Last week, a select cadre of improvisers assembled in London to honor the memory of Mike Osborne, among them Evan Parker, Alan Skidmore, Stan Tracey and Tony Levin, all former colleagues. The event is part of a larger commemorative effort this year to celebrate the life and legacy of the saxophonist and this opportune Ogun reissue is part of the same. Osborne passed away last year from lung cancer, but he had struggled with schizophrenia for much of his adult life. This set, winnowed largely from a concert at Willisau, Switzerland in 1975, visits him in happier, healthier times and in the company of a rhythm section for the ages. These days, much pixilated ink gets devoted to the supposed supremacy of William Parker and Hamid Drake, but Harry Miller and Louis Moholo truly do hold the crown. Evidence of their primacy is all over this disc and as engaging as Osborne’s alto flights are, it’s the bracing flash fire interplay of bass and drums that repeatedly transfixes. The opening medley of the title piece and another motif “Rivers” finds them wasting no time in demonstrating the depth of their rapport, rising to a fever pitch that almost immediately seems hard to top. But top it they do through a rousing three-prong conversation that rarely flags or founders.
Osborne recorded a stellar studio date, Border Crossing, with the pair but there’s an urgency and intensity here that hits with twofold force. Miller rubberizes his strings with amplification, but rather than succumb to murkiness he makes adroit use of the enhanced girth sounding at once massive and meticulous whether felling a forest of trees with bow or pummeling with clawed strums. Moholo is comparably adept at combining stentorian beats with a supple delivery and the two together are masterful at summoning intricate visceral grooves. Their repeated rhythmic pile-ups somehow manage to maintain structural unity despite the periodic mic-overloading din. Osborne sounds in awe as well, sometimes resorting to cyclic riffs as if mesmerized by the creative magnitude of his partners. A playfully tweaked “’Round Midnight” reflects recognition for repertory and Osborne occasionally quotes other bop fragments throughout the remainder of the set. His own tunes also receive representation including two forays through the Aylerish “Scotch Pearl” and a sprawling previously unreleased “Now & Then, Here and Now” from another European gig that unfolds as a medley unto itself. Early influences of Coleman and McLean are traceable, but only in fractious form and Miller and Moholo rarely let him rest on such comfortable referents anyway.
The trio recorded three full sets at Willisau of uniform quality. Six of the selections here represent but the partial of one. Here's hoping the remainder sees commercial circulation sooner rather than later right alongside with the results of the aforementioned tribute of more timely vintage.
~ Derek Taylor
Posted by derek on April 8, 2008 12:37 PMThis is a great one. Miller/Moholo do rule, as great as Parker/Drake can be. I just went back to those later "Die Like a Dog" albums which are amazing, although Brötzmann's trio with Miller/Moholo was the best.
John Butcher told me this trio with Osborne was a big part of his early inspiration.
Great group !
Both alto sax bass drum trios illuminated my youth !
Border Crossing on OGUN of osborne / miller / moholo and Prayer fr Peace on Transatlantic of watts / clyne / stevens ..
UK jazz scene had a holy family of alto sax blowers = Dean Watts & Osborne. Caught them in the act ..............
great !!
Always nice to hear from you Jean-Michel (your Creative Sources CD is terrific, btw), even three times (!) - but just to remind you, you need only click once to send the message.. then you have enough time to listen to the complete album before Bagatellen's snoozy software uploads your comment.
Yeah, forget Black Sabbath - THIS is the real Ozzy!
Posted by: Dan Warburton at April 14, 2008 3:13 AMHELLO
Dan W. thks fr the comment for Sureau , our trio cd ! Saw once the All Night Long lp and missed it ! Sorry fr triple click . The PC connected to multi serves is reacting non obiously so ..
Mike Osborne has a fantastic phrasing very clever and fluid. Caught him once on Oxford Street and sometimes near the City in this pub they were doing the Peanuts club.
