Live at Kassiopeia

Last updated
Live at Kassiopeia
Hemphill Kowald Live at Kassiopeia.jpg
Live album by
Released2011
RecordedJanuary 8, 1987
VenueKassiopeia, Wuppertal, Germany
Genre Free jazz
Label NoBusiness Records
NBCD 35-36
Producer Danas Mikailionis
Julius Hemphill chronology
Chile New York
(1998)
Live at Kassiopeia
(2011)
The Boyé Multi-National Crusade for Harmony
(2021)

Live at Kassiopeia is a live album by saxophonist Julius Hemphill and bassist Peter Kowald. It was recorded in Wuppertal, Germany, on January 8, 1987, and was released by NoBusiness Records as a double album in both LP and CD format in 2011, 24 years later. Disc 1 features three Hemphill solos followed by a Kowald solo, while disc 2 contains three duos. [1] [2] [3]

Contents

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
All About Jazz Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [4]
Tom Hull – on the Web B+ [5]
The Free Jazz CollectiveStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [6]

In a review for All About Jazz , John Sharpe called the album "a fascinating chronicle," and singled out Kowald's solo for praise, writing: "At times he exploits the harmonics where his splintered vocalized inflections create the illusion of multiple voices. In addition he does actually make use of his voice, subtly blending the throat singing he had learned from Siberian collaborations with his arco technique, adding a fetching human vulnerability." [4]

Nilan Perera of Exclaim! stated: "when a vault somewhere pops open and a collaboration of two of improvised music's titans blows in from Wuppertal in 1987, one can be forgiven for being rendered speechless... This is easily one of the best releases of the year, if not the decade, and a must-have for anyone seriously interested in music." [7]

Paris Transatlantic's Michael Rosenstein praised the album's "stellar music," and commented: "By the time they start the second, 36-minute [duo] improvisation, both men are firing on all cylinders: there's constant give and take as Hemphill's lithe melodicism, full of leaping intervals and circuitous lines, plays off Kowald's rumbling pizzicato, crying bent notes, and dark sliding tonalities." [8]

A reviewer for The Free Jazz Collective described Hemphill's solos as "playful, jazzy, rhythmic, using phrases from old jazz traditionals and from the blues, and with an incredible sense of focus," while Kowald's solo is "more open and shifting with the new ideas coming, moving into different directions." They called the second duo the "pièce-de-resistance," noting that the musicians are "playing up a storm, full of intensity and sensitivity." [6]

In an article for Dusted Magazine, Bill Meyer called the album "an unlikely but successful encounter," and wrote that, in his solos, "Hemphill navigates the blues, but he doesn't stop there. You can also hear his roots in technically imposing bebop... and a crying spirit that burrows beyond genre into a deep vein of longing." [9]

Stuart Broomer of The New York City Jazz Record stated: "The duet CD presents two musicians equally familiar with the intersection of free jazz and free improvisation... The release is a fine commemoration of two lost masters." [10]

Track listing

Disc 1
  1. "Solo I" (Hemphill) – 6:58
  2. "Solo II" (Hemphill) – 7:23
  3. "Solo III" (Hemphill) – 7:40
  4. "Solo" (Kowald) – 32:20
Disc 2
  1. "Duo I" (Hemphill/Kowald) – 7:27
  2. "Duo II" (Hemphill/Kowald) – 36:31
  3. "Duo III" (Hemphill/Kowald) – 2:49

Personnel

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Brötzmann</span> German jazz musician (1941–2023)

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".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julius Hemphill</span> American jazz composer and saxophonist

Julius Arthur Hemphill was a jazz composer and saxophone player. He performed mainly on alto saxophone, less often on soprano and tenor saxophones and flute.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Kowald</span> German double bassist and tubist

Peter Kowald was a German free jazz and free improvising double bassist and tubist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barry Guy</span> British composer and double bass player (born 1947)

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joëlle Léandre</span> French musician

Joëlle Léandre is a French double bassist, vocalist, and composer active in new music and free improvisation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Rutherford (trombonist)</span> English free improvising trombonist

Paul William Rutherford was an English free improvising trombonist.

