Anthony Braxton Quintet (Basel) 1977 in His Liner Notes to the Live Recording Dortmund (Quartet) on Hatology 557), Then the Group Dissolved
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Anthony Braxton Quintet (Basel) 1977 In his liner notes to the live recording Dortmund (Quartet) on hatOLOGY 557), then the group dissolved. Except for a 0 1976 (hat Art 6075, released in 1991), frustrati ngly brief excerpt from a 1976 loft concert featuring an 0 0 Graham Lock lamented that there was lit- unusual septet including Lewis and Altschul, prior to now there 2 h tle, if any, documentation of Anthony has been no other material available of Braxton leading one of c r Braxton’s various quartets (and, on rare his working ensembles from that point until the emergence of a M occasions, quintets) from 1975 to ‘78, the quartet with trombonist Ray Anderson, bassist John Lind- , e preventing us from experiencing the full berg, and drummer Thurman Barker heard on Performance g n scope of Braxton’s music during this (Quartet) 1979 (hatOLOGY 574). a L t period. Bits and pieces of the picture have The most striking aspect of the personnel r A fortunately been appearing since Lock’s employed by Braxton for this March 1977 performance in comments were written, and as we shall Basel is the participation of Muhal Richard Abrams. Muhal see this important release marks the was then, and of course remains today, one of the key figures 7 bigge st and most valuable piece yet in contemporary American music, both for his own excep- offere d. It is, of course, misleading to base tional music, and his role in co-founding the Association for 7 an overview of a musician’s work solely the Advancement of Creative Musicians and guiding it upon recorded examples; there’s much through its crucial (and crucially influential) early years in 9 crucial detail that falls between the cracks, Chicago when the organization was directly responsible for remaining un heard, flawed through me m - providing a forum for experimental musicians, in what 1 ory, possibly unknown altogether. Never- Braxto n would characterize as the post-Coltrane and post- ) theless, record ings serve as valuable sign- Webern musical continuum, that helped erase distinctions l posts along the unpredictable path such a between composition and improvisation and greatly expand multifarious career takes. the palette of sonorities available to the creative musician. e This was a period of fluctu- Muhal’s appearance as a featured guest in this group illus- s ation and expansion for Braxton, marking trates the powerful link between himself and Braxton, from t the beginning of some collaborations and the earliest days of Braxton’s career (the alto saxophonist a the ending of others. The wonderful quar- received the ultimate compliment in 1967 by being invited e tet with trumpeter Kenny Wheeler, bassist to make his recording debut on Abrams’ first album under t B Dave Holland, and drummer Barry Alt - the AACM banner, Levels and Degrees of Light [Delmark]) ( schul, which brought Braxton’s music to a through today. But Braxton and Abrams seemed especially n larger and more appreciative audience close during this period; they appeared together on Woody i than it had previously enjoyed, began in Shaw’s The Iron Men (Muse), Abrams performed in Braxton’s u 1974; within two years trombonist George Creative Music Orchestra (Arista), Braxton returned the favor Lewis had replaced Wheeler (this was the on Muhal’s 1+OQA+19 (Black Saint), and they collaborated on quartet that played at Dortmund in ‘76 Duets 1976 (Arista). Q lasting ensemble, the cooperative trio sometimes known as 1968-88 (hat Now Series 61941-44)] and in various chamber t s the Creative Construction Company, with ensembles; and he even put his horns aside for a seat at the r i f violinist Leroy Jenkins and trumpeter Leo keyboard himself circa 1994-95.) s ’ n o Smith. The pianist appeared on their 1968 As a composer, too, some of Abrams’ ideas t x a debut recording, released under Braxton’s were to influence Braxton during his formative stages. John r B name (as were most of the group’s subse- Litweiler, in his important book The Freedom Principle, quotes h t i quent sessions), Three Compositions of Abrams as expressing the necessity of “expansion and con- w t s New Jazz (Delmark), and again when, on traction of rhythm” in his music (which he discovered in Art e u Braxton’s return from Europe, the group Tatum’s playing), something which would find both a concrete g t n reunited for a single concert in 1970 (two and metaphorical place in Braxton’s compositional outlook (via e u volumes originally released on Muse). In his pulse track structures and other methods of inspiring shift- q e r f many ways, Muhal’s playing became a ing degrees of engagement among the members of any