Once Lytton and I were speaking about British who didn't sound like a British is supposed to sound in improvised music following the prose of Improvisation Its Confiture and Marmalade , a book written by the greatest guitar player I heard in my life. Paul was saying : oh yes Ossie ( not Ozzie, please !) sounds a bit Jackie (Mc Lean). At that time I was compeletly fascinated by his musicianship. I love the duo Tandem with Stan Tracey which is the nicest lp of sax & piano duo of the seventies independant label era and beyond. Also great is "Original" his first duo with Stan Tracey on Cadillac (John Jack's label). this one was a fave of teh secaond hand bins during two decades.
If you want to check how Mike Osborne is great , pls listen to both LP's with Stan Tracey. Stan is a great pianist having played with Stan Getz, Zoot Sims and the likes, very rythmic. You could say that veryan Weston is coming out of Stan's playing. listening to Tandem , you will guess that.
So having spent hundred hours of time listening to Ogun lps and FMP's etc.. at the time they were issued, it is a slight diffrent feeling .........
Dear Derek,
quote
Osborne recorded a stellar studio date, Marcel’s Muse, with the pair but there’s an urgency and intensity here that hits with twofold force.
unquote
That's not exact at all !! Marcel's Muse is a quintet recording with Harry Miller, Marc Charig, guitar player Jeff Green and drummer Peter Nykiruj of 1975 or 1976. The cover is blue and it sounds more conventionnally jazz than the Osborne trio music with Louis and Harry. The previous Ogun album with this trio is Border Crossing and dates from 1973. It was recorded in the Peanuts club and is a killer free jazz trio with "swing" on a par with Ornette - Moffett - Isenzon.
I had a conversation with Marc Charig in the 80's about this Marcel's Muse session and Marc's jazz playing.
voilà
Precision in Inexactitude is an interesting cd by a former critic and militant musician a bit neglected player (these days) and should have been with critic's work in mind
Alright! One of my favorite topics - Ogun LP's and the intersection of Brit/S.African musicians. This is such a fertile confluence that yielded so much great music that is kinda neglected these days, so it's always nice to see some attention on it like this.
This LP totally smokes and is one of the best Moholo performances on record. He's just steamrolling like a locomotive with such fire and finesse....the momentum so strong it nearly induces a heart attack. And Damon is right - Moholo/Miller = one of the best bass/drum teams ever. When is Atavistic gonna reissue the 2 Brotz LPs with M/M?
Posted by: Rob Cambre at April 14, 2008 8:16 AMYes I agree Brit vs South African was a stir in these days. Trevor Watts 's comments on this is interesting. Did you know that, to Trevor Watts's taste, one of (or) the greatest SME groups was the Mongezi Fesa / Trevor Watts/ Jhonny Dyani/ John Stevens. They were in the program of the Cambridge Festival 69 when John Lennon and Yoko Ono sat in with SME with Tchicaï. They made only the Kongsberg Festival 69 in Sweden. This SME was never recorded. The Blue Notes were young bebop practicioners when coming to Europe and they became involved in free playing while in Zurich & London. You could say that the brother group of the Mc Gregor/ Moholo/ Dyani/ Fesa/Pukwana unit was the Spontaneous Music Ensemble. Mc Gregor and co were doing a lot of sessions in the Little Theatre Club 69/70/71. Dyani recorded SME 's Oliv in 69 and Londoners remeber Mongs sitting in odd gigs of SME.
When Moholo quitted the UK , one of his main gig was the duo with Roger Smith, the longest standing SME member fater J.S.
My fondest memory of listening was the Willisau BOB live & the one RCA with the wooden statue....... Love the CD Wilisau live with the enhanced sound and the new tracks.
Yes I agree Brit vs South African was a stir in these days. Trevor Watts 's comments on this is interesting. Did you know that, to Trevor Watts's taste, one of (or) the greatest SME groups was the Mongezi Fesa / Trevor Watts/ Jhonny Dyani/ John Stevens. They were in the program of the Cambridge Festival 69 when John Lennon and Yoko Ono sat in with SME with Tchicaï. They made only the Kongsberg Festival 69 in Sweden. This SME was never recorded. The Blue Notes were young bebop practicioners when coming to Europe and they became involved in free playing while in Zurich & London. You could say that the brother group of the Mc Gregor/ Moholo/ Dyani/ Fesa/Pukwana unit was the Spontaneous Music Ensemble. Mc Gregor and co were doing a lot of sessions in the Little Theatre Club 69/70/71. Dyani recorded SME 's Oliv in 69 and Londoners remeber Mongs sitting in odd gigs of SME.
