Max Roach- SURVIVORS

Max Roach- SURVIVORS (1984)
From the back cover notes (enclosed):

When I first heard the improvised solo on Side A of this record, it was to me clear that Max had burst the boundaries of traditional jazz form to create a new type of music. It seemed almost impossible to me that anyone could at the spur of the moment improvise a piece of music as well shaped as if it had been written by a master composer (if there were any who could write as well as Max plays) that could have so many layers of rhythm going on all at once, that could swing so hard, and that could be so musically expressive. (...)

My idea for the present piece, for Survivors, was to create a form for this tremendous energy and creative skill, to give an emotional shape and structure that would set forth this new music to the whole world - (my classical world as well as his) so that all can see it for what it truly is: genuinely new, emotionally powerful and - the genuine art music of out time- classic.

28 years ago, at the first Monterey Jazz Festival, we created what to my knowledge was the first true concerto for improvising soloist and orchestra - the "Monterey Concerto For Max". In this, Max played an amazing and musically successful solo. But what I wrote was the "classical music" of a young and emerging composer schooled in Stravinsky, Bartok and Hindemith. The piece did not swing. Now 25 years later- we both think, we have finally got it, (...)
- Peter Phillips

Side Two of this record contains 6 compositions for a soloist.
These are compositions in the traditional jazz idiom in that they comprise a "head": a statement of a musical theme, and a subsequent improvised part derived from the thematic material. The notable difference is that these themes are written for an un-pitched batterie of percussion instruments- a traditional jazz drum kit.
The thematic material is, therefore, primarily rhythmic, but not simply so- the individual drums are used in a relatively melodic manner- high to low, and the results are what might be termed 'architectural' in nature and effect - in that the form of the entire work may be perceived in a single glance, and in that the form is present in all the details.
- DrE


















Max Roach- SURVIVORS

Side One:

1- Survivors (Peter Phillips / Max Roach) (21:28)

Max Roach: Multiple Percussion Set
String Quartet:
Guillermo Figueroa, First Violin;
Donald Bauch, Second Violin;
Louise Schulman, Viola;
Christopher Finckel, Cello


Side Two:

1- The Third Eye (2:10)
2- Billy The Kid (2:57)
3- JasMe (3:37)
4- The Drum Also Waltzes (3:18)
5- Sassy Max (Self Portrait) (3:20)
6- The Smoke That Thunders (5:47)

Max Roach: Multiple Percussion Set

Recorded Oct.19,20,and 21, 1984 at Vanguard Studios,New York.

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Ornette Coleman- PRIME DESIGN / TIME DESIGN

Ornette Coleman- PRIME DESIGN / TIME DESIGN
(A Harmolodic Composition For Four String Instruments and Percussion In Honor Of Buckminster Fuller)
From the back cover (included):

When I met Buckminster Fuller in 1982, he impressed me with a spirited demonstration of his model of the tetrahedron, a geometric figure of the basis of the structural design of the universe. He manipulated the model, turned it inside out, made it dance, but the corners never touched. I said to myself- "That's just like my music", And at that moment I was inspired to write a piece of music based on Fuller's mathematics, dedicated to this man and his shining being, investigating the universe like an ancient child.
This piece is designed for five soloists. At different points in the piece, each musician plays in different time signatures: 2/4, 1/4, 2/3, 4/4, 7/4, 9/4, and 12/4.
The second violin introduces the theme, which is then played by viola, the cello and the first violin. After completing the theme,, each musician plays his part as a solo, performed "ensemble". Each soloist will end at a different place. Second violin finishes first, then the viola, the cello and lastly, the first violin. The audience is invited to contemplate the total sound produced from multi- directional components.
-Ornette Coleman
Performed by the Gregory Gelman Ensemble:
Gregory Gelman, First Violin
Lorissa Blitz, Second Violin
Alex Deych, Viola
Matthew Meister, Cello
Denardo Coleman - Percussion


















Side One:

Prime Design / Time Design (Beginning) 21:30

Side Two:

Prime Design / Time Design (Conclusion) 19:48

re-up:
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Various Artists: AMERICAN STRING QUARTETS VOL 2: 1900-1950

American String Quartets Vol.2: 1900-1950
(Vox Box SVBX 5305) Released in 1974From the Booklet (enclosed):

This set is the last album in a three-volume survey of American string quartet literature. The two previous released companion albums are titled "The Early American String Quartet" (Vox Box SVBX 5301) and "The Avant Garde String Quartet in the U.S.A." (Vox Box 5306). The first album contains works historically ranging from a string quartet attributed to Benjamin Franklin to works by such early twentieth-century American composers as George Chadwick and Charles Griffes, and are all performed by the the Kohon String Quartet. The second album released contains works written since 1950, and is illustrative of the manifold approaches to structure, the presence (or absence) of various types of controls, and the use of a variety of musical materials which have, for the most part, occurred since the end of the Second World War. The earliest work represented in that album is John Cage's String Quartet In Four Parts (1950) and the most recent is George Crumb's Black Angels (1970). These works are performed by the Concord String Quartet. In this third, and concluding, album of the series the Kohon String Quartet returns to perform works spanning from the early decades of this century through the early 1960's.These, too, are illustrative of the wide range of styles that flourished during that period.
In his notes for the album containing the avant garde works, Lejaren Hiller states that "Stylistic heterogeneity and healthy eclecticism have always been characteristic traits of American music..." and the works contained in this album no less confirm the validity of that observation.The composers represented here possess strongly independent personal styles, and they all show a manifold desire to explore new melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic materials in their individual ways.For the most part, however, they do so within the confines of traditional homophonic and polyphonic forms.
The composers represented in this album are also indicative of the coming of age of American music.(...)

Note:
"The Avant Garde String Quartet in the U.S.A." can be found in The Closet.
"The Early American String Quartet" will be posted in the near future.

American String Quartets Vol.2: 1900-1950
(Vox Box SVBX 5305) Released in 1974
The Kohon Quartet:
Harold Kohon: 1st Violin
Isadora Kohon: 2nd Violin
Eugene Dengel: Viola
W.Ted Hoyle: Cello


Side 1:
Peter Mennin: String Quartet No.2 (1951)
1: Allegro ardentemente (7:45)
2: Prestissimo (2:20)
3: Adagio semplice (4:03)
4: Allegro focosamente (3:15)

Aaron Copland: Two Pieces For String Quartet (1923-28)
1: Lento molto (5:04)
2: Rondino (3:55)



side 2:
Walter Piston: String Quartet No.5 (ca.1962)
1: Allegro (4:35)
2: Adagio (7:35)
3: Allegro (4:25)

George Gershwin: Lullabye For String Quartet (ca.1920) (11:35)



side 3:
Virgil Thomson: String Quartet No.2 (1932)
1: Allegro moderato (6:21)
2: Tempo di Valse (3:54)
3: Adagio sostenuto (4:52)
4: Allegretto (6:58)

Charles Ives: Scherzo For 2 Vioins, Viola and Cello (1903-14) (1:44)



side 4:
William Schuman: String Quartet No.3 (1939)
1: Introduction and Fugue (7:37)
2: Intermezzo (7:38)
3: Rondo-Variations (8:21)



side 5:
Roger Sessions: Second String Quartet (1951) (beginning) (27:16)
1: Lento;
2: Allegro appassionata Alla breve;
3: Andante tranquillo;
4: Presto



side 6:
Roger Sessions: Second String Quartet (conclusion)
5: Adagio (5:21)

Howard Hanson: Quartet In One Movement,Opus 23 (ca.1927) (17:50)
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