MOE KOFFMAN Solar Explorations 1974 256+ VBR LAME mp3 Vinyl rip & scans from GRT 9230-1050 Venus
Since the previous Herbie Mann post included a cover of Moe's signature tune, Swingin' Shepherd Blues, I thought I'd bump this one up in the rotation. I'd have to say the fact the world's premiere jazz flautist chose to include one of Moe's compositions along with heavy hitters such as The Beatles, Smokey Robinson and a fundamental track from the roots reggae canon speaks volumes of the high regard in which he was held by the woodwind world.
This double-LP is definitely a singularity in Koffman's catalogue and the closest any of his releases came to a true kosmigroove or free jazz mode as opposed to the bop-licitous charts of his early and later days or the snazzy reinterpretations of popular/classical music and saccharine smooth jazz that often plagued his output during the late 60s through to the early 80s. Overall it's very similar in feel to the third Dr. Music album recorded a scant few months earlier at the same studio.
This is likely due to It sharing much of the same core line up save for Kennedy and Mallory (who were most responsible for the lyricism and song-oriented structures of that project's output) with the addition of some Boss Brass members and guitarist Sonny Greenwich, who had spent the previous decade performing with luminaries like Miles Davis, Charles Lloyd, Wayne Shorter, Pharoah Sanders, McCoy Tyner, Chick Corea, John Handy and Sun Ra as well as recording with Hank Mobley on the latter's acclaimed Third Season album from 1967.
Note that persisting issues from the RapidShare and PayPal problems of the past two weeks prevent the preview player from working so I've provided a link to a track instead. Since posting clips currently costs over $200 per year in server fees, I might have to switch up to this more economical method, use minimal snippets instead of the whole track or ditch the previews altogether.
Koffman's album of choice is Solar Explorations, a double lp of nine tracks with titles corresponding to the nine planets in this solar system. Obvious yeah, but far preferable to his early 70s conceptual missteps in blending jazz with Bach or Vivaldi's Four Seasons. David Axelrod, these ain't. On Solar Explorations, some of the larger ensemble pieces ("Saturn", "Uranus") resemble a more kozmik Boss Brass-- unsurprising with the guest appearances of both Rob McConnell and Guido Basso.
Better are the octet recordings, which are dominated by Koffman on flute, Sonny Greenwich on guitar and Doug Riley on Fender Rhodes. The tastiest cuts are designated by "Earth" (atonal free electronic interludes alternating with fierce percussive sections), "Mars" (great middle section tribute to Rod Serling) and "Venus" (anchored by a near-serialist bassline doubled on ARP and a jerky funk rhythm.).
Moe Koffman - Flute, Piccolo, Alto & Soprano Sax Doug Riley - Keyboards, Fender Rhodes Don Thompson - Bass Rick Homme - Bass Terry Clarke - Drums Claude Ranger - Drums Michael Craden - Percussion Sonny Greenwich - Guitar Guido Basso - Trumpet Fred Stone - Trumpet Arnie Chycoski - Trumpet Al Stanwyck - Trumpet Rob McConnell - Trombone Ian McDougall - Trombone Russ Little - Trombone Bob Livingston - Trombone Eugene Amaro - Sax Keith Jollimore - Sax David Rosenbloom - ARP synthesizer Peter Schenkman - Cello
boomp3.com No bio here cuz if'n you don't know who Norman Cook is, you've either been under a rock or dead for years. If it's the latter, and you've recently noticed an increase of brains in your diet, please do the right thing and walk into a rotating helicopter blade. If it's the former, then check out the link and get a clue, boo.
Let's make something perfectly clear. I bought The Housemartins' "London 0 Hull 4" on import when it came out while I was living in the wilds of Canuckistan. I purchased "The People Who Grinned Themselves To Death" on import. I found Cook's name attached to a re-mix on the James Brown "Payback (The Final Mixdown)" EP in '88 and then noticed his name on an Eric B & Rakim single I had and thought "damn, that skinny goofy bass player from the Housemartins has a helluva funky touch!" I bought Beats International's"Let Them Bingo," "Echo Chamber" and "Excursion On The Version" immediately upon their releases and played them to death. Soon after I started playing out, I picked up anything by Freakpower and The Mighty Dub Katz on 12" or LP. I even picked up a couple Pizzamans (ugh). Then when "Everybody Loves A 303" popped up in the shop, it was clear the man was a force to be reckoned and soon after, as a DJ I reckon I was practically forced to buy his output for the floor (twist my rubber arm, as they say).
