Conference of the Birds [ORIGINAL RECORDING REISSUED]

Dave Holland

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 11, 2000)
• Original Release Date: November 30, 1972
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording reissued
• Label: Ecm Records
• ASIN: B000026156
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #70,043 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

In the early '70s, bassist Dave Holland and drummer Barry Altschul had a well-deserved reputation as the most fluently creative rhythm section in free jazz. Two of the groups they worked with regularly were those of Sam Rivers and Anthony Braxton. It was Holland's inspiration to pair the two in this 1972 quartet, when Rivers and Braxton represented two distinct generations of the avant-garde, the former generating explosive, driven tenor lines filled with honks and cries and the latter creating oblique postmodern solos on a variety of reeds. It was a brilliant idea, and the results are one of the essential jazz recordings of the'70s. Holland's compositions include boppish, Ornette-inspired lines and strong melodies that provide cool and varied frames for improvisation. That Rivers and Braxton are among the finest flutists in jazz is just one of the treats, while Holland is one of the great bassists. Altschul's scintillating drumming completes a quartet with some of the quickest reflexes in improvised music. --Stuart Broomer

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Rosetta Stone of free jazz., October 14, 1998

By	Jeffrey Osier (Chicago USA) - See all my reviews

I originally bought the LP of this in early 1974, having heard Holland, Altschul, and Braxton in Chick Corea's band Circle, and of course knowing Holland's work on some highly conspicuous Miles Davis recordings (In a Silent Way, Bitches Brew...). I bought CotB under the impression that I knew what I was getting myself into. I'd been wrestling with atonality for awhile -- late Coltrane, Schoenberg, whatever I could find that seemed reasonably "important." I was not getting it. I had the youthful faith that there was something worthwhile happening inside all that cacophony, but I needed a Rosetta Stone to make sense of it. "Conference of the Birds" was my Rosetta Stone. From the opening bars of "Four Winds" I was completely captivated. It swings hard, the improvisations are always coherent -- no matter how frenzied and dissonant they sound, and Holland's compositions are outstanding. The title song is a beautiful folk ballad that makes a perfect breather amid the fiery uptempo rants and cryptic, avant garde soundscapes. This record was the best education my ears ever had. Even though I now have it on CD, I still have my battered vinyl copy of CotB, and hold onto it for purely sentimental reasons.

Holland is without question one of the greatest living jazz artists, and no bassist except Charles Mingus has ever matched his all-around musicianship. I think Holland's output on ECM has been very consistent over the quarter-century he's been recording for them, so it might seem unfair to call this the best recording to ever come out under his name, but he's never really topped this. Check out all of them, but if you like CotB in particular you should also listen to the Dave Holland/Sam Rivers duet records, particularly Volume One. Also, his solo cello CD, "Life Cycle" contains his best collection of compositions.

To me, this disc is the jazz equivalent of a Bartok string quartet, and in my book, it doesn't get any better than that.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars In Search of Excellence, February 6, 2001

By	A. Davis "astandavis" (Greenville, SC) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

After watching the Ken Burns Jazz Series last month, I went back to the period that came up short in the programming - the 70's - 80's. The series ran a theme that Jazz had died in the 70's. As a teenager who discovered "Conference of The Birds" during this time, I had to disagree with the critics. Jazz did not die, it evolved. This recording is a beautiful classic example of that evolution. That evolution is still going on today, in 2001. Listen to this CD and then follow it by playing Holland's latest recording "Prime Directive." Dave is still evolving and spinning out classics. No other Bassist/Composer that I have heard in the last 25 years spins out more intriguing music than Holland. His Bass playing is crystal clear and very strong, while his compositions are structually complete. He always works with first-rate artists who are continuously challenged, and they respond in kind by taking the compositions to their highest level. "Conference of The Birds" is one of the most beautiful compositions that I have ever heard. From the 70's to 2001 - Holland is still evolving as an artist. Keep up the excellent work Dave. As long as Cats like you are around, Jazz is in good hands.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exquisite, delicate, shimmering with austere beauty, August 27, 2001

By	"vinylcootie" (Brighton, UK) - See all my reviews

This is not an ordinary record in any respect. Free jazz and the 1960s avant-garde had ironically generated its own conventions. Conference of the Birds ignores them and sets up its own outstanding performance standards for both individual voices and ensemble. The compositions are all Holland's, inspired by the dawn chorus outside his flat in London in the early summer mornings. The first theme, "Four Winds" is a delightful opener, marked by Holland's characteristic firm, precise fingering. The bass immediately sets the atmosphere of the record: a light, free dance of notes. Holland's bouncing fingering sharply contrasts with Barry Altschul's fizzing cymbals. Sam Rivers and Anthony Braxton converse almost indistinguishably, politely exchanging commentary. On "Q & A" Altschul converses with himself, quietly alerting his companions, who gradually make their appearance with little interjections. These fragments progressively accumulate to form a kind of dance of free individuals, like birds pecking at grain, each jumping according to its own whim, chasing its morsel. Then, the title-tune, "Conference of the Birds". It's one of the great compositions of jazz, perhaps the most distinctive and memorable 1970s original (in retrospect, an accolade it should probably share with Weather Report's "Birdland", released four years later). It is a delicate, contemplative song to beauty and quietude, both melancholy and uplifting, evocative of both aching loneliness and the intimacy of companionship. Holland's double bass figure must be one of his most celebrated. Altschul's marimba is divine in its simplicity, accompanied by the plain, unadorned flutes of Braxton and Rivers. "Conference of the Birds" is almost like the calm before the storm  the track that follows it, "Interception", is a wild, intense vehicle for each soloist to give free rein to his passions. This is followed by "Now Here (Nowhere)", the most spacious of all six pieces. It offers a cautious reconciliation to dissenting voices after "Interception", underscored with the ubiquitous bass. Holland cultivates a tone here honed into a ovoid, sculpted sound with a hint of vibrato. Finally, on "See-Saw", we have Altschul again creating a effervescent ambience to a blistering Rivers solo. This is the final climax to an awesome, astonishing album, one of the great classics of the post- free era.