Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Alan Silva And His Celestrial Communication Orchestra - Luna Surface (1969) LP BYG/Actuel




Free Jazz is kind of the haven of total music nerds and serious jazzmo's and it seems to range from completely wild recordings of almost indecipeherable nature to excellent examples of what really good players can make of a totally free musical piece. I'm constantly drawn to it and the range of expressive sounds from some of the better records out there makes an indelible mark on me that I cannot deny.

Alan Silva was mostly known for his work as a sideman for guys like Sun Ra and Albert Ayler and only recorded a few records as leader, most notably for his work on Luna Surface and Seasons on the short-lived French Actuel label and on Skillfullness for the ESP Disc label.

Here, Alan Silva has some excellent talent backing him, including Malachi Flavors from The Art Ensemble of Chicago, Grachan Moncur III, Anthony Braxton, Archie Shepp, Claude Delcloo and Dave Burrell. The mass of talent is apparent when you listen to the record and they play so well off each other that it at times feels like a rehearsed and structured piece, at least, moreso that it surely was!



It's less agressive than most other free jazz records of the time, which sometimes feel punctuated with an urgency that leaves you feeling empty as if someone was shouting, but not really saying anything. Here, you get a much more mellow feeling, more stylized and melodic, less fire music and more hypnotic. It's a stellar release for the Actuel label.

I snagged this copy at Logan Hardware from my friend Zespy for a very reasonable price. It's a great store to stop into, one I certainly recommend if you are planning on hitting Chicago on a record buying spree.

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

High On Fire - Surrounded By Thieves (2002) LP Relapse Records





It's hard for me now to distinguish between my two favorite High On Fire records - on alternate days it could be 2000's The Art Of Self Defense (which I have already reviewed here) or this - 2002's Surrounded By Thieves. Both are heavy stoner classics, with Surrounded By Thieves being a slightly more expansive record.

The tracks here are crushingly heavy and the tone is classic High On Fire Green Matamp-on-10, drop C# tuning and the song writing is just stellar. It's one of the few records where I can't choose my favorites - every song is good. The only bummer being the long intro to the record on 'Eyes And Teeth' that takes too long to lead into the song.

'Speedwolf' is a slight bit of a departure for the band with its nearly acoustic opening, but quickly gets down to business and gets a stoner-thrash kind of thing happening that just kills.



'Thraft of Caanan' is a track that Pike himself says 'is about life on tour' and does feel like a journey with its many parts and tone of a travel tune. 'The Yeti' has the same kind of thing happening, but darker and heavier.

If I absolutely had to pick a standout track, I would probably have to pick the side 1/cut 1 of 'Eyes and Teeth' which also kills live on a bootleg I have of them in 2002 and the power of this one track is enough to make me listen to the boot again and again. It certainly doesn't have the complicated chord structure the other traks tend to have as the verse sections are basically one single chord played in time with the beat, but it is still stellar, more like 'Dopesmoker' than say, 'Snakes for the Divine'.



Really though, every track is masterful, a super-solid release from High On Fire, a total must-own.

This was their first album for Relapse Records and this is the first pressing of that record on red vinyl, the single LP instead of the later 2xLP that you can find now. I picked it up in Seattle at Silver Platters, one of two must-hit record stores in Seatown, with the other being Jive Time.

George Benson - Bad Benson (1974) LP CTI



There are few jazz guitarists I like, namely Sonny Sharrock and George Benson. Benson is just so talented and so incredibly versitile, playing jazz, funk, rock, pop, covering 'Take Five' (on Bad Benson) with a slightly psychedelic and cooled out vibe and then covering 'Greatest Love of All' (on Live in LA) with total sincerity and focus. It's hard to nail down jusy why I like George Benson so much, but this album pulls together all the stuff I love about his playing.

Bad Benson came out in 1974, right in the middle of CTI's most fruitful period, one year after Deodado's Prelude reached #3 on the Billboard Top 40. One of the best things about CTI was that the session players were all top notch always, with guys like Herbie Hancock and Ron Carter frequently playing supporting roles. It's all over the place in terms of types of songs - love ballard soaked with 1970's strings right out of a disco soundtrack on track 2, side 1 'Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams' to smoothed-out Latin soul jazz on 'My Latin Brother' to bitchin' funk jazz on 'Full Compass' - which happens to be my favorite track.



He also sets the tone perfectly for the record with the cut 1/side 1 track of 'Take Five', a 1970's take on a 1950's West Coast cool jazz classic. It's got a lot of edge and sharp beats, more akin to free jazz than cool jazz and its punctuated by blistering solos by Benson which just leave you slack jawed.

George Benson has so much talent and lack of pretension that he seems to give each track he plays all his talent on tap, not playing favorites. Even live he was fun and selfless, often smiling through whole sets, chilling and killing it on guitar.

Good thing about CTI recordings from this time is that they were pretty popular so even your high end jazz shops should have these LP's for 2-3 dollars and pretty much anything by Benson, Ron Carter, Freddie Hubbard (including 1970's Red Clay - a CTI masterwork) and Milt Jackson being essentials in any good collection. Bought for $3 at Dusty Groove in excellent shape and on my turntable a lot on Sunday mornings while I'm drinking coffee and chilling hard.