Customer Reviews

For Alto

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This album was one of the first solo records in jazz. That, and the fact that it was an early product of the Chicago scene, which most famously included the Art Ensemble, make it a historic recording. This is not music for just anyone, but if you are into the avant-garde, it has a forbidding beauty that is only enhanced by knowing it was conceived and executed in 1969!

Braxton opens with a 9-minute tour de force dedicated to John Cage which sounds somewhat like a cross between Coltrane's 1961 "Chasin' the Trane" and a 1990s Evan Parker solo. Close listening is required for "Dedicated to Ann and Peter Allen," which is played at a barely audible level. This exemplifies one of Braxton's core concerns -- experimentation with pure sound as well as form. Unfortunately, there is one such experiment that I judge a failure, and that is the original Side 4, "Dedicated to Leroy Jenkins." Braxton, in this 20-minute piece, repeatedly, deliberately, honks, Ayler-style, interrupted by brief forays into higher registers. I'm sure that in his mind this represented some sort of formal exploration of the context of the "honk," a noble sax tradition going back to the earliest days of jazz. However, not all such formal experimentation is worthy, in the end, of presenting to the public.

My recommendation is this -- listen to "For Alto" side by side. Rather than trying to digest it whole, listen to each of the original LP sides separately, which physiologically more closely corresponds to the the human attention span than a 70-minute CD. If you are open-minded, I think you will hear the beauty in this great record.

I thought I would provide a little history on this CD and its reception before I offer some mildly phrased opinions.
I had thought the story behind For Alto was fairly well known but maybe not. I believe I read about this in Forces in Motion by Graham Locke. If you are interested in anything AB, that is a good place to start. I am going off memory since I cannot find my copy so if I misrepresent what happened, please correct me in the comments.
Anyway, sometime back around 1967, AB was giving a solo sax concert in Chicago and found himself nonplussed. He had thought it would be easy to improvise soli for an hour or so but found himself very quickly repeating himself.
The result was a period of practise wherein he developed his saxophone languages concept. If I remember correctly, AB came up with the idea of using certain qualities of saxophone sound as the basis for improvisation. "Buzzing" was one of them, I think "trills" was another.
These pieces are the result.
This CD fell on the jazz public, media and fellow musicians like a bomb. I bought a copy of the double CD back in early 1969 and I had the usual reaction to it. Some of it I didn't understand at all and some of it I loved. But I kept listening to it (along with a ton of other stuff that annoyed my parents no end).
The controversy over AB's music can be gauged by following his rep in Downbeat from that period. They ignored him until he started appearing in their Talent Polls. This CD was not reviewed until 4 or 5 years after it appeared! The writers and many of AB's fellow musicians complained about his tone or his fingering or ego or his sanity.
Here is the deal. This is not music that is meant to entertain. It is meant to challenge, to educate, to explore, to suggest and to foster change. Not least, to foster change in the way we hear the possibilities of what are musical materials. Not least, to change how we hear the possibility of melody and what is harmonious. The pieces that the other reviewers complain about, the ones dedicated to Cage and Jenkins are not what I listen to everyday but when I do I still love them. They still sound radical and fresh. The Cage piece in particular still sounds incredibly skillful, oddly melodious and fascinating.
If you are new to AB or to solo sax, I recommend the later CDs of his devoted to his solo work. Something like Wesleyan (12 Alto Solos)1992 or Solo Willisau. They are more accessible. But if you have the courage to musically explore then, for the love of doG, get thee a copy of this bad boy and listen to it. Then wait a month or two and listen to it again. And then wait another month or two and do it again. You may never learn to really tap your feet to it but it will change the way you hear the possible in music.
Mingus did one of Downbeat's Blindfold tests in 1960 during which he insisted on commenting on Ornette Coleman. He concluded by saying, "I'm not saying everybody's going to have to play like Coleman but they're going to have to stop copying Bird." (Quoted from George Lewis's A Power Stronger Than Itself, p.46). Well, I'm not saying you have to like AB or enjoy what he does, but I am saying that AB and his AACM associates changed the music. This CD is a masterpiece. Whether you like it or not.