When Moholo quitted the UK , one of his main gig was the duo with Roger Smith, the longest standing SME member fater J.S.
My fondest memory of listening was the Willisau BOB live & the one RCA with the wooden statue....... Love the CD Wilisau live with the enhanced sound and the new tracks.
Caught me in a gaffe again, J-M. I got Border Crossing and Marcel’s Muse momentarily mixed up. They’re coupled on the Ogun reissue from a couple years back, which contributed to the confusion, but that’s no excuse, I’ll admit.
Posted by: derek at April 14, 2008 2:37 PMJean-Michel -
always good to hear from you. I love your anecdotal first-hand recollections.... Have you considered writing a musical memoir? I'd read it for sure. And Attention Corbett, Brotz, Atavistic: Nearer the Bone/Opened But Hardly Touched Reissue, PLEASE!
And on a tangential note = I'm presenting Brotz/Bennink in New Orleans April 28 during N.O.'s JazzFest week. Benjamin Lyons is presenting 3 concerts of Hamid Drake with saxophonist Rob Wagner and other NOLA musicians (including occasional Bags-poster Jeff Albert). Other than having Hamid/Wagner trio playing in the JazzTent the Fest proper is completely ignoring this area of music this year. Even moreso than usual - this year they don't even have Kidd Jordan + Alvin Fielder playing as is their usual practice. So the independent organizers had to step up...
Posted by: Rob Cambre at April 16, 2008 7:47 AMDear Rob,
as Dan W can tell you, I have written a full story of the SME and John Stevens (1965 -1994) issued in Improjazz numbers febr and march 2007 plus a "Guests in the band" special issued in may 2007 ( with John McLaughlin 68, Maggie, Alexis Korner,Victor Brox & Lindsay Kemp (the mime & David Bowie 's maître à penser )and Paul Shearsmith , one longtime London improv devotee and architect).
Pictures from the Gérard Rouy archives , BioChronology and Discography. the main text is around 44 pages in word
you can have it from improjazz (Phil renaud). Please e-mail me , iwill put you in contact. I have only my own copies. Evan, Trevor, Steve Beresford, Roger Smith, Nigel Coombes, Eddie P,
Martin Davidson , Robin Musgrove,Richard leigh, John Russell, Veryan W , Paul Wilson helped me.
I intend to extend the picture with other groups, AMM, People Band, Parker - Lytton duo, BoB, MIC, Keith Tippett etc.. other places than LTC ...........etc... other views from other musos . A lot of incredible stories and you know , John was a provocateur . He coudl push things to the very bottom.........
For this extended work , the passing of Paul Rutherford is a shame because he has an exact memory of a lot of things . I couldn't speak with him before he died. And I would like to speak / meet with Maggie N, the Stevens family, Julie Tippetts, the recording engineers ( Eddie Offord , Eddie Kramer, Adam Speaking...)
I suppose that the questions answers I had exchanged with Trevor Watts about SME made that he came into the cassette vaults of the SME. So perhaps the idea of issuing Bare Essentials came out of that. It was Trevor who worked to issue the Entropy cd of the gigs SME duo + Derek Bailey , a great gem : the first recording of DB stereo amp.
Also i choiced this story because it is a well kept secret of improvised music i mean continental audience wise : SME was rarely seen on the continent beside one FMP Berlin in 68, one Fest Berlin & montreux 70, two surreal big festivals in Palermo 71 and san sebastian 74 or 75,Paris Humanité 71 and that was it !!
Once the Bobby Bradford quartet made a tour vs Amalgam with Keith T with Martin D as driver and tour manager. You know that the last SME was a small pub circuit act only . I caught them three times between 77 and early 90's.
When John B came into the picture , John died !
The main idea is that without John Stevens , the british improvised music scene would have been very different. He has invited personnally hundreds of people to make their first improvised gig . Some have bad memories of it (!). So now, London is one of the most welcoming place fr improvisors , even if no money !
Bless him !!
