Records a re reviewed by Chris Albertson, Don DeMicheal, Gilbert M. Erskine, Ira Giller, Alan Heineman, Lawrence Kart, John Litweiler, Bill Mathieu , Marian McPartlond, Don Morgenstern, Don Nelse n, Harvey Pe kar , William Ruuo, Harvey Siders, Carol Sloane , and Pete Welding, Reviews are signed by the writers. Ratings ore: * * * * * exce llent, * * * * very good, * * * good, * * fair, * poor. When two cata log numbers ore listed, the flrst is mono, and the second is dereo . Richard Abrams ---------• comes hoa rse with excitement, and a quite accurate imitations of bird call!. LEVELS AND DEGREES OF LIGHT - Del• grace[u l manner of phrasing. He can play mark DS-4t3: Uv,is a,ut Degrees of Light; My Within this aviary there is an impassiorrd Thoughls ,sre l\fy Fu/ure-Now and Fort11er: The at a spee d about one-third slower than the duet between Braxton and Mclnlyr~. Bird Snug. basic pulse and then grad ually accelerate Personne l : Abrams. cl arinet, piano; An rhooy Extra-musica l factors make this a d.ffi. Braxton, aho saxop hon e; Maurice McIntyre, rcnor until he matches the pulse of the rhythm cult album to rate. I don't know wheille1 saxophone; Gordon Emmanuel, vibraharp (tracks section (Co ltran e does this during his My 1. 2); Leroy Jenkins, violin (crack 3 only); to blame Abrams , a&r man Bob Koe,1e:­ Charles Clark , bass: Leonard Jones. bass (crack Fa vorite Things solo on Coltrane L ive at the engineer, or all three, but the alb1111 3 only); Thurman Barker, drums: Penelop e Tay• the Village Vanguard Again). lor , vocal (rra ck I only): David Moore, reciia • is afTiicted with some of the worste rion (track 3 only). McIntyre is a poten tially impor tant I have ever heard. During the Bmlo~ Rating: see below voice on his instrument. Some players of Mclntyre duet it is difficult to diffcrcnlin the "new music" have chosen not to swing, the notes th at are being played from An1bony llr nx 1011 •--------• THREE COMPOS ITrONS OP NEW IAZZ­ substituting other rhythmic impulses, and echoes of previous notes. The wholealbuJ Delmark 0$415 : ( 849M)/Retdize; i\1488; Tht in certain cases one wonders wbether it Bell. suffers from this fun-house mirror eff1i.t Personn el: Leo Smith, trumpet. mellophonc. was ever a ma iler of choice. McIntyre, and whoever is responsible shouldII xylophone, etc.; Braxton, alto and soprano saxo• however, swings with a force that recalls phones. clarjncc . fluct, muscue. acc ordion. etc.; ashamed of the injustice be has done Leroy lcokins. violin, vjofa, harmonica. ccc.; Chu Berry. lie is as lyrical as Braxton the musicians. I wou ld rate the muii Rich ard Abrams, piano, cello, alto clarinet. and has a more complex sense of time three stars, ba lancing the failure of Rating : ** which includes some of Sonny Rollins' larger forms aga inst the playing of Bra: These mt1sicians are members of the West In dian grace . ton and McIntyre. Prospective buyers Association fo r th e Advancement or Crea­ Barker and Clark also solo on My decide whe the r ii is worth the effort tive Musicians. the Ch icago orga nization Tlwughrs, the former sounding like a hear them through the awfu l echo. whose ach ievem ents have bee n described muffled and diminished Tony Williams, Braxlon's album is decently recor in past issues by Bill Quinn, J ohn Lit ­ the latter display ing only a portion of his but it has little else to recommend it. weiler and Te rry 1\fartin. ta lent. group seems to have been influenced The best players in the organizatio n Tire Bird Song takes up the whole sec­ Roscoe Mitchell's kind of musical (trumpeter Lester Bowie; saxophonists ond side. It is apparently intended to be a assoc iation, in which success requiresco Roscoe Mitchell, Joseph Jarman, Anthony major effort, but it is not a successful one. siderable resources of empathy and im Braxton, Maurice McIntyre; pianist Rich ­ After a clarinet introductio n by Abrams , inat ion, resources that Braxloa's gro ard Abrams; an d bassists Charles Clark poet David Moore reads his verse. A does not possess. A large part of and Ma lach i Pavors) have few peers critiq ue of it would fall outside the scope failure lies with Smith and Jenkins,1 among their contemporaries. Y ct if the of th is review. are nowhere near as accomplished as M AACM had fostered only the growth of Most of the track consists of more chell's associates. Next to Lester B · these players , T think both its members sound for the sake of sound - tbis time Smith is an