| Vintage Duets | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1994 | |||
| Recorded | January 11, 1980 | |||
| Studio | Soto, Chicago | |||
| Genre | Jazz | |||
| Length | 44:28 | |||
| Label | Okka Disk | |||
| Producer | Fred Anderson | |||
| Fred Anderson chronology | ||||
| ||||
Vintage Duets is an album by American jazz saxophonist Fred Anderson with drummer Steve McCall.
Before joining Henry Threadgill's Air trio, McCall worked with Anderson at various points from early in his career, playing together in 1966 on Joseph Jarman's Song For, a seminal document of the AACM. Vintage Duets was recorded in 1980 at the request of the tiny Austrian Message label, but the company went out of business before the album was released and finally the tapes were the primary instigation that started Bruno Johnson's Okka Disk label in 1994. The album was Anderson's first recording released in a decade. [1]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [2] |
| The Penguin Guide to Jazz | [3] |
In her review for AllMusic, Joslyn Layne states "is not only energetic and masterful, but somehow so full, warm, and grounded that (to free-jazz ears) it is also soothing." [2]
Howard Reich, writing for the Chicago Tribune, called the album "revelatory," and wrote: "the lucid structure, logical development, impeccable phrasing, accomplished technique and melodic sensitivity of his solos... run counter to almost everything 'free jazz' has come to mean today." [4]
The authors of the Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings stated that the duets "are as laid back and unhurried as could ever be, sometimes to the point where the listener feels excluded." [3]
Joe McPhee is an American jazz multi-instrumentalist born in Miami, Florida, a player of tenor, alto, and soprano saxophone, the trumpet, flugelhorn and valve trombone. McPhee grew up in Poughkeepsie, New York, and is most notable for his free jazz work done from the late 1960s to the present day.
Kent Kessler is an American jazz double-bassist.
Steve McCall was an American jazz drummer.
Birdhouse is an album by the American jazz saxophonist Fred Anderson, released in 1996 on Okka Disk.
Destiny is an album by American jazz pianist Marilyn Crispell with saxophonist Fred Anderson and drummer Hamid Drake recorded in the 1994 "Women of the New Jazz" festival at Chicago’s HotHouse and released on Okka Disk.
Okka Disk is an independent American jazz record company and label founded in Chicago by Bruno Johnson in 1994.
Fred Anderson / DKV Trio is an album by the American jazz saxophonist Fred Anderson with the DKV Trio, composed of drummer Hamid Drake, bassist Kent Kessler and reedist Ken Vandermark. The album was recorded in 1996 and released on Okka Disk. The DKV Trio formed in the summer of 1994 and started performing at Anderson's Velvet Lounge very early in their career. Those meetings led to the idea of doing a record with Fred. "Black Woman", a classic Anderson composition that appears on several of his other recordings, is a tenor sax duet.
Live at the Velvet Lounge is an album by American jazz saxophonist Fred Anderson with German free jazz bassist Peter Kowald and long-time collaborator drummer Hamid Drake. The record documents a June 1998 performance at the Chicago club owned by Anderson, the Velvet Lounge, and was released on the Okka Disk label.
Fred Anderson Quartet Volume One is an album by American jazz saxophonist Fred Anderson which was recorded live during the 1998 season at the Chicago club owned by Anderson, the Velvet Lounge, and released on the Asian Improv label. The Anderson's Quartet features longtime partner trumpeter Bill Brimfield, drummer Chad Taylor and Asian American bassist Tatsu Aoki.
Caffeine is the eponymous debut album by the free improvisation trio consisting of Jim Baker on piano, Steve Hunt on percussion and Ken Vandermark on reeds. It was recorded in 1993 and released on Okka Disk. By the time of recording, Vandermark and Hunt were members of the NRG Ensemble.
International Front is an album by American jazz reedist Ken Vandermark, which was recorded in 1994 and released on Okka Disk. He leads the Steelwool Trio with longtime partner bassist Kent Kessler and Boston drummer Curt Newton.
A Meeting in Chicago is an album by trumpeter/saxophonist Joe McPhee, reedist Ken Vandermark and bassist Kent Kessler, which was released in 1997 on Eighth Day Music and reissued the following year with new artwork by Okka Disk. The album documents trio, duo and solo improvisations recorded all in a single take with no rehearsal, before playing their first concert later that night at The Empty Bottle. Vandermark cites McPhee’s solo recording Tenor as a major influence.
Baraka is an album by the DKV Trio, composed of drummer Hamid Drake, bassist Kent Kessler and reedist Ken Vandermark. It was recorded in 1997 and released on Okka Disk.
Live in Wels & Chicago, 1998 is a double album by the DKV Trio, composed of drummer Hamid Drake, bassist Kent Kessler and reedist Ken Vandermark. The first CD was recorded live at the "Music Unlimited 98" Festival in Wels, while the second was recorded a few days later at the Velvet Lounge, the Chicago club owned by saxophonist Fred Anderson. The album was released on Okka Disk. All the music is improvised but the first disc is a six pieces suite based on Don Cherry's "Complete Communion'".
The Brass City is an album by multi-instrumentalist and composer Joe McPhee with trombonist Jeb Bishop recorded in 1997 and first released on the Okka Disk label.
Unity Variations is an album by British jazz saxophonist Evan Parker and German pianist Georg Gräwe, which was recorded in 1998 during the Empty Bottle Festival of Jazz and Improvised Music and released on Okka Disk. Before this live performance, they had played in duo just once before at the 1991 October Meeting at the Bimhuis in Amsterdam.
The Dried Rat–Dog is an album by saxophonist Peter Brötzmann and drummer Hamid Drake. It was recorded in May 1994 at Sparrow Sound Design in Chicago, and was released in 1995 by Okka Disk.
The Wels Concert is a live album by German saxophonist Peter Brötzmann, Moroccan guembri player Mahmoud Guinia, and American drummer Hamid Drake. It was recorded in November 1996 at the Schlachthof cultural center in Wels, Austria, and was released in 1997 by Okka Disk.
Live at the Empty Bottle is a live album by saxophonist Peter Brötzmann, drummer Hamid Drake, and bassist Kent Kessler. It was recorded on July 22, 1996, at The Empty Bottle in Chicago, and was released in 1999 by Okka Disk as a limited-edition CD.
The Chicago Octet/Tentet is a live album by saxophonist Peter Brötzmann on which he is joined by two large ensembles known as the Chicago Octet and Tentet. Six tracks were recorded live at The Empty Bottle in Chicago on January 29, 1997, and September 17, 1997, while the remaining six tracks were recorded at AirWave Studio in Chicago on September 16, 1997. The album was released in 1998 as a limited-edition three-CD set by the Okka Disk label, and, in addition to Brötzmann, features saxophonists Mats Gustafsson, Joe McPhee, Ken Vandermark, and Mars Williams, trombonist Jeb Bishop, cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm, double bassist Kent Kessler, and drummers Hamid Drake and Michael Zerang.