Browse by Artist: CONTEMPORARY JAZZ QUINTET, THE

Artist:	CONTEMPORARY JAZZ QUINTET, THE
Title:	Actions 1966-67
Label:	ATAVISTIC
Format:	CD
Price:	$13.00
Catalog #:	ALP 250CD

"Thirty-three years after it was recorded, this document remains startling. It is, on one hand, a treasure unearthed from the archives, an exceptional unknown tape from the halcyon days of free jazz. But more than that, it is what was at the time occasionally referred to as "living music" -- that is, it's music in/about/of LIFE. Three decades after it was waxed, it is still very much alive. For many, perhaps most, free music fans outside Denmark, this disc will be a revelation. But The Contemporary Jazz Quintet was an active part of the European free jazz movement, and trumpeter Hugh Steinmetz and alto saxophonist Franz Beckerlee were also visible in other parts of that international scene. The core of the ensemble, including bassist Steffen Andersen was formed as a quartet in '59, reportedly playing hard-bop in the Miles Davis/John Coltrane vein. There is simply nothing else like this sound in the whole gamut of free music. There have, of course, been other percussionists who have doubled on saw -- Han Bennink, Paul Lovens, Jerome Cooper, for instance. But in this case the singing saw is woven into the fabric of the ensemble; it is a deep part of the very soul of The Contemporary Jazz Quintet- a wailing, sorrowful/joyous sound that echoes the saxophone and trumpet and leads them to squalls of energy and interaction otherwise unforeseen -- this is unprecedented music, totally fresh and pulsing, at times frightening in its intensity. Music of its time. Music of our time. Startling music. Any time."

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