Dan Moretti - Invoke (DODICILUNE / IRD June 21, 2018)

Invoke - nuovo disco per il sassofonista e compositore statunitense Dan Moretti (Dodicilune / Ird)

Prodotto dall'etichetta pugliese Dodicilune, giovedì 21 giugno, distribuito in Italia e all’estero da Ird e nei migliori store online da Believe Digital, esce "Invoke", nuovo progetto discografico di Dan Moretti. Nei dodici brani originali, il sassofonista, flautista, compositore e produttore statunitense è affiancato da Mark Shilansky (piano), Jesse Williams (basso), Steve Langone (batteria), Bengisu Gokce (violino), Dan Lay (viola) e Marta Roma (violoncello). 

“Questo disco voleva essere di natura melodica, con assoli più brevi di un classico prodotto jazz", sottolinea Moretti. "L’aggiunta di archi dal vivo come parti essenziali di cinque brani era un desiderio che avevo da molti anni. Per avere l’ispirazione per comporre Invoke mi sono appellato alla preghiera (pregando una divinità o uno spirito)", prosegue. "È quello che ho sempre sperato, avere l’opportunità di lasciarmi andare al potere dello spirito per farmi portare in un posto più profondo dove non ci sono confini”.

Dan Moretti ha alle spalle un'eclettica carriera di oltre trent’anni, che gli ha fatto guadagnare premi e riconoscimenti in ambito internazionale. La sua ampia gamma di stili gli ha fatto avere l’opportunità di collaborare con musicisti d’Europa, Africa, Sudamerica, Asia, Israele e Turchia. Dan ha pubblicato 17 album inediti. Dan ha iniziato a suonare il sax tenore e il clarinetto a 12 anni, e l’anno seguente è stato inserito nella band giovanile di Rhode Island con cui si è esibito al Newport Jazz Festival, nel 1966. Nel 1985 l’etichetta Black Hawk ha pubblicato il suo primo album jazz, “Sometime Inside”. Dan si è esibito in lungo e in largo negli Stati Uniti, in Europa, Africa e Russia e ha viaggiato fino in India per suonare e tenere lezioni e seminari. Le sue influenze musicali vanno dal jazz e dalla musica classica fino al funk e al Latin jazz. Dalla fine degli anni ’70 ha suonato o collaborato insieme ad Aretha Franklin, The Temptations, Mike Stern, Dave Samuels, Dave Liebman, Marvin Stamm, Dr. John, e The Crusaders. Il suo approccio al jazz è sempre stato pluristilistico. Dal 1996 Dan è professore ordinario al Berklee College of Music di Boston. Nel 2006 ha vinto il Curriculum Development Award per il suo corso “Groove Writing”, che ha riscosso notevole successo. Tiene anche un corso online, “Arranging Contemporary Styles” sulla piattaforma Berkleemusic.com, da cui può insegnare a distanza a studenti di tutto il mondo. Nel 2008 ha pubblicato un libro, “Producing and Mixing Contemporary Jazz” per la casa editrice Hal Leonard-Berklee Press. Nello stesso anno è stato co-autore di “Essential Grooves”, testo fondamentale per il corso di Scrittura e Produzione Contemporanea a Berklee. Nel 2009 ha vinto la prestigiosa borsa di studio MacColl-Johnson per i compositori jazz, che gli ha consentito di scrivere e produrre un progetto con la Piccola Orchestra La Viola, un’orchestra tradizionale che gli ha fatto riscoprire le sue radici italiane. Dal 2002 a oggi, Dan è stato attivo in tutto il mondo e si è esibito con artisti come Nile Rodgers e Chic, portando in giro la sua musica e tenendo seminari in Italia, Turchia, Regno Unito, Belgio, Olanda, Francia e Svizzera. Va sottolineata l’estate del 2006, in cui ha avuto l’opportunità di suonare con la resident band al tributo all’Atlantic Records (nell’ambito del 40esimo Festival Jazz di Montreux), insieme a Nile Rodgers, Robert Plant, Stevie Nicks, Chaka Khan, Kid Rock, George Duke, Solomon Burke, and Steve Winwood. Dal 2009 Dan ha viaggiato in Ecuador, Cina, Kenya, Italia, Malaysia, Singapore, Australlia. Nel giugno 2012 e nell’ottobre 2013 è stato headliner del Festival di Jazz Internazionale di Gibilterra. Nel 2011, al culmine dei due anni di lavoro dopo aver vinto la borsa di studio MacColl-Johnson, ha pubblicato con l’etichetta Dodicilune l’album Dan Moretti & Piccola Orchestra La Viola, uscito in Italia e in Europa. Sempre nell’estate del 2011 si è esibito molte volte in Italia, e un concerto indimenticabile è stato quello nella città natale di suo nonno, Monticelli De Esperia (Fr). Dal 2009 il suo album Tres Muse è arrivato al 17esimo posto della classifica di novembre di CMJ, e sempre nello stesso anno Foundations con Curt Ramm alla tromba e Bill Cunliffe al piano, ha raggiunto la 22esima posizione. Nel 2014 è stato pubblicato l’album Dan Moretti and the Hammond Boys, e ha raggiunto la top 20 nazionale su radio CMJ. Dal 2015 al 2017 è stato in tour in Asia ed Europa con Nile Rodgers, con performance alla Sydney Opera House, al Festival di Glastonbury nel Regno Unito e in Giappone in uno show in diretta televisiva.

Jesse Williams è uno dei bassisti più rispettati e ricercati dell’East Coast. Con oltre 25 anni di esperienza nell’insegnamento del basso elettrico e del contrabbasso, e dopo aver suonato nelle location e nei festival più importanti al mondo, Jesse è rinomato fra gli appassionati per la sua precisione e passione sul palco. Si è esibito in diverse location e festival: North Sea Jazz, Edmonton Folk, Montreal Jazz, New Orleans Jazz and Heritage, Vancouver Jazz, Byron Bay, Russian River, Boston Globe Jazz and Blues, Preakness, Beantown, Lincoln Center. Beacon Theater, Mountain Stage, Beacon Theater, Lincoln Center. È apparso in televisione su PBS, Sesame Street, AMC, National Film Archives e in diversi spot pubblicitari. Si è laureato in Performance al Berklee College of Music.