Hi Jean-Michel !
Your articles in Improjazz about JS were very great.
Really would need to to be translated into english !
Thks Jacques
...
but before translation, I have to be accurate 120 pct. So I know quite a bunch of people who lived there. By example my text is like all gravitating around LTC . But there were other places like the Artists Meeting where John Russell, Gary Todd, Ray Ashbury ( of the duo with Larry Stabbins were playing. Wachs and Marcio. The Phoenix >> Do you know about Ben ? The dog ? ....Verity's
Also the fact that there were the Arts Lab in Central London make that people played more than twice a week.
Si i need to be closer to the real picture before to be translated
The thing is that my own music is going to be cenetral place as well......... they like my singing !!
cheers JMVS
i visited ossie once, around 1998, together with evan p., trevor mainwaring and trevor taylor from fmr records. he was resident in a kind of half way house for those with mental health problems. much frailer looking than any picture ever taken. he was quite lucid but clearly mentally unwell. he would often stop mid-sentence (evan was interviewing him for a feature in AVANT magazine) and continue a conversation with imagined persons. but his recall of the scene and who he had played with and when was amazing. trevor taylor was planning the cd issue of ossie's SHAPES but nobody at the session could recall the identity of the second bass player. when asked, ossie jumped straight on it, earl freeman he said, then told the story of the session, how he put the group together, how much they rehearsed and recorded. had not forgotten a thing. he said he had started playing again but the other residents at the home had complained about the noise! and he was still a devoted fan of jackie mclean.
Posted by: mark wastell at April 19, 2008 5:36 AMi visited ossie once, around 1998, together with evan p., trevor mainwaring and trevor taylor from fmr records. he was resident in a kind of half way house for those with mental health problems. much frailer looking than any picture ever taken. he was quite lucid but clearly mentally unwell. he would often stop mid-sentence (evan was interviewing him for a feature in AVANT magazine) and continue a conversation with imagined persons. but his recall of the scene and who he had played with and when was amazing. trevor taylor was planning the cd issue of ossie's SHAPES but nobody at the session could recall the identity of the second bass player. when asked, ossie jumped straight on it, earl freeman he said, then told the story of the session, how he put the group together, how much they rehearsed and recorded. had not forgotten a thing. he said he had started playing again but the other residents at the home had complained about the noise! and he was still a devoted fan of jackie mclean.
Posted by: mark wastell at April 19, 2008 5:39 AMdear mark, derek and all
about the presence of bass player Earl Freeman in the Shapes ' session , this player is often listed in sessions recorded in Paris involving Archie Shepp with Chicago Beau, Julio Finn & even Philly Joe Jones (!) etcc... and issued by America - Musidisc (which one found easily in second hand & bargains in Brussels and Paris late 70's). Freeman is listed also in the Noah Howard album with Bennink , I think.
So around 69/70, both Mike Osborne and Earl freeman are on a Selwyn Lissack album on the Goody's label. Lissack is a south African drummer and Goody was an obscure offshoot of the BYG - America bizness. Goody re-issued Delmark Jarman and Roscoe Mitchell lp's and one album of this trumpet player (ah the name !!) where joe Mc phee made his earlier appearance on recording. The Selwyn Lissack album, Facets of the Universe had an odd cover artwork (cheap sci-fi drawing) and was an original first issue. I have listened to this in the late seventies.
It seems that Osborne was in good contact with these NYC free jazzers like Freeman , N Howard etc.. because Fontana issued a lp of this same english trumpet player , Rick Colbeck, who recorded an ESP album with Noah Howard and lived in NYC. This fontana album features Mike Osborne & the late Jean françois Jenny Clark , I can't remember the name of the drummer . A very energetic album. If this SHAPES session is 71 or later , I am not sure it could be Earl Freeman.
Oh yes I think I have had my hands on almost all free jazz albums issued in France and Benelux.
So if someone love that kind of things .....
The drummer on the Ric Colbeck Fontana ("The Sun Is Coming Up") is indeed Lissack.
Posted by: Graham L. Rogers at April 28, 2008 10:27 AM.................................................. © 2003 - 2006 bagatellen ..................................................