Showing posts with label Billy Bang. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Billy Bang. Show all posts

10 July 2023

JEANNE LEE QUARTET "UNNA, 1992"


 

Jeanne Lee, vocals
Billy Bang, violin
Peter Kowald, double bass, vocals
Andrew Cyrille, drums


1. Subway Couple (JL) 7:20 + Peace Choral (Jay Clayton) / Free Space (S. Freeman) 11:30 + Dance In Congo (BB) 10:30 + Gate Gate Paragate (PK) 9:30 (38:50)
2. No. 11 (AC)  (22:11)


Recorded at the Jazznacht in Unna, Germany on September 26, 1992
(pre-fm)

5 April 2023

UPCOMING RELEASE XXIII

 

Good news!

Cadillac Records will resissue a veritable gem this month (around April 21).

You can choose between vinyl (straight re-release) or a CD which includes - apart from the original LP - also parts of a hitherho unreleased follow-up session.

More informations and pre-order is available at the label's Bandcamp page.

28 December 2018

BILLY BANG "SWEET SPACE / UNTITLED GIFT" (8TH HARMONIC BREAKDOWN, 1979/82)




SWEET SPACE:

Billy Bang, violin
Luther Thomas, alto & tenor saxophone
Butch Morris, cornet
Curtis Clark, piano
Wilber Morris, bass
Steve McCall, drums

1. A Pebble Is A Small Rock (Alternate Take)     14:09
2. Sweet Space (Alternate Take)     4:43
3. Loweski For Frank (Alternate Take)     12:13
4. Music For The Love Of It (Alternate Take)     4:23
5. A Pebble Is A Small Rock     16:37
6. Sweet Space     5:09
7. Loweski For Frank (T.F.R.)     12:50
8. Music For The Love Of It     5:44

------

UNTITLED GIFT:

Billy Bang, violin, yokobue flute, congas, bells
Don Cherry, pocket trumpet, flute, bells
Wilber Morris, bass
Denis Charles, drums

1. Echovamp 1678     12:08
2. Night Sequence  5:52
3. The Kora Song     6:05
4. Maat     11:53
5. Levitation For Santana     4:18
6. Focus On Sanity  4:25


"Sweet Space" recorded at the Loeb Student Center, New York University, November 15, 1979. Tracks 5 - 8 previously released on LP Anima 12741 (USA) - tracks 1 to 4 previously unreleased.

"Untitled Gift" recorded at OAO Studio, Brooklyn, New York, February 7, 1982. Previously released on LP Anima 3BG9 (USA).

Both CDs were mastered from the original source tapes.
8th Harmonic Breakdown – 8thHB 8005-6 (US, 2004)

25 October 2017

The Jazz Doctors- intensive care 1983, FLAC, lame



Here's an update of a post originally published back in 2008, for two reasons basically. First, there was a request for a repost, and secondly, it provides an opportunity to commemorate John Jack, who was the proprietor of the Cadillac label which released this record back in 1983.

An obituary can be found here:

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/sep/24/john-jack-obituary.

The rest of the post is as it was.

The Jazz Doctors - 'Intensive Care'
The Jazz Doctors: -
Frank Lowe - saxophone
Billy Bang - violin
Dennis Charles - drums
Raphael Garrett - bass

I think they only made one record (as The Jazz Doctors), although I have 2 live tapes and there might be more ?...?

Intensive Care was made for John Jack's Cadillac Records in the UK in the second half of 1983.
Anecdotally, only a few weeks after Bang & Dennis Charles had a punch-up on the bandstand in Germany, resulting in Charles losing a tooth..

The tunes on this are written by Frank Lowe (x2)
Butch Morris
Rashied Ali
Billy Bang
Jackie McLean
Ornette Coleman

I've always loved the 2nd side - but now that I listen to it again, the 1st side's not too bad either<

Worth adding is that the Cadillac label is well worth a visit, at http://www.cadillacjazz.co.uk/

The Ogun label is there too, Cadillac releases include some original vinyl pressings still available (as detailed by Wallofsound elsewhere)as well as CDs on both Cadillac and other distributed labels.