Negli ultimi 25 anni, il batterista Steve Langone si è esibito in club e festival. La sua versatilità gli ha concesso di lavorare in diverse varietà musicali. Oggi insegna percussioni jazz all’Università di Rhode Island. Batterista, compositore e docente, Langone è nato a Waltham, in Massachusetts, ed è cresciuto vicino a Lexington, dove è stato fortunato a studiare con la leggenda del jazz Alan Dawson. Langone si è laureato al Berklee College of Music nel 1993 e negli ultimi vent’anni si è esibito in lungo e in largo in America ed Europa. La sua versatilità gli ha concesso di lavorare con molti artisti diversi – dal vocalist jazz Shawn Moneiro a gruppi fusion di Latin jazz come Enclave e Jinga Trio, fino al cantante country John Carter Cash ai comici Joe Piscopo e Joan Rivers. Ha inciso colonne sonore per National Geographic, Sesame Street e per il film Miramax “Prossima Fermata Wonderland”. Il suo sound può essere trovato in più di 50 album: tra gli altri ha collaborato con Nando Michelin (Double-Time Records), Jinga Trio (Fresh Sounds New Talent Recordings), Enclave.

Il pianista Mark Shilansky è assistente universitario al Berklee College of Music, dove dal 1997 insegna Ear Training, Arranging, Harmony, e Ensembles. Ha insegnato anche Piano Jazz e Ensembles all’Università del New Hampshire, dal 2002, e dal 2009 al 2011 anche a quella del Southern Maine (sempre le stesse materie). Inoltre ha portato le sue composizioni e arrangiamenti all’Università del Wyoming, Bowling Green, ai Festival del Nevada, Maine e New Hampshire, e ha tenuto lezioni e seminari anche all’Università di Duquesne, alla Fort Hays State, a quella dell’Idaho a Mosca e a quella dell’Eastern Tennessee. Oltre alla carriera da pianista e compositore, Mark ha avuto una costante presenza sul palco come turnista. Ha avuto un ruolo in gran parte degli anni 90’ come membro del Luciana Souza Quintet, e questo l’ha portato ad accompagnare anche vocalist come Lisa Thorson, The New York Voices, Kris Adams, Carolyn Leonhart, Rebecca Parris, e Patrice Williamson (per cui ha scritto vari arrangiamenti e prodotto l’album Free to Dream). Il piano di Mark è anche nell’album di debutto del soprano Kim Nazarian “Some morning”, nel brano inedito “All in my heart”. Ha arrangiato la canzone “I have found”, nel disco di debutto della star nascente Robin McKelle, Never Let Me Go. Mark è una presenza forte anche nell’album di Chris Humphrey, “Nothin’ but blue skies”, e negli ultimi quattro anni è stato pianista e arrangiatore occasionale per il gruppo vocale jazz Syncopation, accompagnandolo in tour negli Stati Uniti e in Giappone.

L’etichetta Dodicilune è attiva dal 1996. Dispone di un catalogo di oltre 220 produzioni di artisti italiani e stranieri ed è distribuita in Itali a e all'estero da IRD in circa 400 punti vendita tra negozi di dischi e store. I dischi Dodicilune possono essere acquistati anche online, ascoltati e scaricati su una cinquantina tra le maggiori piattaforme del mondo.

Produced by Dodicilune and distributed in Italy and abroad by Ird and in the best online stores by Believe Digital, "Invoke" is the new recording project by Dan Moretti. In the twelve original compositions, the american saxophonist, flautist, composer and producer is flanked by Mark Shilansky (piano), Jesse Williams (bass), Steve Langone (drums), Bengisu Gokce (violin), Dan Lay (viola) and Marta Roma ( cello). 

“This recording was intended to be melodic in nature with shorter solos than a typical jazz recording. The addition of live strings as an integral part of 5 of the songs was a musical desire of mine for many years. To "Invoke" call on (a deity or spirit) in prayer, as a witness, or for inspiration. This is what I always hope for, the opportunity to let go to the power of spirit to take me to the deeper place in life where there are no boundaries”, write Dan Moretti.

Dan Moretti is an American saxophonist, composer and producer with an eclectic musical career of over 30 years gaining him international awards and recognition.  His broad pallet of styles has afforded him the opportunity to collaborate with musicians across the cultures of Europe, Africa, South America, Asia, Israel and Turkey.  Dan has 17 original recordings published with a new release "Invoke" coming in April 2018 on the Dodicilune Label. Dan started playing tenor sax and clarinet at the age of 12 and the following year was included in the all-state Rhode Island Youth Stage Band where he played Tenor sax at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1966.  In 1985, his first jazz recording "Sometime Inside" was released internationally on Black Hawk records. Followed was a string of 15 recordings which can all be seen on www.danmoretti.com  Dan has toured throughout the United States, Europe, Africa, and Russia, and has traveled as far east as India performing and presenting clinics and seminars. His musical influences range from jazz and classical to funk and Latin jazz. Since the late 70s, he has performed or recorded with artists across the spectrum including: Aretha Franklin, The Temptations, Mike Stern, Dave Samuels, Dave Liebman, Marvin Stamm, Dr. John, and The Crusaders. He approaches jazz from a multi-styled stand point. Dan is a full time Professor at Berklee College of Music in Boston and has been on the faculty since 1996.  He was given the schools Curriculum Development Award in 2006 for his popular on-campus course "Groove Writing".  Dan is also on the faculty of Berkleemusic.com - Berklee's distance learning school where he teaches an online version of this course called "Arranging Contemporary Styles" to students all over the world. In 2008, his book "Producing and Mixing Contemporary Jazz" was released on Hal Leonard-Berklee Press.  In 2008 he co-authored “Essential Grooves” which is required at Berklee for CWP majors.  In 2009 Dan was awarded the prestigious MacColl-Johnson fellowship for jazz composers, which enabled him to write and produce a project with an Italian traditional orchestra called Piccola Orchestra La Viola (POLV), bringing together his musical and Italian roots. From 2002 until the present, Dan has been active internationally and the states performing with artists like Nile Rodgers and Chic and performing his own music and presenting seminars in Italy, Turkey, England, Belguim, Holland, France, and Switzerland. A highlight was in the summer of 2006 he also had the opportunity to perform in the house band at the 40th anniversary of The Montreux Jazz Festival tribute to Atlantic records with Nile Rodgers, which included Dan writing charts and backing up, Robert Plant, Stevie Nicks, Chaka Khan, Kid Rock, George Duke, Solomon Burke, and Steve Winwood.

