Scenes from The Year In Old
For gift-givers and others, some highlights from a banner year in reissues and vault discoveries
It was a good year for old music. We saw exhaustive reappraisals of watershed albums (Neil Young’s Harvest, John Coltrane’s Blue Train, to be discussed in a future newsletter) and rescue operations for long-missing titles (Garrett Saracho’s En Medio) and previously unreleased live performances that enhanced understanding of key periods in an artist’s evolution (Albert Ayler’s Revelations).
Below, in what’s become an annual attempt to encourage holiday shoppers to consider giving rare archival works, are some of the releases that stand out in a crowded field; in cases where the works were covered previously on Echo Locator, I’ve linked to the original pieces.
Dickie Landry: Solos (1972, first released 1973 Chatham Square Records, one of three Landry titles reissued this year on Unseen Worlds).
So much of the music that happened in New York City lofts in the early 1970s has become mythic, bathed in a rosy “those were the days” glow that isn’t always borne out by the actual music. This series of excerpts from a small-group free-improv throwdown nominally “organized” by multi-instrumentalist Dickie Landry (saxophone, electric piano) is an exception to that. It shows just how vibrant the casual playing within this subculture could be, and, more specifically, how committed the players were to cultivating organic, impressively evolving conversations. The rhythmic foundations dwell in a space of openness inspired by electric Miles, but the crosstalking interplay is boldly and infectiously free, anticipating the elaborate chase scenes of Ornette Coleman’s Prime Time.
Valentina Gonchorova: Recordings 1987-1992 Vol. 2 (Shukai, via Bandcamp).
Joyce: Natureza (Recorded 1977, released 2022 on Far Out Records).
These sessions, which produced what is easily the most potent performance of Joyce Moreno’s groundbreaking feminist samba “Feminina,” were recorded in the US in 1977. Though that’s after the creative peak of MPB (Musica Popular Brazil), it’s squarely within the timeframe when the musicians who’d shaped the style were in high demand around the world. Moreno and an excellent Brazilian rhythm section spent several days collaborating with arranger/orchestrator Claus Ogerman on gorgeously melodic and structurally intricate original songs. Then, for petty and entirely predictable business reasons, their efforts languished on a shelf – until, incredibly, earlier this year. All seven tracks sparkle, but the 11-plus-minute “Feminina” is the centerpiece. It’s a marathon samba slalom through graceful slopes and curves, captured live in the studio. In pre-production, Ogerman developed a studio orchestra chart for the tune; Moreno recalled earlier this year that when he heard the basic tracks, Ogerman decided to leave it alone. Wise choice.
Creedence Clearwater Revival: At the Royal Albert Hall, April 14, 1970.
Super Djata Band: En Super Forme Vol. 1 (1982, Numero Group).
The bands from Mali do things differently – or did anyway, back in the ‘70s and ‘80s. The grooves of Super Djata Band, one of the country’s trailblazing independent orchestras, are more fluid and subtly polyrhythmic than those of, say, Nigerian Afro-beat. The musicians – particularly Djata’s leader and guitarist Zani Diabate – build songs around tricky melodic riffs, which are sometimes abandoned for wild lunges into blues psychedelia or harrowing sustained tones. And the melodies are graceful and singable, carrying griot wisdom and aphorisms used by hunters. The result, on the accurately titled 1982 discovery En Super Forme, is a distinct form of hypnotic transport, blissful and provocative at once.
Albert Ayler: Revelations: The Complete ORTY 1970 Fondation Maeght Recordings (Elemental Music).
Ahmad Jamal: Emerald City Nights: Live at the Penthouse (1963-1964 and (1965-1966, Jazz Detective).
The connection between these two very different improvising artists – the propulsive tenor saxophonist Albert Ayler and preternaturally serene pianist Ahmad Jamal – is Zev Feldman, the producer who has enriched understanding of jazz history through carefully documented vault discoveries. The Ayler draws from riveting 1970 performances two days apart; it’s alternately blazing and reflective, an outpouring of ideas that’s also a master class in motific development. The Jamal titles, both recorded at Seattle’s Penthouse, one of his favorite clubs, is pure piano-trio poise.
