#Charles Brackeen

[joshhaden]

CD compilation "The Complete Clifford Jordan Strata-East Sessions" (2013, Mosaic) includes saxophonist Charles Brackeen's 1973 Rhythm X album, on which my father plays bass. w/ trumpeter Don Cherry, drummer Ed Blackwell.

[jazzlibertines]

2023′s first JAZZ LIBERTINES episode, and it’s a whopper. Our 15th program brings together some late 60s/early 70s beasts (SUN RA, GARY BARTZ NTU TROOP, CHARLES BRACKEEN, CHICO FREEMAN and DON CHERRY) with two fantastic new tracks from the Finnish label Ultraääni Records. 

Listen to Jazz Libertines #15 here.

Track listing:

CHICO FREEMAN - Look Up ISACH SKEIDSVOLL - Dance To Summon VILLE LAHTEENMAKI TRIO - Mare Incognitum DON CHERRY - Awake Nu GARY BARTZ NTU TROOP - B.A.M SUN RA - The Night of the Purple Moon CHARLES BRACKEEN - Rhythm X

[jpbjazz]

LÉGENDES DU JAZZ

CECIL McBEE, MAITRE DE LA CONTREBASSE

Né le 19 mai 1935 à Tulsa, en Oklahoma, Cecil McBee a d’abord étudié la clarinette à l’école et s’était produit avec plusieurs groupes scolaires. Avec sa soeur Shirley, McBee était devenu une grande vedette locale en se produisant dans des duos de clarinette à travers l’État. McBee était passé à la contrebasse à l’âge de dix-sept ans et s’était rapidement produit dans des clubs locaux de jazz et de rhythm & blues.

En raison de sa virtuosité comme clarinettiste, McBee s’était mérité une bourse pour étudier à la Central State University de Wilberforce, en Ohio, mais ses études avaient été interrompues lorsqu’il avait été mobilisé dans l’armée. Comme militaire, McBee avait dirigé durant deux ans le “158th Band” de la base de Fort Knox, au Kentucky. Lors de son séjour dans l’armée, McBee en avait profité pour étudier la composition et l’improvisation.

Une fois démobilisé, McBee avait repris ses études à l’Ohio State University, où il avait obtenu un baccalauréat en musique. McBee, qui avait d’abord eu l’intention de devenir professeur, avait réalisé après avoir obtenu son diplôme qu’il était davantage intéressé par une carrière de musicien de jazz.

Après avoir accompagné la chanteuse Dinah Washington en 1959, McBee s’était installé à Detroit trois ans plus tard, où il avait travaillé avec le sextet de Paul Winter de 1963 à 1964. Dès son arrivée à New York en 1964, McBee était devenu un des contrebassistes les plus en demande du monde du jazz, enregistrant et voyageant autour du monde avec des sommités comme Charles Lloyd, Pharoah Sanders, Elvin Jones, McCoy Tyner, Miles Davis, Bobby Hutcherson, Keith Jarrett, Wayne Shorter (1965-1966), Freddie Hubbard, Sonny Rollins, Joe Henderson, Andrew Hill, Sam Rivers, Michael White, Jackie McLean (1964), Yusef Lateef (1967–1969), Alice Coltrane, Ravi Coltrane, Abdullah Ibrahim, Lonnie Liston Smith, Buddy Tate, Joanne Brackeen, Dinah Washington, Benny Goodman, George Benson, Nancy Wilson, Betty Carter, Art Pepper, Pharoah Sanders, Dave Liebman, Joe Lovano, Billy Hart, Eddie Henderson, Yosuke Yamashita, Billy Harper et Geri Allen.

En 1966, McBee s’était joint au groupe du saxophoniste Charles Lloyd aux côtés de Keith Jarrett et Jack DeJohnette. Il avait ensuite enregistré et fait des tournées avec des grands noms du jazz comme Miles Davis, Yusef Lateef, Pharoah Sanders, Archie Shepp, Freddie Hubbard, Woody Shaw, Alice Coltrane (1969-72), McCoy Tyner, Mal Waldron, Kenny Barron, Joanne Brackeen, Abdullah Ibrahim, Art Pepper, Anthony Braxton, Elvin Jones, Clifford Jordan, Chet Baker et Johnny Griffin. Au cours de cette période, McBee avait aussi enregistré sept albums comme leader de ses propres groupes. En 1986, McBee avait également joué avec Freddie Hubbard et Woody Shaw.

