Joe McPhee Po Music - Topology (1989)

"A pivotal record in my development as a listener, this 1981 recording ended an obsessive fixation solely with free jazz by opening my ears to the possibilities of non-idiomatic improvisation, composition and electroacoustics. There was of course still enough visceral blowing on the disc to satisfy on that level, though I now began to appreciate how graphic notation can bring coherent form to improvisation. A strikingly variegated palette of sounds and emotions are employed by a judiciously assembled cast of multinational improvisors including Irène Schweizer, Radu Malfatti, Pierre Favre and André Jaume. Many startling juxtapositions stand out - McPhee's graceful themes floating above Raymond Boni's industrial-strength guitar, screaming post-Ayler overtones underpinned by delicately bowed strings and an overall mood of contemplative introspection continually stalked by terrifyingly abrasive collective improvisation. It sounds as bold and fresh today as I imagine it always will." ~by Fred Grand
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Jon McPhee was born on 3 November 1939, Miami, Florida, USA. This multi-instrumentalist/composer has established himself as one of the leading creative improvisers in avant garde jazz. McPhee played the trumpet in his school band and studied music theory and harmony in his Division Band while he was with the army in Germany (1964-65). His first recording was with fellow trumpeter Clifford Thornton on 1967's Freedom And Unity. While he was playing with the Matt Jordan Orchestra in the late 60s, he took up the saxophone as he became interested in free jazz. McPhee's first solo recordings were released on the CJR label, which he founded in 1969 with painter Craig Johnson. He gave a lecture course entitled "The Revolution In Sound" when he taught at Vassar College (1969-71), following which he struck up a fruitful association with the Swiss label, hatHUT, founded by Werner Uehlinger specifically to release McPhee's music. McPhee has sought to extend the tonal range of the saxophone, introducing grainy effects into his playing and extending his phrasing by using circular breathing.

The freedom he seeks is often clearly tied to melody, and on his early recordings was informed by the revolutionary struggles in his homeland during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Though his first recording on saxophone was with Shakey Jake (vocal/harmonica) in 1972, he soon moved to New York to work with trumpeter Don Cherry, Thornton and the Jazz Composers Orchestra. In the mid-70s he worked in Europe with Steve Lacy, among others, while remaining relatively unknown in his native America. McPhee's restless adventurism saw him adopting the clarinet, valve trombone, piano and pocket trumpet, and by the turn of the 80s he had begun to experiment with extended instrumental and electronic techniques. Influenced by Dr Edward de Bono's book Lateral Thinking: A Textbook Of Creativity, McPhee invented the concept of "Po Music" which he describes as "a process of provocation which can be used to move from one fixed set of ideas in an attempt to discover new ones". McPhee has recorded prolifically for several European and Canadian labels, including Sackville, CELP, Van d'Oeuvre, In Situ, Victo, Mode, Deep Listening, CIMP, OkkaDisk and Evidence. Frequent collaborators include bass players Kent Kessler, Dominic Duval and Michael Bisio, reed players Ken Vandermark and Peter Brötzmann, drummers Jay Rosen and John McLellan. In the late 90s, McPhee, Rosen and Duval formed the acclaimed Trio X. ~ in www.nme.com/artists/joe-mcphee

Joe McPhee (pocket cornet, tenor saxophone)

Tamia (vocals)
Daniel Bourquin (alto & baritone saxophones)
André Jaume (tenor saxophone, bass clarinet)
Radu Malfatti (trombone, electronics, percussion)
Michael Overhage (cello)
Irène Schweizer (piano)
Raymond Boni (guitar)
François Mechali (bass)
Pierre Favre (percussion)

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1. Age (10'43'')
2. Blues for new Chicago (05'32'')
3. Pithecantropus Erectus (10'30'')
4. Violets for Pia (07'38'')
5. Topology I&II (28'40'')


click on the cd back_cover pict for a detailed list of the participant musicians on this recording.



+ info on Joe McPhee HERE
Originally released on LP by HatArt in 1981

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Michel Portal - !Dejarme Solo! (1991)

"With its conflation of modes and leaps into bitonality and even tritonality, the daring, experimental Dejarme Solo! stretches Michel Portal's ultra-modern inclinations even further into the avant-garde. Recorded in 1979, this album invites the active participation of the listener, who is challenged to complete the void normally occupied by conventional expectations. The opening track, "En El Campo", features Portal's jagged, angular solos over a slowly metamorphosing two-note rhythm that repeats obsessively. The displaced temporal flow continues in "Desert Sun", in which Portal's scorched lines serve as a conduit from mankind's past to an unresolved present. "African Ritual" perpetuates the hallucinatory spell through primitive figures and a raw, objective mood. At other times the soloist behaves in a downright raucous fashion, as if he is on a mission to liberate his instrument . Only in the final track, "Bat Sarrou", does Portal concede a sense of the familiar. Claude Ermelin's multi-layered engineering allows the instrumentalist to display his complete command of the saxophone family , several clarinets , and the bandoneon. The key is to expect the unexpected: Dejarme Solo! is an experimental journey with the exhilarating and disorienting unpredictability of life itself." ~ Kevin Mulhall



