Search - Vandermark 5 :: Free Jazz Classics Vols.1&2

A great intro to the genre

greg taylor | Portland, Oregon United States | 10/16/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"These are actually two bonus CDs that were included in limited edition first releases of this group's Burn the Incline and Acoustic Machine. Since those pressings are no longer available, Mr. Vandermark decided to release this double CD of these wonderful live recordings for a truely bargain price. This is one of the great free jazz releases of the year. Or any year, for that matter.
These are all compositions written by heroes of Mr. Vandermark's. The composers, in order, are as follows: on CD1 they are Ornette Coleman, Anthony Braxton, Cecil Taylor, Joe McPhee, Sun Ra, Eric Dolphy and Lester Bowie. On CD2 the songs are composed are Archie Shepp, Carla Bley, Frank Wright, Jimmy Guiffre, Julius Hemphill and Don Cherry.
The players are Jeb Bishop on the trombone, Kent Kessler on the bass, Tim Mulvenna on the drums, the vastly underappreciated Dave Rempis on alto and tenor sax and Ken Vandermark on tenor sax, E flat and bass clarinet.
So what do I mean by my title? I have listened to free jazz pretty much since the late sixties when I came across a copy of Ornette Coleman's Free Jazz. I have often been asked by mystified friends what I heard in this type of music. Over the years, I have used certain albums to try to introduce people to this type of music.
Some of my favorite albums for this purpose have always been Dave Holland's Conference of the Birds or Julius Hemphill's brillant composition, The Hard Blues.
This new CD now belongs to this select group. Part of the reason lies in the sheer number and variety of composers who are represented. These are strong wonderful tunes that represent the free jazz tradition at it's best. For me, the compostions by McPhee, Shepp, Bley and Hemphill are the creme of a very fine crop. The one by McPhee was a particular revelation. I will be looking for his version of it.
As for the playing, it is wonderful. I have sometimes found Mr. Vandermark's playing in the past to be too strident or too prone to overblowing. Not on these recordings. They reveal him to be a master of the saxophone's tonal range. His playing shows great variety and invention.
The others too are in great form particularly Dave Rempis. Someone please record this man as a leader of his own date. He has the entire history of post-WWII alto sax deeply engrained into his improvising soul and he is able to display it all in one cogent soulful playful solo. Simply amazing.
This is a very strong collection of players paying proper due to a very strong collection of composers. My only complaint is the lack of anything by Henry Threadgill. I can only hope that the Vandermark 5 continue to release additional chapters to this series."

Yes!

M. Nix | Louisville, KY. | 09/19/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It's cool of theses guys to pay tribute like this, not to mention it's two CDs for the price of one basically."

Free jazz via Vandermark

Anthony Cooper | Louisville, KY United States | 10/22/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Ken Vandermark originally included volume 1 & 2 as bonus discs with two Vandermark 5 studio recordings. Since only a few people got in on the ground floor of that deal, the CD's are now available seperately.



Disc 1 has the "bigger" names of free jazz, though that's relative. "Happy House" starts things off in a matter befitting the song title. "69L" detours around a little coming back to the theme now and then. "Saturn" is a highlight - it's a catchy song, and the quintet does a good big band approximation. The rest of disc 1 are wrung out as appropriate.



Disc 2 has songs written by relatively lesser names, but I think it's a little better than the first volume. "Wherever Junebugs Go" is a blast of blues. The next two tracks have catchy melodies. "Scootin About" is freer, and the Hemphill cover is another catchy one.



Comparing volumes 1 & 2 to 3 & 4, I prefer 3 & 4 because they sound more cohesive. This is still quite good, and well worth purchasing."