| The All-Star Game | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Live album by | |
| Released | 2003 |
| Recorded | December 1, 2000 |
| Venue | ICA Theater, Boston |
| Genre | Free jazz |
| Label | Eremite MTE044 |
| Producer | Michael Ehlers |
The All-Star Game is a live album by saxophonists Marshall Allen and Kidd Jordan, bassists William Parker and Alan Silva, and drummer Hamid Drake. It was recorded in December 2000 at the ICA Theater in Boston, and was released in 2003 by Eremite Records. [1] [2]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [3] |
| The Penguin Guide to Jazz |  [4] |
In a review for AllMusic, Thom Jurek wrote: "before you surrender to the erroneous notion that this is just some blowing session where skronk is the name of the game front and back, get real. These men are all improvisers of a different sort. All of them have played in very disciplined units and know how to make the most of dynamic, harmonic interplay, tonal dexterity, and (of course) group interplay as well as solo improvising... this music swings -- albeit in an entirely new way -- as hard as it blows." [3]
The authors of the Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings awarded the album 3½ stars, and stated: "The real interest of this date is how subtly and strongly the two bass-players work together, developing an involving discourse as the set continues and almost pushing the saxophones into an accompanying role in places." [4]
Bill Shoemaker, writing for Jazz Times , commented: "The All-Star Game... manages to split the difference between a convivial homerun hitting contest and a soul-baring gestalt session... Not only do the musicians get ample opportunities to jack a few out of the park, they are also able to team up in various combinations and create inspired collective statements. Like the best midseason classics, The All-Star Game renews one's love of the game." [5]
An All About Jazz article by Jeff Stockton stated: "Each of these players is an expert musician in every conceivable form of group interplay, from duos and trios to big bands, and The All-Star Game touches on all of them through improvisational creativity, disciplined restraint, or simple flat-out energy... The unifying vision here is hard blowing matched to equally hard swing, with the occasional relaxed passage to give us all a chance to catch our breath. For nearly 75 minutes they have at it, and not a single note is wasted." [6]
Dan Warburton, in a review for Paris Transatlantic, wrote: "The combined age of these five gentlemen may be well past 300, but any one of them could go the full fifteen rounds with the young cats and probably floor them with a hook to boot." [7]
All compositions by Marshall Allen, Hamid Drake, Kidd Jordan, William Parker, and Alan Silva.
William Parker is an American free jazz double bassist. Beginning in the 1980s, Parker played with Cecil Taylor for over a decade, and he has led the Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra since 1981. The Village Voice named him "the most consistently brilliant free jazz bassist of all time" and DownBeat has called him "one of the most adventurous and prolific bandleaders in jazz".
Sabir Mateen is an American musician and composer from Philadelphia. His musical style is primarily avant-garde jazz. He plays tenor and alto saxophone, B♭ and alto clarinet, and flute.
Marshall Belford Allen is an American free jazz and avant-garde jazz alto saxophone player. He also performs on flute, oboe, piccolo, and the electronic EWI.
Hamid Drake is an American jazz drummer and percussionist.
Steve Swell is an American free jazz trombonist, composer, and educator.
Edward "Kidd" Jordan was an American jazz saxophonist and music educator from New Orleans, Louisiana. He taught at Southern University at New Orleans from 1974 to 2006.
Scrapbook is an album by American jazz bassist and composer William Parker's Violin Trio featuring Billy Bang which was recorded in 2002 and released on the Thirsty Ear label.
Sound Unity is a live album by American jazz double bassist William Parker, which was recorded in 2004 and originally released on the AUM Fidelity label.
Blue Winter is a double album by American jazz saxophonist Fred Anderson, which was recorded live at Vermont's Johnson State College in 2004 and released on Eremite, a label founded by producer Michael Ehlers. The set features four long improvisations by a trio with bassist William Parker and drummer Hamid Drake. While the three have worked together before, in quartet with Kidd Jordan on the album 2 Days in April, this is their first trio recording.
2 Days in April is a double album by a free jazz quartet consisting of saxophonists Fred Anderson and Kidd Jordan, bassist William Parker and drummer Hamid Drake, documenting two 1999 concerts at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at Cambridge. It was released on Eremite, a label founded by producer Michael Ehlers. Anderson and Jordan first meeting was at a mid-80s AACM concert in Chicago, but this is their first recording together.
New World Pygmies vol. 2 is a double album by American jazz saxophonist Jemeel Moondoc and bassist William Parker, which was recorded live in 2000 and released on the Eremite label. The first disc documents a duo performance from Madison, while the second includes guest drummer Hamid Drake from a Chicago set at the Velvet Lounge.
Eremite Records is an independent American jazz record label founded in 1995 by Michael Ehlers, with early involvement from music writer Byron Coley. Ehlers was a student of Archie Shepp's at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. After college, he began producing concerts in the Amherst area, and Eremite evolved from those events. The label name came from an alternate title to the Thelonious Monk tune "Reflections": "Portrait of an Eremite". The label's logo, designed by Savage Pencil, is an image of a robed Joe McPhee playing soprano saxophone. Eremite organized a concert series in Western Massachusetts that ran through 2008 and produced roughly 100 concerts, including five Fire in the Valley festivals. From 1998–2018, Eremite managed a touring organization that arranged hundreds of concerts across North America for its artists.
Oluyemi Thomas is a free jazz bass clarinetist and saxophonist.
We Are Not at the Opera is a live album by drummer Sunny Murray. It was recorded in June 1998 at the Unitarian Meetinghouse in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States, and was released later that year by Eremite Records. On the album, Murray is joined by saxophonist Sabir Mateen.
Emancipation Suite #1 is a live album by multi-instrumentalist Alan Silva, saxophonist Kidd Jordan, and bassist William Parker. It was recorded in May 1999 at the Vision Festival, St. Nicholas of Myra Church in New York City, and was released in 2002 by Boxholder Records.
Alan Silva & the Sound Visions Orchestra is a live album by multi-instrumentalist Alan Silva. It was recorded in May 1999 at St. Nicholas of Myra Church in New York City during the annual Vision Festival, and was released in 2001 by Eremite Records. On the album, Silva is joined by a large ensemble known as the Sound Visions Orchestra.
H.Con.Res.57/Treasure Box is a live, 4-CD album by multi-instrumentalist Alan Silva. It was recorded on May 24 and 27, 2001, at the Uncool Festival in Poschiavo, Switzerland, and was released in 2003 in limited quantities by Eremite Records. On the album, Silva is joined by a large ensemble known as the Celestrial Communication Orchestra. The performances marked the first occasion on which Silva's choice of musicians was completely unrestricted in terms of budget or geography.
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.
Brothers Together is an album by drummer Hamid Drake and multi-instrumentalist Sabir Mateen. It was recorded in October 2000 at PBS Studios in Westwood, Massachusetts, and was released in 2002 by Eremite Records.
From Valley to Valley is a live album by the Die Like a Dog Quartet: saxophonist Peter Brötzmann, trumpeter Roy Campbell Jr., bassist William Parker, and drummer Hamid Drake. It was recorded in July 1998 at the Fire in the Valley festival held at the University of Massachusetts Amherst's Bezanson recital hall in Amherst, Massachusetts, and was released in 1999 by Eremite Records.