Other recent international appearances: In 2009 to the present Dan traveled to Quito-Ecuador, China, Kenya-Africa, Italy, England, Amsterdam, Belgium, China, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia and Gibraltar where in June, 2012 and October 2013 he headlined the Gibraltar International Jazz Festival and Jazz Workshops.  In 2011 with the culmination of 2 years work and the MacColl- Johnson Jazz composers fellowship Dodicilune Records released the CD Dan Moretti and The Piccola Orchestra La Viola which was released in Italy and throughout Europe. Also in the summer of 2011 was filled with concerts in Italy and a special re with Dan's grandfather's birth town in Monticelli De Esperia in Italy. From 2009 the Tres Muse charted #17 CMJ November, and also in 2009 The Foundations CD with Curt Ramm - Trumpet (Bruce Springstein) and Bill Cunliffe - Piano (Grammy Winner) charted #22 CMJ. In 2014 the CD “Dan Moretti and the Hammond Boys” was released and charted the top 20 nationally on CMJ radio. From 2015 to 2017 he toured the world Asia and Europe with Nile Rogers featured at the Sydney Opera House, Glastonbury festival in the UK and Japan on live television.

Jesse Williams is one of the most respected and sought after bassists on the east coast. With over 25 years experience teaching electric and upright bass and playing internationally at some of the worlds leading venues and festivals, Jesse is known among music enthusiasts as a musician who brings precision and passion to the stage.  Festivals and Venues include: North Sea Jazz, Edmonton Folk, Montreal Jazz, New Orleans Jazz and Heritage, Vancouver Jazz, Byron Bay, Russian River, Boston Globe Jazz and Blues, Preakness, Beantown, Lincoln Center. Beacon Theater, Mountain Stage, Beacon Theater, Lincoln Center. He has appeared on PBS, Sesame St., AMC, National Film Archives, as well as multiple commercial spots. Mr. Williams holds a B.A.in performance from Berklee College of Music.

For the past twenty five years, Steve Langone has been performing in clubs, festivals and recording studios. His versatility has allowed him to work in many different genres of music. Steve Langone currently teaches jazz percussion at the University of Rhode Island. A drummer, composer and educator Langone was born in Waltham, Massachusetts and grew up in neighboring Lexington where he was fortunate to study with jazz legend Alan Dawson. Langone graduated from the Berklee College of Music in 1993 and for the past 20 years has performed throughout the Americas and Europe. His versatility has allowed him to work with many different artists—from straight ahead jazz vocalists Shawnn Moneiro to Latin/Jazz fusion groups such as Enclave and the Jinga Trio, to country singer John Carter Cash to comedians Joe Piscopo and Joan Rivers. He has also recorded soundtracks for National Geographic, Sesame Street and the Miramax film Next Stop Wonderland on the Verve label. His sound can be found on over 50 recordings as a sideman, some include: Nando Michelin (Double-Time Records), Jinga Trio (Fresh Sounds New Talent Recordings), Enclave.

Mark Shilansky serves as an Assistant Professor at Berklee College of Music, where he has taught since 1997, teaching Ear Training, Arranging, Harmony, and Ensembles.  He also has taught Jazz Piano and Ensembles at the University of New Hampshire, since 2002, and from 2009 to 2011 taught these subjects at University of Southern Maine. In addition to these institutions, his compositions and arrangements have been performed at the University of Wyoming, Bowling Green University, and All-State Festivals in Nevada, Maine, and New Hampshire, and he has taught clinics and residencies at the above-named All-State festivals, as well as Duquesne University, Fort Hays State University, University of Idaho at Moscow, and Eastern Tennesee State University. All throughout this creative career as a pianist and composer of his own material, Mark has been a consistent presence as a sideman.  A tenure throughout much of the 90's as a member of the Luciana Souza quintet led to his almost ubiquitous presence as an accompanist of vocalists, such as Lisa Thorson, The New York Voices, Kris Adams, Carolyn Leonhart, Rebecca Parris, and Patrice Williamson (for whom he has written copious arrangements, and produced her CD, Free to Dream). Mark plays piano and contributed an original composition "All in My Heart," to NYvoices soprano Kim Nazarian's debut solo CD, "Some Morning."  He played piano and contributed arrangements and an original song, "I have found", on the debut release by rising star vocalist Robin McKelle, Never Let Me Go.  Mark is a strong presence on vocalist Chris Humphrey's debut CD "Nothin' But Blue Skies," featuring Martin Wind (bass) and Matt Wilson (drums), and for the last four years has been the pianist and occasional arranger for the vocal jazz group Syncopation, appearing on the band's CDs and accompanying them on tours of the US and Japan.

1 - November Sun

2 - The Wisper Within

3 - The Ride

4 - Angel Silver

5 - Hynining

6 - Invoke

7 - Leelander

8 - The Moment

9 - Downpour

10 - Midnight's Call

11 - Ascending

12 - Texas Rose

All compositions by Daniel Moretti (Morean Music BMI)

Dan Moretti - tenor, alto, soprano saxophones, alto flute, piano (12)

Mark Shilansky - piano

Jesse Williams - bass

Steve Langone - drums

Bengisu Gokce - violin

Dan Lay - viola

Marta Roma - cello

Recording Data

Total time 59:08 STEREO DDD

p 2018 DODICILUNE (Italy)

c 2018 DODICILUNE (Italy)

www.dodicilune.it

CD DODICILUNE DISCHI Ed397

8033309693972

Produced by Gabriele Rampino for Dodiciline edizioni, Italy 

Label manager Maurizio Bizzochetti (www.dodicilune.it)

Executive Producers Steve Fera and Kathe Jaret for Rootsgrooves Music

Jazz quartet recorded May 2017 at Studio 1 Berklee College of Music Boston, USA, sound engineer Ted Paduck, production assistants Sean Frawley, Aaron Shah, Sarah Ma 

Strings recorded May 2017 by Adam Weiss at Mix One Studios, Boston, USA

Mixed September 2017 by Dan Moretti at Rootsgrooves Productions, Wakefield RI, USA

Mastered March 2018 by Toby Mountain at Northeastern Digital Southboro Ma, USA

Cover photo m Florian Blümm  Photos by Bob Kidd

Contact: www.danmoretti.com danmorettijazz@gmail.com

Dal 4 luglio al 9 agosto - Sud Est Indipendente Festival nel Salento

Dal 4 luglio al 9 agosto appuntamento tra Corigliano d'Otranto, San Cataldo e Lecce con la dodicesima edizione del Sud Est Indipendente. Il festival, ideato, organizzato e promosso dalla Cooperativa CoolClub, con la direzione artistica di Cesare Liaci, offrirà una ricca programmazione con ospiti e band pugliesi, nazionali e internazionali. Tra gli ospiti Cosmo, Suzanne Vega, Curtis Harding, Hollie Cook, Bud Spencer Blues Explosion, Coma_Cose, Galeffi e molti altri.

