Anthony Braxton
23 STANDARDS (Quartet) 2003
Even those with just a passing acquaintance with Anthony Braxton's voluminous discography can't have failed to notice his recurring need to square up to The Tradition by covering – probably not a word he would approve of – material from the whole accelerated history of jazz from Fats Waller to Dave Brubeck, Antonio Carlos Jobim to Sam Rivers. This quartet alone, which features Braxton on (alto, soprano and sopranino?) saxophones with guitarist Kevin O'Neil, bassist Andy Eulau, and Kevin Norton on drums, has already recorded three albums of "standards": Ten Compositions (Quartet) 2000, Nine Compositions (Hill) 2000 (both for CIMP and largely devoted to the music of Andrew Hill) and the more wide-ranging 8 Standards (Wesleyan) 2001 on Barking Hoop. 23 Standards (Quartet) 2003 features material recorded on tour in Europe that year, from concerts in Antwerp on February 19th, Brussels (three days later), Amsterdam's BIMhuis (November 15th), Verona (November 17th), Rome (18th), Lisbon (19th) and Guimaraes (in Northern Portugal, 20th). Quite a punishing touring schedule by anyone's standards – that the music recorded should be, for the most part, of such high quality is quite an achievement. The 23 standards include, in addition to much loved chestnuts as "After You've Gone", "Crazy Rhythm" and "I Can't Get Started", three Coltrane compositions ("26-1", "Countdown" and "Giant Steps", two Monks ("Off Minor" and what is billed rather sloppily as "Round Midnite"), two Dave Brubecks ('It's A Raggy Waltz" and "Three To Get Ready"), a handful of 1960s Blue Note classics (Herbie Hancock's "Dolphin Dance", Sam Rivers' "Beatrice", Wayne Shorter's "Ju-Ju" and Joe Henderson's "Recorda Me", and continuing the bossa nova theme, Jobim's "Desafinado" and Luiz (misspelled here) Bonfa's "Manha de Carnival" (here billed as "Black Orpheus").
In his extensive and well-researched liner notes, Stuart Broomer writes: "The difference between a Braxton performance of a canonical work and the performance by any of the current neo-traditionalists is that the work (its meaning, its messages) is again indeterminate, again liable to new mutations. It is in the imagination of this larger collectivity that the tradition comes alive, and with it the possibilities of risk and meaning." Hmm… while this undoubtedly applies to the more off-the-wall Braxton covers outings such as the Charlie Parker Project (1993, hatART, featuring the benign anarchy of Misha Mengelberg and Han Bennink), or the Knitting Factory (Piano / Quartet) 1994 discs on Leo, it's hard to see what Broomer is referring to here, other than Braxton's own soloing, since Eulau, Norton and O'Neil certainly play things straight throughout – one could easily imagine grafting a straight hard-bop solo by Benny Golson or Warne Marsh over their three-man rhythm section and it would sound just fine (not only are the musicians' contributions respectfully traditional, but the tracks follow the time-honoured head – solos – head structure, and several even trade fours with the drummer from time to time – hardly iconoclastic stuff..). Broomer's not wide of the mark though when he describes O'Neil as "the most remarkable musician to emerge on guitar (that most marketable of instruments) in a decade, and (at 35) as gifted as any musician of his generation," but after over four and a half hours of his playing, even O'Neil's moves, impressive though they are, do become a little predictable. Bassist Eulau sticks resolutely to the changes throughout – no flights of fancy à la Dave Holland, Joe Fonda or Matt Sperry here – and Norton gives no indication whatsoever of the wildly inventive free playing that characterizes his other outings with or without Braxton. The furthest "out" he gets is a bit of tinkling on an adjacent glockenspiel.
Braxton's soloing itself is certainly unpredictable, and at times inspired – as you might expect, there are numerous highlights, but his readings of Coltrane are particularly impressive – but I'm not sure it lives up to Broomer's hype. The nagging question that remains after listening to all this is why the saxophonist insisted on releasing a 4CD box. OK, so it's a limited edition of 1000, and there are surely at least that many hardcore Braxton fans out there to shift Leo Feigin's units (at least I fervently hope so: this is after all the 23rd Braxton release on Leo, including eleven double albums), but someone along the line should have raised some serious questions about actual musical quality. Brubeck's "It's A Raggy Waltz" should have been binned outright: quite apart from Braxton's squeaky sopranino having difficulty getting round the theme itself, O'Neil gets lost in the middle eight and Norton's heavy-handed hemiolas sound positively amateurish – in all honesty, if you were majoring in jazz and turned this in, you wouldn't graduate. I imagine the only reason the track wasn't rejected was that it contains O'Neil's wildest and most Sharrock-like guitar playing. Another question mark hangs over the brutal fade that ends "26-1" on Disc One, right in the middle (it seems) of Norton's drum solo. Who pulled down the faders, and why? And why keep the rest of the track then, since there are plenty of equally impressive Braxton and O'Neil solos elsewhere in the set? It might seem mean-spirited to draw attention to such odd glitches and bloopers, especially when there are so many extraordinary moments on offer (my own favourite tracks are the readings of "I Can't Get Started" and Sam Rivers' exquisite "Beatrice"), but I can't help thinking that in choosing to release 23 tracks instead of settling for half as many, Anthony Braxton has missed out on the chance of releasing one of this year's most spectacular double CDs.