apprentice who is trying and its audience would be disa ppoi nted. find his way. Jenkins, to my taste, is What is desired and expected is a music Mathieu Bows Out of the least interesting musicians in that will bu ild on the acquisitions of the Association. He is a concert-trainedI° Bill Mathieu has resigned from the Coleman-Co ltra11e generatio n and make linist who sou nds as though he is pla1· reviewing staff of Down Beat. He ex­ the collective freedom that Free Jazz and an end less cade nza to a 19th ceo Ascension proposed a reality. plains his decis ion as follows: violin concerto. " I guess I've joined the ranks of those Abrams' record has the virt ues and None of Braxton's playing here ise flaws of a typical AACM concert-much who can no longer write rating-oriented to his best work . Both bis solos and criticism . I don't know how to bring unfocuseJ energy , a fascination with sound group efforts are frequently disjunct, for its own sake, formal slrnctures that heaven down lo this green earth, but for while there is a su perficial resemblance have little organic relation lo the rest of me, writing rating -oriented criticism def­ Roscoe Mitchell's approach, the fragm the music, a □ d those excellent players who initely doesn 't feel like the way to do it. lack the mome ntum and cohereme are revealed at close to full force. Before desisting, though, I want to honor Mitchell's music. L evels and Degrees of Light consis ts of promises for three reviews. They appear The only real interest on the album· in this issue, after several months of un­ a wordless vocal by Penelope Ta ylor and in Abrams' complex piano accompanirn an Abrams' cla rine t solo framed by vibra ­ fair procrastinat ion. on M488, but it should be pointed harp glissandi from Emmanuel. Th e "I used to think that given my back­ that this is a still evolving music.Gi piece is a virtually motion less series of ground plus my involvement as a musi ­ the talent th at Brax ton has displared sounds whicb attempts to represent th e cian, I had the making s of a perfect other contexts. bis next album maybe visua l even ts named in the title. The effect music critic. Now I think that this was successful as this one is not. of such music varies from listener to a rationalization-that I rea lly enjoyed listene r-some being a □noyed by the lack being in the ju dge's scat. I used to think: of development, others reveling in the But if I do n't do it, someone else less Earl Colemon wash of pure sound. I found the piece well equ ipped will botch the job. Now LOVE SON G-A tlantic SO 8172: P Tbere's No Y ou· A Day 111 The lJ/, 0 overlong but pleasant. I see how well th is concern protected Fool; I've Gol You Under i\ly Skin; I Wi,i 1\1y Thouglils Are My Future - Now my posi tion. Kuew; I Won't Tell A Soul (I Loe, You/;r So ·ug; ,'\,fa11halla11 Serenad e; ChMade; J1bt1 and Forever, which the musicians intro ­ "M y work is music. Fr om now on, Yo11 Leave Heaven, duce by chanting the title, is a series of I'll do my mu sic in public, and keep my Personnel: Coleman, vocal. Tracks I. ~. opinions private, whe re they belong. To unidenti fied big band including JeromeRic solos over a churning rhythm. Braxton is son, !lute; Billy Tai•lor, piano. All och11 a passiona te and lyrical player in the my reade rs who have dug my word s, Eddie \Villiams, trumpet; Taylor, piano; Bertoncini, guirar; Reggie \Vorkman, hln; Coltrane tradition who has successfully thanks. I have dug your digging them." Thomas, drums. adapted this style to the alto. His playing Mathieu joined the Down Beat review­ ing staff in 196 l. Rating: * * * * combines a rich, full sound, which be- Coleman's rich, warm baritone will 20 0 DOWN BEAT fondly remembered by listeners whose trumpet interludes by <::oleman. The con­ "roots" extend to the bop era. His re­ nections Coleman draws between his writ­ corded output was small (the classic This ing and his playing are. ingenious and ab­ ls Always and Dark Shadows with Bird sorbing and sustain the work. -Mathieu and Erroll Garner; a date with Fats Navar­ ro; some sing les with Gene Ammons) but Booker Ervin telling. After a long absence from the Hl!A VY! ! !-Presti,te PR 7499: Bachafillm ; limelight, the singer brings to this come­ You Don't Know What Love ls; Aluminum NOWI back album the same old warmth but a Baby: Not Qt1ite That; Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen. Personnel: Jimmy Owens, t:rumpec, llueselhom; aew assurance.