Nel Salento, dal 4 luglio al 9 agosto, la dodicesima edizione del SEI - Sud Est Indipendente, festival, ideato, organizzato e promosso dalla Cooperativa CoolClub, con la direzione artistica di Cesare Liaci, offrirà una ricca programmazione con ospiti e band pugliesi, nazionali e internazionali. 

Il Castello Volante di Corigliano d'Otranto ospiterà il SEI International (abbonamenti e prevendite nei circuiti bookingshow e vivaticket). Mercoledì 4 luglio (ore 22 - ingresso 18 euro + dp) si parte con l’atteso concerto del cantante statunitense Curtis Harding. Il New York Magazine loda la sua “voce graffiante”, attualmente unica nel panorama musicale, definendo il nuovo album "Face Your Fear" come una delle uscite più interessanti dell'anno scorso. Per l’inglese Clash Magazine, “On and On” è “un brano sorprendente di soul che ricorda il primo Curtis Mayfield e la Motown del finire degli anni ‘60”. Sabato 14 luglio (ore 22 – ingresso 25 euro + dp), dopo la partecipazione al Concertone della Notte della Taranta 2017, la cantautrice statunitense Suzanne Vega torna nel Salento per una delle quattro esclusive tappe del suo tour italiano.

L’artista, con le sue ballate intimiste, ha aperto la strada a una nuova generazione di cantautrici. Affiancata sul palco dal chitarrista Gerry Leonard, noto per le sue collaborazioni con David Bowie, una delle icone della musica contemporanea ripercorrerà i migliori successi della sua lunga e prolifica discografia. La sezione internazionale del festival si concluderà sabato 4 agosto (ingresso 10 euro + dp) con una serata dedicata ai ritmi in levare con Hollie Cook, cantante inglese, figlia del batterista dei Sex Pistols, che si muove nell’ambito reggae e dub con agilità e freschezza strizzando l’occhio, a volte, a dinamiche pop. La sua voce suadente contribuisce a creare un alone caldo, morbido e raffinato. La serata ospiterà anche Junior V, tra i talenti più interessanti dell'attuale scena "conscious reggae" e “black” italiana e non solo.

Da giovedì 26 a sabato 28 luglio nell’Ostello del Sole di San Cataldo di Lecce, oltre a tre serate in musica con le esibizioni di alcune tra le più interessanti realtà della giovane scena rock, cantautorale ed elettronica italiana, il Festival accoglierà presentazioni di libri, masterclass, workshop, mostre e appuntamenti per i più piccoli e una serie di attività dedicate all'accessibilità. Le tre serate ospiteranno Muffx, Minimanimalist, Carmine Tundo e Makai (26 luglio – ingresso libero), Scimmie sulla Luna, Siberia, Gigante, Galeffi e Bud Spencer Blues Explosion (27 luglio – ingresso 10 euro + dp), Blumosso, Andrea Poggio, Eugenio in via di Gioia e Coma_Cose (28 luglio – ingresso 10 euro + dp). Domenica 29 luglio (ingresso libero) il festival si sposterà alla TraxRoad di Lecce con il progetto multietnico La Répétition, diretto dall'organettista Claudio Prima. Il Sud Est Indipendente si concluderà in Piazza Libertini a Lecce con l'attesa esibizione di Cosmo, il cantautore che fa ballare con l'elettronica (9 agosto – ingresso 18 euro + dp).

Il Festival – vincitore per il secondo anno consecutivo del bando “S’illumina”, sostenuto dal Ministero dei Beni Culturali e dalla Siae, e finanziato dalla Regione Puglia nell’ambito dell’Avviso pubblico per lo Spettacolo e le Attività culturali FSC 2014-2020 – Patto per la Puglia – è organizzato con il patrocinio dei Comuni di Lecce e Corigliano d’Otranto e del Distretto  Produttivo Puglia Creativa e in collaborazione con Fermenti Lattici, Poiesis, Swap Museum, Sum, Km97, Manigold e con i media partner SentireAscoltare, BlogFoolk e Radio Wau e con il sostegno di B94, Vestas Hotels & Resorts e altri partner.

Fin dalla sua nascita, nel 2006, il Sud Est indipendente ha dichiarato la sua vocazione a scegliere gruppi e progetti eterogenei, a trasformarsi di volta in volta allargando l’orizzonte delle proprie proposte per offrire al proprio pubblico una panoramica ampia e variegata della musica pescando nei diversi generi che vanno dal punk al cantautorato, dal rock allo ska, dal folk ai ritmi in levare. Nelle diverse location salentine, che nelle prime undici edizioni hanno ospitato il festival (Gallipoli, Otranto, Masseria Torcito, Parco di Belloluogo, Torre Regina Giovanna, Anfiteatro Romano e molti altri), si sono alternati artisti come Kings of Convenience, Baustelle, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Cat Power, Gogol Bordello, Mannarino, Avion Travel, Negrita, Lo Stato Sociale, Calibro 35, Brunori Sas, Canova, Colombre, Giorgio Poi, Bugo, Skatalites, Daniele Silvestri, Verdena, Tre Allegri Ragazzi Morti, Vallanzaska, Teatro degli Orrori, One Dimensional Man, Russell Leetch (Editors) e molte altre realtà italiane e pugliesi come Crifiu, Mascarimirì, Mery Fiore, Sofia Brunetta, Una, Populous, solo per fare qualche nome. Nel 2017 il festival ha promosso e ospitato, inoltre, la prima di un progetto inedito e speciale che ha visto esibirsi La Municipàl (band salentina vincitrice del prestigioso 1MFestival 2018) e La Giovane Orchestra del Salento diretta dall’organettista e cantante Claudio Prima.