~ Dan Warburton
Posted by dan on July 20, 2004 10:24 PMIsn't it "26-2"? Another blooper I guess. I suppose that's better than the Braxton release on Leo of a few years ago which billed him as "BRQAXTON" on the spine.
...in all honesty, if you were majoring in jazz and turned this in, you wouldn't graduate.
This is the crux of the matter isn't it--I mean, I hate the kinds of "correctness" fostered by academic jazz programs & yet the sloppiness Braxton gets away with really irritates me sometimes.....but somehow I forgive him anyway. Despite all the fluffs & sloppinesses on the Charlie Parker Project set, I'm still rather fond of it for some reason.
Posted by: nd at July 21, 2004 11:04 PMI LOVE the Charlie Parker Project (but as I'm about as fond of Misha Mengelberg as Ben Watson is of Tony Oxley you wouldn't expect me to say anything else, would you?:)
Posted by: dan warburton at July 22, 2004 1:56 AMWhat is an example of "wildly inventive free playing" from Norton? I've got him on at least a half dozen recordings and make him a solid composer and vibes player and never anything too special on traps (perhaps a bit worse than that). I still say the best thing he ever did was "Guy DeBord" (which I love).
Posted by: walto at July 22, 2004 1:46 PMHeard Ocean of Earth with Ulrich & Léandre? Maybe I should modify the "wildly" but it's certainly free & inventive. What's your take on Braxton, Walt?
Posted by: dan warburton at July 25, 2004 9:58 PMAgain, I thought Norton was the biggest problem with the Ulrich/Leandre disc. Never really takes off.
I love Braxton. Why?
Posted by: walto at July 26, 2004 4:20 AMJust curious to know what you made of his compositional chops compared to someone like Carter. I know this is drifting off the Standards thread, but whatthfck.
Posted by: dan warburton at July 26, 2004 6:31 AMInteresting. I never really thought to compare them--maybe because Carter is so anti-improv, while Braxton has distinguished himself largely by introducing new ways of integrating composition with improvisation. I don't think Braxton's through-written stuff is on the same level as Carter's--his st. qt. is pretty weak, IMO, as is his opera and and his orchestral music. OTOH, I don't think Carter could have written anything like Creative Orchestral Music, Comp 249, or the stuff on Willisau.
I love them both.
Posted by: walto at July 26, 2004 8:11 AMHas anyone else heard this set yet? Doubt it, unless you've gone out & bought the box. How much is it retailing for in the States, I wonder? Leo's selling it directly from his site at £35.
How many other 4CD box sets do you own out there? Offhand I can think of the Leo Golden Years of Soviet Jazz (4 of them), a couple of Feldmans (of course), the Leo Smith Kabell set on Tzadik, and Braxton's wonderful GTM box on Rastascan (for my money the best Braxton release in the past 5 years), but after that very few.
quick scan of my CD list, only counting boxes of exactly 4 CDs, not ones that are bigger:
2 Louis Armstrong sets
Braxton-Willisau
the James Brown box (you do have this, right, Dan?)
the James Chance box (a promo copy, total overkill)
2 Coltranes
Tony Conrad
4 Miles Davis (including the Blackhawk one which I should sell)
3 Feldmans
Aretha Franklin
Getz/Gilberto (inherited from my dad)
Woody Guthrie
Roland Kayn-Tektra (great minimal electronics on Barooni, they reprinted this in a small run recently, well worth picking up, I think Metamkine has them)
Led Zeppelin
Bob Marley
Loren Mazzacane (the early acoustic one)
Gerry Mulligan (inherited from my dad)
Hermann Nitsch-Island
Otis Redding
Pierre Schaeffer
Leo Smith
Stockhausen-Hymnen
Cecil Taylor-Candid Recordings (Mosaic)
and a bunch of compilations.
I have a lot of CDs.
