― hstencil, Wednesday, 21 May 2003 12:51 (twenty years ago) link
― abeta, Wednesday, 21 May 2003 13:24 (twenty years ago) link
I love Milford's leader stuff, but a lot of the records he plays on as bandmember are great too. Esp. Sonny Sharrock's Black Woman.
― hstencil, Wednesday, 21 May 2003 13:33 (twenty years ago) link
― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 21 May 2003 15:55 (twenty years ago) link
"Regrettably, Milford Graves has not made a solo drum record, though he has come close. A mid-sixties ESP record makes a "percussion ensemble" out of a duet between Graves and Sunny Mordan - of course, Graves is an ensemble in himself. His two records of duets with pianist Don Pullen, Nommo (vols. 1 and 2), are free music underground classics and in spots they indicate the astounding sound of Graves by himself. He also appears on pianist Paul Bley's Barrage (with a rare non-Arkestra appearance from saxist Marshall Allen) and a couple of Giusseppi Logan records, all on ESP.
Graves recordings with the New York Art Quartet are also great - the self-titled NYAQ record with LeRoi Jones reading "Black Dada Nihilismus" is particularly hardcore, though Graves is better recorded on Mohawk (Fontana Records). Graves's work with Albert Ayler is available on Love Cry, and his slightly later recordings include a great record with guitarist Sonny Sharrock (Black Woman), and his own ridiculously overdriven trio with reedmen Arthur Doyle and Hugh Glover on Babi.
Graves applies his polyrhythmic approach to the piano with success on an obscure Japanese record, Meditation Among Us, which includes plenty of Graves's drumwork and playing by excellent Japanese improvisors like the late saxophonist Kaoru Abe and trumpet mad-hatter Toshinori Kondo. Last time I saw Graves live he was playing in a drum-quartet project with Andrew Cyrille, Famoudou Don Moye, and bop-giant Kenny Clarke, just before Clarke died (this project produced the record Pieces of Time). Over the last few years, Graves has played occasionally in a trio with saxophonist Peter Brotzmann and bassist William Parker - we could only be so lucky that this group would make a record."
― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Wednesday, 21 May 2003 18:31 (twenty years ago) link
― Mr. Diamond (diamond), Wednesday, 21 May 2003 18:32 (twenty years ago) link
― Forwarding Burden, Wednesday, 21 May 2003 18:36 (twenty years ago) link
does he play outside the US nowdays?
― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Thursday, 22 May 2003 07:22 (twenty years ago) link
― hstencil, Thursday, 22 May 2003 13:47 (twenty years ago) link
a brotzmann/bailey/graves gig would be a dream come true really.
― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Thursday, 22 May 2003 13:55 (twenty years ago) link
― Jordan (Jordan), Thursday, 22 May 2003 21:18 (twenty years ago) link
― John Bullabaugh (John Bullabaugh), Friday, 23 May 2003 12:16 (twenty years ago) link
― hstencil, Friday, 23 May 2003 12:49 (twenty years ago) link
― Daniel (dancity), Friday, 23 May 2003 20:20 (twenty years ago) link
― Daniel (dancity), Friday, 23 May 2003 20:28 (twenty years ago) link
yay for science!
― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Friday, 23 May 2003 20:30 (twenty years ago) link
― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Saturday, 20 December 2003 21:36 (twenty years ago) link
Or maybe [most] modern rock and electronic music is just plain bad.
V
― Venus Glow (1411), Sunday, 21 December 2003 02:02 (twenty years ago) link
― Captain Stower, Monday, 29 March 2004 03:12 (twenty years ago) link
― gordon.boateng, Thursday, 21 July 2005 22:07 (eighteen years ago) link
― Stormy Davis (diamond), Friday, 22 July 2005 03:30 (eighteen years ago) link
― Truckdrivin' Buddha (Rock Hardy), Friday, 22 July 2005 03:31 (eighteen years ago) link
like his work on '1 thing'
― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Saturday, 23 July 2005 09:15 (eighteen years ago) link
New York Art Quartet limited-edition 5-LP set of unreleased recordings: http://www.triplepointrecords.com
(a little pricey, though...)