Prevendite e abbonamenti nei circuiti

BookingShow e VivaTicket

SKNAIL - Newsletter June / July 2018

CHINA TOUR 

+ NEW VIDEO

SKNAIL feat. trumpet player

YANNICK BARMAN

Duo concerts in CHINA from June

27th to July 7th, 2018 - preview of the new album "MUTATION"

June 27th, 2018 - SHANGHAI - Yuyintang

July 1st, 2018 - XI'AN - Wuqiong Club

July 7th, /2018 - BEIJING - Dusk Dawn Club

"Digital Decay" - by SKNAIL + Yannick Barman

Video produced by German artist GolemKlon VIII

Poster by Chinese designer Rachel Tuen

              Photos by Joël Rey / Glitch process by Yuri Zalevski

William Hooker Quartet - Lifeline (SILKHEART RECORDS 2018)

"The music is post-Ornette-isque and strongly influenced by the new jazz of the sixties. It's kept the heat, glow and effervescence of black magma, but at the same time Hooker has succeeded in carrying it further with personal changes of his own. He whisks up an almost ritual atmosphere in which all the different voices are woven together by the drums into a multi-hued glistening weave of bright colors. This is a most remarkable alb and well worth hearing." 

Thomas Millroth, Gränslöst, February 1995 

More info...

WILLIAM PARKER. Bassist. Composer. He is a strong force, and will continue to be. He has played with Cecil Taylor, Committment, David Ware, Jemeel Mondoc/Muntu, as well as his own groups. 

CLAUDE LAWRENCE. Alto sax. Upon meeting this excellent musician at his own Manhattan Healing Arts Center, we played in a variety of settings and have tried to build from that ground. He has played with Sirone (recording with Sirone in 1980 on Serious Music 1000) and The Trio, with Dennis Charles and Wilber Morris, among others. He can be distinguished from Michael on this recording by his rounder and smoother tone. 

ALAN MICHAEL. Alto sax. I have documented Alan's sound on my album, "Brighter Lights" (RUC 445), under his previous name of Alan Braufman. He has performed with Carla Bley, John Clark and as leader of his own group. He has a somewhat reedier sound than Lawrence. 

MARK HENNEN. Pianist. I first heard Mark with Muntu on WKCR-FM from Columbia University. Since that time I have worked with him quite frequently and his work is also documented on "Brighter Lights" (RUC 445). He has played with Ellen Christi, Rashid Bakr's Pieces of Eight, and his own groups. 

CHARLES COMPO. Tenor sax. This reedman exhibits a great love of the music and its history. He recently appeared at Indigo Blues, a newly opened venue which may possibly change the status of music of this kind in New York City. 

MASAHIKI KONO. Trombone. A performer of extraordinary focus and flexibility, he has performed with Moondoc's "Jes Gru" Orchestra, Billy Bang, and others. His recent performances with me have been praised highly. 

1. R.A.W. Jazz Festival Performance 50:00

2. Dual Meaning 09:54

3. Dignity 08:19

William Hooker drums, recitation

Alan Michael alto saxophone

Claude Lawrence alto saxophone

William Parker bass

Mark Hennen piano

Charles Compo tenor saxophone

Masahiko Kono trombone

Charles Tyler & Brus Trio - Autumn in Paris (SILKHEART RECORDS 2018)

"Autumn in Paris is a lyrical outing which both swings and successfully takes musical risks. This is a European based trio featuring guest saxophonist Charles Tyler, a former colleague of Albert Ayler. The Brus Trio is an adventurous collective comprised of Swedish pianist Arne Forsén, Swedish bassist Ulf Åkerhielm and South African drummer Gilbert Matthews." 

Kalamu ya Salaam, Wavelength, February 1991

There is an appropriateness about the events leading up to and including the actual session on this alhum. The sense of rightness that permeates the music makes this a very special album as far as I'm concerned.

Charles Tyler has lived in Europe since 1982, first in Copenhagen and then in Paris. After the recordings made in fall 1981 for Storyville ("Definite" vols. 1 & 2, SLP-4098 & SLP-4099), Tyler decided to strive for greater flexibility of musical performance by playing the music of others to a much greater extent than ever before. He played bebop with French groups, performed and recorded with Khan Jamal ("Dark Warrior", SteepleChase SCS1196), sat in with the Steve Lacy Sextet, played African music with Paris-based ensembles, and even toured as a duo with just piano and saxophone. He played quite a bit with the Sun Ra Arkestra in Europe and aims soon to tour Japan with them.

Charles had played with Gilbert Matthews previously on occasion, but not with Arne Forsén and Ulf Åkerhielm, and there was a good deal of curiosity on all sides. In the spring of 1988, Brus Trio visited Paris as part of a tour of southern Europe and they were able to find time to jam with Charles. I heard a variety of reports but the essential message was unanimously that it had been a ball. The question concerning their performances in Stockholm was therefore not so much whether the group would function as a quartet, but more a matter of how well it would function.

The International Conference on Culture, Language and Artificial Intelligence (held in Stockholm, Sweden, between May 30th and June 3rd, 1988) was an important gathering organized by the Swedish Center for Working Life (Arbetslivscentrum) under the leadership of program committee chairman Bo Göranzon. It comprised lectures and workshops devoted to the theory of knowledge, artificial intelligence, mathematics, the history of ideas, computers and the law, education and training, knowledge and skill-transfer, the philosophy of language, and tradition and innovation in translation. Within the framework of the conference there were also a number of artistic contributions in the areas of theater, cabaret, music and art exhibitions.

The musical events included concert performances by the Haga String Quartet, the Nisse Sandström Jazz Quartet, and Charles Tyler with Brus Trio. 

Brus Trio has ploughed its own furrow on the Swedish jazz scene ever since its inception in 1981. The individual members are highly responsive to statements from elsewhere within the trio and this has the result that, at any particular time, the music can move off in just about any direction. There are thus basic demands on each of the musicians, not only to be receptive to each other, but also to maintain form or structure in their improvisations together.

When a fourth instrumentalist joins the ensemble, a good deal of reshuffling takes place and the final outcome depends critically on the musical personality of the fourth participant. A couple of months or so before Charles Tyler arrived I heard Brus Trio together with Danish saxist, John Tchicai, in a most elegant performance at Fasching club in Stockholm. Very little of the guttsiness that marked the sessions with Tyler was to be heard in the Tchicai session, although that music was delightful too, albeit in a quite other way. 

The prime features of Tyler's musicianship were already clear from his sixties recordings (ESP 1010, 1020, 1029, 1059), notably his fine instrumental technique, the characteristic careening style, the rich flow of ideas, the high humor, the big sound and his singular vibrato. The fact is though that Charles Tyler is a blues musician, despite his new-wave reputation of more that twenty years standing. The music begins to swing whenever he starts to play, and Brus Trio are receptive to this state of affairs.

