#john gilmore

[jazz-improvisation]

Saxophonist John Gilmore (born: September 28, 1931)

photo: Peter Yatess

[ozkar-krapo]

SUN RA & His ASTRO GALACTIC INFINITY ARKESTRA

"Discipline 27-II"

(LP. Strut / Art Yard. 2017 / rec. 1973) [US]

[foreign-lawns]

Visit Original Link

[vinylspinning]

Sun Ra and his Solar Arkestra: Visits Planet Earth (1966) [Recorded 1958/1956]

For everyday fans struggling to wrap their heads around the free jazz insanity of The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra's twin volumes in 1966, Visits Planet Earth must have felt like a welcome return to less extreme and challenging sound experiments.

Emphasis on "return," because although it was released in 1966, Visits Planet Earth collected recordings dating back to 1956 and '58, when jazz's ultimate space cadet and his Solar Arkestra were undergoing a radical musical mutation.

Indeed, these "Franken-Sessions" constructed a bridge between the ensemble's big-band bebop roots and the adventurous space jazz explorations undertaken by the "Golden Era" Arkestra, including John Gilmore on tenor sax and Marshall Allen on alto sax, among others.

To wit, while their music is bebop-adjacent, the titles and themes of tracks like "Planet Earth," "Reflections in Blue," and "Saturn" signaled some of the Arkestra's first steps into Afrofuturism, which established their mythology as extraterrestrial travelers.

The swaggering "Saturn," in particular, would become a staple of Sun Ra's live performances for decades to come, and while "Two Tones" is pretty much pure bop, "Eve" contains a "blocky," percussive Ra piano solo that some critics compared to Thelonious Monk.

Also according to critics ('cos what do I know?), one of my favorite numbers, "Overtones of China," was an early example of Ra's "exotica" influence, meshing bombastic percussion (see also "El Viktor") and eerie flute solos that hinted at otherworldly textures yet to come.

Most of my favorite Sun Ra material inhabits this sonic realm, and much of it came neatly juxtaposed with eye-catching, hand-drawn cover art and multi-colored label variations (red, blue, green, whatever color was available) pressed by Ra's independent Saturn Records.

My LP is obviously a reissue, but its cover, like many from this period, was crafted by Sun Ra himself and unspecified Arkestra members, armed with nothing but paper, markers, crayons, and paint, while they shared communal living spaces in New York and later Philadelphia.

Like many elements of Sun Ra's "outsider" career, which scraped by largely without the benefits of traditional music industry infrastructure (major labels, distributors, etc.), what started as a matter of economic necessity, wound up turning D.I.Y. designs into fine art.

But let's get back to the music, because maybe the final word on Visits Planet Earth is that its clear melodies, structured compositions, and defined rhythms provide a far more inviting entry point into the Sun Ra discography than his mind-warping free jazz works.

Give it a spin and I think you will agree ...

More Sun Ra: The Futuristic Sounds of Sun Ra, The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Vol. 1, The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Vol. 2, The Magic City, Angels and Demons at Play, Interstellar Low Ways, Atlantis, Space is the Place.

[doomandgloomfromthetomb]

Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers - The Half Note, New York City, June 11, 1965

It's always a good idea to listen to Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers. But it's an even better idea when the lineup includes John Gilmore, taking a rare leave of absence from the Sun Ra Arkestra in 1965. Gilmore stepped in around this time when Wayne Shorter vacated the Messengers tenor sax seat to join Miles Davis' Second Great Quintet.

Though Blakey's band is a radically different context than Sun Ra's, Gilmore sounds right at home, joining Gary Bartz, John Hicks and Victor Sproles (Lee Morgan had "some kind of an accident" and was out of commission this evening) for a set of smoking hard bop, broadcast live over the late-night FM airwaves in stereo.

Art Says: As far as I have seen, jazz is the highest level of performance on a musical instrument. It's a spiritual music — there's no music like it. And people don't realize ... they go up there — they don't see no music up there. We don't know what we're going to play; when they hit, everything is "Bam! Bam!" just like that, on time, like they were reading music up there. And you never hear the same arrangement twice. We make so many mistakes — I do, because I'm changing things around. But they're professional enough to cover it. If they make a mistake, I teach 'em: go back, make that same mistake, and make something out of it. Because that's the way jazz was born — somebody goofed! So you go ahead; it's not a mistake — you just build.

[paprikasalesman]

Sun Ra with new Walkman out on the town

[dirtylowdown2]

Sun Ra & John Gilmore on the cover of Coda

(June/July 1975)

[jazzdailyblog]

"The Artistry of Freddie Hubbard:" A Bold Leap Forward in Jazz

Introduction: Freddie Hubbard’s 1963 album “The Artistry of Freddie Hubbard” marks a pivotal moment in the career of one of jazz’s greatest trumpeters. As his first release on the Impulse! label, the album showcases Hubbard’s evolving artistry, bridging the hard bop traditions he honed with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and the freer, exploratory spirit that would characterize his later work.…

"The Artistry of Freddie Hubbard:" A Bold Leap Forward in Jazz