| Last Exit | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Live album by | ||||
| Released | 1986 | |||
| Recorded | February 16, 1986 in Paris, France | |||
| Genre | Free jazz | |||
| Length | 38:30 | |||
| Label | Enemy | |||
| Producer | Last Exit | |||
| Last Exit chronology | ||||
| ||||
Last Exit is the eponymously titled live performance debut album of the free jazz group Last Exit. It was released in 1986 by Enemy Records. [1]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [2] |
| The Penguin Guide to Jazz | [3] |
In a review for AllMusic, Brian Olewnick wrote: "Entirely improvised, Last Exit nonetheless based most of its pieces on blues forms, even if highly abstracted. This bedrock allowed the musicians, particularly Brötzmann and Sharrock... to freely explore the outer boundaries of their instruments, sublimely soaring over the down to earth and dirty rhythm team of Laswell and Jackson. This tension... reached almost unbearable degrees; its release when they would slide back into a groove leaves the listener utterly drained. Subsequent albums... would come close to attaining this level of intensity and creativity, but Last Exit ranks as a pinnacle both in Laswell's career and in the rock/free improv genre it spawned. A classic release, one that should be in the collection of anyone interested in either contemporary free improvisation or the more creative branches of rock." [2]
Writing for Trouser Press, Greg Kot stated: "On Last Exit, the sound is as unrelenting and incendiary as a blast-furnace... the overall impression is one of supernatural intensity, the agitated instrumental voicings of Sharrock and Brötzmann suggesting human cries." [1]
All music is composed by Peter Brötzmann, Ronald Shannon Jackson, Bill Laswell, Sonny Sharrock.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Discharge" | 3:23 |
| 2. | "Backwater" | 5:27 |
| 3. | "Catch as Catch Can" | 2:10 |
| 4. | "Red Light" | 7:54 |
| 5. | "Enemy Within" | 3:47 |
| 6. | "Crackin'" | 7:46 |
| 7. | "Pig Freedom" | 3:59 |
| 8. | "Voice of a Skin Hanger" | 1:43 |
| 9. | "Zulu Butter" | 2:21 |
| Publication | Country | Accolade | Year | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Wire | United Kingdom | The Wire - 100 Most Important Records Ever Made (+30) [4] | 1992 | * |
(*) designates unordered lists.
| Region | Date | Label | Format | Catalog |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | 1986 | Enemy | CD, CS, LP | EMY 101 |
William Otis Laswell is an American bass guitarist, record producer, and record label owner. He has been involved in thousands of recordings with many collaborators from all over the world. His music draws from funk, world music, jazz, dub, and ambient styles.
Peter Brötzmann was a German jazz saxophonist and clarinetist regarded as a central and pioneering figure in European free jazz. Throughout his career, he released over fifty albums as a bandleader. Amongst his many collaborators were key figures in free jazz, including Derek Bailey, Anthony Braxton and Cecil Taylor, as well as experimental musicians such as Keiji Haino and Charles Hayward. His 1968 Machine Gun became "one of the landmark albums of 20th-century free jazz".
Warren Harding "Sonny" Sharrock was an American jazz guitarist. He was married to singer Linda Sharrock, with whom he recorded and performed.
Ronald Shannon Jackson was an American jazz drummer from Fort Worth, Texas. A pioneer of avant-garde jazz, free funk, and jazz fusion, he appeared on over 50 albums as a bandleader, sideman, arranger, and producer. Jackson and bassist Sirone are the only musicians to have performed and recorded with the three prime shapers of free jazz: pianist Cecil Taylor, and saxophonists Ornette Coleman and Albert Ayler.
Ask the Ages is the final album recorded by jazz guitarist Sonny Sharrock during his lifetime. It was recorded with producer Bill Laswell and released in 1991; It featured Sharrock alongside saxophonist Pharoah Sanders, bassist Charnett Moffett and drummer Elvin Jones. Sharrock died on May 25, 1994.
Last Exit was an American free jazz supergroup, composed of electric guitarist Sonny Sharrock, drummer/occasional vocalist Ronald Shannon Jackson, saxophonist Peter Brötzmann, and bass guitarist Bill Laswell. They were active from 1986 to the early 1990s, releasing primarily live albums recorded in Europe. Sharrock's death in 1994 caused the dissolution of the band, though touring of the band had not occurred for several years before his demise. The band is unrelated to the 1970s British jazz fusion band of the same name.
The Last Wave is the debut album by American jazz fusion band Arcana, released on July 23, 1996. This first album is largely improvised, and features the trio of English free jazz guitarist Derek Bailey, bass guitarist Bill Laswell and legendary drummer Tony Williams.
Last Home is an album by guitarist Caspar Brötzmann and his father, saxophonist Peter Brötzmann. It was released in 1990 through Pathological Records.
Into the Outlands is the second live performance album by world music and jazz fusion ensemble SXL, released in 1988 by Celluloid Records.
The Noise of Trouble: Live in Tokyo is the second live album by the free jazz group Last Exit. It was released in 1986 by Enemy Records.
Cassette Recordings '87, also issued with the title From the Board, is the third live album by the free jazz group Last Exit. It was released in March 1987 by Enemy Records.
Best of Live is a compilation album by the free jazz group Last Exit, it was released in 1990 by Enemy Records.
Köln is the fourth live album by the free jazz group Last Exit, released in 1990 by ITM Records.
Headfirst into the Flames: Live in Europe is the fifth live album by the free jazz group Last Exit, released in 1993 by MuWorks Records.
Iron Path is the only studio album by the free jazz band Last Exit. It was released in 1988 on Venture and Virgin Records.
Low Life is a collaborative album by Peter Brötzmann and Bill Laswell. It was released on May 12, 1987 by Celluloid Records.
Guitar is a 1986 solo studio album by American jazz guitarist Sonny Sharrock. He recorded the album with producer Bill Laswell at RPM Sound Studios in New York City. As the project's sole instrumentalist, Sharrock performed and overdubbed his guitar improvisations onto other sections of a song he had recorded beforehand.
No Material is a live album by the band of the same name, featuring drummer Ginger Baker, electric guitarists Sonny Sharrock and Nicky Skopelitis, saxophonist Peter Brötzmann, and bassist Jan Kazda. It was recorded on March 28, 1987, at Mühle Hunziken in Rubigen, Switzerland, and was released on CD in 1989 by the German label ITM Records. In 2013, ITM reissued the album as a two-CD set, with a second disc containing music that was recorded on March 25, 1987, at Theaterfabrik München in Munich, Germany. These additional tracks had originally been released by the Voiceprint label in 2010 with the title Live in Munich Germany 1987.
Opened, But Hardly Touched is a live album by saxophonist Peter Brötzmann, double bassist Harry Miller, and drummer Louis Moholo. It was recorded on November 5 and 6, 1980, at the Flöz in Berlin, and was released on vinyl as a two-album set in 1981 by FMP/Free Music Production. In 2014, the album was reissued on CD by the Cien Fuegos imprint of Trost Records.
Whatthefuckdoyouwant is a live album by saxophonist Peter Brötzmann and guitarist Sonny Sharrock. It was recorded on March 9, 1987, at Alzette Kulturfabrik in Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg, and was released in 2014 by Trost Records.
