| Digger's Harvest | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Live album by | ||||
| Released | 1999 | |||
| Recorded | November 5 and 7, 1998 | |||
| Venue | Podewil, Berlin | |||
| Genre | Free improvisation | |||
| Length | 1:18:28 | |||
| Label | FMP CD 103 | |||
| Producer | Jost Gebers | |||
| Alexander von Schlippenbach chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Tony Oxley chronology | ||||
| ||||
Digger's Harvest is a live album by pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach and drummer Tony Oxley. It was recorded on November 5 and 7, 1998, at the Podewil in Berlin, and was released in 1999 by FMP/Free Music Production. [1] [2] [3] [4]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [1] |
| The Encyclopedia of Popular Music |  [5] |
| The Penguin Guide to Jazz | [6] |
In a review for AllMusic, Steve Loewy stated that the album "find[s] both of these marvelous musicians in fine form, the energy level rarely abating," and wrote: "Unobtrusive, yet continuously creative, Oxley is the Max Roach of free jazz. When paired with von Schlippenbach, the results can be -- as they are here -- a successful integration of continuous invention and refined sensibility." [1]
The authors of The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings awarded the album a full 4 stars, calling it "a fine record," and commenting: "The titles are drawn from the names of poisonous plants, and there is a sharp and sometimes toxic edge to these improvisations... Oxley is the dominant presence almost throughout... simply because what he plays is more immediately compelling. Yet Schlippenbach is worth listening to with some care as well." [6]
Bill Shoemaker of JazzTimes described the album as "a timely reminder of Schlippenbach's many achievements and how... [he] continues to create compelling music." He remarked: "Given Schlippenbach and Oxley's respective histories... it's odd that they hadn't previously worked as a duo. It proves to be an excellent match, though." [7]
Author Todd S. Jenkins noted: "The more European seasoning of Oxley's percussing, moderated by an abstruse understanding of the jazz continuum, pays off in pulling deeper jazziness out of the pianist. The long opening track, 'Grains and Roots', almost exhausts the listener with its endless flow of sonic activity. The series of shorter improvs in various tints of blue and red grants us the second wind to endure the equally long and stimulating title track." [8]
All music by Alexander von Schlippenbach and Tony Oxley.
Samuel Carthorne Rivers was an American jazz musician and composer. Though most famously a tenor saxophonist, he also performed on soprano saxophone, bass clarinet, flute, harmonica, piano and viola.
Evan Shaw Parker is a British tenor and soprano saxophone player who plays free improvisation.
Kenneth Vincent John Wheeler, OC was a Canadian composer and trumpet and flugelhorn player, based in the U.K. from the 1950s onwards.
Tony Oxley was an English free improvising drummer and electronic musician.
Barry John Guy is an English composer and double bass player. His range of interests encompasses early music, contemporary composition, jazz and improvisation, and he has worked with a wide variety of orchestras in the UK and Europe. He studied at the Guildhall School of Music under Buxton Orr, and later taught there.
Paul William Rutherford was an English free improvising trombonist.
Alexander von Schlippenbach is a German jazz pianist and composer. He came to prominence in the 1960s playing free jazz in a trio with saxophonist Evan Parker and drummer Paul Lovens, and as a member of the Globe Unity Orchestra. Since the 1980s, Von Schlippenbach has explored the work of more traditional jazz composers such as Jelly Roll Morton or Thelonious Monk.
Leaf Palm Hand is a live album featuring a performance by pianist Cecil Taylor and drummer Tony Oxley recorded in Berlin on July 17, 1988 as part of month long series of concerts by Taylor and released on the FMP label.
Melancholy is a live album by Cecil Taylor's Workshop Ensemble featuring Evan Parker, Barry Guy and Tony Oxley recorded on September 30, 1990, at the Bechstein Concert Hall in Berlin and released on the FMP label.
Pakistani Pomade is an album by German free jazz pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach's Trio, featuring saxophonist Evan Parker and percussionist Paul Lovens, recorded in Germany in 1972 for the FMP label.
Swinging the Bim is a live album by German free jazz pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach's Trio with saxophonist Evan Parker and percussionist Paul Lovens recorded in Amsterdam in 1998 for the FMP label.
Axel Dörner is a German trumpeter, pianist, and composer.
Piano Duets: Live in Berlin 93/94 is an album by Aki Takase and Alexander von Schlippenbach.
Live in Japan '96 is a live album by the Berlin Contemporary Jazz Orchestra. One track was recorded in July 1996 at Nakano Public Hall in Tokyo, while the remaining tracks were recorded in August 1996 at Shin-Kobe Oriental Theatre in Kobe. The album was released in 1997 by DIW. The music was conducted by Alexander von Schlippenbach and Aki Takase.
Smoke is an album by pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach and drummer Sunny Murray. It was recorded on October 6, 1989, at FMP-Studios in Berlin, and was released in 1990 by FMP/Free Music Production.
Alarm is a live album by saxophonist Peter Brötzmann. It was recorded on November 12, 1981, at NDR Studio 10 in Hamburg, Germany, during the 164th NDR-Jazzworkshop, and was released in 1983 by FMP/Free Music Production. On the album, Brötzmann is joined by saxophonists Willem Breuker and Frank Wright, trumpeter Toshinori Kondo, trombonists Hannes Bauer and Alan Tomlinson, pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach, bassist Harry Miller, and drummer Louis Moholo. In 2006, the album was reissued on CD by Atavistic Records as part of their Unheard Music Series.
Berlin Djungle is a live album by the Brötzmann Clarinet Project, led by Peter Brötzmann, and featuring an eleven-piece band that was assembled for a concert at JazzFest Berlin. Documenting a performance of a single 47-minute work, it was recorded on November 4, 1984, at the Delphi Theater in Berlin, and was released on vinyl in 1987 by FMP/Free Music Production. In 2004, it was reissued on CD by Atavistic Records as part of their Unheard Music Series. On the album, Brötzmann is joined by clarinetists Tony Coe, J.D. Parran, Ernst-Ludwig Petrowsky, Louis Sclavis, and John Zorn, trumpeter Toshinori Kondo, trombonists Alan Tomlinson and Johannes Bauer, double bassist William Parker, and drummer Tony Oxley.
3 Points and a Mountain is a live album by saxophonist Peter Brötzmann, pianist Misha Mengelberg, and percussionist Han Bennink. It was recorded on February 26, 1979, at the Akademie der Kunste in Berlin, and was initially released on vinyl later that year by the FMP label. In 2000, FMP reissued the album on CD, with previously unreleased tracks, under the title 3 Points and a Mountain... Plus, and, in 2022, it was reissued on vinyl by the Cien Fuegos imprint of Trost Records.
European Echoes is an album by trumpeter Manfred Schoof on which he is joined by members of the Manfred Schoof Orchestra, a large ensemble of free jazz musicians. Consisting of a single half-hour track, it was recorded during June 1969 in Bremen, Germany, and was issued on vinyl later that year by FMP as the label's inaugural release. It appeared in three editions, each of which had its own cover design. In 2002, the album was reissued on CD by Atavistic Records as part of their Unheard Music Series, and in 2013, it was reissued on vinyl by Cien Fuegos, an imprint of Trost Records.
Tangens is a live album by saxophonist and flutist Sam Rivers and pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach. It was recorded on November 8, 1997, at the Total Music Meeting held at the Podewil in Berlin, and was released in 1998 by the FMP label. In 2015, it was reissued as a digital download by Rivers's RivBea Music.