En 1988, McBee avait participé à un album-hommage à John Coltrane intitulé ‘’Blues for Coltrane’’, dans le cadre d’un sextet qui comprenait Pharoah Sanders, McCoy Tyner, David Murray, McCoy Tyner et Roy Haynes. L’album s’était d’ailleurs mérité un prix Grammy dans la catégorie de la meilleure performance instrumentale par un individu ou un groupe. Dans le cadre de ses enregistrements et de ses tournées, McBee, qui avait obtenu deux bourses de la National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), avait également interprété ses propres compositions. L’album de Charles Lloyd ‘’Forest Flower’’ (1966) comprenait d’ailleurs une ballade de McBee intitulée “Song of Her” qui était devenue un standard du jazz. Plusieurs des compositions de McBee avaient aussi été enregistrées par d’autres musiciens, dont Elvin Jones, McCoy Tyner, Pharoah Sanders et plusieurs autres. Parmi les plus célèbres compositions de McBee, on remarquait “Wilpan’s”, “Peacemaker”, “Slippin’n Slidin’”, “Blues on the Bottom”, “Consequence” et “Close to You Alone.”

Avec le batteur Billy Hart, McBee avait également formé le noyau de la section rythmique de deux groupes majeurs, Saxophone Summit et The Cookers, dans lesquels il avait interprété plusieurs autres de ses compositions. Dans les années 2000, McBee a poursuivi avec succès une compagnie japonaise qui avait ouvert une chaîne de magasins sous son nom sans son autorisation.

Également professeur, McBee avait donné des cours privés et enseigné durant près de quatre décennies dans différents collèges et universités renommés, dont le New England Conservatory de Boston où il avait enseigné durant plus de vingt-cinq ans. McBee avait aussi occupé un poste d’artiste en résidence à l’Université Harvard de 2010 à 2011. Durant cette période, McBee en avait profité pour améliorer ses techniques d’enseignement et travaillé sur un manuel d’instruction novateur pour la contrebasse. Caractérisée par son approche révolutionnaire, la méthode de McBee pouvait également être appliquée aux méthodes d’improvisation de plusieurs autres catégories d’instruments. Reconnu pour sa virtuosité et son style très personnel, McBee a été intronisé en 1991 au sein du Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame.

Compositeur émérite, McBee a participé à des centaines d’enregistrements au cours de sa carrière.

©-2024, tous droits réservés, Les Productions de l’Imaginaire historique

SOURCES:

‘’Cecil McBee.’’ Wikipedia, 2023.

‘’Cecil McBee.’’ All About Jazz, 2023.

[dustedmagazine]

Listed: Insomnia Brass Band

Photo by Frank Schindelbeck

The Insomnia Brass Band — made up of trombonist Anke Lucks, baritone saxophonist Almut Schlichting and drummer Christian Marien — was founded in spring 2017 and spent the next several pre-pandemic years on the road at jazz clubs and festivals. Their recorded debut, Late Night Kitchen, out near the end of 2020, was raucous, irresistible and bursting from its seams; it is hard to believe that it required only three musicians. In her review, Jennifer Kelly wrote, “Insomnia Brass Band sounds like a cubist painting of an oompah band, noses jutting off in every direction, cerebral and off-beat, yet somehow capturing an eccentric, unexpected groove.” The band’s sax player, Almut Schlichting, contributed this listed.

Bloor (now Bloar) — “Bast” from Drolleries (Astral Spirits)

This record invariably calms me down, it is so wild and screaming and so clear and concise at the same time. Right now, it seems like a dream — One dark Berlin winter night in 2019, I rode my bike down the hill to a small place full of friends and musicians, listening to wonderful sets of improvised and composed music spun around Ken Vandermark’s New Marker band, and talking and drinking beer in between... and their drummer Phil Sudderberg recommended his Brooklyn friends, Sam Weinberg’s band Bloor (now Bloar). We hope these situations will soon be real again. Meanwhile, Dusted is not the worst digital place to spend a dark winter night in 2021.