David Murray, Mike Osborne, Joe Harriott, Louis Moholo, Elton Dean, Chris McGregor etc etc etc

John & Hazel have been supporting this music for longer than many of us have been walking the planet. I'd urge support for them, and the acquisition of some great music in the process.

sermon endeth here - enjoy the Jazz Doctors."

21 September 2017

Ahmed Abdullah Sextet live at Ali's Alley, NY, 1978


Yet another repost, from early 2013, this one with reference to another loft turned performance space in NY, Ali's Alley.

Following on from the former posting of the Group live in 1987, here is an older date from 1978 with some of the same players. As I said in that post, some of the members of the Group emerged during the loft movement in the 1970s. This was a musicians' initiative to create their own spaces for players to express themselves and interact with others. Perhaps the most well-known was Sam Rivers' Studio Rivbea, and another was Ali's Alley, run by Rashied Ali who was the drummer with John Coltrane during his last days, before launching a solo career with his own group. Ali made a duo record with Frank Lowe in the early 70s and the latter can also be heard on this date.

As I said in the former post, both Abdullah and Bang emerged as major players on the loft scene during the 70s and Frank Lowe was very much a part of that scene as well, having cut his debut record for the legendary ESP label, "Black Beings" with, among others, Rashied Sinan on drums who is "coincidentally" also on this date. So it's all interlinked.

Close to two hours in all here with music, though tending towards the free side, that still has a strong rhythmic pulse and melodic core. Lively, propulsive, energetic, thorougly enjoyable. Dig in!

The sonics on this recording may not be the optimal as this clearly is an audience recording, also capturing the ambience of the space in which it was performed. But don't let detract from the joyous and uplifting music on display here!

The facts:


Abdullah Ahmed Sextet

NYC, Ali's Alley

July 12, 1978

Ahmed Abdullah - tp
Frank Lowe - ts
Billy Bang - viol
Jay Hoggard - vb
Jerome Hunter - b
Rashied Sinan - dr

No set list given, so if anyone can help out, it would be appreciated.

Jay Hoggart is here on vibraphone and today teaches music at Wesleyan. Jerome Hunter, the bassist, has played with Sun Ra, among others, another common link.

Abdullah is still active today, educator, curator and musician and writer, though his book on his years with Sun Ra still remains unpublished. He maintains his own web site which can be accessed here:

http://www.ahmedian.com/

His curatorial work in later years has been linked to thia place:

http://sistasplace.org/

which is in the Bedford-Stuyvesant area of Brooklyn, one node in a network of community organising. A place to check out for jazz-loving brooklynites and newyorkers?

There'll be more posts on the NY 70s/80s club scene, so stay tuned!

20 September 2017

The Group live in Cambridge, Mass. 1987




I am reposting this one from late 2012 because it very much ties in with the theme of NY loft/club jazz in the 70s, although this specific one was later.

There has been jubilation in jazz circles about the release, after 26 years, of a live recording by the Group at the Jazz Center of New York on 13 September 1986. The tapes had languished in Ahmed Abdullah's possession ever since until the Nobusiness record label out of Vilnius, Lithuania, was told about them and expressed an interest in releasing them. The cd (and an lp) is now out in limited circulation of 1000 copies so readers are advised to rush out and get a copy before it disappears. However, it is not the only recording in circulation. In the course of the short life of the Group, up to the end of 1987, they also gigged around the East Coast, including a date in Cambridge, Mass., on 21 January 1987. This is briefly mentioned in Abdullah's liner notes to the cd release. There is no mention of the gig being recorded, so this is in all likelihood an unofficial audience recording.

