For Alto | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 1971 | |||
Recorded | 1969 | |||
Genre | Jazz | |||
Length | 72:58 | |||
Label | Delmark Records | |||
Anthony Braxton chronology | ||||
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For Alto is a jazz double-LP by composer/multi-reedist Anthony Braxton, recorded in 1969 and released on Delmark Records in 1971. [1] [2] Braxton performs the pieces on this album entirely on alto saxophone, with no additional musicians, instrumentation or overdubbing. Although other jazz musicians, such as Coleman Hawkins, Sonny Rollins, and Eric Dolphy, had recorded unaccompanied saxophone solos, [3] For Alto was the first jazz album composed solely of solo saxophone music. [4]
According to Braxton, For Alto came about as a result of his fascination with the solo piano music of Arnold Schoenberg, Fats Waller, and Karlheinz Stockhausen. [5] However, feeling that his skills on the piano were inadequate, he decided to create "a particular language for the saxophone." [5] He also cited the experience of a 1967 improvised solo saxophone concert during which he ran out of ideas. He recalled: "I imagined I was just going to get up there and play for one hour from pure invention, but after ten minutes I'd run through all my ideas and started to repeat myself. I felt like, 'Oh my God, and there's still fifty minutes to go!'" [6] This led to a project in which he catalogued specific, easily identifiable musical elements (for example, long sounds, trills, multiphonics, short attacks [7] ) which could then be used as "starting points or springboards to musical activity." [8] The concept would become known as "Language Music," of which For Alto is an early example. [8]
Braxton later stated that he recorded the music himself in the basement of the Parkway Community Center in Chicago, and that he "basically gave it to Delmark Records." [9] Although the published liner notes consist only of a series of diagrams, [10] he had originally intended to include a convoluted, winding essay in which, among other things, he stated: "If this record doesn't sell a million copies I will be very disappointed. Already I am making room on my mantle for a gold record and I am going to have parties and I am preparing an acceptance speech." [11] Braxton would go on to record a number of additional solo alto saxophone albums, such as Saxophone Improvisations Series F (1972) and Alto Saxophone Improvisations 1979 , and For Alto would inspire other saxophonists, such as Joe McPhee, Evan Parker, and Steve Lacy, to record their own solo albums. [12]
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
All About Jazz | (favorable) [1] |
AllMusic | [13] |
DownBeat | [14] |
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [15] |
MusicHound Jazz | [16] |
The Penguin Guide to Jazz | [17] |
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide | [18] |
Sputnikmusic | [19] |
Initial reaction to the album was mixed. In a June 1971 DownBeat review, Joe H. Klee called the album "revolutionary" and awarded it five stars. [14] In that same edition of DownBeat, tenor saxophonist Harold Land was played the track, "To Artist Murry DePillars", in a Blindfold Test. Upon hearing the track, he commented: "I think that he's a very good saxophonist... I have great respect for his technique and his control of the instrument." [20]
Four months later, however, the magazine published a second Blindfold Test, this time with saxophonist Phil Woods, in which Woods, after listening to the same track, stated: "That was terrible, I can't imagine the ego of a person thinking they can sustain a whole performance by themselves... It's not jazzy, it's not classical... it's dull... this is such an ego trip..." [21]
Recent reactions have been positive, and the album is now recognized as one of the landmarks of free jazz and improvised music. The AllMusic review by Thom Jurek stated: "For Alto is one of the greatest solo saxophone records ever made, and maybe one of the greatest recordings ever issued, period". [13] The Penguin Guide to Jazz gives For Alto a four-star rating (of a possible four) along with its "crown" token of merit, and describes it as "one of the genuinely important American recordings. While some landmark performances retain only a mystical aura of their original significance, [For Alto] remains powerfully listenable and endlessly fascinating." [17]
On All About Jazz Derek Taylor observed "This is a recording and artistic statement that completely changed the rules. Braxton's gall seemed audacious to some, but revolutionary to far more and the hindsight of history has proven this latter camp correct. His opened the gates for solo improvisatory expression for all players up to the challenge to pass through and in the intervening years many of the giants of improvised music have followed suit". [1]
Author Tom Moon included the album in his book 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die , writing: "For Alto is dizzying and maddening, dense and challenging, inventive and offputting. It's also among a handful of great solo saxophone recordings in jazz, alongside the unaccompanied tunes on Eric Dolphy's Far Cry. The sheer amount of music here is overwhelming... For Alto is a riveting blast of fresh air, radically adventurous early gems from one of the most important thinkers in jazz." [22]
In an article for Jazzwise, Kevin Le Gendre stated: "Braxton's alto saxophone is like the sound of acid dripped from the beating wings of hummingbirds, a charmingly corrosive caress. Through brilliant dynamics, lyricism, harmonic invention and pure sound trickery, Braxton showed a single horn could be a complete orchestra." [23]
Nate Wooley, writing for Sound American, commented: "a series of solo compositions are presented based roughly on the different language types, and it is a fascinating document of the concept, while also being an enjoyably rigorous example of his mastery of the alto saxophone... In each piece, Braxton very clearly, almost obsessively, works with one language type, exhausting its permutations finally before moving to the next." [8]
All tracks are written by Anthony Braxton
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Dedicated to Multi-Instrumentalist Jack Gell" | 0:42 |
2. | "To Composer John Cage" | 9:30 |
3. | "To Artist Murry DePillars" | 4:17 |
4. | "To Pianist Cecil Taylor" | 5:18 |
Total length: | 19:47 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Dedicated to Ann and Peter Allen" | 12:54 |
Total length: | 12:54 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Dedicated to Susan Axelrod" | 10:24 |
2. | "To My Friend Kenny McKenny" | 10:06 |
Total length: | 20:30 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Dedicated to Multi-Instrumentalist Leroy Jenkins" | 19:47 |
Total length: | 19:47 |
Anthony Braxton is an American experimental composer, educator, music theorist, improviser and multi-instrumentalist who is best known for playing saxophones, particularly the alto. Braxton grew up on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois, and was a key early member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians. He received great acclaim for his 1969 double-LP record For Alto, the first full-length album of solo saxophone music.
