This is the 2nd album of
George Lewis on Black Saint. As intelligent musician, together with friends of
AACM, he expands the experimental world in music wider and deeper. Every title
has different combination players and instruments. Muscial pointillism, which
Roscoe Mitchell was questing in one time, becomes strong and apparent. ~ freethemusic-olatunji
George Lewis recorded one of
his first albums, Shadowgraph, in 1977. It was released on Black Saint in 1978.
Now I suspect that everything that could be said has been said about this
album. Nonetheless my blogs are in part an odyssey of my listening experiences
in time, and if I do not address some of that there will be an imbalance, a
lack of representative things I do listen to that perhaps nobody seems to send
to me in the form of promo copies. So. . .
I am not sure why or how I
missed this release when it first came out, except to say that 1978 began a
long and somewhat distracting (to the music) journey I took in educational
enlightenment and, later, protracted wage slavedom, which wasn't so bad because
I managed to eat every day and pay the rent.
So there we are. Shadowgraph
has an impressive lineup of musicians: Lewis, Douglas Ewart, Leroy Jenkins,
Abdul Wadud, Anthony Davis, Muhal Richard Abrams, Roscoe Mitchell...many of
them prime AACM cats, all of them important Afro-American improvisers and most
of them also important composers of the music.
The four pieces put down onto
tape and assembled for the album are in the free-form chamber
improvisation-jazz mode. Lewis introduces electronics in addition to his
trombone and tuba, and everyone contributes. It is wonderfully subtle music. It
sounds to me like one of the gems of that year, certainly. The sound color
sculpting on this one is just superb, as is the very intelligent utilization of
space by everyone involved.
Now if someone tells you that
the '70s were a bust for "Jazz," play them this one and then send
them packing. The fact is that the '70s were incredibly important years for the
music. And George Lewis was right there in a central position. He's a fabulous
trombonist, sure, but a composer-conceptualist of the very highest sort as
well.
Perhaps my quick take on
Shadowgraph will not satisfy those looking for detailed musical description.
Well that's been done. This posting serves mostly as a reminder that one should
not miss this recording if one has serious designs on understanding
improvisation and its development in our era. ~ by Grego
Applegate Edwards.
Black Saint, BSR 0016, 1978
Recorded at Generation Sound
Studios, New York City in 1977
Track Listing:
A1. Monads (13:24)
George Lewis - Alto &
Tenor Trombones
Roscoe Mitchell - Soprano
Saxophone
Douglas Ewart - Bass Clarinet
Anthony Davis - Piano
Leroy Jenkins - Violin
Abdul Wadud - Cello
A2. Triple Slow Mix (8:48)
George Lewis - Sousaphone
Muhal Richard Abrams - Piano
[Left Channel]
Anthony Davis - Piano [Right
Channel]
B1. Cycle (6:32)
George Lewis - Synthesizer
[Moog], Trombone [Tenor], Tuba [Wagner]
Douglas Ewart - Clarinet,
Bassoon, Sopranino Saxophone, Percussion
B2. Shadowgraph, 5 [Sextet]
(11:44)
George Lewis - Trombone
[Tenor], Tuba [Wagner], Sousaphone, Other [Sound-Tube]
Douglas Ewart - Flute, Flute
[Ewart Bamboo], other [Cassette Recorder/Recitation], Percussion
Muhal Richard Abrams - Piano
Leroy Jenkins - Viola
Abdul Wadud - Cello
Credits:
Producer - Giacomo
Pelliciotti
Producer [Assistant] -
Timothy Marquand
Engineer - Tony May
Written-By - George E. Lewis
Artwork - Bruno Milano
Photography By, Artwork - Giuseppe Pino