Who was the Group? It was a collective composed of five members, some of whom had cut their teeth on the NY free jazz scene in the 60s (Brown, Cyrille) and others who had emerged as part of of the loft scene in the 70s (Bang, Sirone, Abdullah). After the loft scene had pretty much subsided, there was a scramble to look for new opportunities for players on a NY scene less hospitable to innovative jazz than before and to look for new collaborative models to work from. So, in that spirit, there was no leader of the Group and each member was encouraged to contribute their own compositions, even though the repertoire made room for covers of standards. As Abdullah writes, there have been several revivals of the Group, buth with the passing away of Brown, Bang, Sirone and also of Fred Hopkins (who is on the cd, though not on this gig), replacements have become a duty of necessity.

In the pic above (a flyer for their very first appearance, courtesy of the Nobusiness website), all five members are present and these are the five you will hear on this Cambridge date.

The Group
Cambridge, Mass. (USA)
1369 Club
January 21, 1987


Marion Brown as
Ahmed Abdullah tp
Billy Bang violin
Sirone b
Andrew Cyrille dr

1) 16:47 Assunta
2) 08:47 Warm Valley
3) 14:16 Fortified Nucleus
4) 06:21 La Placita – cut -
5) 17:39 cont´d - La Placita
6) 17:18 The Glow Of Awareness
7) 12:13 The Music In Us
8) 08:12 I Remember Clifford
9) 21:43 Restore Africa

This is a historical recording of five great musicians. I'm not going to single out anyone in particular, though I would like to say that anything that has Marion Brown on it is pretty much essential. All five should be familar to followers of the blog (and parenthetically, I should try to find more from Abdullah).

Two hours of goodness for y'all.

28 May 2017

TTT WITH BILLY BANG - LONDON UNDERGROUND WITH BILLI





A.  London Underground With Billi

B1. Experiment 2
B2. Duo 1
B3. Duo 2
B4. Duo 3


Heinz Wollny, bass
A.R. Penck, drums, piano
Frank Wollny, guitar
Billy Bang, violin, piano

LP Rip




8 April 2017

A.R. PENCK - GOING THROUGH (PRIVATE RELEASE, 1980s)




A. Part One

B. Part Two


William Parker, bass
Dennis "King" Charles, drums
A.R. Penck, piano
Frank Lowe, tenor saxophone
Billy Bang, violin
Jeanne Lee, vocals


Recorded at Fred Hirsch Recording Studio, New York City

LP Rip


22 October 2015

Billy Bang/Don Cherry Quartet Tramps NYC 3-26-84



Original notes:
unknown aud source>shn>wav>flac(level 8)

total time 45:46

Billy Bang  Violin
Don Cherry  Trumpet, Piano
Wilbur Morris  Bass
Dennis Charles  Drums

One of only a handful of gigs they did in Support of the "Untitled Gift" LP
-----------
originally a punkjazz seed in shn, I did the shn>wav>flac, other than that it's the same.

flac fingerprints:
bang-cherry1984-03-24_01.flac:4f342d42664345fb82d8e49ad47a7b09
bang-cherry1984-03-24_02.flac:2a282b941dde4e2fea89fa352cfc1598
bang-cherry1984-03-24_03.flac:a656e32323d54ae7c743aa33d7511a0f

4 September 2014

Billy Bang/John Lindberg-duo 1979(anima lp 1bl-36)+B.Bang-Distinction without Difference-1980



Update 4-9-2014
A repost of the great 1979 Anima duo LP + Distinction without Difference, Billy Bang's 1980 Hat Hut (IRO4)LP
No Syrup, no EQ,no tracking... just light manual De Click 


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(POST-12-8-2008)Another timeless relic from the halcyon
years when the New York loft scene was burgeoning with fresh talent. Lindberg and Bang are both particular favourites of mine ,discovered years ago whilst stumbling across those early new york string trio records on black saint. Lindberg was a teenage prodigy who was playing with the likes of Jimmy Lyons, Roscoe Mitchell, Anthony Braxton and Sunny Murray while barely 18. Those more familiar with either of the two's later work may struggle at first to find a way into this session which is about as thorny as anything from the period. the pieces are largely improvised and make full use of extended techniques like col legno , and scrapping, and even what sounds like tapping the soundpegs inside the resonators of the instruments. This is the only ANIMA lp i've ever come across ,it appears to have been an artist run label that was very short lived.. ive included scans of the contemporaneous catalog in the files. this is truly superb and still sounds very fresh. i recommend the flac's ,but will also upload the mp3's. BTW/ im hoping someone has the collaboration by David Murray and Charles Tyler mentioned in the catalog as the next forthcomming release. enjoy!!