Jeffrey Morgan is an American jazz musician and composer. He has been active in the fields of free jazz and improvised music since 1977. He currently resides in Cologne, Germany.

<i>Compassion Seizes Bed-Stuy</i> 1996 studio album by William Parker

Compassion Seizes Bed-Stuy is an album by the American jazz double bassist William Parker, recorded in 1995 and released on Homestead.

<i>Room</i> (Nels Cline and Julian Lage album) 2014 studio album by Nels Cline and Julian Lage

Room is an album by guitarists Nels Cline and Julian Lage which was released in November 2014 on the Mack Avenue label.

<i>Never Too Late But Always Too Early</i> 2003 live album by Peter Brötzmann, William Parker, and Hamid Drake

Never Too Late But Always Too Early is a two-CD live album by saxophonist Peter Brötzmann, bassist William Parker, and drummer Hamid Drake. It was recorded in April 2001 at Casa del Popolo in Montréal, and was released in 2003 by Eremite Records. The album is dedicated to Peter Kowald.

<i>Open Secrets</i> (album) 1988 studio album by Peter Kowald

Open Secrets is a solo bass album by Peter Kowald. It was recorded in January 1988 at the FMP Studio in Berlin, and was released on LP later that year by the FMP label. FMP reissued the album on CD in 2008.

<i>Drum Dance to the Motherland</i> 1973 live album by Khan Jamal Creative Art Ensemble

Drum Dance to the Motherland is a live album by jazz vibraphonist and marimba player Khan Jamal, his debut as a leader. It was recorded on October 7, 1972, at the Catacombs Club in Philadelphia, and was initially released on LP by Dogtown Records in 1973. It was reissued on CD in remastered form by Eremite Records in 2006, and on LP in 2017. On the album, Jamal is joined by members of his Creative Art Ensemble: guitarist Monnette Sudler, bassist Billy Mills, percussionists Dwight James and Alex Ellison, and electronic musician Mario Falgna.

<i>A Night Walking Through Mirrors</i> 2017 live album by Chicago/London Underground

A Night Walking Through Mirrors is a live album by the Chicago/London Underground, pairing two Americans, trumpeter Rob Mazurek and drummer Chad Taylor, with two British musicians, pianist Alexander Hawkins and bassist John Edwards. It was recorded on April 21, 2016, at Cafe Oto in London, and was released in 2017 by Cuneiform Records.

<i>In Backward Times</i> 2017 live album by Paul Rutherford

In Backward Times is a live album by trombonist Paul Rutherford. Drawn from archival tapes, it was recorded in 1979, 1988, 2004, and 2007, in Milano, London, and Brussels, and was released in 2017 by Emanem Records. On track 1, Rutherford is accompanied by live electronics, while track 2 is a duet with bassist Paul Rogers. Track 3 is a solo performance, and track 4 is a trio setting featuring cellist Marcio Mattos and pianist Veryan Weston. The final track was recorded roughly three months before Rutherford's death, and documents his last public performance.

<i>Listen</i> (Paul Rogers album) 2002 live album by Paul Rogers

Listen: Double Bass Solos 1989 & 1999 is a live solo album by double bassist Paul Rogers. Three tracks were recorded on May 1, 1999, in Le Mans, France, while the remaining track was recorded on October 8, 1989, in London. The album was released in 2002 by Emanem Records.