But I would trade them all in for a new full-length Freak Power In Dub album. For me, these six glorious tracks epitomise the dubbed-out psychedelic instrumental hip hop productions that were categorised tritely by the British music press as "Trip Hop." Cook takes his trademark sound sensibilities through an emotional range far beyond the grasp of his club-oriented material, creating expansive vistas with sonic atmospherics while the circuitous logic of the tracks unfold. IMHO this is the high-water mark in the genre and, along with DJ Shadow's first few Mo' Wax singles and his "Endtroducing" LP, one of its definitive examples. Grab it below and you can hear what can be done by one in a home studio with their wax, minimal gear, a big heart and a good ear.
FREAK POWER IN DUB The Funk Fried Food EP 60 MB 192 CBR LAME mp3 VINYLRIP rip from white label
A1 Turn On, Tune In, Find Joy A2 At Your Own Pace A3 Sugar Lump B1 Freakpower Is A Beautiful Thing, Baby B2 My Heart Sings B3 Where I'm Going
OR
69 MB 192/224/256/320 CBR LAME mp3 CDRIPS from various sources & covers from discogs.com 1 Turn On, Tune In, Find Joy 2 At Your Own Pace 3 Sugar Lump* 4 Freakpower Is A Beautiful Thing, Baby 5 My Heart Sings 6 Where I'm Going** * Not on bonus disc, inserted in correct order to replicate vinyl track listing. ** Didn't have on any comps so re-used the vinyl rip - levels slightly higher than the rest.
Here's a review from All About Jazz by Laurence Donohue-Greene:
Recorded live at the Donaueschingen Music and Berlin Festivals in 1970, this gem ideally captures Sun Ra and His Intergalactic (Research) Arkestra at its most otherworldly self. Individual and collective sounds reach for ears at times beyond human comprehension. The 21-member Arkestra is anchored by its leader captaining keyboards of various frequencies of inter-planetary communication and fresh audible sensations—from his Farfisa organ, “roc-si-chord,” “spacemaster,” Mini- Moog synthesizer, Hohner clavinet and electra, to acoustic piano. Soundscapes vary from Twilight Zone-ish scores (the Moog-heavy “Out in Space”) to African ritualistic percussive escapades (“Watusi”).
Ceremoniously opening with June Tyson’s heavily breathed words spoken as if serenaded from a tropical bird—“dream,” “blackness,” and lastly “a world” swirl into the rumbling and gathering of percussion, brass, and reeds. Flutes, oboe, and a modified bassoon (with a French horn mouthpiece!) performed by Leroy Taylor (aka Elo Omoe) create a modern classical orchestral atmosphere before the swinging beats of drums and trumpet-like scorching alto sax lines carry the momentum elsewhere.
A bass-driven piano introduces dozens of different meters performed on drums and percussion instruments of all shapes and sizes over the Egyptian march of “Watusi.” A near twenty-minute suite culminates in the closing “Duos,” featuring the avant alto sax vocabulary of Marshall Allen and Danny Davis followed by the burly baritone dialogue of Pat Patrick and Danny Thompson. One of the singular and unfortunate drawbacks are several abridged versions either subtly fading into segments or, as with “Duos,” more abruptly. Nonetheless, such a recording as this offers the next best thing to but a sampling of what it must have been like to experience the path that Ra offered his listeners in a live concert, perhaps the most uninhibited platform for his musical message.
Just tryin' to put back into the music blogosphere by fillin' in any blanks I can with out-of-print vinyl as well as the occasional mix, remix, re-edit, art or rant. But mostly vinyl. Mostly.
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