Colors in Thirty-Third

Colors in Thirty-Third
Studio album by Muhal Richard Abrams
Released	1987
Recorded	19 December 1986
Genre	Jazz
Length	41:05
Label	Black Saint
Producer	Giovanni Bonandrini
Muhal Richard Abrams chronology

Last updated March 21, 2019

Colors in Thirty-Third is an album by Muhal Richard Abrams released on the Italian Black Saint label in 1987 and featuring performances of seven of Abrams' compositions by Abrams, John Blake, John Purcell, Dave Holland, Fred Hopkins and Andrew Cyrille.

Muhal Richard Abrams was an American educator, administrator, composer, arranger, clarinetist, cellist, and jazz pianist in the free jazz medium. He recorded and toured the United States, Canada and Europe with his orchestra, sextet, quartet, duo and as a solo pianist. His musical affiliations constitute a "who's who" of the jazz world, including Max Roach, Dexter Gordon, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Art Farmer, Sonny Stitt, Anthony Braxton, and The Art Ensemble of Chicago.

Black Saint and Soul Note are two affiliated Italian independent record labels. Since their conception in the 1970s, they have released albums from a variety of influential jazz musicians, particularly in the genre of free jazz.

John Raymond Purcell is an American jazz saxophonist.

Reception

The Allmusic review awarded the album 4 stars stating "Muhal Richard Abrams constantly varied the lineups on the seven numbers that comprised this 1986 session, alternating between trio, quartet, quintet and sextet pieces... Abrams as usual was an inspiring force as an instrumentalist and conceptualist".^[1] The Penguin Guide to Jazz awarded the album 3 stars stating "This might be thought to be Purcell's finest hour, but everyone contributes. The basic personnel divides into trio, quartet, quintet, and for the title piece and the significantly named "Introspection"; full sextet".^[2]

The Penguin Guide to Jazz is a reference work containing an encyclopedic directory of jazz recordings on CD which are currently available in Europe or the United States. The first nine editions were compiled by Richard Cook and Brian Morton, two well known chroniclers of jazz resident in the United Kingdom.

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	^[1]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz	^[2]

Track listing

All compositions by Muhal Richard Abrams

"Drumman Cyrille" - 6:03
"Miss Richarda" - 5:48
"Munktmunk" - 6:25
"Soprano Song" - 6:06
"Piano-Cello Song" - 8:34
"Colors in Thirty-Third" - 6:37
"Introspection" - 6:28

Recorded December 19, 1986 at Sound Ideas Studio, New York City

Personnel

Muhal Richard Abrams - piano
John Blake (tracks 4, 6 & 7) - violin
John Purcell - soprano saxophone, bass clarinet, tenor saxophone
Dave Holland (tracks 5, 6 & 7) - bass, cello
Fred Hopkins - bass
Andrew Cyrille (all except track 2) - drums

The piano is an acoustic, stringed musical instrument invented in Italy by Bartolomeo Cristofori around the year 1700, in which the strings are struck by hammers. It is played using a keyboard, which is a row of keys that the performer presses down or strikes with the fingers and thumbs of both hands to cause the hammers to strike the strings.

The violin, sometimes known as a fiddle, is a wooden string instrument in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and highest-pitched instrument in the family in regular use. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino piccolo and the kit violin, but these are virtually unused. The violin typically has four strings tuned in perfect fifths, and is most commonly played by drawing a bow across its strings, though it can also be played by plucking the strings with the fingers (pizzicato) and by striking the strings with the wooden side of the bow.

The soprano saxophone is a higher-register variety of the saxophone, a woodwind instrument, invented in the 1840s. The soprano is the third smallest member of the saxophone family, which consists of the soprillo, sopranino, soprano, alto, tenor, baritone, bass, contrabass saxophone and tubax. Soprano saxophones are the smallest saxophone in common use.

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References

1 2 Allmusic Review accessed 11 July 2011
1 2 Cook, Richard; Brian Morton (2006) [1992]. The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings. The Penguin Guide to Jazz (8th ed.). London: Penguin. p. 5. ISBN 978-0-141-02327-4.

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[Allmusic-1] 1 2 Allmusic Review accessed 11 July 2011

[Penguin_Guide-2] 1 2 Cook, Richard; Brian Morton (2006) [1992]. The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings. The Penguin Guide to Jazz (8th ed.). London: Penguin. p. 5. ISBN 978-0-141-02327-4.