Quartet (7:10)
8. Reed Quartet (7:34)
9. Brass/Reed Quartet II (5:49)
10. Alto Horn Quartet (10:03)
11. Theme (1:17)

nagrano: Recorded by Craig Johnson in Poughkeepsie, NY, in 1974 (1, 5, 11) and 1979.

more info: www.corbettvsdempsey.com