Zenith (Sam Rivers album)

Last updated
Zenith
Sam Rivers Zenith.jpg
Live album by
Sam Rivers Quintet
Released2019
RecordedNovember 6, 1977
Venue Jazztage Berliner 1977, Philharmonie, Berlin, Germany
Genre Free jazz
Length53:19
Label NoBusiness
NBCD 124
Producer Danas Mikailionis, Ed Hazell, Valerij Anosov
Sam Rivers chronology
Emanation
(2019)		Zenith
(2019)		 Ricochet
(2020)

Zenith is a live album by the Sam Rivers Quintet, led by multi-instrumentalist and composer Rivers, and featuring tubist and euphonium player Joe Daley, double bassist Dave Holland, and drummers Barry Altschul and Charlie Persip. Consisting of a single 53-minute track, it was recorded on November 6, 1977, at Jazztage Berliner 1977, held at the Philharmonie in Berlin, Germany, and was released in 2019 by NoBusiness Records as volume 2 of the Sam Rivers Archive Series. [1] [2] [3] [4]

Contents

The album is based on material selected from Rivers' massive recorded archives, which are curated by writer and producer Ed Hazell, who spent a year reviewing tapes with the goal of choosing the best recordings for release by NoBusiness Records. [5]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
All About Jazz Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [6]
All About JazzStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [7]
The Free Jazz CollectiveStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [8]
Tom Hull – on the Web A− [9]

In a review for All About Jazz , John Sharpe wrote: "Even if this line up seems to have been a one off, it convinces as a totally integrated unit. The album is more than a match for those issued during this period, and comes highly recommended to anyone curious about Rivers' legacy." [6]

Olie Brice of London Jazz News stated that Rivers's "free music as a bandleader was always unusual in incorporating swing, odd time grooves and abstraction in a completely organic flow," and commented: "This album is a prime example of that – five great improvisers developing an ever-changing piece of music without any limitations of genre." [10]

Dusted Magazine's Derek Taylor noted that the music "follows Rivers' usual framework of episodic segments sequenced around his four primary instruments... Sections for the other players are threaded in as well... the recording is both clear and crisp with solid spatial depth and balance between the players... The audience is largely silent rapt throughout, a complimentary reflection of the band's concerted ability to keep eyes and ears absorbed en mass[sic]." [11]

Writing for Point of Departure, Kevin Whitehead wrote: "The virtue of Sam's episodic sets is that they'd venture all over, from the ferocious to the pastoral, the dense to the airy, playing to their strengths in no fixed order or combination. With four musicians on his wavelength: now that is something to hear." [12]

In an article for JazzWord, Ken Waxman stated: "Intense from beginning to end, the one track... gives Rivers ample space to display his seesawing style on tenor and soprano saxophones, flute and piano... With the bassist's sympathetic strums framing him Rivers' tenor saxophone moves through split tone and glossolalia... Yet as Daley's plunger whinnies stunningly contrast with Rivers' staccato snarls and doits, the sliding narrative picks up additional power from Holland's walking pumps and hand-clapping drum beats that owe as much to bebop as free jazz." [13]

Gary Chapin of The Free Jazz Collective called the opening section of the piece "a tenor tour de force for Rivers... a frenetic pulseless rant, with the two drums providing a power source," and noted that "Rivers is such a strong blues-based player that he will always come back to melody." Regarding the closing section, he commented: "How can I forget what an extraordinary piano player Rivers is? But I do. I forget. And then I'm reminded." [8]

Writer Raul Da Gama stated that the album features "music that is both mysterious and moving in its valedictory pathos," and remarked: "The music of Zenith is... a sort of pinnacle of the improvisations of Sam Rivers. The superbly elegant interplay between Mr Rivers' horns and the gilded growling Joseph Daley's brass instruments suggest that Mr Rivers' music had, somehow [here] reached a high-point of his musical conceptualisation." [14]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Sam Rivers

No.TitleLength
1."Universal Message"53:19
Total length:53:19

Personnel

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sam Rivers (jazz musician)</span> American jazz musician and composer

Samuel Carthorne Rivers was an American jazz musician and composer. Though most famously a tenor saxophonist, he also performed on soprano saxophone, bass clarinet, flute, harmonica, piano and viola.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dave Holland (bassist)</span> British jazz musician

