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| 4.076 Ft
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| 1. | First Meeting
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| 2. | Second Meeting
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| 3. | Third Meeting
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| 4. | Fourth Meeting
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| 5. | Fifth Meeting
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Jazz
Anthony Braxton - Saxophone
Milford Graves - Percussion
William Parker - Bass
* Bill Laswell - Mixing, Producer
* James Dellatacoma - Engineer
* John Zorn - Executive Producer, Producer
* Kazunori Sugiyama - Associate Producer
* Scott Hull - Mastering
If ever a recording needed to be trumpeted from the rooftops, it's this one, and perhaps we all owe a debt of gratitude to John Zorn for making it happen. This initial trio meeting of saxophonist Anthony Braxton, drummer Milford Graves, and ubiquitous bassist William Parker is a vanguard jazz fan's dream come true. Beyond Quantum places these three modern legends in a completely improvised setting in producer Bill Laswell's studio for 63 minutes of pure inspirational, communicative fire. First is the fact that Graves performs seldom and records even less. Secondly, he's never appeared with either of these men before.
The five selections on Beyond Quantum are all "meetings," ordered one through five, showcasing the three individuals as part of one dynamic, dramatic, and profoundly inventive unit that moves inside and outside the constraints of modal, melodic, and harmonic improvisation with a seemingly effortless groove. So much so in fact, that even fans of straighter, more structured jazz composition and improvisation will almost willingly accept this as proof that not only is free jazz not "dead," but this entry into its historical annals may offer some proof of it entering a new phase of creativity. Braxton plays alto, sopranino, bass, and concert bass saxophones, one at a time -- though he often employs more than a single horn in a selection. His playing is far from the more sparse theoretical articulations, and moves effortlessly between his more aggressive tonal investigations and spiritually (even cosmically) inspired expression. Check his wild bass clusters on "Second Meeting," his snake charming sopranino on "Third Meeting," and the nearly boppish blues sopranino streams on "Fourth Meeting." Parker uses all of his tricks here. Whether it's creating riff-like phrases or single high note pulses on his contrabass as he does on "First Meeting," the Eastern scalar repetitions as he does in the middle of "Second Meeting," the beautiful high chord repetitions near the end of "Third Meeting," or his amazing arco work in dialogue with Braxton on "Fourth Meeting," he is always the pinnacle of energy and focus, always supporting, always insisting on "further." Graves is just something else to behold here. He is a drummer who never pauses, each idea comes fluidly either from the one immediately preceding, or the one being articulated in the moment. He uses his sticks to be sure, but also brushes, his hands, and on "Second Meeting" in particular -- though in other places as well -- his voice as both a lyric(less) and percussive device. (Think of Leon Thomas with Pharoah Sanders, or better yet, Sanders and John Coltrane on Live in Seattle and you get the idea.) Graves is never overwhelming in his stream of "motion" ideas; he is a layered drummer, working cymbals and snares or toms with an instinctive -- by this point inspired -- lyricism inside one another in open-ended loops.
An added treat on this set is in the final or "Fifth Meeting," when Parker joins Braxton (on sopranino) on a double reed instrument. Both men begin speaking streams of lyric and chant-like ideas, accenting the spiritual fire between them. Graves moves into them both on his deep-toned tom toms as the horn phrases become a call and response dialogue. Though it's over an hour, Beyond Quantum is over all too quickly. It never once feels like an endurance test, and the flood of creativity, passion, and direct communication between participants leaves the listener not breathless, but astonished. This is a serious contender for vanguard jazz recording of 2008.