3 Compositions of New Jazz is the debut album by Anthony Braxton released in 1968 on the Delmark label. It features performances by Braxton, violinist Leroy Jenkins and trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith with pianist Muhal Richard Abrams appearing on two tracks.
Conference of the Birds is an album by the Dave Holland Quartet, recorded on 30 November 1972 and released on ECM the following year—Holland's debut as bandleader and fourth project for the label. The quartet features alto saxophonist Anthony Braxton, tenor saxophonist Sam Rivers, and percussionist Barry Altschul.
Sound is the debut album by free jazz saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell, recorded in 1966 and released on the Delmark label. It features performances by Mitchell, Lester Bowie, Malachi Favors, Maurice McIntyre, Lester Lashley and Alvin Fielder. The CD reissue includes two takes of "Sound", which were edited together to form the original LP version, and an alternative take of "Ornette".
Levels and Degrees of Light is the debut album by Muhal Richard Abrams which was released on the Delmark label in 1968 and features performances of three of Abrams' compositions by Abrams, Anthony Braxton, Leroy Jenkins, Charles Clark, Gordon Emmanuel, Maurice McIntyre, Thurman Barker and Leonard Jones with vocals by Penelope Taylor and a poetry recitation by David Moore.
Afternoon of a Georgia Faun is an album by American jazz saxophonist Marion Brown recorded on August 10, 1970 and released on ECM later that year. The sextet features fellow saxophonists Anthony Braxton and Bennie Maupin, pianist Chick Corea, and vocalists Jeanne Lee and Gayle Palmore, backed by two percussionists on one side and five on the other.
Saxophone Improvisations Series F is a solo album by American saxophonist and composer Anthony Braxton recorded in 1972 and originally released on the French America label.
Together Alone is an album by American jazz saxophonists Joseph Jarman and Anthony Braxton recorded in 1971 and released on the Delmark label.
Dortmund (Quartet) 1976 is a live album by American composer and saxophonist Anthony Braxton recorded in Germany in 1976 but not released on the hatART label until 1991. The album was subsequently reissued as Quartet (Dortmund) 1976 in 2001 and in 2019.
Trio and Duet is an album by American jazz saxophonist Anthony Braxton recorded in 1974 and released on the Canadian Sackville label. The album features a trio performance of one of Braxton's compositions and three duets on jazz standards. It was reissued in 2015 by Delmark Records, which purchased the catalog of the Sackville label, with two bonus tracks.
For Four Orchestras is an album by American jazz saxophonist and composer Anthony Braxton, recorded in 1978 and released on the Arista label a triple LP. The album features a composition by Braxton written for four separate orchestras recorded in quadraphonic sound which was subsequently rereleased on CD on The Complete Arista Recordings of Anthony Braxton released by Mosaic Records in 2008. The album is dedicated to Eileen Southern.
The Complete Braxton is an album by American jazz saxophonist and composer Anthony Braxton recorded in 1971 and released on the Freedom label. It features a variety of musicians, including trumpeter Kenny Wheeler, pianist Chick Corea, bassist Dave Holland, drummer Barry Altschul, and the London Tuba Ensemble.
Composition No. 94 for Three Instrumentalists is a live album by composer and saxophonist Anthony Braxton featuring two variations of the title piece recorded in Italy in 1980 and first released on the Golden Years of New Jazz label in 1999.
Solo (Pisa) 1982 is a live album by composer and saxophonist Anthony Braxton featuring a solo performance recorded in Italy in 1982 and first released on the Golden Years of New Jazz label in 2007.
Quartet (London) 1985 is a live album by composer and saxophonist Anthony Braxton recorded in England by BBC Radio 3 in 1985 and first released on the Leo label as a limited edition 3LP Box Set in 1988 before being released as a double CD in 1990.
Quartet (Coventry) 1985 is a live album by composer and saxophonist Anthony Braxton recorded in England in 1985, first released in heavily edited and unauthorized form on the West Wind label and later reissued in full and authorized form on the Leo label as a double CD in 1993.
Ninetet (Yoshi's) 1997 Vol. 2 is a live album by composer and saxophonist Anthony Braxton with a ninetet, recorded at the Yoshi's in 1997 and released on the Leo label in 2003 as a double CD.
Duo (Victoriaville) 2005 is a 2006 live album of improvised music by Anthony Braxton and Fred Frith. It was recorded on May 20, 2005 at the 22nd Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville in Quebec, Canada, and released in May 2006 by Les Disques Victo, the festival's record label.
Four Compositions (GTM) 2000 is an album by composer/saxophonist Anthony Braxton recorded in 2000 and released in 2003 by the Delmark label.
News from the 70s is an album by Anthony Braxton that compiles previously unreleased live tracks recorded during 1971–1976.