Littlefield

This CD, recorded solo during his first European visit in 1980 as member of the San Francisco Blues Festival, ideally captures all the emotion of his intense voice, and the remarkable charm and sensitivity of his powerful piano.
Before he was 21 years old, Texas-born pianist Little Willie Littlefield had etched an all-time classic into the blues lexicon. Only trouble was, his original 1952 waxing of "Kansas City" (here titled "K.C. Loving") didn't sell sufficiently to show up on the charts (thus leaving the door open for Wilbert Harrison to invade the airwaves with the ubiquitous Jerry Leiber/Mike Stoller composition seven years later)…

Roscoe Mitchell Orchestra - Littlefield Concert Hall, Mills College, March 19-20, 2018 (2019) {Wide Hive Records WH345CD}
FLAC (tracks) - 16bit/44kHz - Official Digital Download (qobuz.com) -> 212 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 101 Mb | Cover | 5% repair rar
© 2019 Wide Hive Records | WH 345CD
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Modern Creative

Each of the four pieces on the album is a product of the Roscoe's tireless efforts to devise systems to articulate and capitalize on the tensions between composition and improvisation in both his own work and music as a practice at-large. Three of the four works ('Rub', 'Wha-Wha', and 'Frenzy House') are part of the 'Conversations for Orchestra' series, the history of which is described in detail in the liner notes for Mitchell's 2017 album Discussions (Wide Hive Records WH-0339). In brief, the 'Conversations' series consists of compositions which trace their genesis back to a suite of improvisations recorded by Mitchell, pianist Craig Taborn, and drummer Kikanju Baku in 2014 (which can be heard on the Wide Hive releases Conversations I and Conversations II).