Customer Reviews

Dimensions And Extensions

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With the reissue of "Dimensions & Extensions," three of Sam Rivers' four Blue Note albums are now available domestically on CD. (I personally couldn't have ever imagined this happening when I purchased the Rivers Mosaic Set a dozen years ago.) This March 17, 1967 session is certainly the most avant-garde outing Rivers had for the label, and signaled the tone of later efforts he would make in the 70s for Impulse and ECM. The expanded frontline personnel of James Spaulding, Donald Byrd and Julian Priester, and the pianoless rhythm duo of Cecil McBee and Steve Ellington lay the ground work for this departure. But it is Rivers' increasingly complex original compositions that showcase a new level in his talent. Granted his extreme take on standards on his previous album (the still OOP "A New Conception") was far from run of the mill, but the depth and layering in these tunes compared to Fuchsia Swing Song or Contours (see my reviews) is striking. Fans of the more "eccentric" mid 60s Blue Notes -- Out to Lunch, Dialogue, Point of Departure, Life Time, etc. -- will be delighted with the dimension of this disc!

This album mixes big band, hard-bop and the avant-gaurde. Sam Rivers mixes the styles quite effectively here.

Most of the tracks here have beginnings--heads, in jazz terms-that run through a lot of chords and substitutions quickly. The players are then off to the races, and the improvosation skill of these soloists in excellent. They never fall into cleches-and neither does the rhythm section-so this music always sounds fresh.

Like many of the other great Blue Note 60s jazz records-Destination Out by Jackie McClean or Evolution by Grechan Moncour--this bypasses the whole mainstreem/out jazz war aside and uses all elements of the music to make a great record.

Critics and marketing people worry about style labals. Great musicians never do.

This is an amazing session from 1967. This album provides vigorously engaging textures, shapes, and sounds from beginning to end. The soloing is hot. There's six tracks in all:

Paean / mstr #1858 / tk 10 [5:21]
Precis / mstr #1859 / tk 20 [5:18]
Helix / mstr #1860 / tk 25 [5:29]
Effusive Melange / mstr #1861 / tk 32 [5:47]
Involution / mstr #1862 / tk 33 [7:10]
Afflatus / mstr #1863 / tk 34 [6:25]

Here's the lineup:

Sam Rivers (tenor sax-2,3,4,6; soprano sax-1; flute-5 / Compositions)
James Spaulding (alto sax, flute)
Donald Byrd (trumpet)
Julian Priester (trombone)
Cecil McBee (bass)
Steve Ellington (drums)

If you know anything about mid-sixties jazz, you know that this is an amazing crew. This music means business. Track 2 is a flute bonanza exploratorium and track 5 is a vivid trio incantation. The other tracks have a cleanly articulated, innovative sound, even during the four-horn collective improvisation. If you like Rivers, you need to hear this. If you don't know his work, this is a great start.

This disc is one of the best of many Blue Note avant garde jazz efforts recorded in the sixties. The piano-less lineup is melodic and edgy at various turns. The writing is urgent, up front and at times, beautiful. It is an essential part of any sixties avant garde collection and makes me yearn for more BLue Note releases of Rivers' material.

You figure Blue Note would remaster this by now. No really. I mean it's his most popular cd. But they decide to realease his more acsesible stuff. Why dosen't Blue Note release this... Do they they just sit there and pick out of a box? If there is a good reason I'll understand. But from what I know there isn't. I don't have this cd ,but I know it's going to be good.

of the 10 or so sam rivers cd's i have i rank this about 8th.
Too brassy."Contours" with Dave Holland is probably his bes
also "Waves" is very good.

Man, what a great record... I don't do too many reviews, but this music should be heard by more people. Love the Rudy Van Gelder editions too.

i'm not a big fan of sam rivers' playing. i don't rank his playing with the saxophone greats who came out of the 60s. his style has never captivated my attention during focused listening or leaped out and pounced, catching me unaware with some incredible combination of notes while i was doing housework.

to his credit, as a player, he's been fortunate, a brief tryout with the miles davis quintet, recording on dave holland's conference of the birds, and with andrew hill. his best playing to date i've heard has been with jason moran, one of the newer players honoring the musicians who paved the road of jazz for them with spots on their recording dates. on the strength of rivers on the moran recording, black stars, i jumped on the revival bandwagon, mentioning the name sam rivers as fervently as a teenager shouting out the name of the latest mega successful rapper tearing it up.

in my case, i'm just trying to keep the music alive for those who would listen, while still waiting for that moment when an early sam rivers' recording happens to be grouped with cd's on my carousel that fits his brand of playing for my ear.

dimensions and extensions is important component in the sam rivers' technology. four horns and the absence of piano stretch the sound toward things to come years later with the sam rivers' rivbea all-star orchestra, free form solos and vibrant energy on a large scale, the rivers' sound i prefer.