The Jaki Byard Experience

Jaki Byard, Jaki Byard With Roland Kirk | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 2, 1999)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Ojc
• ASIN: B00000FXOF
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #167,144 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

"Experience" is an apt description of this 1968 monster, more a mystical rendezvous with the Ghosts of Jazz Past, Present, and Future than a mere record album. Pianist Jaki Byard certainly had a kindred spirit in hornman Roland Kirk, another fiercely diverse player who never met a jazz he didn't like--or know how to play. Our journey begins with a 10-minute reading of Bud Powell's "Parisian Thoroughfare" that's more beyond than it is bop. "Hazy Eye" follows, a lovely meditative duet with Byard and bassist Richard Davis, before the quartet (with Alan Dawson on drums and Kirk adding a rare turn on clarinet) reveals the earthy gospel "Shine on Me," taken half-boogie, half-funky. Just as you settle into a groove, a wild, frenzied version of Thelonious Monk's "Evidence" tans your hide as both Byard and Kirk offer whirling, wondrous improvisations. The climax is Eubie Blake's beautiful ballad "Memories of You," a duet for Byard and Kirk that is both stately and stirring. The full quartet waves goodbye with a midtempo "Teach Me Tonight," complete with a nod to Erroll Garner. You can still see the devilish smiles. --Marc Greilsamer

Product Description

Digitally remastered using 20 bit K2 technology, this is a Japanese reissue of an original album the jazz great cut for Prestige in a miniaturized LP sleeve limited to the initial pressing only & with the original cover art intact. 1999 release. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Continuity in Diversity, April 13, 2003

By 

G B (Connecticut) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Jaki Byard Experience (Audio CD)

Jaki Byard was a guy who loved the entire jazz tradition, past present and future, and freely used to it in his playing. But regardless of whether he was going out on an avant-garde limb or rollicking with some stride piano, he sounded like Jaki Byard and nobody else.

This album (probably named in order to piggyback on the success of that other Experience) showcases Byard's sprawling imagination, and I guess to a few it might feel a little too schizophrenic. However, I never get that feeling; instead, I hear music that never marks off any part of the musical field as "out of bounds" as long as the outcome is a good one. Roland Kirk was the saxophone counterpart to Byard, and the Byard-Davis-Dawson rhythm section was easily among the best of the 60s (they can also be heard playing with Booker Ervin, Eric Kloss, and others). At some level, you could probably call this a tribute album to Byard's piano predecessors, but it's a tribute that has a lot more to do with Byard than with Powell, Garner or Monk.

"Parisian Thoroughfare" (originally by Bud Powell) stands out first -- the wild, avant-garde opening by Kirk's unison reeds (sounds like rush hour on the thoroughfare!), then a series of intense but more straight-ahead solos by Kirk and Byard. "Evidence" is shorter but has the same fiery approach. "Shine on Me" is an upbeat, gospelly tune with Kirk contributing clarinet. Eubie Blake's "Memories of You" is a lovely duet for Byard and Kirk with an old-time feel (though Byard's solo throws in some subtle modern touches). Throughout the album there's a wry sense of humor, and it's hard not to break into a smile at least once (probably more) while listening.

This is a wonderful, essential recording. In the liner notes to a different album, Keith Jarrett writes, "Although I'm often considered eclectic, I don't think I fit this category because I see various ways of expression as part of the same flow; the same attempt. I don't see it as different 'things'..." I'm sure Jaki Byard would say the same thing about The Jaki Byard Experience.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Daring and very chill at the same time, September 29, 2000

By 

Edward M. Green "skin flautist" (Ann Arbor, MI) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Jaki Byard Experience (Audio CD)

Sometimes people have trouble accepting radical shifts in music. This is one of those albums you have to listen alone. There are constant shifts into all of jazz's forms...you'll go from ragtime into avant garde all in a mellow laid-back 60's soulful mood... It invokes all of the same vibes as a jazz version of a similar Experience in that era. Roland Kirk just knows that sometimes one horn ain't enough, and one key change ain't bad either. This is not dinner party music, but kinda envokes a lot of emotion in an introverted way.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The history of jazz all in one CD, May 22, 2001

By 

Fresh Scent (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Jaki Byard Experience (Audio CD)

I just picked up this album recently, but it's instantly become one of my favorites. The shifting moods of the music are the whole point of the album, not its downfall. The four talented virtuosos on this album were capable of playing absolutely ANY style of music, and they put these six selections through the "jazz cuisinart," so to speak. The result is stimulating, adventurous, and occassionally humorous music. Everyone really lets loose on the first track, which makes one wonder why these musicians are all so underrated. Jazz fans, seek this one out!