David Holland is an English double bassist, bass guitarist, cellist, composer and bandleader who has been performing and recording for five decades. He has lived in the United States since the early 1970s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barry Altschul</span> American drummer

Barry Altschul is a free jazz and hard bop drummer who first came to notice in the late 1960s for performing with pianists Paul Bley and Chick Corea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miles Davis Quintet</span> Jazz band led by Miles Davis

The Miles Davis Quintet was an American jazz band from 1955 to early 1969 led by Miles Davis. The quintet underwent frequent personnel changes toward its metamorphosis into a different ensemble in 1969. Most references pertain to two distinct and relatively stable bands: the First Great Quintet from 1955 to 1958, and the Second Great Quintet from late 1964 to early 1969, Davis being the only constant throughout.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charlie Persip</span> American jazz musician (1929–2020)

Charles Lawrence Persip, known as Charli Persip and formerly as Charlie Persip, was an American jazz drummer.

<i>Conference of the Birds</i> (Dave Holland album) 1973 studio album by the Dave Holland Quartet

Conference of the Birds is an album by the Dave Holland Quartet, recorded on 30 November 1972 and released on ECM the following year—Holland's debut as bandleader and fourth project for the label. The quartet features alto saxophonist Anthony Braxton, tenor saxophonist Sam Rivers, and percussionist Barry Altschul.

<i>Crystals</i> (Sam Rivers album) 1974 studio album by Sam Rivers

Crystals is an album by Sam Rivers released by Impulse! Records in 1974 in a stereo/quadraphonic format.

<i>Social Studies</i> (Carla Bley album) 1981 studio album by Carla Bley

Social Studies is an album by American composer, bandleader and keyboardist Carla Bley, recorded in 1980 and released on the Watt/ECM label in 1981.

<i>Hues</i> (album) 1974 live album by Sam Rivers

Hues is a live album by American jazz saxophonist Sam Rivers featuring performances recorded between 1971 and 1973 and released on the Impulse! label.

<i>Slide Hampton and His Horn of Plenty</i> 1959 studio album by Slide Hampton

Slide Hampton and His Horn of Plenty is the debut album by American jazz trombonist, composer and arranger Slide Hampton which was released on the Strand label in 1961.

<i>First Prize</i> (album) 1989 studio album by George Gruntz Concert Jazz Band

First Prize is an album by pianist and composer George Gruntz's Concert Jazz Band, which was recorded in Switzerland in 1989 and released on Enja Records.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Daley (jazz musician)</span> Musical artist

Joseph Peter Daley is an American educator, jazz musician, composer and arranger known for his work with the tuba, trombone and euphonium.

<i>Reunion: Live in New York</i> 2012 live album by Sam Rivers, Dave Holland, and Barry Altschul

Reunion: Live in New York is a live album by the Sam Rivers trio, featuring Rivers on saxophone, flute, and piano, Dave Holland on bass, and Barry Altschul on drums. It was recorded on May 25, 2007, at Columbia University's Miller Theatre in New York City, and was released in 2012 as a double-CD set by Pi Recordings.

<i>Culmination</i> (album) 1999 studio album by Sam Rivers Rivbea All-star Orchestra

Culmination is an album by multi-instrumentalist and composer Sam Rivers. It was recorded during September 1998 at Systems Two Recording Studio in Brooklyn, New York, at the same sessions that yielded the album Inspiration, and was released in 1999 by BMG France. On the album, Rivers is joined by members of the Rivbea All-star Orchestra: saxophonists Greg Osby, Steve Coleman, Chico Freeman, Gary Thomas, and Hamiet Bluiett, trumpeters Baikida Carroll, James Zollar, Ralph Alessi, and Ravi Best, trombonists Art Baron, Joseph Bowie, and Ray Anderson, baritone horn player Joseph Daley, tubist Bob Stewart, bassist Doug Mathews, and drummer Anthony Cole.

<i>The Quest</i> (Sam Rivers album) 1976 live album by Sam Rivers

The Quest is a live album by Sam Rivers on which he is accompanied by double bassist Dave Holland and drummer Barry Altschul. It was recorded on March 12 and 13, 1976, during the Rassegna Internazionale Jazz at the Palazzo dello Sport in Milan, Italy, and was initially released later that year by Red Records. It was reissued the following year by Pausa Records, and was also reissued by Fabbri Editori in a variety of forms over the next four years.