14 December 2013

TTT - BE COOL IN MUNICH - LIVE CONCERT (PRIVATE LABEL, 1985)





Heinz Wollny, bass, percussion
Butch Morris, cornet, percussion
Dennis Charles, drums, percussion
Frank Wollny, guitar, bass, percussion
A.R. Penck, piano, flute, drums
Frank Lowe, saxophone, percussion
Billy Bang, violin, flute, drums, percussion


LPs 1-4 from the 6 albums  listed on the rear cover, 5-6 are unreleased.

Konzept Raum Alptraum

A.R. Penck's private label 16-19

Vinyl Rip

17 October 2013

TTT ‎– ISLE IN THE OCEAN (MUSIC CORPORATION, 1984)





A1. Xtrmpnieee
A2. N.Y. Situation I
B1. Isle In The Ocean
B2. N.Y. Situation II


Heinz Wollny, bass
A.R. Penck, drums
Frank Wollny, guitar
Frank Lowe, saxophone
Billy Bang Walker, violin


Produced 29 May 1984 at N.Y. Dimensional Sound Studio

Music Corporation, no number

Vinyl Rip

22 August 2013

Frank Lowe Orchestra-Lowe and behold., Musicworks 3002,1977


This ones for Aussie Tony, not my favorite Lowe by any means... flawed by the very high standards of ' the Flam', and other magnificent masterpieces ...by F.Lowe who simply was one of the of the greatest period.!

the AACM and more specifically Wadada Leo Smith;s influence is obvious here

My own dessert island selections, apart from 'the Flam' are the ferociously beautiful collaborations with Joe Mcphee on legend streets one and two.... check them out on the Cadence website!

and yeah..Polly Bradfield, is subtly brilliant  here , she should be as famous as John Zorn , who doesn't to my ears sound entirely comfortable.

Enjoy.

14 April 2012

String Trio Of New York - Live in Lovere '79


Another performance by this wonderful avant-garde chamber jazz group here.

Rec. live in Lovere, Italy, on June 16, 1979
(mics recording)

Billy Bang,violin
James Emery,guitar
John Lindberg,bass

1. Space Walk [B.Bang]/Subway Ride With Giuseppi Logan [B.Bang] 18:18
2. T'wixt C And D [J.Lindberg]/Abjunctinuity [J.Emery] 14:51
3. Bang's Bounce [B.Bang] 05:35

Total Time 38:45

Bang's Bounce

5 June 2011

Billy Bang Sextet - Sweet Space - Anima 12741


Billy Bang Sextet
Sweet Space

Billy Bang - violin
Frank Lowe - tenor sax
Luther Thomas - alto sax
Butch Morris - cornet
Curtis Clark - piano
Wilbur Morris - bass
Steve McCall - drums


1. A Pebble Is A Small Rock 16:57
2. Sweet Space 5:21
3. Loweski For Frank (T.F.R.) 13:05
4. Music For The Love Of It 5:56

total 41:22

Recorded live at the Loeb Student Center north lobby, New York University, November 15, 1979.

Anima 12741 / own LP-rip
Owombat, May 2011


Hi all,
over at 9 grey chairs (http://ninegreychairs.blogspot.com/) there is much more to be found from this great musician, human being and personal friend. Sweet Space was not among them, so I decided to .flac my LP (some mp3´s of this are floating around in blogland) to the honour of Bill and for the pleasure of you

25 March 2010

Billy Bang Sextet - Live in Moers '80

















This time i want to exagerrate : two Ali on drums!