― Tarfumes The Escape Goat, Friday, 28 December 2012 14:28 (eleven years ago) link
ooo
― i guess i'd just rather listen to canned heat? (ian), Friday, 28 December 2012 18:51 (eleven years ago) link
jeeze that is expensive!!
― i guess i'd just rather listen to canned heat? (ian), Friday, 28 December 2012 18:53 (eleven years ago) link
first 100 copies include a card personally signed by the artists
Wonder if they were able to get Tchicai's signature.
― Tarfumes The Escape Goat, Friday, 28 December 2012 19:46 (eleven years ago) link
New York Art Quartet box nominated for a Grammy (Best Historical Album).
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Thursday, 12 December 2013 15:53 (ten years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwkHCLI1j1w
― sʌxihɔːl (Ward Fowler), Tuesday, 5 August 2014 20:05 (nine years ago) link
Doc/interview somewhere, turns out he is quite big on martial arts.
― xyzzzz__, Tuesday, 5 August 2014 21:33 (nine years ago) link
Yeah, he's been doing/teaching martial arts (of various forms, I think; kundalini yoga is one I know he teaches) for decades. He's also an acupuncturist and herbal medic.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Wednesday, 6 August 2014 00:45 (nine years ago) link
sat on the floor about 3 feet away from graves' kit last night at the stone. watching this dude work up close is totally bonkers. duo with laswell (with zorn for a couple minutes) but graves was definitely in charge and sounded amazing.
― adam, Friday, 26 June 2015 15:12 (eight years ago) link
nice!
a friend of mine did a good interview with him recently:http://www.thetrapset.net/milford-graves-albert-ayler-ny-art-quartet-pharaoh-sanders-anthony-braxton/
― lil urbane (Jordan), Friday, 26 June 2015 15:15 (eight years ago) link
Always great to hear Milford speak.
This is a pretty wide-ranging interview as well:http://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2015/06/milford-graves-interview
Did you have much familiarity with Lou’s work before that?No, man. They told me he was with the old Velvets. I said, “Well, who’s the Velvets?” Totally out of it, man. And we’re in that similar age group, but I didn’t know about that. I listened to doo-wop, but that was a group I missed.
No, man. They told me he was with the old Velvets. I said, “Well, who’s the Velvets?” Totally out of it, man. And we’re in that similar age group, but I didn’t know about that. I listened to doo-wop, but that was a group I missed.
Missing from both interviews is the fact that Milford was hired in 1973 by Bill Dixon for the Black Music Division at Bennington College.
(actually, teaching is missing entirely from the Trapset episode, though I guess 30 minutes isn't enough to cover everything)
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Friday, 26 June 2015 15:27 (eight years ago) link
true. really enjoyed watching this as well:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dpzI8xA9qc
― lil urbane (Jordan), Friday, 26 June 2015 15:31 (eight years ago) link
as long as we are posting interviews i like this one http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/trends/columns/cityside/5380/
― adam, Friday, 26 June 2015 16:06 (eight years ago) link
evidently you can watch this for $4.99 on amazon prime. will probably do that tonight.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePiESZA2I7Y
Milford Graves Full Mantis - trailer | IFFR 2018
― budo jeru, Monday, 27 April 2020 20:23 (three years ago) link
Whew, this revive scared me.
― change display name (Jordan), Monday, 27 April 2020 20:24 (three years ago) link
haha, yeah, me, too. Seems like we can barely get through a day without another jazz legend dying right now.
― Judi Dench's Human Hand (methanietanner), Monday, 27 April 2020 20:43 (three years ago) link
I want to see the movie, I've heard good things about it. I got to see him in two settings at Big Ears a few years ago — solo and with Jason Moran — and they were two of the best sets of the festival, he's amazing.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Tuesday, 28 April 2020 18:23 (three years ago) link
A fucking amazing movie by a friend of mine. Truly a must-see.
I did some of the artwork for this!
