Reviews that mention Oliver Lake
September 8, 2017
Live at ‘A Space’ 1976
Sackville SK 2010
By Ken Waxman
Featuring a masterful series of duets by alto saxophonist/flutist Oliver Lake and trombonist Joseph Bowie, this five-track reissue captures two accomplished improvisers at their most adventurous and celebrates an epoch when Toronto’s reputation as a major haven for experimental music was being established.
Although the two would go on to make more accessible sessions with jazz-funk bands like Jump Up and Defunkt, the surprise in hindsight is how accessible some of these sounds actually are. While there are enough extended techniques involving wailing split tones, tongue slaps and percussion plus deep-in-the-throat snorts and guffaws from both horn players, sonic unity is paramount. A track like “Orange Butterflies”, for instance, may set up opposing flute peeps and brass snorts as if they’re going to recall the unpleasant meeting of Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf, but these untrammeled tremors eventually cease, replaced by tones that bond the two in lockstep unity. Another strategy, summarily demonstrated on “After Assistance” is how one horn produces a solid continuum upon which the other is free to improvise, with the two subsequently switching roles with the coordinated skill of paired ballroom dancers. Bowie’s prestidigitations are most aptly demonstrated on “A Space Rontoto” when slide motions are used to taper his usual gutbucket action into a mere sound thread as if strained through a sieve. Meanwhile Lake’s wobbling, lowing and fluttering multiphonic variations on “Zaki” don’t preclude him cycling back to its theme in tandem with Bowie as the finale. MORE
March 21, 2017
Flow
NotTwo MW942-2
Dependent on talent not fashion, the generation gap has never been as pronounced in Jazz and improvised music as it is in other fields. Like herds of animals whose direction is determined by skill, sociability and strength of some members, democracy prevails in most musical situations. That’s the basis for the flow of Flow on this CD, which also highlights cross-generational cooperation.
Centre of the band are Americans, pianist Michael Jefry Stevens, 66, and bassist Joe Fonda, 61, who have been partners for three decades in their own bands and others such as Conference Call. Generations’ veteran is alto saxophonist Oliver Lake, 74, a leader or member of innumerable groups, including the World Saxophone Quartet, since his work in the early 1970s as part of St. Louis’ Black Artists Group. Many years later, versatile Vienna-based drummer Emil Gross, who is still in his twenties, was born. His presence not only adds credence to the generations tag, but showcases an adapt tyro, who also gigs as a guitarist and has worked with other American such as singer/pianist Mike Kindred and trumpeter Herb Robertson, MORE
February 1, 2015
Energy Module
NoBusiness Records NBCD 72/73
Derek Bailey/Joëlle Léandre/George Lewis/Evan Parker
Dunois 1982
Fou Records FR-CD 06
Frank Lowe Quartet
Out Loud
Triple Point Records TPR 209
Don Pullen
Richard’s Tune
Delmark/Sackville CD2-3008
Steve Lacy
Cycles (1976-80)
Emanem 5205
Something In The Air: Revolutionary Records Redux
By Ken Waxman
About 40 years on, so-called Free Jazz and Free Music from the late sixties, seventies and early eighties, doesn’t sound so revolutionary any more. The idea of improvising without chord structures or fixed rhythm has gradually seeped into most players’ consciousness, with the genre(s) now accepted as particular methods for improvisation along with Bop, Dixieland and Fusion. Historical perspective also means that many sessions originally recorded during that period are now being released. Some are reissues, usually with additional music added; others are newly unearthed tapes being issued for the first time. The best discs offer up formerly experimental sounds whose outstanding musicianship is more of a lure than nostalgia. MORE