Rec. live at the "9th Moers Festival", Moers, Germany,
on May 24, 1980 (mics recording)

Billy Bang,violin
Lawrence "Butch" Morris,cornet
Curtis Clark,piano
Wilber Morris,bass
Muhammad Ali & Rashid Ali,drums

1. Track #1 (16:13)
2. Track #2 (18:22)
3. Track #3 (11:37)
4. Track #4 [inc.] (14:33)

Total Time 1:00:46

19 December 2009

String Trio Of New York - Live in Moers '79


I've taped this brief
performance during
the 8th edition of the
Moers Festival :
during those years
the German Festival
was really a "special
place" where, first or
after, all the emergent
players would be passed.









Rec. live at the 8th "Moers Festival", Moers, Germany,
on June 3, 1979 (mics recording)

Billy Bang,violin
James Emery,guitar
John Lindberg,bass

1. Bang's Bounce (20:57)
2. Abjunctinuity (07:46)
3. Subway Ride With Giuseppi Logan (06:47)
4. Encore (03:11)

Total Time 38:43

21 June 2008

Billy Bang at Kuumbwa Jazz Center FLAC MP3 pics

               Billy Bang Quartet

 

            Kuumbwa Jazz Center, Santa Cruz, CA

            November, 11,2004

 

Billy Bang - violin 

Muziki Roberson - piano

Todd Nicholson – bass

Darell Green - drums

 

 

            01   Yo, Ho Chi Minh is in the House              12:21

02    Mr Syms                                                    12:11

03    Moments for KIAMIA                                08:31

04   At Play in the Field of the Lord                09:41

 

 

My recording made with a Shure mic, Sony  DAT, edited w WavLab.

18 March 2008

Billy Bang, Dennis Charles - 'Bangception'

Serviceton has very kindly upped a great Billy Bang recording, and also supplied some further backgound to Bang, (many thanks, serviceton):-

most of Billy Bang's back catalogue is still in print - including his great 80s records on Soul Note (stuff arcturus is referring to above), and the String Trio of New York albums on Black Saint (recommended).There are 2 albums more recently issued that reflect on his Vietnam experience, feat. Threadgill, Butch Morris, F Lowe etc - these are really worthwhile too. (+ other titles avail. that I haven't heard)

This one, is a duo with Dennis Charles - 'Banception'. Relased early 80s on Hatart, and reissued in the late 90's on CD. Although some shops seem to have copies of the CD, the Hat website shows it as Out Of Print.These files ripped from vinyl though, not CD. The LP had an amazing dull brown cover, which I've included a scan of, for those that dig 'dull'The music is far from it.

mp3 at 320kbps

http://rapidshare.com/files/100360853/Bangception.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/100361086/Bangception.part2.rar

11 March 2008

Billy Bang's The Fire Within - Live NYC 1985


Billy Bang is not an artist who got onto my radar until recently when I heard him featured on a David Murray recording, so I don't know an awful lot about the history of his career.

What I do know is that "Billy Bang" is a nickname that stuck, and conveniently enabled the guy to label his albums with names like "Big Bang Theory" and "Bang On".

I guess there haven't been too many jazz violinists around, particularly in latter years, but Billy has a very nice tone, and he can really swing. This concert has some great numbers in it. The marimba (not an instrument you hear that often) makes an interesting accompanyment to Bang's violin, and there's some great work from Parker.

This is a very exiting concert with some great soloing, much appreciated by a vociferous audience.

Details:-

Billy Bang's The Fire Within
Neither/Nor
NYC
December 30 1985


Billy Bang Violin
Ahmed Abdullah Trumpet (2nd set only)
Thurman Barker Marimba
William Parker Bass
Zen Matsura Drums

Approximate setlist

1. Intro
2. Going Through/Echo Vamp
3. The New Seers
4. Music For The Love Of It
5. The Glow Of Awareness
6. The Mold Of Man

tracks 1-3 are the complete first settracks 5,6 are the incomplete 2nd set

Thanks to punkjazz for seeding. Flac and MP3 links in comments. Enjoy.