― Yanni Xenakis (Hadrian VIII), Tuesday, 28 April 2020 18:25 (three years ago) link
I didn't know Dixon hired him. I interviewed Whit Dickey last year and he talked about studying with both Dixon and Graves at Bennington:
https://www.osirispod.com/podcasts/burning-ambulance/burning-ambulance-whit-dickey/
Also, for those who don't know, Bäbi was reissued on CD in 2018, paired with a previously unheard second disc of 1969 recordings by the same trio:
http://www.corbettvsdempsey.com/2018/10/16/album-babi/
― but also fuck you (unperson), Tuesday, 28 April 2020 18:40 (three years ago) link
An absolutely wonderful movie, one of the greatest music films ever made. Full of incredible archival footage of Milford, plus the great man in his basement laboratory and garden. And the World Of Cheese story is something else...
― Poor.Old.Tired.Horse. (Stew), Tuesday, 28 April 2020 19:14 (three years ago) link
Saw him last year at Vision Festival, playing a duo with Andrew Cyrille. MG looked a little frail, but I understand he's better now. Their performance was gorgeous, a true dialogue between old friends, all deconstructed Latin rhythms and warm anecdotes.
― Poor.Old.Tired.Horse. (Stew), Tuesday, 28 April 2020 19:16 (three years ago) link
It's actually free to watch if you have Amazon Prime: https://www.amazon.com/Milford-Graves-Full-Mantis/dp/B07NGRL22J/There are so many great moments, but the footage with Milford and dancer Min Tanaka in a Japanese gymnasium in a school for children with cognitive disabilities is absolutely priceless.I also saw both of his incredible sets at Big Ears. I remember feeling a little bad for Jason Moran...I felt like Milford was in a different, transcendental league!
― ernestp, Wednesday, 29 April 2020 01:08 (three years ago) link
Fantastic film, everyone should watch it.
― tylerw, Wednesday, 29 April 2020 01:41 (three years ago) link
I remember feeling a little bad for Jason Moran...I felt like Milford was in a different, transcendental league!
He was, but generous about it, he brought Moran along with him.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Wednesday, 29 April 2020 04:39 (three years ago) link
I had a great experience at the Big Ears festival this year with [pianist] Jason Moran. People were wondering, “Is that going to work?” I talked to Jason [before the set], and he’s cool. But [during the concert] Jason all of a sudden stands up off the stool, takes his shirt off, and says, “I’m hot, man!” And I looked at him, and Jason got back down and took some sort of rattle or something and started bouncing it all off the strings on that piano, and [now] he wasn’t that cool guy playing Monk for nobody, man! Jason got so emotional. And people noticed that! And I’m saying, “No, he got possessed, man.” All that coolness went out the window. If I have any part of it, he’s not going to be cool on me. You can still look conservative…but you’re gonna get more animated, and then people feel that. When you get animated, people say, “They’re feeling it!”
https://www.moderndrummer.com/article/january-2019-milford-graves/
― budo jeru, Wednesday, 29 April 2020 17:44 (three years ago) link
Really loved Full Mantis. That footage with Min Tanaka and the kids was just the best.
To think he could've spent years in jail..
― xyzzzz__, Saturday, 20 June 2020 14:07 (three years ago) link
:-(
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/05/nyregion/milford-graves-drummer.html
― xyzzzz__, Wednesday, 5 August 2020 12:35 (three years ago) link
RIP. Listening to Black Woman now.
― to party with our demons (Sund4r), Saturday, 13 February 2021 02:08 (three years ago) link
shit. what an amazing artist.
― sknybrg, Saturday, 13 February 2021 03:04 (three years ago) link
How is the Yale Concert reissue???? In depth, please.