December 6, 2014
Archive Selections, Vol. 1
Innova 805
By Ken Waxman
Brainchild of Ornette Coleman, Karl Berger and Ingrid Ingrid Sertso, the Woodstock, N.Y.-based Creative Music Studio (CMS) has had an influence that continues to resonate past its physical presence from 1971-1984. Dedicated to erasing the false barriers among different musics, its workshops and concerts not only helped spread freer sounds among players identified with jazz or so-called classical music, but with participants from overseas welcomed, it helped birth a sophisticated variant of world music. MORE
September 6, 2014
TarBaby with special guests Oliver Lake & Marc Ducret
Fanon
RogueArt ROG-0048
By Ken Waxman
Thematic without being officious Fanon is a loose homage to the revolutionary concepts of psychiatrist/author Frantz Fanon (1925-1961). Martinique-born Fanon, radicalized during his time in Algeria in the’50 as member of the Front de Libération Nationale (FLN), wrote books such as Black Skins, Black Masks which influenced Marxists and Black Panthers. But with only brief spoken word sections as introduction and finale, this CD is an estimable demonstration of finely honed expressive music, not agitprop. Ironically it also demonstrates sonic cooperation: the contributions from two guests, alto saxophonist Oliver Lake, a founding member in the Black Artists Group, and guitarist Marc Ducret from France, the then colonial power against which the FLN was fighting, add strength and sophistication to this program. MORE
November 8, 2013
Refraction - Breakin' Glass
Intakt CD 217
By Ken Waxman
By the numbers: Trio3 has been a band for 27 years, has released eight CDs, features its third pianist guest on Refraction and with him has created a session that’s almost 100% satisfying.
Veterans of the jazz wars, saxophonist Oliver Lake, 70, bassist Reggie Workman, 75, and drummer Andrew Cyrille, 73 have been part of vital ensembles as disparate as John Coltrane’s, Cecil Taylor and the World Saxophone Quartet as well as their own bands. Guest pianist Jason Moran, a generation younger, is a MacArthur fellow and artistic advisor for the Kennedy Center. Yet he fits snugly onto the piano bench previously occupied by Gerri Allen and Irène Schweizer because of a shared interest with Trio3 in the diversity of jazz. MORE
August 8, 2013
Oliver Lake/Christian Weber/Dieter Ulrich featuring Nils Wogram
All Decks
Intakt Records CD 222
Oliver Lake Big Band
Wheels
Passin’ Thru 41228
By Ken Waxman
Away from the well-established World Saxophone Quartet – founded 36 years ago and still going strong – alto saxophonist Oliver Lake, 70, has experimented with formats ranging from solo sax recitals to big band work, while adding reggae and funk inflections to his basic jazz and blues background. These fine discs find him as part of unique, but now-established formations. MORE
August 8, 2013
Wheels
Passin’ Thru 41228
Oliver Lake/Christian Weber/Dieter Ulrich featuring Nils Wogram
All Decks
Intakt Records CD 222
By Ken Waxman
Away from the well-established World Saxophone Quartet – founded 36 years ago and still going strong – alto saxophonist Oliver Lake, 70, has experimented with formats ranging from solo sax recitals to big band work, while adding reggae and funk inflections to his basic jazz and blues background. These fine discs find him as part of unique, but now-established formations. MORE
January 20, 2012
Celebrating Mary Lou Williams: Live At Birdland New York
Intakt CD 187
A modernist salute to Mary Lou Williams, a pioneering woman composer/pianist, from Geri Allen, a contemporary stylist with similar talents, the remarkable factor about this disc, may be Allen’s choice of playing partners: the members of Trio 3. A band which more commonly works with spikier fare, the sounds on Trio 3’s CDs usually falls chronologically between what is created by the dedicator and the dedicatée.