The playful, gambolling style of their music is still quite evident in their efforts together with Tyler, but they swing a lot harder than perhaps is the case at other times. It's certainly true that Brus Trio swing a good deal when they want to, but it's also true that they often tend to lay stress on alternative dimensions of musical improvisation. With Tyler out front, the quartet was cooking for much of the time, even when solo passages took the music on the most bizarre trips. This is an aspect of Brus Trio I didn't altogether expect, but one that I can only rejoice in. There is something about their way of working that comes close to a definition of what jazz music is about, certainly jazz of the eighties. 

Arne met Charles at Arlanda airport outside Stockholm and I met both of them a little later at Charles' hotel. The talk was pretty much about pianos. They had been at the Royal Dramatic Theater (Dramaten) already and Arne was most anxious to test the piano scheduled for the trip on the the theater boat (Teaterskeppet). A phone call ascertained that we were welcome right away to try it out. There were a few problems, but we were assured that these would be attended to forthwith under guarantee, since the piano was newly purchased.

Tuesday afternoon, May 31st, was spent in rehearsal on the small stage at Dramaten, including a sound-check. The music was pretty tricky but it started to come together convincingly. They were ready for their first performance at the conference proper on Wednesday morning. This was well received by a full auditorium of mathematicians, knowledge engineers, social scientists and philosophers.

The boat trip on Wednesday evening was a great success. The quartet performed at the start and close of the evening, and both times were well received by a capacity crowd.

Neither of the conference venues were really suitable in terms of recording the quartet and an alternative was sought. This proved to be a performance space in the south part of Stockholm operated by the Fylkingen Society for New Music and Intermedia Art. Fylkingen were able to provide a good, lively acoustic and a newly tuned Steinway grand piano.

When the recording session got under way it was soon evident that the quartet was fully fired up to express itself and in fine fettle from all points of view. It is unnecessary for me to describe in detail the turnings and pathways that the music took during that Thursday afternoon, all of which can be beard on the album and compact disc.

Keith Knox

1. Saga of the Outlaws 12:22

2. Mörkrost (Dark Blend) 05:37

3. Mellanrost (Medium Blend) 06:38

4. Autumn in Paris 11:08

5. Forsén Special 14:10

6. Twing Twang Twiddle All Night Long 07:04

7. Legend of the Lawmen 05:14

Charles Tyler alto saxophone

Arne Forsén piano

Ulf Åkerhielm bass

Gilbert Matthews drums

Charles Gayle Trio - Spirits Before (SILKHEART RECORDS 2018)

One of the right night, Gayle live is one of jazz's sublime experiences; Spirits Before will clue you why." 

Kevin Whitehead, Down Beat, December 1991

A very private man, tenor saxophonist Charles Gayle's early career in music is shrouded in mystery. Raised in Buffalo, New York, Gayle was part of New York's free jazz movement in the late 1960's, but he has chosen to remain out of the spotlight, shunning the business of music. 

Charles Gayle has appeared on the New York Club and loft scene maybe half a dozen times in the past fifteen years and somehow or other we've managed to hear him in all kinds of different settings, always forthrightly projecting his personal approach to playing. He has always been a gut player, with ideas and no fear.

To all intents and purposes, Charles was living up the streets of New York in 1987 when we approached him with the idea of letting more people hear his music. The result was that be organized a trio with Hill Green on bass and David Pleasant on drums, which made its debut at the 4th Lower East Side Music Festival. From then on the Charles Gayle Trio began to generate a great deal of excitement and interest on the New York music scene. 

His music has a strength, a purity and a beauty that is completely spontaneous and devoid of pretence. We discussed his approach to the music with Charles and his reply was, "The music I am playing at this point is totally spontaneous, nothing set – just go for the Spirit, the Holy Ghost. I feel I am pushing for the Black Sanctified Spirit beyond the ego consciousness. I always feel uplifted and filled with the Holy Black Spirit – propelled (or drawn) to the unconscious." 

This album represents an overture to the music and musicians who have preceeded him – Charles feels he owes them. For our part, we find that blues, gospel, avant-garde, the music of changes, etcetera – somehow all-inclusive in these works. 

We've had the opportunity of hearing Charles a good deal during the past year and have begun to understand that his music is forever changing, with a constant stream of fresh ideas and new searchings. Very particular directions have been set up and pursued from one gig to the next and, as avid listeners, we can only hope that Charles Gayle's wider audience will have a chance to hear this outpouring of musical directions as they unfold. 

We feel compelled to include portions of an article in the New York Times for Thursday, September 3rd, 1987, written by music critic Jon Pareles: 

"The challenge of free jazz is to create coherent, compelling music without such obvious devices as melody, recurring chord sequences or a steady beat. It's a challenge that has defeated many a virtuoso since the free-jazz heyday of the 1960's. But Charles Gayle, a tenor saxopbonist, is carving out a free jazz that is muscular, impassioned, clearly structured and wonderfully volatile. 

Mr. Gayle plays contours and textures rather than melodies, using a different range and technique for each composition. He gets a huge saxophone tone, whether he's playing wide-open low notes or shrieking overtones, and he holds the stage with calm dignity while generating a fusillade of music. 

Mr. Gayle's trio makes music to move mountains by. We realize, of course, that words are an implication of reality. For the past forty years we've witnessed the music and musicians at first hand from generation to generation, the greats and the near-greats. On an average of four or five nights a week in all those years we've seen them all. We express this to give credence to our words when we say that Charles Gayle will definitely get your attention if you dare to listen to him. 

Irving and Stephanie Stone
N.YC. 1988

1. Eternal Now 07:34

2. Spirits Before 17:49

3. Heart's Nectar 09:53

4. Earth's Families 07:57

5. Give 06:49

6. Black Oil 08:04

7. Sometimes 09:03

Charles Gayle tenor saxophone

Sirone bass

Dave Pleasant drums

Charles Gayle Trio - Homeless (SILKHEART RECORDS 2018)

"Gayle's been around for decades, since this style was new, but he's never gotten much acclaim. Partly that's because he doesn't much care whether he gets recorded or not; partly it's because this is strong stuff; and partly because the rude style of music he plays better than almost anyone else around now is pretty far from the buttoned-down jazz that makes the cover of Time." 

Kevin Whitehead, City Paper, November 24, 1990

It was a stormy night the first time I went to hear Charles Gayle. He was doing a couple of Mondays at a then up and corning club called the "Knitting Factory", not too far from where I live. 

He was first brought to my attention by someone who knew my face around the local jazz clubs. I was handed a flyer and told, "Go see him. I don't think you'll be sorry". 