given a s blueprint for the multifaceted functions group), as well as highlighting the importance of working with a w which the piano would need to fulfill in musicians able not merely to fit in but to “create a part” in his s Braxton’s future music, and set a high compositions. Also, in his Tri-Axium Writings, Braxton cites m a r standard for others to reach; although Abrams’ exploration of the “spiritual implications of the black b A . several (Michael Smith, David Rosenboom, aesthetic.” These attitudes could be interpreted as fore - s i Anthony Davis among them) worked with runners of Braxton’s “affinity postulation”—how individuals h t Braxton at isolated times, the fact that no identify a self-awareness and constructive realization in relation n a h pianist remained a permanent part to of any an ensemble-oriented music (itself a metaphor for a democ- t r of his groups until the emergence of ratic community), simultaneously establishing a connection to a e p Marilyn Crispell illustrates not only how spiritual or higher, transcendental, force. Further, one wonders e e difficult a position it was to fill but also how if Braxton’s early, open, and variable concepts for large ensem- d s successful Crispell was at negotiating its bles were not influenced by his experiences with Abrams’ e o g demands. (None of which is meant to sug- (sadly unrecorded) Experimental Band of the early and mid y r gest that Braxton feels any ambivalence 1960s equally alongside his knowledge of contemporary Euro- o t about the instrument’s role in his music; pean “classical” composers like Ligeti, Stockhausen, Xenakis, s i h actually, he has often been happy to work and the American maverick Earle Brown. r i in occasional or one-shot duos with As the repertory from this Basel concert indi- e h t pianists as temperamentally and stylisti - cates, Braxton’s “book” from which he took material for live , e cally diverse as Ran Blake, Giorgio Gaslini, performances at this time was heavily weighted in favor of s r u and György Szabados; he has composed recent compositions (17 of which were written between 1976 o c extensively for the piano, both solo [wit- and ‘79 and listed in his catalogue of works as Composition No. f O ness the substantial Piano Music (Notated) 69 A-Q), with a few favorites drawn from the earlier collections of No. 6 A-P and No. 40 A-Q. All of these pieces focus on par- generating structure (pattern or vamp) that points the fabric ticular improvisational strategies and are flexible enough in of its invention”—and what was either the concert’s finale or format and design to accommodate any type of small group. encore, a Braxton favorite (from the number of times it has Though Braxton had not yet fully codified the “collage struc- appeared on disc or in performances), No. 40B, dedicated to ture” which was to be in practice for the 1979 Willisau per- Lou Donaldson, which with Mingus-like élan alternates formance, much less the later “pulse track” and “mutable between a jazzy ostinato pulse and a fast swing section. construction” formats, he nevertheless did have the individ- Each of these compositions contains, in ual pieces connected into suites by way of brief improvisa- Braxton’s term, “multi-structural logics”—multi-sectional tional interludes. Thus Composition No. 69J, “a single-line internal guides (either specific notation or directions, or con- structure that re-seats itself into open pockets of light impro- versely, unspecified regions intended to engage the imagi- visation,” segues from Mark Helias’ bass solo directly into nation of the participants) that ensure focused details, spon- the “thematic-generating” spatial tactics and shaped con- taneous dialogues, interactive gestures, fresh dynamics, tour lines of No. 69N. Braxton notes that during this piece cohesive shapes, and continuous momentum. I leave the “the floor should drop out of the music,” giving the musi- discovery of favorite episodes or events to you. But it’s cians no solid harmonic or rhythmic footing whatsoever; as important to remember that despite Braxton’s compositional the music reaches fruition, the horns and piano pick up and craft—the motivating factors behind the music and the for- enlarge the incipient rhythms developed in the open mal glue that holds it together—this is, as Braxton intended ensemble improvisation and charge into the uptempo, all along, music that emerges from the particular combina- aggressive No. 69G—”an atonal line continuum of bebop- tion of musicians. George Lewis is one of Braxton’s favorite like phrase constructions.” This piece is the conclusion of collaborators, for reasons that should be immediately audi- the concert’s first set. Unfortunately the second set needed ble. Muhal Richard Abrams is a rare and fascinating addition to be excerpted (omitting No.