Michel Portal was born on 27 November 1935, in Bayonne, France. Portal is as comfortable playing a Mozart clarinet concerto as he is performing a Stockhausen intuitive piece, or scoring a film on bandoneon and playing free jazz on various reeds - he has always surprised. Francois Tusques, Sunny Murray, Joachim Kühn and John Surman are just some of the artists who have made use of his talents in a jazz context. Although accused by some of being over-clinical as a soloist, he has produced a number of remarkable recordings with editions of his ever-changing unit. Many leading French and Swiss players have passed through the ranks, while his Men's Land from 1987 featured Jack DeJohnette and Dave Liebman. He has won the French César Award for his soundtrack work on three occasions.

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Michel Portal plays:

Alto Sax, Tenor Sax, Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Contrebass Clarinet, Tenora, Soprano, Sopranino, Bandoneon, Percussions.


1. En EL Campo (3:45)
2. Desert Sun (4:15)
3. African Ritual (6:38)
4. Give Me A Chance (4:02)
5. Buffone (3:16)
6. Tenoras (1:19)
7. Dejarme Solo! (2:26)
8. Bat Sarrou (3:09)

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Cecil Taylor - The Eighth (1989)

“Taylor's art confronts nature so organically because it embraces the same attitudes, makes the same demands. Rejecting frivolous entertainment, it is ritual--a rite of creation that accepts paradox as it attempts to transcend it" ~ Art Lange



Pianist, composer, and educator. Leader of jazz group, 1953--; released debut LP, Jazz Advance, 1956; performed at Five Spot Cafe, New York City, 1956; led onstage band in play The Connection, 1960; toured Europe, 1962; organized Jazz Composers Guild, 1964; recorded with Jazz Composers orchestra, 1968; played for Maeght Foundation, France, 1969, and Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, 1972; performed in ensembles and as a solo artist at various jazz festivals, including Newport, 1957 and 1972, Great South Bay, 1958, Montreux, 1974, and Kool Jazz, 1984; two-piano performance with Mary Lou Williams, Carnegie Hall, 1977; performed with ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov; composed short ballet Tetra Stomp: Eatin' Rain in Space, 1979; performed for President Jimmy Carter at the White House, 1979 (one source says 1978). Instructor in music, University of Wisconsin, 1970-71; Antioch College, Yellow Springs, OH, 1972-74; and Glassboro State College, NJ. [more info here]

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Cecil Taylor - Boesendorfer piano
Jimmy Lyons - alto saxophone
William Parker - double bass
Rashid Bakr - drums

1. Calling it The 8th (57:40)
2. Calling it The 9th (10:51)

Recorded live November 8th, 1981 at Freiburger Jazztage Freiburg, Germany;

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DKV Trio - Baraka (1997)

"A simple superlative: DKV Trio is the best working band in Chicago jazz. That’s no small feat considering that its members work in lot of other combinations. Assembled in 1994 by reedman Ken Vandermark specifically for his recording project Standards (Quinnah), the group forged an instant bond that mandated further investigation. Drummer Hamid Drake never fails to provide a spark and when he and bassist Kent Kessler get on the good foot you can expect a bonfire. Where many free groups avoid funky swinging or melodic materials DKV eagerly embraces them. The trio’s open-ended, sometimes set-length improvisations unfold in sections: Drake and Kessler might set up a cyclical groove for Vandermark to dive into or soar above, then an insistent bass clarinet ostinato might free up the bassist to take one of his superb arco solos after which Drake might suddenly kick out a Max Roach high hat jam or hit the ground running with some infectious Afro-pop polyrhythms or reggae snare-centricity. All three players are respectful listeners cresting space and letting the music breathe but challenging each other as well. Kessler benefits greatly from this simultaneous relaxation and prodding, turning in consistently original performances. And Vandermark, already well-known as a firebrand, is quickly emerging as one of the finest young balladeers to tote a tenor. This selling allows him ample room to dip deep into both bags. Each time out DKV invents a new context where daring exploration and pure corporeal pleasure shake hands and get down to business." John Corbett, Chicago Reader (January 31, 1997)

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