AVENUE B COLLECTIVE FREE-JAZZ JAM SESSION on MAY 12, 1967 in New York City
source master recording 7.5ips ¼ track stereo reel from Tintweiss Archives catalog ST_0203
The title lays it out: Five musicians looped and shimmered in an unplanned environment of a NYC Lower East Side apartment session. No audience but themselves; no leader, no tunes, no objective but the engine of their own ideas fusing immediacy, pace and momentum. Perfectly balanced in the alloy are listening and flowing with the sounds. Here’s the raw edge of now, tempered by the etiquette of cooperative improvisation.
Troubadour Robinson was the veteran in this company, a recording artist twice over; all the others were close to the dawn of their careers.
Both trumpeters were poised “lead” players who had just made their mark in the avant-garde: Warren Gale, who had just recorded with drummer Jim Zitro, was destined for Stan Kenton’s Orchestra and a Bebop future; Parisian Coursil, who worked stateside with Sunny Murray and Bill Dixon, spent decades in academia before returning to music in his last years.
Twenty-year-old Tintweiss had already recorded with Patty Waters, Burton Greene and Frank Wright (alongside Coursil) for the ESP-Disk free jazz label. Laurence Cook still surges on as he did for years with Bill Dixon, Paul Bley, Bobby Naughton, the Purple Why and others.
Collective extended improvisation recorded May 12. 1967 in New York City. Source master recording 7.5ips ¼ track stereo reel.
Track listing:
21 tracks of collective extended improvisation
Total time: 1:18:42
Musicians:
Laurence Cook - drums
Jacques Coursil - trumpet
Warren Gale - trumpet
Perry Robinson - bass clarinet
Steve Tintweiss - bass
Tranfers and mastering by Joe Lizzi at van AlstSound-East, Brooklyn, N.Y.
Design by Susan Archie at World of anArchie
Cover paitning by Ellie Ali used with permission of the artist