Miles Okazaki — “Misterioso” from Work (Complete, Volumes 1-6)

Work (Complete, Volumes 1-6) by Miles Okazaki

To me, this is Monkish in a double sense of the word — Okazaki shines through Thelonious Monk’s work in a deep and thorough way; but he also seems to be a medieval Monk himself — severe, concentrated, meditative, playing the solo guitar, a clear sound, in transparent magnetic rhythmic layers, in the early morning abbey garden...

Elza Soares — “Luz Vermelha” from A mulher do fim do mundo

The Woman At The End Of The World (A Mulher Do Fim Do Mundo) by Elza Soares

Who else wants to sound like Elza Soares when they are old? No matter if singer or instrumentalist? Moreover, the band and arrangements are amazing, the detailed care with which the sound is built... I love listening to this on headphones while taking a midnight walk across empty streets.

Sons of Kemet — “In The Castle Of My Skin” from Lest We Forget What We Came Here To Do (Naim Jazz)

Lest We Forget What We Came Here To Do by Sons Of Kemet

Grooves in cycles and cycles in grooves, the music is sparse and focused and fascinating, driven by the tenor saxophone of Shabaka Hutchings, who in turn is carried through the song by the tuba and the two drummers. I listened to this album a lot before our Insomnia Brass Band studio session in January 2020. Like most of the tracks chosen here, it resonates with my growing wish to fall into an intense rhythmic trance, repetitions welcome, no matter if listening or playing myself...

Frank Rosaly’s ¡Todos de Pie! — “Cantares de la Sierra (Yaguaré)”

Frank Rosaly's ¡Todos de Pie! by Frank Rosaly's ¡Todos de Pie!

Discovered thanks to Rigobert Dittmann’s great little magazine Bad Alchemy — Drummer Frank Rosaly and vocalist Jaap Blonk go back and forth between abstract landscapes and the carnival with a fat band, combining underwater-like weirdness and a Puerto Rican All Star attitude!

Tom Waits — “Clap Hands” from Rain Dogs (Island Records)

Tom Waits and this record are very old friends of mine, fueling the addiction to tell bizarre stories in songs, each song carelessly-carefully arranged to become a dark few-minute-fairytale...

Charles Brackeen — Rhythm X (Strata East)

An old recording, a new discovery — my current online jazz history class is New-York-based trumpet player Thomas Heberer’s Facebook stream, where he is sharing his giant record collection little by little under the simple heading “from the ongoing series of recordings that I love.” Adding to my thousand projects for next week — listen to every record Ed Blackwell and Charlie Haden made together; finally find out more about Don Cherry; and get to know Charles Brackeen at all...

Konono No1 — “Kin 78 One” from Kinshasa 1978 (Crammed Discs)

Kinshasa 1978 by Konono N°1

Another track featuring masters of cycles and grooves, grooves and cycles, the music very vivid and animated through minimal but infinite variations – apparently one of the first recordings of “Congotronics,” presented by the wonderful label Crammed Discs.

Danyèl Waro — “Plantèr” from Gafourn (Piros)

Since the first Corona lockdown in March 2020, I have been doing improvised late night dance sessions in my kitchen— and the music of Danyèl Waro, Maloya from far away La Réunion, is among my favorite dance partners, as well as the London band Melt Yourself Down, and the old acquaintances Celia Cruz and the Beastie Boys...

Nils Wogram Root 70 — “Hot Summer Blues” from Listen To Your Woman (nWog Records)

Listen to Your Woman by Nils Wogram Root 70

A great band. A great band, has been for years, playing brilliantly and radiating warmth and companionship on this record... according to the liner notes, they had been on the road just before recording this album on a Berlin winter night in 2010, doing what we are all dreaming of right now — travelling and playing and travelling and playing and travelling and playing and really being together again!

[ozkar-krapo]

Charles BRACKEEN

"Rhythm X (The Music of Charles Brackeen)"

(LP. Strata East. 2004 / rec. 1968) [US]

[funkpunkandpunkfunk]

Ronald Shannon Jackson & The Decoding Society - Nasty 5.0

(The track on the original release was about 5 min long, so this is extended and a little wilder.)