― dow, Saturday, 13 February 2021 03:11 (three years ago) link
In terms of sound quality, or in terms of performance? It's mastered from ultra-clean vinyl, presumably Graves' own unopened copies, so there's a tiny bit of hiss and crackle here and there but not much. The recording quality is good if primitive — it was clearly taped live in a room not built for recording, but it's plenty loud, Graves' drums often louder than Pullen's piano. The music is extremely free, pounding and clanging, as heavy and out as free jazz ever got. I'd call it essential, and I'm sure it's gonna go out of print again very soon, so for anyone who doesn't already have it:
https://www.corbettvsdempsey.com/2020/09/30/record-complete-yale-concert-1966__trashed/
If you can find a copy of thhe Bäbi reissue (Corbett vs Dempsey is out of stock), it's essential, too, especially since it contains a second, previously unreleased CD of the same trio (Graves, Arthur Doyle, and Hugh Glover) from 1969:
https://www.corbettvsdempsey.com/2018/10/16/album-babi__trashed/
― but also fuck you (unperson), Saturday, 13 February 2021 13:13 (three years ago) link
Shamefully unfamiliar with his work, any recommendations for where to start?
― Dan Worsley, Saturday, 13 February 2021 13:21 (three years ago) link
For something relatively straightforward (as in, he's playing a "beat" through much of it), try Sonny Sharrock's Black Woman. Albert Ayler's Love Cry is kinda easy to get into as well, at least as far as Ayler/free jazz is concerned. For something more recent, try Beyond Quantum, a 2004 or so trio album with Anthony Braxton on saxes and William Parker on bass.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Saturday, 13 February 2021 13:37 (three years ago) link
Giuseppi Logan, Eddie Gomez, Milford Graves, 8th Street Bookstore, NYC, 1965📸 Eddie Hauser pic.twitter.com/xkUMqRu06f— jeff (@jazyjef) February 13, 2021
nice pic here as well
― calzino, Saturday, 13 February 2021 13:55 (three years ago) link
Jake Meginsky just made available this beautiful previously unreleased video of MIlford Graves in his garden ♥️♥️♥️ https://t.co/mGcwzxgOkM— Fielding Hope (@fieldinghope) February 13, 2021
― xyzzzz__, Saturday, 13 February 2021 14:43 (three years ago) link
pic.twitter.com/2Uu3BNrzss— Jake Meginsky (@jakemessmeg) February 13, 2021
― xyzzzz__, Saturday, 13 February 2021 17:19 (three years ago) link
RIP :(
― pomenitul, Saturday, 13 February 2021 17:43 (three years ago) link
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/feb/13/milford-graves-jazz-drummer-dies-aged-79
― xyzzzz__, Saturday, 13 February 2021 21:59 (three years ago) link
Thanks guys! Graves' drums often louder than Pullen's piano. The music is extremely free, pounding and clanging, as heavy and out as free jazz ever got. Ah, say no more, I'll get on it, and seek out the Corbett V Dempsey and Ayler (Black Woman has long been a v. personal talisman).
― dow, Sunday, 14 February 2021 02:27 (three years ago) link
I think I'm mainly just listening to the New York Art Quartet's Call It Art collection today because of course they are one of the best bands ever to exist
― calzino, Sunday, 14 February 2021 09:17 (three years ago) link
My oiriginal copy of the New York Art Quartet's ESP Disc. My first exposure to Milford Graves! Sorry for the terrible physical shape the cover is in, i got it when I was 13, still one of my favorite albums. pic.twitter.com/KD2Iqzx7tT— Alan Braufman (@AlanBraufman) February 14, 2021
― calzino, Sunday, 14 February 2021 11:09 (three years ago) link
"Love Cry" is the first time I ever heard him, when I was getting into jazz and trying to find all these records/artists I was reading about. His drumming struck me immediately, different from anything else I had heard, flat & cardboard-y, the drums didn't drive the music, they pushed and spread everything out, they were everywhere at once. I always kept a look out for his name, "Milford Graves" always signified an otherness to me, that if his name was on there it was going to be a special record.
And not a huge discography (or at least one that was easy to track down) so aside from those ESP-Disk records and dodgy boots of "Babi" and "Nommo" over the yrs he was always someone I looked out for, esp after seeing that Mouthful of Sweat footage of him with Brotz & Parker. And I knew from interviews that he had a totally different take on the world then even other "out" dudes
But man that movie made me fall in love him so much more and suddenly so much of his music & playing made real sense to me, all the talk of Chi & heartbeats & cosmic radiation & nervous system electricity, going back I can hear all of that so clearly in the music.
