The Penguin Jazz Guide (109 page)

The founder of the Globe Unity collective studied under Bernd Aloïs Zimmermann, a composer uniquely alert to the presence of jazz as a counterforce to other 20th-century musical movements. Interestingly enough, Schlippenbach later experimented with 12-tone jazz composition. He started out playing with trumpeter Manfred Schoof and recorded extensively with other improvisers. The Schlippenbach Trio has been making music for nearly 30 years, though Globe Unity now seems to be in abeyance. Schlippenbach is percussive and intense, but also aware of structure and responsive to traditional jazz piano as well as free music.

By 1970 Schlippenbach had to some extent turned away from total abstraction and was showing an interest not only in formal compositional principles (serialism, orthodox sonata form, aspects of
ricercare
) but also in renewing his own initial contact with early and modern jazz, blues and boogie-woogie. These interests were still obvious even underneath the radical freedoms of Globe Unity. They became much clearer in his work with the later Berlin
Contemporary Jazz Orchestra, in which he uses the conventionally swinging drummer Ed Thigpen and trumpeter Benny Bailey among the free men. Schlippenbach’s conception of freedom has nearly always resulted in densely layered explorations of tonality, with a pronounced rhythmic slant. It’s this that renders him surprisingly accessible as a performer.

That said, the Globe Unity records were a hard listen, particularly given the recording values of the time, and Schlippenbach is better approached – for the earlier years at least – as a solo or small-group performer. His association with Evan Parker now goes back several decades, their evolving relationship sustained by an annual winter meeting and recording. Unfortunately, even this fine body of music has been erratically available, and one of the very finest records of all,
Das höhe Lied
, disappeared along with the rest of Paul Lovens’s Po Torch label. Even the magnificent
Pakistani Pomade
has not always been available and owes its survival to John Corbett. There have been times when we have considered the later
Elf Bagatellen
to be the better record, and sometimes even
Hunting The Snake
, on which bassist Peter Kowald augmented the trio. But we always come back to this one.

‘A Little Yellow (And Two Seconds Monk)’ lays out ideas that Schlippenbach, and Parker too, would be exploring for much of the next 30 years. It’s a formidable exercise but what makes that piece and the record special is a level of playing that, here and later in their relationship, makes a word like ‘interplay’ or ‘interaction’ seem inadequate and imprecise in relation to this music. One has a sense of simultaneity, of decisions taken as if by some collective understanding in an instant. There is a moment halfway through the track when all three players fire off a new and distinct energy that accelerates the music’s flow of information. This has nothing to do with the hairsbreadth changes of harmony or direction one sees from jazz musicians, though that too is an impressive skill, learnable if not easily so. This, though, marks a jump from quantity to quality, an ‘event’.

& See also
Monk’s Casino
(2003–2004; p. 683)

FRED VAN HOVE

Born 19 February 1937, Antwerp, Belgium

Piano, organ

Complete Vogel Recordings

Atavistic Unheard Music UMSCD2292 2CD

Van Hove; Cel Overberghe (ts). 1972–1974.

Fred Van Hove says:
‘When it started at least, free jazz and free music were not just about music but also about the kind of society we wanted. I think that dimension is lost now and we’re poorer because of that, though the ideals of freedom still mean something.’

Van Hove’s almost ancestral status in European free music isn’t reflected in his available discography, or in his current critical rating, which should stand as high as anyone’s in Europe. A classically trained musician, who was turned on to jazz by hearing Charlie Parker records and who became involved in the free scene with Peter Brötzmann, Van Hove has created a substantial body of music that can at first acquaintance seem quite formal, possibly scored, but whose freedoms are deep-seated and hard won. The material on these valuable recoveries provides the best possible introduction to his still undervalued work. The solo discs are better than the duo album with Overberghe, who sounds at moments like a cut-price Brötzmann on an off day. For serious collectors, the set also includes a rare 7-inch by the duo. The solo pieces are quizzical and sardonic, possibly too unshowy to capture the imagination, but definitely worth exploring.

