I came across something recently, and wanted to share it.
Gerry Hemingway has posted new videos of the classic quartet in London, 1991. They seem to combine some very vintage-looking video with crisp sound, perhaps derived from (or from the same source as) the bootleg series releases, BL33-34.
As much as Cent and I have listened to this group, I don't think either of us had seen a full-length video of a performance.
I'm really enjoying these, and I wish you all the same.
Anthony Braxton Quartet - London Jazz Cafe - April 2 1991 Set 1
Anthony Braxton Quartet - London Jazz Cafe - April 2 1991 Set 2
Addendum: Crispell, Dresser, and Hemingway are playing a free show tomorrow, July 7th, in Hartford CT.
https://www.realartways.org/event/
I wish I were close enough to drop in for that one!
1 comment:
These videos are priceless, McC, thanks for bringing them to my attention - and I hope others will catch on! [April 1991... I was a third-year student in Paris then, completely immersed in collecting underground death metal - a scene which, in my defence, was growing and developing on a weekly basis at that time. So I can't very well kick myself now for not having attended these performances!]
It's notable how quiet and still the audience remains throughout these sets, notwithstanding the occasional wanderer walking in front of Nickie B's camera (during the first set in particular): most people were actually there to watch/listen, and were really paying attention. The ecstatic response at the conclusion of both sets confirms that people understood they had witnessed something very special.
The published setlists (which GH attributes to Lock) may need some tweakage, though, especially for the first set:
69J + 30 [Crispell]
108A [Dresser/Hemingway] + 30 or 139 [Crispell]
110B + 86 [Dresser] + 107 [Braxton]
68 + 6L [Dresser]
69B
- Those opening and closing numbers are definitely correct, but some of what happens in between may have got a bit garbled. I didn't hear Comp. 6L at all (a slow piece which has a very distinctive "long-stepping" feel to it, not used since the early '70s I think), but Dresser can clearly be heard playing Comp. 6N at 24.30, while B. sounds as if he's playing Comp. 107 alone at 29.45. There's a lot of time unaccounted for in that speculative list..!
The second set looks a bit more accurate:
107 [Hemingway open]
69H + 124 [Dresser, Hemingway]
136
69A + 122 [Dresser, Hemingway]
- where proceedings get underway with Comp. 107 for sure ("Hemingway open" presumably means he is free to do what he likes on this piece written for drumless trio, traditionally interpreted by reeds, trombone and piano); 69H begins at 9.08, and by 28.30 they are playing Comp.136 for sure (very distinctive, rapid-fire single-note attacks on this much-recorded piece). As previously there are other things going on here which I don't think are covered in the published setlist; I don't know what's being played while B. is on contrabass sax, for example, and I'm not really sure about 69A (?). But we can take those lists as rough sketches... they are a good starting-point at least :)
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