After catching his name again and again from other jazz regulars – fanatics like myself who took every possible opportunity to see anyone, old or new, who was felt to have any merit – I decided to lend it an ear. By now I had accumulated enough gossip to know that Gayle, recently returned from Europe, was living in a storefront in Brooklyn, hitting fifty and was as strong as, if not stronger than any player alive or dead. Also he remained virtually unknown as well as unrecorded. So, filled with intrigue I walked briskly to the club hoping to be overwhelmed, but expecting to be more than likely disappointed, as I had been on 50 many other occasions of this nature. I asked my wife, who usually accompanies me, "Mr Obsessive", to come along. But due to the weather and the unknown factor she refused, so I went alone and sat alone in the half empty club

While waiting for the music to begin, I ordered a raspberry soda and struck up a conversation with a jazz collagist by the name of John D'Agostino who told me that he had seen Gayle before and that he was right out of the Sixties. He's the best in outside playing and the only one to do it air the way." Or, as Gayle himself would subsequently put it, "Knock down the walls. Blow my GUTS out!"

About twenty minutes later he walked onto the stage, tall, lean, quiet and unpretentious looking... basic... yes, very basic. He stood at the left corner of the stage, fidgeted a bit, nervously distant, attached his horn nodded to the other members of the trio, raised his horn to his lips, bent down low at the knees and as he rocked up and down the wind started howling. 

He played non-stop for about one full hour and with such intensity that I fell into a great smiling stupor of improvisational ecstasy; of which one result was the following poem written sometime during the first set:

The Sleeping Tree 

You 

& the wind 

thru the young tree blowing 

bending 

screaming 

& wondering 

& the wind outside 

we cannot feel & the ghosts we 

can 

not 

feel 

the wind outside 

that shakes the tree young tree

the soul inside 

a willing tree 

that seems to go where you 

push it.

A few months earlier I had met Keith Knox at "Sweet Basil", a jazz club in lower Manhattan, and, like a lot of jazz buffs we struck up a conversation at the bar. Keith was in town to do some recording for a new label called Silkheart Records. We exchanged addresses and phone numbers and soon after became penpals. In letters and phone calls Keith would, from time to time, ask me to help him locate particular people he wished to record, as well as informing him of anyone I thought deserving, who was either under-recorded or not recorded stall. Gayle was perfect. 

I returned to the "Knitting Factory" in due course complete with a tape machine and my wife (who now believed in my belief), and asked Charles Gayle if I could record him. To which he replied, "I can't stop them from whipping out their microphones in Europe, why stop you?" I said, "Thanks", and taped two fantastic sets, after which I went up to him and mentioned how I really loved the last tune. He looked quizzically over to Stephanie Stone and muttered, "What was the last tune?" 

That same week I sent the tape off to Keith complete with my feelings about Gayle as a musician, and his powerful, raw, seemingly unfathomable energy. I was new at this and very excited! 

Several correspondences pro and con, passed before Keith informed me that it was tentatively agreed to record Gayle for Silkheart. By this time he was living in an abandoned building on the Lower Eastside, playing on the street and doing an occasional gig in a bar or gallery. When I told him at one such gig of the possibility of his being recorded. He replied nonchalantly, "Well, if it happens that's fine. If it doesn't, that's fine too." 

Almost a year went by before dates were finally set up and one of three results is the disc you are now holding in your hands. And, when spinning it you will hear some of the freest and most awesome blowing that has ever been produced. 

One of Gayle's great loves is boxing and he says he want to play the way a good boxer fights. With the key element being DRIVE. His ideal group, or "sparring partners", would be himself and two drummers, so that when one gets tired and drops out, the other steps into the ring. 

Charles Gayle is an action player. For me he is to the saxophone what Jackson Pollack is to painting. The colors caress you as they burst all over the canvas in a carefully controlled frenzy. He is completely involved, yet at the same time totally uninvolved. His compositions cover the entire spectrum of feeling and thought. Charles Gayle is unique! Listen closely, and invite comparisons if you dare.

As for the other musicians on this date: Sirone is a co-founder of The Group, a fine working quintet, and the quartet, Phalanx, with "Blood" Ulmer, George Adams and Rashied Ali. He is a seasoned veteran whose playing on this date is total joy and whose overall work seems to get more beautiful with each stroke. He can do it all under any circumstances.

Drummer Dave Pleasant was born in Savannah, Georgia on January 1st, 1961, and raised on Supelo Island (one of the Georgia Sea Islands). Dave has a B.A. in psychology and was working on his Master's Degree at Columbia when he dropped out to concentrate on music full time.

This is his first major recording and the first time he has been able to make use of a full set of drums to compliment Charles' music, and the results are phenomenal! Live, Dave usually uses two snares, a hi-hat, assorted soundmakers, and his feet. He is a working member of the Charles Gayle Trio along with Hilliard "Hill" Green of Iowa, a fine young bass player. 

I had the privilege of being at this session and can only say that these three outstanding musicians came the closest I've ever heard to sounding like one impassioned voice. When it was over I walked all the way downtown, towards HOME, feeling totally full.

So put on this disc, button up your coat, and get ready for a GAYLE FORCE... and watch those walls come tumblin' down.

Steve Dalachinsky
N.YC. 1988

1. Then Creations 19:31

2. Prayers and Fears 04:56

3. Homeless 11:28

4. Lift Every Voice 12:13

5. Your Design 08:59

6. Warm Bones Cold 09:22

Charles Gayle tenor saxophone

Sirone bass

Dave Pleasant drums

Charles Gayle Quartet - Always Born (SILKHEART RECORDS 2018)

"Charles Gayle is carving out a free jazz that is muscular, impassioned, clearly structured, and wonderfully volatile." 

Jon Pareles, New York Times

I met Steve Dalachinsky at the bar one night when we were both listening to the Steve Lacy Sextet at "Sweet Basil" in lower Manhattan and we agreed to write to each other once in a while. So one day Steve wrote a card to me with a couple of suggestions for artists likely to be of interest to Silkheart, and one of them was Charles Gayle. He said that if we'd cover his tape costs he'd send a tape, and in due course it turned up in the mail.

The music was pretty interesting, but I wasn't sure just how special it was and turned the tape over to my associate, Lars Olof Gustavsson, for his reactions. Some little while later Lars and I got together and talked about Steve's tape and about Charles Gayle. He was quite lukewarm about the whole thing, which is a fair indication of just how hard it can be to assess new music and new musicians when presented via low fidelity live recordings. I sounded out Lars again and he was rather concerned because, in principle, the project was just the kind of thing Silkheart should be working with and he wished he liked the tape more.

