| The Missing Link | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1984 | |||
| Recorded | September 17, 1979 | |||
| Studio | Pierce Arrow Recorders, Evanston | |||
| Genre | Jazz | |||
| Length | 47:40 (LP) 62:28 (CD) | |||
| Label | Nessa | |||
| Producer | Fred Anderson, Chuck Nessa | |||
| Fred Anderson chronology | ||||
| ||||
The Missing Link is an album by American jazz saxophonist Fred Anderson, recorded in 1979 but not issued until 1984 by Nessa Records.
Originally scheduled as an Anderson's working quartet recording, trumpeter Billy Brimfield was in California unable to make the session, and Anderson decided to go ahead with the date, adding percussionist Adam Rudolph at Hamid Drake's suggestion. Larry Hayrod was then a newcomer to the quartet, replacing bassist Steven Palmore, who had left for New York after a trip to Europe with one of Anderson's ensembles. [1] [2] The CD reissue adds a bonus track, Drake's composition "Tabla Peace".
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [3] |
| The Penguin Guide to Jazz | [4] |
In his review for AllMusic, Thom Jurek states that "Anderson is pushing the blues; however elongated and angular, they are recognizable as such and are the spiritual conscience of all the music he plays here." [3] The Penguin Guide to Jazz says that "if he is a missing link, what he's bridging is the gap between the spare, blues-soaked sound of early Ornette and the clean-sweep radicalism of AACM." [4]
Bonus track on CD
Someday My Prince Will Come is the seventh studio album by Miles Davis for Columbia Records, catalogue CL 1656 and CS 8456 in stereo, released in 1961. Recorded at Columbia's 30th Street Studio in Manhattan, New York City, it marked the only Miles Davis Quintet studio recording session to feature saxophonist Hank Mobley.
Transition is an album of music by jazz saxophonist John Coltrane, recorded in 1965 but released posthumously only in 1970. As its title indicates, Transition was a bridge between classic quartet recordings like A Love Supreme and the more experimental works of Coltrane's last years.
Hamid Drake is an American jazz drummer and percussionist.
Fred Anderson was an American jazz tenor saxophonist who was based in Chicago, Illinois. Anderson's playing was rooted in the swing music and hard bop idioms, but he also incorporated innovations from free jazz. Anderson was also noted for having mentored numerous young musicians. Critic Ben Ratliff called him "a father figure of experimental jazz in Chicago". Writer John Corbett referred to him as "scene caretaker, underground booster, indefatigable cultural worker, quiet force for good." In 2001, author John Litweiler called Anderson "the finest tenor saxophonist in free jazz/underground jazz/outside jazz today."
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.
Love for Sale is an album by the pianist Cecil Taylor, recorded for the United Artists label in April 1959. The album features performances by Taylor with Buell Neidlinger, and Denis Charles with Bill Barron and Ted Curson added on three tracks.
Bluesnik is an album by American saxophonist Jackie McLean recorded in 1961 and released on the Blue Note label. It features McLean in a quintet with trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, pianist Kenny Drew, bassist Doug Watkins and drummer Pete La Roca.
Time In is a 1966 studio album by Dave Brubeck, the last of Brubeck's 'Time' series.
Ramblin' with Mose is the sixth album to be released by blues/jazz pianist and vocalist Mose Allison which was recorded in 1958 and released on the Prestige label.
Birdhouse is an album by the American jazz saxophonist Fred Anderson, released in 1996 on Okka Disk.
Song For is the debut album by American jazz saxophonist Joseph Jarman, recorded in 1966 and released on the Delmark label.
Dark Day is an album by American jazz saxophonist Fred Anderson recorded live in 1979 at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago and released in a small batch on the tiny Austrian Message label. The performance was part of a series of AACM concerts presented by the museum. Anderson's Quartet features long-time partner trumpeter Billy Brimfield, bassist Steven Palmore and young drummer Hamid Drake, who contributes the piece "The Prayer", later retitled "Bombay ".
The Milwaukee Tapes Vol. 1 is an album by American jazz saxophonist Fred Anderson recorded live in 1980 but not issued until 2000 by Atavistic as part of their Unheard Music Series.
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.
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.
Underground Railroad is a live album by saxophonist and composer Joe McPhee recorded in 1969 at the Holy Cross Monastery and originally released on the CjR label, then reissued by Atavistic in 2001 with a bonus concert from the same venue.
Emancipation Proclamation: A Real Statement of Freedom is an album by percussionist Hamid Drake and multi-instrumentalist and composer Joe McPhee recorded in 1999 and first released on the Okka Disk label.
Procession of the Great Ancestry is an album by American jazz trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith which was recorded in 1983, first released in 1989 on the English Chief label licensed by Nessa Records and reissued in 2009 on Nessa.
Love Outside of Dreams is an album by the American jazz percussionist Kahil El'Zabar, recorded in 1997 and released on Delmark. He leads a trio featuring saxophonist David Murray and bassist Fred Hopkins in his last recording session. Murray and El'Zabar cut the duo album Golden Sea in 1989 and Kahil joined David's groups for A Sanctuary Within, The Tip and Jug-A-Lug in the early '90s.
Live in the World is a live album by the David S. Ware Quartets. Six tracks were recorded in Switzerland in 1998, and feature Ware on saxophone, Matthew Shipp on piano, William Parker on bass, and Susie Ibarra on drums. The remaining tracks were recorded in two locations during 2003: Terni, Italy, with Ware, Shipp, Parker and drummer Hamid Drake; and Milano, Italy, with Drake replaced by Guillermo E. Brown. The album was released as a triple CD set by Thirsty Ear Recordings in 2005.