Featuring Vernon Reid, Melvin Gibbs, Byard Lancaster, Charles Brackeen, and Khan Jamal on free funk vibraphone!

[cdlistening]

Paul Motian Trio, 'Dance' LP (ECM Records)

Friday, April 9, 2021, 8:15pm

Another great side from one of PM's earlier solo groups. Contains some excellent sax playing care of Charles Brackeen, whose soprano work at times almost resembles (not only sonically) that of John Lurie, especially in his National Orchestra mode, and Brackeen is really jiving well with the reverb in the mix, enough so that one wonders if he could hear it while they were tracking. And of course Motian lays down all sorts of wild, occasionally even sloppy-seeming playing; I wonder if the (perceived?) aggressiveness of his post-60s style is a natural/actual evolution of his playing and/or simply more evident because of newer and clearer recording technology.

[mistersenorlovedaddy]

leroy jenkins and the jazz composer’s orchestra “for players only”

[allmusic]

AllMusic Staff Pick Paul Motian Trio Le Voyage

Paul Motian's second late-'70s trio excursion with Charles Brackeen on saxophones substitutes Jean-François Jenny Clark for David Izenson on bass with no drop-off in quality, but definitely one in mood. Tadayuka Naitoh's cover photo -- three blurry figures in black against an amorphous color backdrop (could be bundled-up women waiting at a crossroads) -- is a pretty good visual representation of the introspective, abstract flavor of Le Voyage.

- Don Snowden

[historybetweenthepages]

1980

https://www.thejumpingfrog.com/product/2053352/CODA-174-Leroy-Jenkins-Jemeel-Moondoc-Eddie-Jefferson-Charles-Brackeen-8-1980-

[koholint]

today’s playlist:

McCoy Tyner - Walk Spirit, Talk Spirit

Stanley Cowell - Equipoise

Charles Mingus - Flowers for a Lady

Joanne Brackeen - El Mayorazgo

John Larkin - Softly As In a Morning Sunrise

Pharoah Sanders & Norman Connors - The End of the Beginning / Casino Latino

Dee Dee Bridgewater - People Make the World Go Round

thanks for listening!

[jazzfunkdid]

Don Cherry & The Jazz Composer's Orchestra ‎– Mali Doussn'gouni

Don Cherry & The Jazz Composer's Orchestra ‎– Relativity Suite. Soloist, Voice, Trumpet – Don Cherry. Alto Saxophone, Voice – Carlos Ward. Bass – Charlie Haden. Cello – Jane Robertson, Pat Dixon. Drums – Ed Blackwell. French Horn – Sharon Freeman. Percussion – Paul Motian. Piano – Carla Bley. Soprano Saxophone, Alto Saxophone, Voice – Charles Brackeen. Tenor Saxophone, Voice – Dewey Redman, Frank Lowe. Trombone – Brian Trentham. Tuba – Jack Jeffers. Viola – Joan Kalisch, Nan Newton. Violin – Leroy Jenkins.

[caramelcat]

Playlist: Summer Moments, Triple R FM, January 22, 2022

listen back on demand

Donato Dozzy - Vaporware 01

Charles Brackeen Quartet - Attainment

Carlos Garnett - Mother Of The Future

Bheki Mseleku - Celebration

Betty Carter - Open the Door

Lonnie Liston Smith & The Cosmic Echoes - Love Beams

Francis Monkman - Stargazing

Dali Muru & the Polyphonic Swarm - Shapeshifting

Nonlocal Forecast - Conscious Agents

Universal Liberation Orchestra - Communion

Bennie Maupin - Ensenada

Yusef Lateef - Mystique

Black Disco - Night Express

Rotary Connection - Amen

Toni Esposito - Processione Sul Mare

Mtume Umoja Ensemble - No Words

Mtume - So You Wanna Be A Star (12” version)

Roberta Flack, Donny Hathaway - Back Together Again

Air Power - Be Yourself

Elza Soares - Aquarela Brasileira

[vernonreid]

Sky. NOW. Unfiltered. 7:11a 1/10/22. Cold Monday. Shaolin For James Mtume, & Charles Brackeen. (at Staten Island, New York) https://www.instagram.com/p/CYjKPoHOz3a/?utm_medium=tumblr

[fearnoarts]

Charles Brackeen