Search - Prince Lasha :: Cry

Cry
Prince Lasha
Cry
Genres: Jazz, Pop
 
  •  Track Listings (8) - Disc #1

After all these years, the CD revolution hasn't yet run out of rarities to light up your day. Long out of print, this 1962 recording is one of the prize items of the free-jazz movement as it flowered in California. It team...  more »

     
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CD Details

All Artists: Prince Lasha
Title: Cry
Members Wishing: 1
Total Copies: 0
Label: Universal Japan
Release Date: 9/24/2008
Album Type: Import
Genres: Jazz, Pop
Style: Avant Garde & Free Jazz
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1

Synopsis

Amazon.com
After all these years, the CD revolution hasn't yet run out of rarities to light up your day. Long out of print, this 1962 recording is one of the prize items of the free-jazz movement as it flowered in California. It teams flutist Prince Lasha (pronounced la-SHAY) and alto saxophonist Sonny Simmons, who cowrote all the songs and play with an esprit de duo that reflects their long-term partnership. Lasha, who also played saxophone, was a childhood friend of Ornette Coleman and became part of his circle in Los Angeles. Simmons, a Louisiana native who grew up in Oakland, came under Coleman's influence while honing his own terse, lyrically heated style. Though the overall sound of The Cry! very much proceeds from Ornette's harmolodic "new thing" (while absorbing earlier styles ranging from Ellington exotica to Waller erotica) it's a racier vehicle that takes hairier turns. Stopping just short of freneticism, the melodies have an irresistible pull--not for an instant does the music sag. Propelled by the clean and steady dual basses of Gary Peacock and Mark Proctor (on three tracks, Peacock goes it alone), Lasha and Simmons harmonize with as much zip and warmth as they put into their solos. --Lloyd Sachs

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CD Reviews

I can't beleive i had not heard these guys before!
Speedy | Fl, MO USA | 09/14/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)

"Absolutely great! There is an air of Ornette around the playing but in the end it all comes out as a very individual work by a very individual ensemble. The playing is top notch, and the compositions are truly great and joyful. Not a wasted track on this one. Grab before it dissapears again for another 30 years!"
Simply one of the best jazz albums of the sixties.Sublime!!!
JEAN-MARIE JUIF | BESANCON France | 04/20/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)

"I waited for so many years until this outstanding,extremely important album finally was reissued on Original Jazz Classics!
I never could find the original LP,and had to satisfy myself with a tape.
Here is not only one of the major free jazz albums of all times,here is simply one of the greatest jazz records ever done.An incredible masterpiece made by two underrated musicians,Sonny Simmons,born August 4,1933,La,and still active in music, and the mysterious Prince Lasha,born Sptember 10,1929,in Fort Worth,Texas.
Oh,yes,another guy was also born in Fort Worth,year 1930.This other guy was Lasha's childhood friend,they both went to the same school,they both learned music together.The name of this other guy??? Ornette Coleman ! But if Ornette gave us a lot of magnificent music and records, Prince Lasha's recorded works can be counted on your hands' fingers;maybe even,on one hand's fingers.
On this record,Lasha plays flute,Simmons plays alto sax,Gary Peacock and Mark Proctor play bass,and Gene Stone is the drummer.The music is haunting,fascinating,and swinging.Simmons affirms himself as one of the most original voices on alto sax.Each tune is a gem,but my favorite ones are "Congo call",with its terrific bass support,and "Bojangles",which is a tribute to Bill "Bojangles" Robinson,the great tapdancer who inspired two masterpieces to jazz musicians: this tune,and the other one,also entitled "Bojangles",and written in 1940 by Duke Ellington.
The blues theme of "Red's mood" has strong reminiscences of Charlie Parker's bop blues."Juanita",dedicated to Lasha's mother,has a carribean inspiration that reminds me of Marion Brown's great pieces,like "La Placita" .
I finally found this CD in Paris two weeks ago,after years and years of patience.I can't stop listening to it.Here is some very,very beautiful music.You'd be a fool to miss it."
Overlooked classic
JP Nightingale | 07/29/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)

"The exotically named Prince Lasha can be heard playing with Eric Dolphy on the supremely wonderful "Music Matador" and this album is no less stunning in its conception and execution. Here the Prince is teamed mainly on flute with fellow Ornette Coleman devotee, Sonny Simmons, who plays alto sax.



From the compelling bass line on the opening track (played hypnotically in unison by the uniformly excellent Gary Peacock and Mark Proctor) to the closing bars of A.Y., every number feels fresh and exciting.



Like much of the music of Eric Dolphy and Charlie Mingus, there is a controlled, quirky clumsiness to the playing that gives the music a special raw edge. Occasionally we are taken beyond this edge into something close to madness - check out Bojangles - but all the time the sterling rhythm section provides steady, muscular support.



If you don't know what to listen to, are feeling a bit restless, frustrated and perhaps a little mad, "The Cry" will fit the bill."