Intense, uncompromising solo saxophone. This is not the kind of music to provide background for a dinner party, as Mr. Braxton demands your full attention.

Anthony Braxton's "For Alto" is one of the most bold recordings ever made-- Braxton, who was extremely new on the scene, recorded a double LP (73 minutes worth) of solo alto saxaphone performances.

The music on here is impressive-- most so because without any net whatsoever, Braxton largely manages to hold together and produces something absolutely amazing.

The music on here is a number of things-- aggressive, angry, explosive, but also tender, lyrical and melodic. It is not for everyone, you have to be able to accept that it lacks all conventional touchstones, but I suspect if you're reading this review at all, you'll want to hear it.

Anthony Braxton's For Alto is an amazing recording. It is a series of pieces, or sketches, of different people who have had a meaning in Braxton's life. And just as each person you have known well has had made a different kind of impact, so to does each different piece. It is interesting to guess what that impact might be. Tracks 5 and 6 are haunting, breathy, sparse, ballad-influenced pieces. To me itseemed as if the people for whom these pieces are dedicated had calm, simple, beautiful relationships with the master saxophonist. Track 4, for Cecil Taylor (my personal favorite) is a showcase for not only boundless technique, but astonishing energy...two things Cecil is known for. Track 2, for John Cage, shows some of the radical concepts and ideas Braxton absorbed from the avant-garde composer. And so on.

Obviously this album is groundbreaking. Others had done unaccompanied solos before...Coleman Hawkins, Eric Dolphy (a personal favorite) and one or two others, but Braxton was the first to program an entire album of them, each exploring a different venue of free jazz. And he inspired a whole host of others to try their hand at the same thing, most notably Evan Parker's excursions on the soprano saxophone. As an experimental album, most of it is simply breathtaking. Tracks 3-6 deffinitely deserve close, concentrated, repeated listening.

Unfortunately, like many experiments, not all of it "works." While I would deffinitely not call 2, 7 and 8 "failed," they seem to me to be dead ends, both creatively and stylistically. Honks, buzzes, screeches and the like are very effective ways of furthering the musical vocabulary, and I'm all for them. However, often these same sounds are almost unintelligible. While I am not one to claim music or art need necessarily be pleasing, it should at least be understandable. If you can't make yourself understood, you are just babbling to yourself. On these tracks Braxton seems to be groping in the dark, struggling to find a new outlet of worthwhile things to say...but in the end it really doesn't lead to anything.

That said, For Alto is a very important album, and despite my qualms about three of the pieces, I give this album 5 stars for concept, vision, tracks 3-6, and historical importance. All experienced jazz listeners need to give thie album a try at some point, so why not now? It is, at the risk of sounding pretentious, a "human portrait," as it were, not just of Braxton, in sound rather than paint. Some of it is ugly and jarring, but most of it is beautiful and powerful...just like life. This should be in any jazz lover's collection.

When you first glance at this CD your first impression is more than likely "boring". When you look at the stats- 1 alto saxophonist, 73 minutes... the odds are definitely not in Mr. Braxton's favor. While this beast of an album is intimidating, if you have an open mind (most people who listen to jazz should), you will find a full-length cd full of sounds and silence, all simply incredible.

As other reviewers have noted, a number of these songs are noise. Some people will find this annoying, while others will find it attractive. To myself there is something trancelike about the wandering curiosity and sheer emotion of the screeching and rolling and honking. In 'John Cage' you are taken on an exhausting roller coaster ride, as Braxton rolls through unknown scales and exceeds higher registers where the sound of him breathing into the saxophone is heavier than the saxophone itself. Some of the noise is downright scary. Kenny McKenny and Leroy Jenkins have to be some of the most frightening songs to listen to, but they are truly incredible. It's great to hear Braxton really exploring the unheard sounds of the saxophone at length. It is almost like a drug... at first its almost overwhelming, but as you contine to be exposed to it you become desensitized and it really takes effect.