The scene with him & Min Tanaka playing for the autistic children is maybe the most powerful example of music as an artform I've ever seen
Anyway, a beautiful soul and player and thinker and man, RIP
― chr1sb3singer, Monday, 15 February 2021 17:23 (three years ago) link
Director Alan Roth has made his documentary The Breath Courses Through Us, about the New York Art Quartet, available on Vimeo for a short while. It documents their 2000s reunion, when they opened for Sonic Youth:
https://vimeo.com/59617230
― but also fuck you (unperson), Thursday, 25 February 2021 00:32 (three years ago) link
Yeah, Left, that's a perfect example of shifting blame and responsibility from the offenders to the victims. Pretty reprehensible.
― Mosholu Porkway (Boring, Maryland), Thursday, 25 February 2021 00:46 (three years ago) link
Lol how did that get there.
― Mosholu Porkway (Boring, Maryland), Thursday, 25 February 2021 01:03 (three years ago) link
My memories of the ‘99 NYAQ show are of Milford being extremely poorly miked (at least, the PA mix in the hall — the mix in the film sounds much better), and of Reggie Workman killing it. It was the only time I’d seen Workman, and I was floored.I also remember their reunion record being meandering and generally awful, but I haven’t listened to it in years.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Thursday, 25 February 2021 02:09 (three years ago) link
and of Reggie Workman killing it. It was the only time I’d seen Workman, and I was floored.
― Mosholu Porkway (Boring, Maryland), Thursday, 25 February 2021 02:16 (three years ago) link
I saw Workman with John Zorn, Derek Bailey and Susie Ibarra at Tonic one night. I was extremely surprised, because I had always thought of him as a total jazz guy (even if he worked in free-ish contexts at times) but this was obviously Improv with a capital I.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Thursday, 25 February 2021 02:18 (three years ago) link
Beautiful piece by percussionist-composer Ben Hall: https://www.thewire.co.uk/in-writing/essays/the-patterns-are-already-there-remembering-milford-graves(Slight correction: the Black Music Division at Bennington was dissembled/absorbed into the Music Division in 1985, not in the mid-‘90s.)
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Thursday, 4 March 2021 13:06 (three years ago) link
Jason Moran@morethan886:30 PM · Apr 1, 2021Graves/Moran live at @BigEarsFestival 2018 releases at midnight. Features another performance from @ICAPhiladelphia / @ArsNovaWorkshop . Mind-Body.https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ex7OGgJW8AISGn5?format=jpg&name=4096x4096
― dow, Friday, 2 April 2021 04:46 (three years ago) link
https://jasonmoran.bandcamp.com/album/graves-moran-live-at-big-ears
― dow, Friday, 2 April 2021 04:48 (three years ago) link
The new Brotzman/Graves/Parker lp is predictably very good, the stuff with Graves talking to the crowd and singing on the fourth side is just fantastic
https://milfordgraves-blackeditionsarchive.bandcamp.com/album/historic-music-past-tense-future
― chr1sb3singer, Wednesday, 9 February 2022 16:08 (two years ago) link
rewatched full mantis last night, still such a pleasure
― ꙮ (map), Sunday, 6 November 2022 20:30 (one year ago) link
"A mind-body deal" can be purchased directly from the inventory press website. free shipping in the US + a holiday code i found on their instagram meant it was only $36
― budo jeru, Friday, 23 December 2022 19:44 (one year ago) link
Thanks! the xpost New York Art Quartet album is all here:https://newyorkartquartet.bandcamp.com/
Bandcamp also has MG's own sole ESP-Disk, Percussion Ensemble, with Sonny Morgan:https://milfordgraves.bandcamp.com/album/percussion-ensemble
― dow, Friday, 23 December 2022 20:58 (one year ago) link
re: full mantis:
This video is currently unavailable to watch in your location
i wish I would've bought / downloaded / ripped this when i had the chance. anybody know how i can see it?
