Joe McPhee / Lisle Ellis / Paul Plimley: Sweet Freedom - Now What?

Avant Jazz / Free Improvisation / Avant-Garde
premiera polska: 2008-10-02
seria wydawnicza: OGY SERIES
kontynent: Ameryka Północna
kraj: USA
opakowanie: Triplefoldowe etui
opis:
multikulti.com; 2008-10
'…Płyta 'Sweet Freedom - What Now?' jest wznowieniem, ale w dystrybucji w Polsce pojawia się po raz pierwszy. W tym nagraniu trio Joe McPhee - Lisle Ellis - Paul Plimley sięga po standardy (połowa kompozycji na płycie), ale traktuje je w duchu do którego Joe McPhee nas przyzwyczaił w Trio X. Nie wiadomomo tutaj gdzie przebiega granica pomiędzy kompozycją oryginalną - najczęściej kilka dźwięków - a całą resztą. Próźno tu doszukiwać się także rozróżnienia pomiędzy improwizacją a kompozycją - słuchając tego nagrania możemy z cała pewnością określić tylko drobne fragmenty jako kompozycję lub improwizację - olbrzymia przestrzeń muzyczna pozostaje niewiadomą. Joe McPhee przyzwyczaił nas bowiem do tego iż w oparciu o kilku dźwiękowe tematy buduje zupełnie nową jakość, zupełnie od pierwotnej kompozycji odbiegającą. Inaczej niż Braxton, który grając standardy najczęściej ocala - przynajmniej na chwilkę - pierwotnego ducha tej muzyki (bebop, hardbop), przetwarza go i do niego powraca. McPhee korzystając z melodyki pierwowzoru buduje własny świat dźwiękó, często melancholijny i drapieżny jednocześnie, liryczny i poetycki, i awangardowo diki zarazem. A partnerzy w tym nagraniu obecni dostosowują się w pełni do głosu saksofonisty. Lisle Ellis gra posągowo, mocno, pozwala to, niczym w muzyce Bacha, oprzeć cała strukturę utworów na basie. Paul Plimley - pianista tyleż wybitny co nieznany jest dla McPhee partnerem niemal idealnym - tak samo potrafi on z kilku dźwięków wyimptrowizować logicznie skontruowaną, niepowtarzalną suitę. Kolejna piękna płyta w dorobku Joe McPhee…'
[Józef Paprocki]

Editor's info:
'A Timeless Protest, Updated'
'In 1960, when he recorded his Freedom Now Suite, Max Roach presented an open-ended, flexible piece of work. A protest piece that focused on the cruelty experienced by blacks, from the United States to South Africa … Mr. Roach had discovered the perfect vehicle upon which to expand, and for the last 30 years, he has been doing just that …'
Peter Watrous,
The New York Times, August 7, 1993

To attempt to cover the many accomplishments of Max Roach in the limited space available here, would do a disservice to the man and his music. Besides being well documented elsewhere, he is still evolving, developing, growing. If you haven't already done so, I would recommend that you check out his classic recordings We Insist!, Freedom Now Suite and Percussion Bitter Sweet. When the project was proposed by Werner X. Uehlinger, he suggested that we concentrate essentially on Mr. Roach's compositions, and in particular the period during the 1960's when he began to use his music to promote socio-political awareness. Additionally, we decided to include original compositions inspired by Mr. Roach as well as others closely associated with him. Why perform the music of Max Roach without a drummer? We simply view Mr. Roach from an orchestral perspective, and in dealing with his compositions we put the 'drummer' inside the music. Drumming is what Max Roach does. A visionary, a teacher, an inspiration is what he is. In any event, creating a museum piece was not our goal, and the 30th anniversary of the victories of the American civil rights movement provided a poignant opportunity for reflection upon the changes freedom has brought, as well as the significant historical parallels which exist in the world today. Thirty plus years after Ornette Coleman's ground-breaking Free Jazz, the question of 'Failed experiment or vital musical force?' (Down Beat, Jan. 1992) continues. Fifty years after the end of World War II, neo-Nazi skinheads kill gypsies in Austria, terrorists poison thousands with nerve gas in the Tokyo subway system, and a black family finds a burning cross on their lawn in a community near where I live in New York State. These are but a few isolated examples to be sure, but they represent symptoms of a problem. Perhaps the concept of freedom itself is the problem. Perhaps it is too vague, too ill-defined. Perhaps it needs qualification; freedom from what, for what, for whom? Once qualified, questions of rights, responsibilities, discipline and control arise. Perhaps freedom has to be viewed with a kind of peripheral vision in order to be seen. If viewed directly, it might not be seen at all, like an optical illusion or love. Just when you think you have it firmly in focus it jumps, changes and becomes something else entirely.
Sweet Freedom - Now What? (The answer is the question!) Each answer invites a new question, and when the questions stop, we are in big trouble! The challenges and the dangers are considerable once freedom has been achieved, but failure to question and challenge invites disaster. Clearly any consideration of the subject of freedom can not be so narrowly limited to race or gender or even music. Freedom, whatever it is, like Max Roach's timeless protest, is an ongoing process, a work-in-progress which demands constant engagement!
'The wonderful thing about this music that we deal with here, this improvisational music that we basically call jazz (I know we can talk about that), is that it's fluid. It's not static … The thing that is basic about it is that you have to make people feel something … In this music you arrive when you make somebody
feel something!'
Max Roach, Interviewed on ABC TV, Like It Is

muzycy:
Joe McPhee: tenor & soprano saxophones & alto clarinet
Lisle Ellis: double bass
Paul Plimley: piano

utwory:
1. Mendacity (slow) [C. Bayen & Max Roach]
2. Driva' Man [Max Roach & Oscar Brown Jr.]
3. Roost 2 [Lisle Ellis]
4. Self Portrait [Max Roach] / Lift Every Voice And Sing [James Weldon Johnson & Rosamond Johnson]
5. Singing With A Sword In / My Hand [traditional spiritual]
6. Roost 1 [Lisle Ellis]
7. Garvey's Ghost [Max Roach]
8. Approaching The Smoke / That Thunders [Lisle Ellis]
9. Triptych: (Prayer/Protest) [Max Roach] / Prolepsis [Paul Plimley]
10. Mendacity (fast) [C. Bayen & Max Roach]
11. A Head Of The Heartbeat [Paul Plimley]
12. The Persistence / Rosewood [Joe McPhee]
13. Roost (Coda) [Lisle Ellis]

wydano: 2008-07
more info: www.hathut.com