Meditation Among Us | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Studio album by | ||||
Released | 1977 | |||
Recorded | July 28, 1977 | |||
Venue | Polydor 1st Studio, Tokyo | |||
Genre | free jazz | |||
Length | 36:05 | |||
Label | Kitty Records MKF 1021 | |||
Producer | Hideto Isoda | |||
Milford Graves chronology | ||||
|
Meditation Among Us is an album by American percussionist Milford Graves, recorded in July 1977 and released later that year by Kitty Records. The album features Graves on drums, percussion, and piano, along with Kaoru Abe on alto and sopranino saxophones, Mototeru Takagi on tenor saxophone, Toshinori Kondo on trumpet and alto horn, and Toshiyuki Tsuchitori on drums and percussion. [1] It was recorded while Graves was visiting Japan with dancer Min Tanaka. [2]
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [1] |
The Penguin Guide to Jazz | [3] |
In a review for AllMusic, Thom Jurek awarded the album 4 stars, and wrote: "The blowing intensity on any Graves' date is intense, but here it is over the top, as the Japanese players attempt to match his intensity." [1]
Writing for The Wire , Alan Licht commented: "Graves firmly establishes himself as the pivotal figure, driving the ensemble but also acting as its steady hub, enabling the music to flow without fraying. 'Together and Moving' bristles with the excitement of the occasion yet it remains taut and purposeful. On 'Response' Graves plays piano, contemplative at first, then torrential." [2]
In an article for Artforum , David Grundy called the tracks "extraordinarily joyous, multiphonic squalls, as if every rhythm under the sun were sounding at the same time." [4]
A reviewer at Destination Out stated that "Response" "ranges widely, beginning as a percussion workout spurred by Graves' gripping ululations. Graves then moves to the piano for an open, searching episode, suggesting echoes of Alice Coltrane's spiritual pursuits. Not surprisingly, Graves has a highly percussive approach to the piano, and gradually leads the horns to moments of abandon, before the concluding cool down. This is exactly the sort of meditation we can get behind — one that finds beauty in quiet moments as well as the storms life throws at us all." [5]
In organology, the study of musical instruments, many methods of classifying instruments exist. Most methods are specific to a particular cultural group and were developed to serve that culture's musical needs. Culture-based classification methods sometimes break down when applied outside that culture. For example, a classification based on instrument use may fail when applied to another culture that uses the same instrument differently.
Milford Graves was an American jazz drummer, percussionist, Professor Emeritus of Music, researcher/inventor, visual artist/sculptor, gardener/herbalist, and martial artist. Graves was noteworthy for his early avant-garde contributions in the 1960s with Paul Bley, Albert Ayler, and the New York Art Quartet, and is considered to be a free jazz pioneer, liberating percussion from its timekeeping role. The composer and saxophonist John Zorn referred to Graves as "basically a 20th-century shaman."
Walter Sinclair Hartley was an American composer of contemporary classical music.
Toshinori Kondo was a Japanese avant-garde jazz and jazz fusion trumpeter.
Takagi Mototeru was a Japanese tenor saxophone player and composer, known for playing in a distinctive and powerful free jazz style. He played with many of the most important Japanese free groups and musicians during the seventies, such as ESSG and those of Masahiko Togashi, Motoharu Yoshizawa and Masayuki Takayanagi.
Rita Coolidge is the self-titled debut album by Rita Coolidge.
Suite for Pops is a 1975 big band jazz album recorded by the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra and released on the A&M Horizon label.
Communication is the debut album by the Jazz Composer's Orchestra featuring compositions by Michael Mantler and Carla Bley performed by Paul Bley, Steve Lacy, Jimmy Lyons, Roswell Rudd, Archie Shepp, John Tchicai, Fred Pirtle, Willie Ruff, Ken McIntyre, Robin Kenyatta, Bob Carducci, Kent Carter, Steve Swallow, Milford Graves, and Barry Altschul. The album was released on the Fontana label in 1965. AllMusic described it as "one of the masterpieces of creative music in the '60s".
Heads is the fifth album by the jazz musician Bob James, released in October 1977. It was his first album released on his newly formed Tappan Zee label, which was distributed by Columbia Records. All of his Tappan Zee albums are distributed by E1 Music. The album reached number one on the Billboard Jazz Albums chart.
Creative Orchestra Music 1976 is an album by American jazz saxophonist and composer Anthony Braxton recorded in 1976 and released on the Arista label. The album was subsequently included on The Complete Arista Recordings of Anthony Braxton released by Mosaic Records in 2008.
Yoshisaburo "Sabu" Toyozumi is one of the small group of musical pioneers who comprised the first generation playing free improvisation music in Japan. As an improvising drummer he played and recorded with many of the key figures in Japanese free music including the two principal figures in the first generation, Masayuki Takayanagi and Kaoru Abe from the late 1960s onwards. He is one of a very few of this circle who are still alive and engaged in playing this music today.
Upfront is the sixteenth album recorded by jazz musician David Sanborn, released in 1992. This album focused on other soloists, instead of Sanborn’s alto saxophone being the primary instrument. Some key musicians on this album include guitarists Eric Clapton, Cornell Dupree and Hiram Bullock, tenor saxophonist John Purcell, bassist/keyboardist Marcus Miller, percussionist Don Alias and drummer Steve Jordan.
Journey is the second album released by record producer Arif Mardin as leader. Released on the Atlantic label in 1974, it features "a veritable who's who of funk and jazz greats", many of them regular session and studio musicians who appear on Mardin-produced albums for other artists.
Roger Craig Vogel is an American composer of contemporary classical music and a music educator.
Aspiration is a compilation album by American composer Bill Laswell, released on March 15, 2011 by Metastation.
The Process is a 2014 album recorded by a supergroup of musicians that consists of Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith, bassist/producer Bill Laswell and jazz pianist Jonathan Batiste. The album was recorded in 2013 as a musical score for a film that had yet to be written and never ended up being made. The album also features guest appearances by Tunde Adebimpe of TV on the Radio, Wu-Tang affiliate Killah Priest, avant-garde jazz musician Peter Apfelbaum, and avant-garde jazz trumpeter Toshinori Kondo, among others.
Sandokushi also known as triviṣa-itihāsa, is the sixth studio album by Japanese musician Ringo Sheena released on May 27, 2019, through EMI Records and Universal Music Japan. Similarly to her previous studio album Hi Izuru Tokoro (2014), the album is a compilation studio album compiling singles released from 2014 to 2019, as well as new compositions.
Toshiyuki Tsuchitori is a Japanese multi-instrumentalist, music historian, and ethnomusicologist. He is also sometimes known as Toshi Tsuchitori.
Through Acceptance of the Mystery Peace is an album by bassist William Parker, his debut as a leader. It was recorded during 1974–1979, and was initially released on LP in limited quantities by Parker's Centering label in 1980. In 1998, the album was reissued on CD by Eremite Records in expanded form. The recording features Parker in ensembles of varying size.