<i>Muntu Recordings</i> 2009 compilation album by Jemeel Moondoc

Muntu Recordings is a three-CD box-set compilation album by alto saxophonist Jemeel Moondoc and the ensemble known as Muntu. Disc 1 restores to circulation the group's debut album First Feeding, recorded in a New York City studio in 1977, and originally issued on vinyl that year by Moondoc's Muntu Records as the label's inaugural release. On First Feeding, Moondoc is joined by trumpeter Arthur Williams, pianist Mark Hennen, double bassist William Parker, and drummer Rashid Bakr. Disc 2 is a reissue of Muntu's second recording The Evening of the Blue Men, recorded live at St. Mark's Church in New York City in 1979, and originally issued on vinyl that year as the Muntu label's second and final release. On this recording, Moondoc is accompanied by trumpeter Roy Campbell, double bassist Parker, and drummer Bakr. Disc 3 is a previously unissued 1975 live recording from Ali's Alley in New York City featuring Moondoc, Parker, and Bakr. Muntu Recordings, released in 2009 by NoBusiness Records, also includes a 115-page book containing essays, photographs, and a complete Muntu sessionography.

<i>Buster Bee</i> 1978 studio album by Oliver Lake and Julius Hemphill

Buster Bee is an album by saxophonists Oliver Lake and Julius Hemphill. Featuring three compositions by each musician, it was recorded at Eastern Sound in Toronto, on March 1, 1978, and was released on vinyl by Sackville Records later that year. In 2001, it was reissued on CD in limited quantities as part of the Sackville Collection series.

<i>Father of Origin</i> 2011 studio album by Juma Sultans Aboriginal Music Society

Father of Origin is a box set album by multi-instrumentalist Juma Sultan and his open-ended ensemble the Aboriginal Music Society. Drawn from Sultan's archive of recorded material, and released by Eremite Records in 2011, it consists of two vinyl LPs, a CD, and a book containing photos and an extensive essay by jazz scholar Michael Heller, all of which help to document aspects of the loft jazz era of the early 1970s.

<i>The Boyé Multi-National Crusade for Harmony</i> 2021 live album by Julius Hemphill

The Boyé Multi-National Crusade for Harmony is a seven-disc box set album of music by saxophonist and composer Julius Hemphill. Drawn from previously unissued recordings found in the Julius Hemphill Archive at the Fales Library of New York University, and compiled by Marty Ehrlich, the album presents Hemphill in a variety of mostly live solo and group contexts recorded over a period of thirty years, beginning in 1977, and also includes a disc on which he conducts his compositions. The album was released on CD by New World Records in 2021, and each of the discs is also available as a digital download.

<i>Signaling</i> (album) 2017 studio album by Nick Mazzarella and Tomeka Reid

Signaling is an album by saxophonist Nick Mazzarella and cellist Tomeka Reid. It was recorded on April 17, 2015, at Fox Hall Studio in Chicago, and was released in 2017 by Nessa Records.

References

  1. "Julius Hemphill/Peter Kowald - Live at Kassiopeia". Jazz Music Archives. Retrieved January 30, 2023.
  2. "Julius Hemphill discography". JazzLists. Retrieved January 30, 2023.
  3. "Live at Kassiopeia". NoBusiness Records. Retrieved January 30, 2023.
  4. 1 2 Sharpe, John (February 1, 2012). "Julius Hemphill / Peter Kowald: Live At Kassiopeia". All About Jazz. Retrieved January 29, 2023.
  5. Hull, Tom. "Recycled Goods (#93)". Tom Hull – on the Web. Retrieved January 30, 2023.
  6. 1 2 "Hemphill!". The Free Jazz Collective. November 4, 2011. Retrieved January 30, 2023.
  7. Perera, Nilan (November 10, 2011). "Julius Hemphill and Peter Kowald: Live at Kassiopeia". Exclaim!. Retrieved January 30, 2023.
  8. Rosenstein, Michael (December 2011). "Jazz & Improv". Paris Transatlantic. Retrieved January 30, 2023.
  9. Meyer, Bill (March 13, 2012). "Dusted Reviews". Dusted Magazine. Retrieved January 30, 2023.
  10. Broomer, Stuart (August 2012). "Reviews". The New York City Jazz Record. p. 28.