The remainder of the tracks are equally as stunning if not more so. Ann and Peter Allen is a quiet, solemn meditation that uses heavy silence. Truly amazing. Susan Axelrod is a sort of more intense variation of it. The rest of the songs are the best for casual listening, great free improvisations loosely based on certain scales. Cecil Taylor is very bluesy, probably my favorite track.

This recording shows, at an incredibly young age, Braxton was already a master of the concept of improvisation, and more importantly the alto saxophone. In the course he makes his sax wail and scream, cry out gently and faintly, and create beautiful tones. You will gasp for breath after this exhaustingly good 73 minutes, and probably want to play sax.

Penguin Guide To Jazz has this album/Cd rated as "Crown Status"...out of, I would guess 500,000 ratings only maybe
400 cd's was given this rating....I don't "see it". For one it is a Solo performance..You must have a very good attention
span (or a lot of time on your hands) to not only sit through one person playing a Saxaphone but to rate in the 95th percentile
of all Jazz Cd's....I simply disagree and fail to agree thereby not agreeing............

I used to play the LP on my jazz show simultaneously with other so-called avant garde tunes, most frequently Sonic Youth's Silver Session for Jason Knuth (thank god for whrb!) -- quite an analogous recording i'd say... Other times it was played with taped movie dialogue, some cuts from Neu!, and yes even Kenny G (just imagine braxton from the 60's barging on stage of a Kenny G concert in the 80's with one of his excruciating solos! ha! the audience would just blow up in their pastel suits) etc. etc. Well, you get the idea. The "fascination," the proverbial point is that this albums is about you the listener and your environ at the times of listening, anthony braxton the musician at the time of recording, and the attempted elimination of spatial and temporal boundaries therewithin. It's an attempt to create infinite permutations of an episode for every future listening of this recording. It dehumanizes the music. Well, and so on goes the theory... Yes, this album is definitely prettier in theory. If you like other things "avant garde," you will see how this fits into that worldview. If you don't, you will probably hate it. (Thank you delmark for finally re-releasing it on CD.)

And I'm not even a sax player! How do these people get away with this rubbish? I'm an avant garde musician i.e. I play any old trash. Not in key, no rhythm, no harmony, just sheer irritating noise! Its literally just a load of bum notes without the "oops" in. Unlistenable!

anthony braxton is held to be a genius by the jazz literati, but, for me, he is the poster child for the problems of free jazz. free jazz, as exemplified in the 60s by giants john coltrane (post "Love Supreme") and ornette coleman plus a host of others (archie shepp, albert ayler, roswell rudd, et al), is challenging music that explodes all the conventions of rhythm, melody, and structure. to many, it is just noise. to others it is an exciting new form of musical art. the issue becomes perspective-- can music be made that follows no pattern or convention? for some the answer is "yes" and the efforts to do so are lauded as brilliant. but for others, including miles davis, it is noise. music has form. music has conventions, deal with it and swing! in this album, we hear the problem. tracks 2, 7, and 8 are simply noise, i don't care what any critic says. i can go out and stomp on a bike horn and get the same rhythm and tone mr. braxton achieves on alto sax. music is not supposed to hurt! however, tracks 3-6 are some of the most beautiful sax solos ever recorded, with no.5 being absolutely breath-taking as mr. braxton barely breathes through the horn creating a work of such simple beauty and grace that you know you really are in the presence of genius. and there you have it. do i listen to the noise and "oooh" and "aaahhh" like the folks watching the emperor parade around in his undershorts? or do i call it for what it is, vow never to listen to the racket and program the CD player only for the middle of the set? i chose the latter. the middle is worth the purchase, but please somebody explain to me the fascination with noise as music.