Free+improvisation

To hear bassist Kent Carter on this '84 recording is to hear the bassist in an entirely different context than anything his work with Steve Lacy and Paul Bley would belie. Always an artist with a penchant for strengthening an ensemble and its collective voice, Carter has comprised his ostensibly "solo" work of exercises and experiments documenting his search for a unified string conception in a group context. The use of overdubbed parts on everything from Ligeti-esque soundmasses to Eastern European folk explorations on his '74 Emanem recording, Beauvais Cathedral, point directly to Carter as something more than a sideman. Of late featuring Albrecht Maurer and Emmanuelle Roch on violin and viola, respectively, the Trio in this early incarnation consists of Carter, Portuguese violinist Carlos Zingaro (who has since become a mainstay of the Lisbon free music scene), and French violist Francois Dreno. One of the most noticeable things about this string configuration is the replacement of the usual cello with the bass (and Carter is an accomplished cellist as well).

Issued in 1997 on PSF, the live album by the Poly Breath Percussion Band is an exercise in skronk, rhythm, and groove. Featuring Shoji Hano on traps and talking drums; Megumu Nishino on an elaborate array of electronic drums, electronics, and traditional Japanese percussion instruments; Tetsu Yamachi on electric bass; and the totally amazing alto talents of veteran improviser and free jazzer Keizo Inoue (electronica pioneer Tetsu's father), this band in a live setting is just plain dangerous…

Ornette Coleman - Free Jazz (1960) {Atlantic Japan, Paper Sleeve, WPCR-25110 rel 2006}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 382 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 130 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 18 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1960, 2006 Atlantic / Warner Music Japan | WPCR-25110 | 24bit remastering
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Free Jazz / Alto Saxophone

As jazz's first extended, continuous free improvisation LP, Free Jazz practically defies superlatives in its historical importance. Ornette Coleman's music had already been tagged "free," but this album took the term to a whole new level. Aside from a predetermined order of featured soloists and several brief transition signals cued by Coleman, the entire piece was created spontaneously, right on the spot. The lineup was expanded to a double-quartet format, split into one quartet for each stereo channel: Ornette, trumpeter Don Cherry, bassist Scott LaFaro, and drummer Billy Higgins on the left; trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, bass clarinetist Eric Dolphy, bassist Charlie Haden, and drummer Ed Blackwell on the right.