Williams (1910–1981), was pianist and chief arranger for Andy Kirk's Twelve Clouds of Joy during the heyday of Kansas City Jazz in the 1930s; went on to be a friend and champion of early Boppers such as Thelonious Monk; composed suites and orchestral pieces throughout her life; and before the end of her career even preformed a duet concert with Cecil Taylor. Although the guiding force behind this pleasantly mainstream salute to Williams was Allen, an academic, post-Bop stylist, and a friend of Williams’ confident Peter F. O’Brien S.J., the Trio’s drummer Andrew Cyrille, worked with Williams early in his career, and more prominently spent an extended stint in Taylor’s unit. MORE
January 5, 2012
Julius Hemphill (1938-1995)
By Ken Waxman
Known best for the 15-odd years he spent as a founding member of the World Saxophone Quartet (WSQ), saxophonist and composer Julius Arthur Hemphill, influenced the shape of jazz before and after that affiliation. Live at Kassiopeia, a 1987 German concert recently released by NoBusiness, demonstrates his prowess in extending solo reed language and in powerful duets with German bassist Peter Kowald. Hemphill’s organizational and musical smarts also encouraged younger saxophonists such as Tim Berne and especially Marty Ehrlich, whose Julius Hemphill Sextet preserves the all-saxophone ensemble Hemphill created after splitting with the WSQ. MORE
July 12, 2011
Buster Bee
Sackville SKCD2-3016
Julius Hemphill
Roi Boyé & the Gotham Mintrels
Sackville SKCD2-3014/15
George Lewis
The Solo Trombone Record
Sackville SKCD2-3012
Anthony Davis
Of Blues and Dreams
Sackville SKCD2-3020
Karl Berger & Dave Holland
All Kinds of Time
Sackville SKCD2-3010
Roscoe Mitchell
Quartet
Sackville SKCD2-3009)
Barry Altschul Trio
MORE
July 9, 2008
12+6 In A Row
hatOLOGY 649
Lisle Ellis
Sucker Punch Requiem
Henceforth Records 104
Radio I-Ching
The Fire Keeps Burning
Resonant Music 004
Wayne Horvitz Gravitas Quartet
One Dance Alone
Songlines SGL SA1571-2
Mark O'Leary/Eyvind Kang/Dylan van der Schyff
Zemlya
Leo Records CD LR 507
Expatriate – and Homebody – Sounds
Extended Play
By Ken Waxman
Geographic proximity is responsible for the migration of gifted Canadian artists to the United States. Plus Canadian improvisers down south quickly find eager collaborators. MORE
July 9, 2008
Sucker Punch Requiem
Henceforth Records 104
Paul Bley
12+6 In A Row
hatOLOGY 649
Radio I-Ching
The Fire Keeps Burning
Resonant Music 004
Wayne Horvitz Gravitas Quartet
One Dance Alone
Songlines SGL SA1571-2
Mark O'Leary/Eyvind Kang/Dylan van der Schyff
Zemlya
Leo Records CD LR 507
Expatriate – and Homebody – Sounds
Extended Play
By Ken Waxman
Geographic proximity is responsible for the migration of gifted Canadian artists to the United States. Plus Canadian improvisers down south quickly find eager collaborators. MORE
July 9, 2008
The Fire Keeps Burning
Resonant Music 004
Paul Bley
12+6 In A Row
hatOLOGY 649
Lisle Ellis
Sucker Punch Requiem
Henceforth Records 104
Wayne Horvitz Gravitas Quartet
One Dance Alone
Songlines SGL SA1571-2
Mark O'Leary/Eyvind Kang/Dylan van der Schyff
Zemlya
Leo Records CD LR 507
Expatriate – and Homebody – Sounds
Extended Play
By Ken Waxman
Geographic proximity is responsible for the migration of gifted Canadian artists to the United States. Plus Canadian improvisers down south quickly find eager collaborators. MORE
July 9, 2008
Wayne Horvitz Gravitas Quartet
One Dance Alone
Songlines SGL SA1571-2
Paul Bley
12+6 In A Row
hatOLOGY 649
Lisle Ellis
Sucker Punch Requiem
Henceforth Records 104
Radio I-Ching
The Fire Keeps Burning
Resonant Music 004
Mark O'Leary/Eyvind Kang/Dylan van der Schyff
Zemlya
Leo Records CD LR 507
Expatriate – and Homebody – Sounds
Extended Play
By Ken Waxman
Geographic proximity is responsible for the migration of gifted Canadian artists to the United States. Plus Canadian improvisers down south quickly find eager collaborators. MORE