Posted by: jon abbey at July 26, 2004 10:36 PMBraxton-Willisau
of course, how silly of me
the James Brown box (you do have this, right, Dan?)
you damn right!
the James Chance box (a promo copy, total overkill)
2 Coltranes
The Vanguard things? I should get those myself. No excuses.
Tony Conrad
Oh yes, that's right. I forgot about that one (and the Rhys Chatham thing on TOTE too), because I took the inidivual jewel boxes out of the cardboard box and chucked it out. Did that with Zorn's Parachute box too.
This is great fun but I'm sure nobody else reading it is interested!
4 Miles Davis (including the Blackhawk one which I should sell)
haha I did!
Roland Kayn-Tektra (great minimal electronics on Barooni, they reprinted this in a small run recently, well worth picking up, I think Metamkine has them)
thanks for the tip
Hermann Nitsch-Island
Can you actually listen to that?!
Stockhausen-Hymnen
What's dat, from the Stockhausen Verlag? How much did it set you back? Those things are PRICY
Posted by: dan warburton at July 27, 2004 7:05 AMColtrane-yep, the Vanguard box and Live in Japan.
Nitsch-haven't tried listening again since soon after I got it, but I remember liking it.
Hymnen-yes, the Verlag version, 2 CDs of the original Hymnen (essential), and 2 with a few instrumentalists (pointless).
"This is great fun but I'm sure nobody else reading it is interested!"
well, since this site likely has one of the higher lurker to poster ratios around, that's just too bad, let them read about our minutiae if they're not going to post themselves. :)
I have a lot of 4-CD boxes. Most of them are classical, but there are a smattering of jazz ones too. In addition to the Leos Dan mentioned, Coltrane, Kirk and Braxton sets come immediately to mind.
Posted by: walto at July 27, 2004 7:34 AMMessiaen's ORGAN WORKS (par lui-meme)
Feldman's FOR PHILIP GUSTON
COMPLETE SERGE CHALOFF (Mosaic)
The Flaming Lips' ZAIREEKA
Jon -- good to know what the population counts are on the Morlocks and the Eloi in the immediate vicinty.
Posted by: Joe Milazzo at July 27, 2004 7:56 AMI just got a four-disc set in the mail last week. Oh, no, wait...that was a four-DVD set, from Private. Never mind.
Seriously, I've got:
both the Coltranes mentioned above
the Miles Blackhawk set
the Miles Bitches Brew set
the Mosaic Lee Morgan Fifties Sessions
the Painkiller box on Tzadik
the Cure's Join The Dots
New Order's Retro
Joy Division's Heart And Soul
ZZ Top's Chrome, Smoke & BBQ
John Cage's Atlas Eclipticalis & Winter Music/103 on Asphodel
I think that's about it. (I don't have Star Time, but I do have the single- and double-disc James Brown compilations that cover the eras I like, namely 1969-1975.)
Posted by: phil at July 27, 2004 8:36 AMOh, yeah, and I have the Armstrong Complete Hot Five And Hot Seven Recordings.
Posted by: phil at July 27, 2004 8:37 AMAm I the only person who has the Braxton Piano Quartet at Yoshi's 4 disc set?
Am I the only person that finds Braxton's piano playing enjoyable in a funny way?
Posted by: Captain Hate at July 28, 2004 7:54 PMI have the two doubles on Leo, but they're from the Knit, right? When were the Yoshis recorded? Which label?
I love Brax's piano playing btw
I love this Braxton Standards better than any previous discs of the same material he has released (and I like The Charlie Parker Project even if I never listen to it. And I like also the two Magenta records, even if it's usual to despise them).
And the fact that I was at two of this concerts (Antwerpen & Brussels) has nothing to do with it.
Why do I love this one better than any previous? Because we can hear Brax exploring those standards in all kind of way: free, straight (the portuguese takes), lovingly, furious, with joy or anger that brings him to miss or hit (most of the time).
So, I don't see why this 4 set CD should have been reduce to two.
I remember to have heard at the concert the band gave in Gent six months later, for the second part of this curious european tour, Brax playing an astonishing version of Impression (using his sopranino) that I was waiting to hear on this discs.
Alas no Impression.
And no other part of this concert, who sounded better for me that the two earlier, features here.
So, what I personnally regret it's that this four CD box didn't turn, in fact, to be a FIVE CD box (and I accuse the traditionnel stinginess of Leo Feigin to be the cause of it).
By the way, the Charlie Parker's Project, the way it has been done was against the will of Braxton.
Brax never intended to make a double record with one disc live and one in studio.
If I have understand him well at the time, he wanted to EDIT each tune and make a new one with some part comming from the live takes and other part from the studio (seems that he has recorded exactly the same pieces live and in studio).
