Saw this lineup in Toronto back then- Leibman was at the bar, got off his stool and walked past our table, noticed a tenor case beside us and asked "who do you dig man, Sonny or Trane?" A very influential band .
Saw this group minus David Liebman in Atlanta at Southeast Music Hall in Midtown. Steve Grossman on Tenor, he also stopped by my house unexpectedly looking to see what was going on in town. Elvin gave my girl a pair of his drumsticks after first set. Good memory.
All of you, my brothers one and all, just for a quick minute, can we, horn and guitar and drummers alike, watch what Gene is doing on this and just be in awe? Perla POWER.
Elvin was able to find those rare soloists around who could handle the sparse setting of percussive bass and drums. Steve Grossman, Dave Liebman and Joe Farrell all went to Jones U., and went on to produce widely varied benchmark improvisational music of their own.
Those who are into Steve Grossman need to check out his album " Some Shapes to Come " featruing Jan Hasmmer! it is a Fusion masterpiece! Best of his career imo!!! This here is amazing too!!!
Sat front table at the Colonial in Toronto that year and was blown away like the other players in the place- I remember Grossman kicked a Selmer case of ours as he walked by and said "who do you dig man- Sonny or Trane?"
It's amazing how together Grossman and Liebman already were back in the early 70's. Someone also post some mind-boggling footage of Elvin with Joe Farrell on flute.
i like it when the mouthy American nob who thinks he's made a clever funny backs the fuck up and thanks the French for having had the sense and taste to record and broadcast this kind of music. He only talked for :45. Less intro blah blah than the moderators on the BBC or PBS jazz shows from that era did. Jerk.
I enjoy very much this pianoless outing. Chordal instruments, such as piano and guitar, instead of providing support to improvisational players anchor them down. It is just my opinion, of course, that came out while listening to this jewel.
you're generally right about that but George Cables was great with Steve, pianists generally take over the whole sound spectrum or get in the way! I played allot with Steve in the late 60's and never felt I could share the direction, he was/is a giant. ( I Layed Out allot)
For just a second we get a glimpse at 6:05 of a woman sitting near the bandstand who looks like Elvin's Japanese wife Keiko, who also wrote the tune they are performing.
I thought Gene Perla would look like a 50-something guy with a mustache and a plaid sports jacket, turns out he's a young sweaty kid with a hip haircut.
I saw this group at the jazz workshop in Boston, Dave didn't make it that night and it was just Steve. First of all Steve really gets Elvin and he was playing his ass off and I know Elvin loved him and Dave. I disagree and think Steve sounds great here.
Not agree!! listen one down one up live at the half note, those are innovators, Elvin and John...It is even now physically impossible try to play that long, like John did in that tune...
Love Elvin, Gene and Dave ... but Steve was missing the mark for me with his solo ... I had the feeling he was flailing and not commanding. His pulse seemed pretty fuzzy to me. But Gene Perla was seriously funky and Elvin was just knocking everybody out.
memzehni Nah ... sorry but he's not grooving with Elvin at all ... which is sorta the point of playing with Elvin! Dave was hitting the mark all over the place in contrast to Steve who is trying to channel a bit of Coltrane but not quite getting there. But whoa Elvin was such a beast, a force of nature, he's actually too powerful for these bandmates.
memzehni Huh syncopations??? I'm talking PULSE pure and simple ... maybe you can't hear pulse (the foundation of musical time). He's playing rhythmic phrases that simply don't groove. If he's going for a textural statement then he should not play rhythmic phrases. Or are you saying it's "abstract art" and he meant to play it poorly? A painting of a limp ugly flower perhaps? Well beauty lies in the eye of the beholder ... we're going to have to disagree on this one but nothing personal. Elvin's playing is a thing of beauty to me.
Gene Perla is too much. Just too damned much. Liebman is kinda stock Coltrane, but Grossman is a true innovator. It's clear. He has his own world of ideas, and they extend from John's.