Agustin Pereyra Lucena: La Rana (1980, reissued by Far Out).
Argentinian guitarist and composer Agustin Pereyra Lucena got the Brazil music bug as a teenager, devouring everything recorded by Baden Powell (who became a friend of his), Joao Gilberto and others. Lucena began making records in the early ‘70s – his 1971 second album (which has been reissued and is highly recommended) is an extended free-spirited conversation with percussionist Nana Vasconcelos. La Rana, recorded in 1980, is more varied, encompassing covers of songs by Ivan Lins and Antonio Carlos Jobim as well as Lucena’s entrancing 15-minute suite “Encuentro De Sombras.”
Leo Nocentelli: Another Side (1971, released late 2021 by Light In the Attic)
Branko Mataja: Over Fields and Mountains (Numero).
Someone says “Serbian folk music” and the first association probably isn’t languid, shimmering echoes of Dick Dale-style multitracked electric guitar. Yet when you hear it, this improbable cooked-up-in-the-lab culture-cross by Branko Mataja (1923-2000) feels not simply inevitable but hauntingly complete, a meditative sound for the ages. That is a credit to the artistry of the luthier and guitarist, who was born in Croatia and spent most of World War II detained in a German labor camp. After the war Mataja fled West, making a series of stops before eventually settling in Los Angeles. He set up an instrument repair shop in a garage, built a home recording studio and over time developed his own method for making guitar chorales using echo, reverb and multi-tracking. Numero’s Over Fields and Mountains gathers the highlights from the two albums he released in his lifetime. Works of disarming and singular beauty, these start out as folk songs and end up in an ethereal realm above the clouds.
Roy Brooks: Beat (Workshop Jazz, 1964).
Even during Motown’s early days, Berry Gordy intended for his label to be more than merely a singles powerhouse. Gordy understood that the pool of musicians on Motown’s call sheet had deep experience in jazz and other musics, and in 1962 he set up a sublabel, Workshop Jazz, to release primarily instrumental soul-jazz projects. Beat, recorded in 1964, stands among the artistically significant titles to emerge from Workshop Jazz during its two-year (!) history. The leader debut of drummer Roy Brooks, it was recorded at Motown’s famous Hitsville studio, and showcases crisp, whipsmart solo turns from Blue Mitchell on trumpet and the creative, endlessly underappreciated Junior Cook on tenor saxophone. This excellent vinyl reissue marks the return of the Verve By Request series, which involves Jack White’s Detroit-based Third Man Pressing; among the titles planned for 2023 are James Brown’s blistering big band date Soul On Top.
Frank Zappa: The Mothers ’71; Zappa/Erie; Zappa ’75: Zagreb/Ljubljana. (Zappa Records).
More pieces of the labyrinthine puzzle otherwise known as the Frank Zappa discography emerged in 2022. The Mothers ’71 chronicles the four final shows by the band at the Fillmore East before it closed; it’s worth hearing just for the sonic detail (it was recorded onto a 16-track machine, rare for the period) as well as the encores involving John Lennon and Yoko Ono. (These have never been released in full; they were owned by the Lennon estate, and some appeared on the 1972 Sometime In New York City).
Drawn from tours between 1974 and 1976, the Erie, Pennsylvania shows contain mostly unheard performances – only a sliver from these turned up on 1974’s Roxy and Elsewhere live album. The Edinboro Pennsylvania show features brilliant playing from longtime Zappa keyboardist George Duke in a return to the fold, and is sparked by jazz drummer Ralph Humphrey, who plays twin-drummer style with Zappa drummer Chester Thompson for most of the night.
The 1975 Zagreb and Ljubljana shows, described by Zappa as “The Mothers of Invention Yugoslavian Extravaganza,” are less essential in terms of history, but no less riveting musically. The band is smaller, and this means Zappa has more “work” to do as both frontman and lead guitarist: His solos, which move from stately classic-rock melody lines to dizzying fistfuls of notes and chord clusters, are the primary draw here.
Garrett Saracho: En Medio (Impulse!)
I've been relying on you for 30+years....the above issue is a perfect example why....Thank you so very much Tom!!