But seems, also, that Uelinger didn't want Braxton to do that and has decided alone to produce the record the way it is today.
But Braxton says so many things, you know...
Great post LeMo:
"I don't see why this 4 set CD should have been reduce to two."
Do you really think the quality level is as high throughout? Surely you wouldn't argue the Brubeck pieces (both of them) are as successful as the version of Beatrice?
"(and I accuse the traditionnel stinginess of Leo Feigin to be the cause of it)."
Oof, after Kurt Gottschalk's brush with Leo over the "pay to play" remark in Signal To Noise, I just hope he doesn't get wind of your reply and see fit to answer!! But putting out a 4CD box even in a limited edition of 1000 probably doesn't come cheap. That's not really the point though for me - it was purely a question of what I perceive to be a clear difference of quality.
"By the way, the Charlie Parker's Project, the way it has been done was against the will of Braxton. Brax never intended to make a double record with one disc live and one in studio.
If I have understand him well at the time, he wanted to EDIT each tune and make a new one with some part comming from the live takes and other part from the studio (seems that he has recorded exactly the same pieces live and in studio).
But seems, also, that Uelinger didn't want Braxton to do that and has decided alone to produce the record the way it is today."
Well, Werner is a law unto himself, from what I've heard. That's interesting though, hadn't heard that before: where is this story documented? I'd like to read more about it.
Er, how would the live & studio sessions conceivably have been joined together given the very obvious differences in style between Han Bennink & Pheeroan akLaff?
Posted by: nd at July 29, 2004 3:27 PMThe Brax @ Yoshi's was recorded 6/15-19/94 and is on Music & Arts. It's got Marty Ehrlich, Joe Fonda, Arthur Fuller & Brax and is all standards.
I talked to Fonda a couple of years ago and he said that Braxton wanted the Charlie Parker Project to be at least one more disc than it was and that, in his opinion, some of the hottest stuff wasn't released.
Posted by: Captain Hate at July 29, 2004 3:59 PM"er, how would the live & sessions conceivable have been join together..."
Well, I don't know, baby.
I just remember Braxton spoking about this record when I was around.
BUT, I've maybe badly understand what he was really saying.
I get that idea - that he wanted to edit the music and mixed live and studio -, because I remember precisely that he said that he has recorded exactly the same pieces live and in studio.
But, maybe, it's just a product of my wild imagination and a consequence of my poor english skill.
Maybe he was just saying that he wanted to mix the live takes with the studio ones, not to separate them on two distinct records.
Aniway the fact remain that Braxton doesn't like this record.
Dan, I never says that every tunes on 23 standards was a gem. I just think that, all together it's his best record of a kind and than I regret he has live aside some great material I've heard him play.
But you never know. Maybe we will get sooner another 4 CD box with additionnal material? I can imagine what you say: "why eight CDs when they could make a great 4 CDs boxes..." (just joking of course).
About Leo Feigin, just a bad joke again.
But, aniway, everybody know (and certainly you first) that when you published a record on Leo you do it, almost, as "compte d'auteur".
Sorry for the multiple faults in the previous post.
I should have write: I could imagine you saying "why eight CDs when..."
I promise that I try to learn to speak and to write english properly one of this day (at last to give me a chance to understand what braxton is REALLY talking about").
Posted by: LeMo at July 29, 2004 5:00 PMI promise that I try to learn to speak and to write english properly one of this day (at last to give me a chance to understand what braxton is REALLY talking about").
Actually Braxton is fairly incomprehensible even to fluent English speakers--his liner notes rival Ornette Coleman's for impenetrability.
Posted by: nd at July 29, 2004 8:11 PMSeems to be a lot of double posting going on here these days! Yes, I'm still waiting for someone to explain to me exactly what AB is on about in his writing. Impenetrable liner notes.. yup, Ornette's written a few. I still rather like CT's on Unit Structures too. The best set I know though - and of course it ain't jazz - is on the original (?) vinyl of Xenakis' Metastaseis. Ever read Formalised Music? (To be fair, if you are well versed in maths, it's not too difficult.. but..)
I did take a crack at a few chapters of the Xenakis.... I remember it as not all THAT bad but then I did do a B.A. in math eons ago.
Posted by: nd at July 30, 2004 12:59 AMI engineered the concert recordings for Braxton. As of now, Anthony plans to prepare another 4 CD set from these concerts. I can also tell you that Anthony loves these recordings more than any others on which I've worked with him.
Posted by: jon rosenberg at August 22, 2004 3:48 PMWill that be on Leo too, Jon, do you know?
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