<i>Paragon</i> (Sam Rivers album) 1977 studio album by Sam Rivers

Paragon is an album by Sam Rivers on which he is accompanied by double bassist Dave Holland and drummer Barry Altschul. It was recorded on April 18, 1977, at Davout Studio in Paris, and was released later that year by Fluid Records. In 2015, it was reissued as a digital download by Rivers's RivBea Music.

<i>Ricochet</i> (Sam Rivers album) 2020 live album by Sam Rivers Trio

Ricochet is a live album by the Sam Rivers Trio, led by multi-instrumentalist and composer Rivers, and featuring double bassist Dave Holland and drummer Barry Altschul. Consisting of a single 52-minute track, it was recorded on January 12, 1978, at the Keystone Korner in San Francisco, California, and was released in 2020 by NoBusiness Records as volume 3 of the Sam Rivers Archive Series.

<i>Braids</i> (album) 2020 live album by Sam Rivers Quartet

Braids is a live album by the Sam Rivers Quartet, led by multi-instrumentalist and composer Rivers, and featuring tubist and euphonium player Joe Daley, double bassist Dave Holland and drummer Thurman Barker. Consisting of a single 57-minute performance, it was recorded on May 15, 1979, in Hamburg, Germany, and was released in 2020 by NoBusiness Records as volume 4 of the Sam Rivers Archive Series.

<i>You Cant Name Your Own Tune</i> 1977 studio album by Barry Altschul

You Can't Name Your Own Tune is an album by drummer Barry Altschul. His first release as a leader, it was recorded on February 8 and 9, 1977, at Rosebud Studio in New York City, and was issued later that year by Muse Records. On the album, Altschul is joined by saxophonist and flutist Sam Rivers, trombonist George Lewis, pianist Muhal Richard Abrams, and double bassist and cellist Dave Holland.

<i>Long Tall Sunshine</i> 2021 live album by Barry Altschuls 3dom Factor

Long Tall Sunshine is a live album by Barry Altschul's 3dom Factor, led by drummer Altschul, and featuring saxophonist Jon Irabagon and double bassist Joe Fonda. The trio's fourth release, it was recorded during a 2019 European tour, and was issued on CD in 2021 by Not Two Records.

References

  1. ↑ "Sam Rivers - Zenith". Jazz Music Archives. Retrieved November 28, 2023.
  2. ↑ Lopez, Rick. "The Sam Rivers Sessionography". Bb10k. Retrieved November 28, 2023.
  3. ↑ "Archive Series Volume 2 - Zenith". NoBusiness Records. Retrieved November 28, 2023.
  4. ↑ "Sam Rivers discography". JazzLists. Retrieved November 28, 2023.
  5. ↑ Lorge, Suzanne (August 9, 2019). "Cultivating the Legacy of Sam Rivers". DownBeat. Retrieved November 28, 2023.
  6. 1 2 Sharpe, John (January 4, 2020). "Sam Rivers Quintet: Zenith". All About Jazz. Retrieved November 28, 2023.
  7. ↑ Roggero, Vincenzo (March 23, 2020). "Sam Rivers Quintet: Zenith". All About Jazz. Retrieved November 28, 2023.
  8. 1 2 Chapin, Gary (February 10, 2023). "Sam Rivers Archive Series". The Free Jazz Collective. Retrieved December 8, 2023.
  9. ↑ Hull, Tom. "Grade List: Sam Rivers". Tom Hull – on the Web. Retrieved November 28, 2023.
  10. ↑ Brice, Olie (April 25, 2020). "Sam Rivers Quintet – 'Zenith'". London Jazz News. Retrieved November 28, 2023.
  11. ↑ Taylor, Derek (January 30, 2020). "Sam Rivers – Zenith (No Business)". Dusted. Retrieved November 28, 2023.
  12. ↑ Whitehead, Kevin (March 2020). "Moment's Notice: Reviews of Recent Recordings". Point of Departure. Retrieved November 28, 2023.
  13. ↑ Waxman, Ken (May 9, 2020). "Willem Breuker / Han Bennink". JazzWord. Retrieved November 28, 2023.
  14. ↑ Da Gama, Raul (Oct 21, 2020). "Sam Rivers… The Inimitable". JazzdaGama. Retrieved November 28, 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.