― budo jeru, Saturday, 14 January 2023 06:47 (one year ago) link
nvm, i figured it out.
by the way, the "mind-body deal" book is fantastic!
― budo jeru, Saturday, 14 January 2023 07:03 (one year ago) link
Also: https://jasonmoran.bandcamp.com/album/graves-moran-live-at-big-ears
― dow, Saturday, 14 January 2023 18:23 (one year ago) link
new '76 recording from the Glover/Doyle trio:
https://www.strandedrecords.com/collections/newsletter/products/milford-graves-arthur-doyle-hugh-glover-children-of-the-forest-2xlp?mc_cid=de146c7992&mc_eid=ad2240ad80
― budo jeru, Monday, 27 March 2023 22:39 (one year ago) link
Been trying to convince myself I don't need this. I need this, don't I?
― Paul Ponzi, Tuesday, 28 March 2023 00:24 (one year ago) link
It’s pretty great…
― but also fuck you (unperson), Tuesday, 28 March 2023 00:42 (one year ago) link
Prolly shoulda put this here.
LA Institute for Contemporary Art is hosting a Milford Graves listening party for a new album, and a screening of the film about him the next day at their Arts District location. RSVP required, and I don't know if any are left.
https://www.theicala.org/en/events/494-milford-graves-album-release-listening-party
― nickn, Sunday, 16 April 2023 06:11 (one year ago) link
This is the Children of the Forest release noted above.
― nickn, Sunday, 16 April 2023 06:12 (one year ago) link
And the film is Full Mantis
― nickn, Sunday, 16 April 2023 06:14 (one year ago) link
Interesting that the Corbett vs Dempsey reissue of the Complete Yale Concert from a couple years back made a point to note that the original master tapes were lost so they sourced from a mint condition original LP, yet the new Superior Viaduct reissue claims that it's sourced from the original master tapes.
― Slim is an Alien, Wednesday, 20 December 2023 00:11 (four months ago) link
Yeah, I think they might be bullshitting and hoping no one notices.
― Tahuti Watches L&O:SVU Reruns Without His Ape (unperson), Wednesday, 20 December 2023 03:58 (four months ago) link
Unless...I mean, there's a chance that Graves himself didn't know where the tapes were, but that someone in his family found them after he died...but I think it would have been bigger news.
― Tahuti Watches L&O:SVU Reruns Without His Ape (unperson), Wednesday, 20 December 2023 04:12 (four months ago) link
I have sent the following email to Superior Viaduct:
Hi!Your website says that your Milford Graves reissues are "sourced from the original master tapes." The Corbett vs Dempsey CD reissue of the same recordings, from 2020, says, "The master tapes for both volumes of the Yale concert were lost. This reissue was culled from mint copies of the LPs, transferred and noise-reduced by Alex Inglizian."Were the tapes found by another member of Graves' family after his death? What's the story here?Thanks
Your website says that your Milford Graves reissues are "sourced from the original master tapes." The Corbett vs Dempsey CD reissue of the same recordings, from 2020, says, "The master tapes for both volumes of the Yale concert were lost. This reissue was culled from mint copies of the LPs, transferred and noise-reduced by Alex Inglizian."
Were the tapes found by another member of Graves' family after his death? What's the story here?
Thanks
― Tahuti Watches L&O:SVU Reruns Without His Ape (unperson), Wednesday, 20 December 2023 04:16 (four months ago) link
I guess it would answer my question about whether I should upgrade my CvsDs
― The SoyBoy West Coast (Whiney G. Weingarten), Wednesday, 20 December 2023 05:03 (four months ago) link
There's no way the tapes were miraculously discovered and they just failed to mention it in the copy. They are surely bullshitting just like every other record label does.
― budo jeru, Wednesday, 20 December 2023 15:14 (four months ago) link
Also CvD are (imo) a trustworthy entity and I agree — if the tapes were suddenly found, that would be news and therefore worth mentioning
― Piggy Lepton (La Lechera), Wednesday, 20 December 2023 15:17 (four months ago) link
It's funny to me that record labels bullshit about stuff like that for artists that probably don't sell a ton - pretty low value false advertising.
― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Wednesday, 20 December 2023 15:32 (four months ago) link
I was under the impression these were just vinyl pressings of the CvsDs CDs, the SV website even mentions Corbett's liners, so it is weird phrasing at best. I'm betting they are using the word "sourced" in a very...er flexible manner.
― chr1sb3singer, Wednesday, 20 December 2023 17:26 (four months ago) link
"Once upon a time, there were master tapes for this album."
― Tahuti Watches L&O:SVU Reruns Without His Ape (unperson), Wednesday, 20 December 2023 17:32 (four months ago) link
I got an answer from Superior Viaduct! The label owner says:
The tapes were found prior to Milford’s passing.
So if you were hesitant about buying, go for it, I guess.
― Tahuti Watches L&O:SVU Reruns Without His Ape (unperson), Friday, 29 December 2023 22:04 (three months ago) link
New live set coming in June! WEBO is a live recording from June 1991 with Charles Gayle, William Parker, and Graves. It's coming out digitally and as a fancy 3LP set with a bunch of extra stuff in the box.
Bandcamp pre-order link
A legendary concert by one of the great unrecorded bands in free jazz history is here at last. WEBO, the third installment in the Black Editions Archive series of previously unreleased recordings from Milford Graves' private tape library, roars into the station June 21st. For the first time, Charles Gayle, Milford Graves, & William Parker —three lions of the Black American jazz avant-garde— are finally heard together on record across three audiophile-quality LPs for two brutalizingly joyous hours of real ju-ju & musical mastery. The trio of Charles Gayle, Milford Graves, & William Parker gave only seven public performances between 1985 & 2013, & released no recordings. Their June 1991 two-night stand at the short-lived Lower East Side venue Webo, long referenced as a signal event in New York free jazz’s 1990s resurgence, has been a topic of discussion among close followers of the music for decades. In the uncompromising grassroots spirit of the 1970s New York Musicians Organization & loft jazz movements from which they had emerged, the band produced & promoted the Webo concerts themselves. Photography and audio recording were not allowed at the concerts, & this official recording, commissioned by the artists, was never released —until now. So vivid was the lore surrounding Webo that it topped the list of recordings sought by Black Editions Archive from Graves’ private collection. The tapes maximally substantiate eyewitness accounts describing extra-sensory levels of communication within the band, & the extraordinary clarity & impact of their performance. From William Parker's liner notes: “Imagine a village or choir of drummers, horn players & strings. You can hear the bass & drums churning with a call & response, a melodic-rhythmic propulsion. In reality there is only one drummer, one bass, & one saxophone.” Age 52 at the time of these concerts, Charles Gayle had only recently made his first recordings. To all but the most immediate insiders he was still more myth than reality. Milford Graves, two months out from his 50th birthday, was about halfway into his body of recorded work & had sanctioned just one appearance on a commercially released recording in the last 14 years (Pieces of Time by an all drummer quartet with Kenny Clarke, Andrew Cyrille, & Famoudou Don Moye). William Parker, the young man of the group at age 39, was a mere fifty entries into his discography, now 500+ entries & counting. All three musicians were at least a quarter century into passionately developing a personal & collective music rooted in the cultural values & radical aesthetics of the 1960s & ‘70s Black American avant-garde. 30+ years after the Webo concerts, Black Editions Archive is honored to make these historical recordings available to the public. The x3 LPs are presented in a heavy black, pigment-stamped box with mounted cover painting along with liner notes by William Parker, commentary from Alan Licht (witness to night one of the Webo concerts), a reproduction of the original concert flyer, & a set of 6x9 printed photos from the 2021 Webo reunion outside MoMA PS1, Queens, NY. Cover Painting by Jeff Schlanger / musicWitness, made June 8, 1991, at Webo during the band’s performance. Vinyl pressed at RTI, lacquers cut by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio. —Michael Ehlers
― Instead of create and send out, it pull back and consume (unperson), Thursday, 18 April 2024 20:24 (one week ago) link