We left it on that note, but some weeks afterwards Lars was in New York on business and had the opportunity of hearing the Charles Gayle Trio at the "Knitting Factory" in East Houston Street. He came back to Stockholm shortly before Christmas full of enthusiasm for Gayle's music, having clearly heard things during the personal appearance that he hadn't ear on Steve's tape. It was agreed that Silkheart arrange to record Gayle with a trio, and it was also decided to record him as part of a quartet with John Tchicai alongside.

For some time, Silkheart had had the intention of recording John Tchicai in New York and Lars wanted to find a situation in which Tchicai could be featured with New York musicians who would push him into producing music of a different nature from that of his recent Danish and European efforts. The two of them had discussed the idea in a general sort of way and I was given the job of putting a session together. 

Archie Shepp and Bill Dixon met John Tchicai in Helsinki in 1960 and suggested that he move to New York. Tchicai was active on the New York scene for a large part of the sixties, with a celebrated background of performances and recordings together with the New York Contemporary Five, the New York Art Quartet, John Coltrane ("Ascension"), and Carla Bley.

He played at the Cellar Cafe during Bill Dixon's 'October Revolution' of 1967 and became a charter member of the Jazz Composers' Guild, a brave venture having much importance in retrospect. At the present time, he has not recorded in a new jazz Situation in the U.S.A. for more than twenty years, and the sad fact is that Tchicai has tended more and more to cease being the jazz visionary he once was and has become almost journeyman in his approach.

Sirone was chosen as the bassist for the Charles Gayle Trio and seemed also an appropriate choice for the quartet. Sirone has an impressive history in new jazz, beginning with his involvement in the activities of Bernard Stollman's ESP label during the sixties. Since then he has played with many of the artists active on the new jazz scene in the U.S., leading groups of his own on occasion, and co-leading the Revolutionary Ensemble for a number of years. Currently he is co-founder of The Group. Sirone is an astonishingly creative improviser with a style that is very much his own. To describe him as an individualist is an understatement and he is a good man to have on a session.

It was proposed from the outset that the quartet and trio sessions would have different drummers. It was decided that the Chicagoan, Reggie Nicholson, now based in New York, would perform with the quartet while Gayle's regular drummer, Dave Pleasant, would record with the trio. Reggie Nicholson is a young drummer with a bright future, who has already played with a good many artists including the Henry Threadgill Sextet, Amina Claudine Myers, and Wilber Morris' Wilberforce.

He was more than happy to have the opportunity of taking part in the recording session and played superbly; being more than a little responsible for the overall success of the proceedings.

The question of rehearsals was brought up, but Charles Gayle was quite adamant; there were to be none. Charles and John did speak on the telephone when Charles was in Germany a few weeks before the session, but they didn't talk about the same things. Charles was into energy and intensity and John spoke of colors, shades and textures. 

Gayle doesn't plan what he's going to play until he plays it, although it would as likely as not be high energy; It was in this spirit that he aimed to go into the studio and simply play his music. In retrospect, while this strategy can be seen to have worked perfectly well as far as the trio recordings were concerned, there were a few matters that required attention before the quartet began to produce real music.

To iron out the differences in musical philosophy between the two saxists, a public gig for the quartet was arranged to take place at "The Knitting Factory" before the recording. Charles was more than willing to appear with the quartet and, since the music was not notated, the session would have been particularly valuable. Although arrangements were made well ahead, the club got into a tangle with its dates and was unable to offer the quartet space until after the recording session had been completed.

Charles Gayle is extremely forceful when he needs to be and there were occasions during the early part of the quartet recording session when this was necessary. First of all, there was the matter of historical perspective which he had to clear up. Gayle explained that he could play many kinds of music and in specific circumstances he played what was appropriate. For a recording of his own music, he intended to play material of a kind that had not been played before. Otherwise why bother? Power was what his music had to offer and it would be of a different order from music that had gone before. A few quotations will best give the idea of what Gayle was trying to get across to the other members of the quartet. 

"All of my music is completely spontaneous 

I plan nothing and say nothing to the musicians." 

"If the building is still standing when we're through, we've failed." 

"What I play has to do with power, my father was a steelworker." 

"When I play I want to go through the wall."

As far as the quartet was concerned there was an additional vector to account for and John Tchicai put his finger on it when he said, "We only started to pull into shape when Gayle understood that the music had to be played as a cooperative endeavor by all four of us." What actually happened in the studio on those two days was fascinating in the extreme. At the outset there were several violent expressions of intent from Gayle and a fair number of musical upsets. Tchicai was simply magnificent, playing with the benefit of long experience as he worked on making the quartet into a group.

This realization appeared to come simultaneously from all four musicians partway through that first day; All of a sudden there was music coming out from the studio and, as time went by, it simply got better. In the end, the results were eminently satisfactory and a great deal of highly varied, fascinating, and exciting music was produced. Especially noteworthy perhaps is the extraordinary bass and drums duo, "Coming Together", between Sirone and Nicholson.

Gayle is heard elsewhere in the right channel, with Tchicai in the left channel where he can be easily recognized by his more staccato approach and his fruitier tenor sound. Gayle has a huge saxophone tone and a blistering attack, which is based on wide intervals and astonishing melodic turns. Two more contrasting musicians would be hard to find and they complement each other very well in a certain way. 

Gayle utilizes a variety of approaches to each piece he plays, with, as he puts it, "A different range and a different technique." When he speaks of variety, he is referring to the contours and textures inherent in a particular composition, not so much the melodies, and this aspect of his playing is exceedingly well organized. As a result, the form presented in a group performance is invariably very clear indeed and there is little doubt that, in this sense, Charles Gayle has taken a significant step forward in his presentation of free jazz.

Towards the end of the second day, John Tchicai and I were in the control room listening to playbacks and John leaned over and said with a laugh, "Dear me, what is this you and Lars have got me into!" I replied that I thought it hadn't been so bad and he agreed, very warmly, that he'd thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Finally he said, "I hope you can arrange to have a line on the cover saying 'featuring me'." I agreed. 

Keith Knox

1. Always Born 09:48

2. Needs 11:52

3. Sold Clouds 12:58

4. Coming Together 05:22

5. Rainbow's Praise 06:17

6. Then Offer All 10:31

Charles Gayle tenor saxophone

John Tchicai soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone

Sirone bass

Reggie Nicholson drums