Category: jazz

Halloween 2007.
Amsterdam. Bimhuis with Astro Tempunauts:
Oliver Lake (sx) Reggie Workman (bs) Andrew Cyrille (ds)
American Free-jazz in Europe.
Messages from other galaxies and starbursts.
Gravitationally bound systems of fate
Dragged me to the gig like bossy Angels.
I soon lost myself to the music though…

Steaming passions, omni-directional forces
Multi layered timbre, time, freedom freedom
Star clusters, and various interstellar clouds
How to bring it back? it back again?

Dark Strumming from Workman,
Blowing of shaman pipes, Tibetan sounding bells and
His bow, sawing at the wound strings of his Double Bass.
Searching, always looking,
The Trio Trio Trio questioning everything
Peculiar galaxies, unknown species,
Starbursts, dark matter matters.

The spirit of American music, peering into the void,
Pop was excommunicated this Halloween in Europe.
3 peacemakers of American Jazz, peacemakers for
American Freedom, democracy, information technology,
Philosophy, Science, more than mere music i say.
These are active galactic nuclei from distant galaxies.
Gathered on samhain between nothingness & eternity.
Transformed into 3 Wizards constructing
nNon-Euclidean Jazz Magic, Mystery, ambiguity,
An awakening, masterfully crafted.
Perfect.

Saxes are hurtling into way way deep into Milky space,
Oliver Lake, with the figure of a mighty Morpheus
He serves up Red Pill after Red Pill into strange nebulae
Journey after Journey, painting the Matrix Ultra violet
A precise hurricane, rapid fire scatting Knu new new
Anti-jazz language, as Dolphy, Trane, Ornette, Sonny, Pharoah.
Popping Valve sounds like Dolphin chatter, water tight.
Then a Jungle of tone erupts, hundreds of new tone-species
Chattering,. spirits on the side of samhain
All clambering to get in on this Jam.

Andy Cyrille drums form a sound/light-house
Past Alpha proxima, towards a ring galaxy,
Seemingly able to jump quarter/half/ and full bars
Ahead or behind the isolated pulse, in an instant.
Then as if the spirits had conversed long enough
Wrestled long enough and become restless and slipped
Into hypertravel.

On the side, an Anthem of Zigzag’d melody
Accompanied by a seductive Swing, juicy roasting
Roller coaster swing, syrup sprinkled with interstellar dust,
Snap! Purrrrl purrrrl Snapta ta tata purrrrl.
Snap! One massive cracking hit! Snap! once more.
One Louder than the millions of shuffling feet of the beats
Held with Andy’s left hand wand alone, his right meanwhile
Poking spells and open clusters into the alloyed cymbal
With a big “K” on it. A significant Free-jazz Doppler shift swing.

I experienced many moments of Epiphany during the show
Shattered thoughts coming together personal stuff
Getting worked out by these Chirping shaman-doctors
With the sonic Andromedae ambrosia i love so much.
Seeing their most Humble and graceful postures,
Hearing very few WORDS, and those that came were almost
A whisper. Humble. Concise. Humble Informational.

I had much gratitude for the players,
American Peacemakers, real American peacemakers
Here in Europe and roaming the transtemporal Omniverse.
Here now to save the Universe again, and tonight
Here in Amsterdam on samhain, again and again.
They did more than that though,
The Trio transfigured time/space for all of us.
There was JuJu spirit in the air, impressions of cyclic minds
Workman’s hands of plasma tonight, over the Big wooden
Clef leaving no note left behind like an Octopus.
Composure of an Aura murmur.

A Super Nova birth, slapping, thumping Post Drum ‘N Bass
Post all and nothing, this Trio Trio Trio questioning every
Beat, Fast forwarding language computers,
Under masterful control controlling toms.
Everywitch way, every side, globular cluster jazz.
Free. Anti-Pop. Wordless. Epic. And all that.

Andy switches to brushes., suddenly everybody rushes
And rushes and keeps streaming for some future destination
Divisions and divisions, sub divisions, crushing music theory
Smashing every genre, busting walls of sound, and re-building
From a subterranean dreamscape somewhere in Asia Major,

Palaces of fuzzy delicate crystal sculptures,
Creatures chirp from inside them just hatching in proto-song.
Breathing pulses, spinning off like asteroids after a collision
Now a Zoo, different animals calling, insects, mammals,
Strange fish and of course, birds.

Talking, talking in varied angular velocities
Getting through, like a fax machine signal, or a kind of rolling codex, Sheets of sound, phase shifts, whispering ghosts
Building sonic keys signitures with Layers of rhythm,
Layers of timbre, propagation pattern. Pattern,
Turning transparent like giant molecular clouds of Tao.
You build the melody now.
You do it!

The Trio of spacemen, all artificer, mechanic, craftsman,
True American peacemakers , afro-black Futurist Tempunauts,
Carrying the Legacy of the mighty Atom Smasher himself
Workman alone played with Art Blakey, Kenny Burrel
Roy Ayers, Grant Green, Freddie Hubbard, Eric Dolphy
Herbie Mann (R.I.P) Yusef Lateef, Alice and John
Coltrane. The Masters of the Masters of Jazz
Anywhere and Everywhere, and forever.

And so i sing lofty praise in eleven sharps
Love’s still alive and with us, the music lives and loves.
And these cats play their music wherever it takes them
Still today, innovating, improvising, everywitch way,
This jazz moves to a place of chaos until the love
Deep Within the music, deep within outer space suddenly
Brings us back to the earth again, Big bang!
And some healing ritualistic
Post-Bop starts up. Hear! Calls! Everywhair!

Waltz on the surface, dark undercurrents, tension-filled
Cluster fucks of jamming snake rattle jazz,
Soaring high movements of proto-galactic sax compositions,
Entire tunes in several seconds, scales, keys,
Rhythms, poked and screwed and pampered and peppered
A Frenzy of light and dark forces battling
A supercluster scale death match march at mach 4.
Ping Ting of Alloy hats to deep Bass Bass Burrr.
Tap Dancing polyrhythms, self replicating phrases
With rapidly descending intervals between phrases
Phase shifts, sonic booms, scrapping phrases
Scratching, hooting,
Pitter patter, hair whisper, blow, pop.

Wood, steel, brass, reed, through air meeting
Bio-electric interacting humans conduits into space
Mmuscles, tendons, Lungs, lips, fingers, feet:
Code breaking reality, trcik after trick aftrer trick
After treat after treat after beat.
At least temporarily, off off into deep space/time,
And back.