King Crimson - The Great Deceiver (Live ‘73-’74)
A friend and I have been discussing a list of best live music, both albums and shows. For the most part we agree pretty closely about what should be on there, but this is one he suggested that I hadn’t thought about in a while, a four CD boxed set featuring the Mark II King Crimson from 1973 to 1974. See, I’ve never been a big King Crimson fan at all, although I’ve always rated this period the highest (although I’m leaning more to the earlier line ups these days). Particularly and starting with the Mk III group in the 80s nearly everything they did clashed with my sensibilities, particularly the cold, chilly and clinical tones that I used to think were just part of the modern incarnations. Truth be told, even during the second period, they already seemed to have these aspirations despite the prevalance of mellotron and violin. There’s an overtone of bleak, chilly empty space that hangs over this music, particularly during the improvisations, which are probably the best reason to own this release. While I used to be a big Bruford fan, I don’t find his style as conducive to current moods, his playing is tight, perhaps too tight. Of course at this point, I feel like I’m wishing it was more like how I’d want it - with a little more lateral movement, a little more space during the intense moments. Suffice it to say, I make these comments from personal aesthetics, although I do wonder if anyone thinks the lyrics from this period are as bad as I do. Anyway, over about a week I played the four discs from this set and was actually convinced to drop it from an 11 to a 10, while thinking my friend probably still has a good point for its inclusiveness. No doubt throughout this box, the band was on fire and fairly often, some of the improvisations here are scorching. But with the lyrics, the drumming and John Wetton’s voice, I find it too difficult to submerge in. My loss I suspect.
Art Ensemble of Chicago/Cecil Taylor - Theatre du Chatelet, Paris Jazz Festival 10/30/74
This show could strip paint of the walls it’s so intense, it would probably fit just about anybody’s superficial idea about what cacophanous free jazz would be like. I found this show exhilirating, listening to Cecil on piano play along side the rest of the band, like a series of conversations, dialogue and response, playful little horn lines whirling outside, the idea of the multiplicity chattering under the greater unity of things. There ain’t an AEC album I can think of that even approaches the sheer cosmic wall of this sonic assault. To have been there…
Albert Ayler - Ayler Tree #4
I have very little information on this, all I know is it’s the fourth disc in an Ayler tree that splits its time between some live music and interviews. Still feeling like just about every Ayler item I hear is about the same, the man way out in front with his sax totally dominating his band in the way Coltrane did occasionally, blaring and blasting so hard it’s easy to forget the rest of the band. More listens required to appraise the sublimity.
Hermeto Pascoal & Grupo - Mundo Verde Esperanca (Original 1988)
I heard one version of this story that I’ll try to relate, but I won’t claim particular authenticity. Pascoal’s last Grupo release by the same title was apparently an album that was originally supposed to have been recorded by the first Grupo line-up in 1988. Somewhere along the line Pascoal was fed up with the recording conditions (label? producer? not sure here) and ended up walking out on the album until it would be almost 15 years before it finally showed up. This release is basically a collection of recordings from the original session, recording so amazing and full of life and vigor that the cancelled sessions seem almost tragic. I remember the first time I heard this stuff, it was sheer euphoria. No matter what Pascoal lays his hands on, there’s a sense of joy and childlike exuberance that exudes from the final product. Anyone who has seen or heard him live knows his penchant for rearranging old tunes and these are quite different than what would turn up on the album when it finally came out.