July 9, 2008
Mark O'Leary/Eyvind Kang/Dylan van der Schyff
Zemlya
Leo Records CD LR 507
Paul Bley
12+6 In A Row
hatOLOGY 649
Lisle Ellis
Sucker Punch Requiem
Henceforth Records 104
Radio I-Ching
The Fire Keeps Burning
Resonant Music 004
Wayne Horvitz Gravitas Quartet
One Dance Alone
Songlines SGL SA1571-2
Expatriate – and Homebody – Sounds
Extended Play
By Ken Waxman
Geographic proximity is responsible for the migration of gifted Canadian artists to the United States. Plus Canadian improvisers down south quickly find eager collaborators. MORE
July 2, 2008
Zaki
hatOLOGY 639
Prime “what if” material this recording captures the perfect balance between improvisation and interpretation of saxophonist Oliver Lake’s compositions attained by his band at the 1979 Willisau Jazz Festival. The unanswered question is what other impressive sounds might have been created if the trio’s singularly inventive guitarist hadn’t subsequently abandoned improvised music.
Born with the inconvenient name of Michael (Gregory) Jackson, the six tracks show how the guitarist had adopted slurred fingering and distorted bowing and tunings to complement the serpentine shrieks and squeals that Lake expelled from his tenor and soprano saxophones. Pheeroan akLaff, a subtle drummer who prefers rumbles, tambourine rattles and bounces to a crunching backbeat, fills out the band. MORE
January 16, 2006
STRING TRIO OF NEW YORK WITH OLIVER LAKE
Frozen Ropes
Barking Hoop BKH-009
SONNY SIMMONS
The Traveller
Jazzaway JARCD 011
Recording with strings seems be the secret desire of every saxophonist, at least ever since Charlie Parker did his famous BIRD WITH STRINGS sessions in the 1950s. These two CDs, recorded almost simultaneously, but in different countries, show how two veteran alto players of the first and second wave of the avant garde adapt to variations of this setting.
Sonny Simmons, 72, who first recorded with fellow California saxist Prince Lasha back in 1962, chooses the accepted with-strings formula. This session from Oslo playing over harmonies composed, arranged and conducted by flautist Vidar Johansen and interpreted by the Kringkastningsorkesteret of two violins, a viola and a cello. MORE
October 6, 2003
Cloth
Passin’ Thru 41217
Thirty years ago when alto saxophonist Oliver Lake was one of the young firebrands involved with the Black Artists Group (BAG), St. Louis’ version of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians who knew that by 2003 he’d turn into … Count Basie?
Well, not really, though the comparison is meant as a compliment. It’s just that Lake, who over the years has involved himself in so many different groups from the still-thriving World Saxophone Quartet, to the R&B-influenced Jump Up group, has now put together a regulation-sized big band that swings with the unfettered grace of any of Basie’s aggregations. MORE
August 5, 2002
Objects
Louie 025
TRIO 3
Open Ideas
Palmetto PM 2082
Making any kind of supposition about albums of improvised music is always dangerous, precisely because you’re dealing with sounds created on the spot. So the casual listener, seeing that one CD here features three of jazz’s most accomplished sonic explorers, while the other was created by a trio of West Coast journeymen, may expect a lot more from Trio3 than Rich Halley’s crew.
In fact, the music produced by reedist Rich Halley, the pride of Portland (Oregon) and his band mates, bassist Clyde Reed and drummer Dave Storrs, has just as much -- and in many cases more -- intensity than the session featuring alto saxophonist Oliver Lake, bassist Reggie Workman and drummer Andrew Cyrille. Not that both don’t offer up some good music. It’s just that for a variety of reasons, the Left Coasters seem to have a slight edge. MORE