Puzzle pieces

 

Who am I kidding, right? After a number of years of almost total inactivity, I post something meandering (eventually) asking a question of any imaginary readers who might be out there, and I proceed on the basis that someone might actually attempt to answer it within a few days. Of course, anybody who has kept even half an eye on the way things have unfolded here in recent years would fully expect that just because I randomly posted something, that doesn't mean anything else will follow it up any time soon.

However, this time I may actually be getting myself ready to kick things off again, since the timing just seems to be right for it... I have started pulling my entire Braxton collection together in earnest, and whatever else happens, I am expecting to spend a lot of time in the foreseeable future listening to it. Precisely where that takes me, remains to be seen...

... and even if I posted here twice a week, who would even see it? There has (evidently) never been a worse time to recommence writing this sort of blog. That's OK, though... one thing I learned back in the "good old days" was how to do this work purely for myself (even as I was also doing it for other people, if that makes sense). I am perfectly capable of writing it as if others are reading it, even if they aren't. It will serve a purpose anyway :-D

***

So the question was whether anyone had any organised thoughts and / or conclusions about the unofficial Braxton release Live at the Rainbow Gallery '79. I wrote that post the other day without having a heard a note of it - indeed I deliberately refrained from even looking for it online, until such time as I had got down what I wanted to say in the first instance. Having done that, I did then have a look on the 'net for it, and started listening to the first piece. There were two fundamental questions which previous commentators had left seemingly undecided: firstly, that of the year and personnel; and more simply, the identity of the first piece. I figured that the second question should be very easy to answer, and the first not that hard either: with regard to the standard which opens the broadcast, one guy identified it as "Cherokee" and another as "Marshmallow" (an understandable confusion in principle, since the two compositions share a basic rhythm and tempo, and indeed occupy a very similar tessitura generally); as to the year and personnel, I reckoned that if by now I can't identify Dave Holland on this material then it doesn't say much for the state of my ears.

Anyway: it's definitely "Cherokee" (the guy who called it as "Marshmallow" presumably just doesn't know the earlier tune, which is extremely easy to identify). As I discussed last time, it's incorrect to co-credit Charlie Parker with this tune, but he is kind of associated with it (not just him, of course; I personally thought of Clifford Brown straight away, not Parker, in connection with versions of this standard), and the same commentator who identified it on Discogs pointed out that Braxton and his trombonist (very probably Lewis) play the Parker solo simultaneously. - If that is, indeed, the Parker solo... which I haven't established yet. If I'm honest, I found the sound of this recording less than fabulous, so much so that it gave little or no chance to answer the other question quickly, because I couldn't hear the bass at all. (I still think this would be the easiest way to identify the '76 band for sure.) After a few minutes of half-listening to this while doing something or other - I most definitely wasn't giving it anything like my full attention - I put it on hold, and didn't quite get round to going back to it. Some other time for that, then...

[Again, I mentioned in my previous post that if the same commentator correctly identified the three Braxton compositions - 23d, 23e, 40f - then it's pretty massively unlikely to be the '79 band, with or without a guest pianist; playing one of those might make sense, but a whole set of that earlier stuff, when the '78-'79 quartets were all about the 69 series..? I don't buy it. If those are the primary territories, this is very likely to have been recorded no later than 1976; and besides, another Discogs commentator has come forward as the painter whose work was on show in the Rainbow Gallery during (what he describes as) B's residency there, and he assures us it was indeed 1976. In which case, we can pretty safely assume it is Lewis, Holland, and Altschul in the quartet (and to be fair it does sound more like Lewis than Anderson on trombone, I heard enough to say that much at least); as for the pianist, it's always a safe bet to say it was "probably" Abrams, but if it was '76, it could also feasibly be Anthony Davis, couldn't it? Let's face it, we can't trust the label on this, and no-one else seems quite sure. One of these days I will listen to the whole thing - and at that point I may be able to make some more useful observations. I shan't, however, be buying it.]

***

One thing I have listened to - just tonight indeed - is the brand new release (technically it's not even out yet, though clearly it is already available in digital format) Duet (Other Minds) 2021, with James Fei: this is actually due for release tomorrow, September 2nd, on the Other Minds label - and presents a performance which (apparently) took place last year, during the Other Minds Festival 25. The single territory is Composition 429 (!), which - according to another website - 'is the first piece using a new writing method that Braxton calls “Lorraine (...) a music system that governs the ‘sonic winds’ of breath.” '

This really is a rewarding listen, even if I for one would be happy just to listen to the two players, without the vaguely-distracting electronics which accompanies them (this is not Diamond Curtain Wall music, but I presume it's a similar type of interactive computer software being used)... for anyone who's heard even half as much of B's playing as I have, there may not be a whole lot of surprises on offer, but when the quality of musicianship and the depth of interplay is this good, who the hell cares? I am always very reluctant to pay for digital downloads, but I shall definitely be interested in buying a CD copy in the near future.

***

Beleieve it or not, I could go on - but I shan't, or not yet at least. For now, hello to anyone who is reading this; in particular, my warmest wishes go out to McClintic Sphere and his family.

I'll be posting again soon. This time for real, as they say ;-)