| NRG Ensemble | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1981 | |||
| Recorded | May 11, 1981 | |||
| Studio | Solid Sound | |||
| Genre | Jazz | |||
| Length | 47:15 | |||
| Label | Nessa | |||
| Producer | Chuck Nessa | |||
| Hal Russell chronology | ||||
| ||||
NRG Ensemble is the debut album by American jazz multi-instrumentalist Hal Russell, which was recorded in 1981 and released on Nessa. It was reissued in 2012 with new artwork and two bonus tracks previously unreleased from a demo tape the band gave to producer Chuck Nessa prior to the sessions. [1] [2]
By the time he made his first commercially released LP with the NRG Ensemble in 1981, Hal Russell had already spent the better part of a decade experimenting with different sidemen, formations and instrumentations. [3] This early version of the band included drummer and vibist Steve Hunt, two bassists, Brian Sandstrom and Curt Bley, and reedist Chuck Burdelik, a replacement for the departed Mars Williams, who left the group to tour with rock bands The Waitresses and The Psychedelic Furs. In addition to the drums, vibes, and saxophone, Russell threw in some shenai, cornet, and zither. [4]
The Tiny Mix Tapes review by Clifford Allen says about the 2012 reissue "this wonderfully remastered and augmented early set is indispensable for fans of contemporary improvisation and those who want to hear more of Chicago’s creative music roots." [5]
Bonus tracks (2012 CD reissue)
Hal Russell was an American free jazz composer, band leader and multi-instrumentalist who performed mainly on saxophone and drums but occasionally on trumpet or vibraphone. Russel's fiery music was marked by significant humor, not unlike much of Dutch drummer Han Bennink's output. His music was so accessible that People magazine hailed The Finnish Swiss Tour on ECM as one of its top 5 albums of the year. Russell set the table for the free improv and free jazz scene which exploded later in the 1990s in Chicago.
Terry Gibbs is an American jazz vibraphonist and band leader.
Liberation Music Orchestra is a band and jazz album by Charlie Haden released in 1970, Haden's first as a band leader.
Marc Charles "Mars" Williams was an American jazz and rock saxophonist. He was a member of the American new wave band The Waitresses from 1980 to 1983, and a member of the British post-punk band The Psychedelic Furs from 1983 to 1989 and again from 2005 until his death in 2023. Williams also was a founding member of the acid jazz group Liquid Soul, and a member of the free jazz-oriented NRG Ensemble.
The Great Paris Concert is a 1973 live double album by jazz pianist Duke Ellington preserving pieces of a series of performances given in Paris during February 1963, a decade prior the release. For the 1989 CD reissue, 10 additional recordings from the same series of Paris concerts were added to the release. These 10 performances had previously been released on the 1967 LP Duke Ellington's Greatest Hits: Recorded "Live" In Concert.
Nessa Records is an American jazz record label founded in Chicago in 1967 by producer Chuck Nessa.
NRG Ensemble was an American free jazz ensemble founded in the late 1970s by saxophonist/multi-instrumentalist Hal Russell.
Plus is an album by Cannonball Adderley Quintet released on the Riverside label featuring performances by Adderley with Nat Adderley, Wynton Kelly, Victor Feldman, Sam Jones and Louis Hayes.
L-R-G / The Maze / S II Examples is an album by American jazz saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell, recorded in 1978 and released as a double LP on Nessa Records. It was reissued in 1989 as a single CD.
The Finnish/Swiss Tour is a live album by the Hal Russell NRG Ensemble recorded in November 1991 at Tampere Jazz Happening in Finland and the Internationales Jazz Festival in Switzerland and released on ECM October the following year. The quintet features saxophonist Mars Williams and rhythm section Brian Sandstrom, Kent Kessler and Steve Hunt.
The Hal Russell Story is the final album by the Hal Russell NRG Ensemble, recorded in Switzerland in July 1992 and released on ECM the following year—Russell's final recording before his death, five weeks later.
Hal on Earth is an album by American avant-garde jazz composer, bandleader, and multi-instrumentalist Hal Russell recorded in 1989 which was originally released on cassette and released on CD on the Abduction label in 1995.
Conserving NRG is an album by American avant-garde jazz composer, bandleader, and multi-instrumentalist Hal Russell recorded in 1984 and released on the Principally Jazz label.
Generation is an album by American avant-garde jazz composer, bandleader, and multi-instrumentalist Hal Russell's NRG Ensemble with Charles Tyler, recorded in 1982 and originally released on the Nessa label. It was reissued in 2014 with two bonus tracks previously unreleased from an early audition recording made when the band was a pre-Sandstrom quartet.
Eftsoons is an album by American avant-garde jazz composer, bandleader, and multi-instrumentalist Hal Russell with Mars Williams recorded in 1981 and originally released on the Nessa label.
Calling All Mothers is an album by American jazz group the NRG Ensemble, their first after the death of bandleader, and multi-instrumentalist Hal Russell, which was recorded in 1993 and released on the Quinnah label.
This Is My House is an album by American jazz group the NRG Ensemble, their second with saxophonist Ken Vandermark in place of the bandleader and multi-instrumentalist Hal Russell, which was recorded in 1995 and released on Delmark.
Spacer is an album by American jazz vibraphonist Jason Adasiewicz, which was recorded in 2011 and released on Delmark. It was the second album by his trio Sun Rooms, featuring bassist Nate McBride and drummer Mike Reed.
24→24 Music is a 1981 album by Dinosaur L, the disco project of American musician Arthur Russell. Enlisting a variety of musicians, Russell recorded the album in 1979 primarily at Blank Tapes studio in New York. It was released on Sleeping Bag Records, the label started by Russell and Will Socolov, and accompanied by the single "Go Bang! #5."