--Thom Jurek, All Music Guide
Anthony Braxton
Active Decades: '60s, '70s, '80s, '90s and '00s
Born: Jun 04, 1945 in Chicago, IL
Genre: Jazz
Styles: Avant-Garde, Free Jazz, Avant-Garde Jazz, Experimental Big Band, Creative Orchestra, Structured Improvisation
Genius is a rare commodity in any art form, but at the end of the 20th century it seemed all but non-existent in jazz, a music that had ceased looking ahead and begun swallowing its tail. If it seemed like the music had run out of ideas, it might be because Anthony Braxton covered just about every conceivable area of creativity during the course of his extraordinary career. The multi-reedist/composer might very well be jazz's last bona fide genius. Braxton began with jazz's essential rhythmic and textural elements, combining them with all manner of experimental compositional techniques, from graphic and non-specific notation to serialism and multimedia. Even at the peak of his renown in the mid- to late '70s, Braxton was a controversial figure amongst musicians and critics. His self-invented (yet heavily theoretical) approach to playing and composing jazz seemed to have as much in common with late 20th century classical music as it did jazz, and therefore alienated those who considered jazz at a full remove from European idioms. Although Braxton exhibited a genuine -- if highly idiosyncratic -- ability to play older forms (influenced especially by saxophonists Warne Marsh, John Coltrane, Paul Desmond, and Eric Dolphy), he was never really accepted by the jazz establishment, due to his manifest infatuation with the practices of such non-jazz artists as John Cage and Karlheinz Stockhausen. Many of the mainstream's most popular musicians (Wynton Marsalis among them) insisted that Braxton's music was not jazz at all. Whatever one calls it, however, there is no questioning the originality of his vision; Anthony Braxton created music of enormous sophistication and passion that was unlike anything else that had come before it. Braxton was able to fuse jazz's visceral components with contemporary classical music's formal and harmonic methods in an utterly unselfconscious -- and therefore convincing -- way. The best of his work is on a level with any art music of the late 20th century, jazz or classical.
Braxton began playing music as a teenager in Chicago, developing an early interest in both jazz and classical musics. He attended the Chicago School of Music from 1959-1963, then Roosevelt University, where he studied philosophy and composition. During this time, he became acquainted with many of his future collaborators, including saxophonists Joseph Jarman and Roscoe Mitchell. Braxton entered the service and played saxophone in an Army band; for a time he was stationed in Korea. Upon his discharge in 1966, he returned to Chicago where he joined the nascent Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). The next year, he formed an influential free jazz trio, the Creative Construction Company, with violinist Leroy Jenkins and trumpeter Leo Smith. In 1968, he recorded For Alto, the first-ever recording for solo saxophone. Braxton lived in Paris for a short while beginning in 1969, where he played with a rhythm section comprised of bassist Dave Holland, pianist Chick Corea, and drummer Barry Altschul. Called Circle, the group stayed together for about a year before disbanding (Holland and Altschul would continue to play in Braxton-led groups for the next several years). Braxton moved to New York in 1970. The '70s saw his star rise (in a manner of speaking); he recorded a number of ambitious albums for the major label Arista and performing in various contexts. Braxton maintained a quartet with Altschul, Holland, and a brass player (either trumpeter Kenny Wheeler or trombonist George Lewis) for most of the '70s. During the decade, he also performed with the Italian free improvisation group Musica Elettronica Viva, and guitarist Derek Bailey, as well as his colleagues in AACM. The '80s saw Braxton lose his major-label deal, yet he continued to record and issue albums on independent labels at a dizzying pace. He recorded a memorable series of duets with bop pioneer Max Roach, and made records of standards with pianists Tete Montoliu and Hank Jones. Braxton's steadiest vehicle in the '80s and '90s -- and what is often considered his best group -- was his quartet with pianist Marilyn Crispell, bassist Mark Dresser, and drummer Gerry Hemingway. In 1985, he began teaching at Mills College in California; he subsequently joined the music faculty at Wesleyan College in Connecticut, where he taught through the '90s. During that decade, he received a large grant from the MacArthur Foundation that allowed him to finance some large-scale projects he'd long envisioned, including an opera. At the beginning of the 21st century, Braxton was still a vital presence on the creative music scene.
---Chris Kelsey, All Music Guide |
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