BROTHERHOOD OF BREATH
^&

Formed 1969

Ensemble

Live At Willisau

Ogun OGCD 001

Harry Beckett, Marc Charig, Mongezi Feza (t); Nick Evans, Radu Malfatti (tb); Dudu Pukwana (as); Evan Parker, Gary Windo (ts); Chris McGregor (p, leader); Harry Miller (b); Louis Moholo (d). January 1973.

Harry Miller’s widow, Hazel Miller, says:
‘These guys took an unorthodox approach to life and music and were always at the centre of whatever was going on, which is probably why it was so full of passion, free and soulful; they played from their hearts. They were also extraordinary composers whose music is still played all round the world. Anyone who bounced up with them or had the good fortune to hear them play live never forgot.’

The trick was to keep breathing, because Death was always nearby. Feza, Pukwana, McGregor, Miller: there was a shadow across this music, as if the life breathed into it had to be paid for with interest. McGregor formed the Brotherhood on the foundations of the legendary Blue Notes, but the larger-scale ensemble took the group in a fresh direction, somewhere between Duke Ellington’s most unfettered ‘jungle music’ and the joyous, angry alienation of the Sun Ra Arkestra. McGregor’s music combined the Presbyterian hymns of the Scottish church (his parents were missionaries), Xhosa music and the free modernism of Coltrane’s
Ascension.
It’s not often observed just how surreal some of the Brotherhood’s music could be, a kind of hectic clowning that momentarily lightened what lay beneath. On another live recording by the group, MC Ronnie Scott explains that half the group is from Britain and half from South Africa, ‘a great place to come from’! Behind all this joyous music is the pain of apartheid and exile. That fine Berlin performance (available on Cuneiform) is only just topped by the later
Live In Willisau.
From the opening moments of ‘Do It’, with its searing Evan Parker solo, through ‘Kongi’s Theme’ with its strange solo by Radu Malfatti, to the relative ease of the closing ‘Funky Boots’, this is affirmative music of a rare sort, bringing together African
kwela
, free jazz, post-Ellington swing and even touches of classicism in a boiling mix that grips the heart.

& See also
BLUE NOTES, Live In South Africa
(1964; p. 315)

DEWEY REDMAN
^&

Born 17 May 1931, Fort Worth, Texas; died 2 September 2006, New York City

Tenor and alto saxophones, musette

Ear Of The Behearer

Impulse!/GRP 12712

Redman; Ted Daniel (t, bugle); Leroy Jenkins (vn); Jane Robertson (clo); Sirone (b); Eddie Moore (d); Danny Johnson (perc). June 1973.

Dewey Redman said (1994):
‘I should go see Africa before I pass. That’s the homeland, and when I say Africa I mean all of that: the Mid-East, Asia, all that space and history that is so much older than us and shaped us.’

Redman grew up in Ornette Coleman’s hometown and was the anchor member of one of Ornette’s most incendiary bands between 1967 and 1974. The best advice for anyone not appreciating that music is to follow what Redman does; it makes sense. Dewey was almost
30 before he opted for a full-time musical career, and to some extent neither his recording career nor his reputation quite recovered from the slow start. He could, and should, have been one of the majors, even if one doesn’t automatically associate any great stylistic innovation with him. In fact, what he brought to the music – it’s audible in his work with Keith Jarrett, with Charlie Haden and with the Ornette repertory band Old And New Dreams – is a passionate interest in Middle Eastern music.

That is immediately evident on
Ear Of The Behearer
, where Redman, shortly to leave the Coleman band, plays largely on alto rather than tenor. The higher, more keening sound has an arresting Levantine quality, but what is striking about the record as a whole, particularly now that it has been paired with the material released as
Coincide
from the same session, is how varied Redman’s playing is. He always stated that playing in just one style bored him and almost all of his sessions manage to touch on blues, avant-garde playing, ethnically tinged material and some tracks that come close to a modernistic swing.
Ear
has always been a favourite Redman record, with its long blowing blues on ‘Boody’ and the more complex ‘Walls-Bridges’ and ‘Interconnection’, but the material on
Coincide
is just as powerful; it’s arguably the more coherent LP of the two and certainly the more affirmatively upbeat, with ‘Joie De Vivre’ and ‘Funcity Dues’ among the best short performances in the Redman canon. The strings work well together on their tracks and Daniel, an unsung hero of new music, has something of Don Cherry’s quality, but with a crisply military attack.

