Jazz Loft Sessions

Various Artists (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 6, 2000)
• Original Release Date: May 14, 1976
• Number of Discs: 1
• ASIN: B00004DS3K
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #296,777 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Tranquil Beauty

2. Jays

3. Over the Rainbow

4. Black Robert

5. Clarity

6. Shout Song (For Cecil Taylor)

7. Portrait of Frank Edward Weston

8. Naomi

9. Pensive

10. 73°-S Kelvin

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Document of the Loft Scene, June 20, 2001

By 

Michael B. Richman (Portland, Maine USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Jazz Loft Sessions (Audio CD)

As the 1960s turned into the 1970s, jazz became pretty lame. Most of the Blue Note artists, including Horace Silver, Grant Green and Bobby Hutcherson traded their straight jazz licks for a funky boogaloo groove. Miles Davis started making electric music (which I enjoy but others don't), and his colleagues from Wayne Shorter to Chick Corea to Herbie Hancock followed suit. And countless others jumped on the fusion bandwagon. With clubs booking more commercial acts, how was a jazz musician from the post-Coltrane school going to make interesting music, not to mention make a living? The answer was for these musicians to pool their resources and form cooperatives where those still interested in exploring the boundless possibilities of improvised music could hone their craft and continue the evolution of the jazz tradition. In Chicago this movement was known as AACM, and in New York it became the Jazz Loft Scene.

"Jazz Loft Sessions" collects ten recordings made over ten days in May of 1976 at the studio and loft home of tenor saxophonist Sam Rivers. Released by Alan Douglas on his own Douglas Music label, with the help of Michael Cuscuna, this disc is an important document of a movement that in hindsight may have saved experimental jazz as we know it today. Some of the musicians featured here were the big names in 70s and 80s avant-garde jazz -- David Murray, Hamiett Bluiett, Oliver Lake, Julius Hemphill, Dave Burrell, Fred Hopkins and George Lewis. Others like Anthony Braxton, Sunny Murray, Randy Weston, Barry Altschul and Ken McIntyre established themselves in the 60s, but contributed immeasurably to the further development of jazz in the 70s. And others still have dropped off the radar screen, like Michael Jackson (no not the pop star but the guitarist), Byard Lancaster and Kalaparusha, though not due to lackluster musical skills. Despite the fact that these are live recordings made in someone's home, the sound is excellent (come to think of it Rudy Van Gelder's studio was his home too). My reason for withholding a fifth star is that like most compilation CDs, "Jazz Loft Sessions" suffers slightly from an overall inconsistent feel, and on top of that this music is very modern and not for everyone. But for those interested in the real jazz made in the 1970s, "Jazz Loft Sessions" is an excellent purchase for both musical and historical reasons.