& See also
In London
(1996; p. 608)

JULIAN PRIESTER

Born 29 June 1935, Chicago, Illinois

Trombone

Love, Love

ECM 1044

Priester; Hadley Caliman (sax, f, cl); David Johnson (sax, f); Bayete Umbra Zindiko (p, clav); Pat Gleeson (syn); Bill Connors (g); Henry Franklin, Ron McClure (b); Leon Chancler, Eric Gravátt (d). June–September 1973.

DJ Icebox said (1990):
‘I never got so many questions and requests as when I played
Love, Love
. That’s a cult classic, right there.’

Priester worked in R&B and big bands before moving to New York in 1958, playing with the Max Roach group until the early ’60s and subsequently freelancing. He moved to California in the ’70s, and though there has been a recent flurry of activity and interest, sightings were relatively rare and Priester’s cult status confirmed by the long unavailability of his ECM work.

Love, Love
is a record which enjoyed almost legendary status as long as it remained unreleased on CD. Having it available again dents its glamour only temporarily, because it is one of the best albums of its period, subtly conceived and richly executed by a fascinating ensemble. Consisting of two long improvisations, somewhat in the manner of a Miles Davis record of the period, it foregrounds Priester in the kind of acoustic that shows off his rich tone and thoughtful ideas, though he’s also prominently featured on synths and percussion. Much of the personnel will be relatively unfamiliar, but Connors, McClure and the soon to disappear Eric Gravátt (known from the first Weather Report albums) are all highly collectable presences. Musically, it’s in a now somewhat dated jazz-rock mode (think
Mwandishi
-period Hancock or a looser version of
Bitches Brew
) and owes its cachet and collectability to its dance associations. We were quite prepared to be disappointed, but it lives up to billing surprisingly well.

HERBIE HANCOCK
^&

Born 12 April 1940, Chicago, Illinois

Piano, keyboards

Head Hunters

Columbia CK 65123

Hancock; Bennie Maupin (ts, ss, saxello, bcl, af); Paul Jackson (b); Harvey Mason (d); Bill Summers (perc). September 1973.

Herbie Hancock said (1991):
‘I took a chance. There was always the risk that I might make some new fans, but only at the cost of losing more established ones. This was music that I wanted to make, though, so the gamble was worth it.’

Miles legitimized a view of black musical history that made room for Sly Stone and James Brown, as well as Charlie Parker and John Coltrane.
Head Hunters
was the direct result, an infectiously funky and thoroughly joyous record; only the closing ‘Vein Melter’ hints at melancholy. It was scarcely unprecedented in Hancock’s career. The last albums for Warners point in this direction, as do
Mwandishi
and the joyous
Sextant
, which was recorded around the same time. Hancock includes ‘Watermelon Man’, not because he is short of ideas, but because he wants to demonstrate the essential continuity of his music. For the simplest demonstration, listen to Butch Warren’s line on
Takin’ Off
and then compare the toppling, dotted rhythm Paul Jackson brings to it on
Head Hunters
. Hancock’s electric keyboards can sound one-dimensional and the Hohner Clavinet is very much an acquired taste. The latest remastering, coupled to budget release and including a new essay by Hancock, gives the biggest-selling jazz record of all time a new gloss and impetus: ‘Chameleon’ (on which Hancock improvises beautifully) and ‘Sly’ have renewed vigour. Maupin performs a role much like Wayne Shorter in Weather Report, not soloing at length or necessarily carrying the line but placing brushstrokes and punctuating moods much as Miles did. ‘Vein Melter’, which is perhaps his best moment on the record, is a throwback to the more introverted music of the very early ’70s, but is no less effective in this context and a valuable change of mood. The album’s influence was immense, and Hancock can hardly be charged with the shortcomings of his epigone. It still plays freshly and with surprising invention 30 years on.