=e : NOVEMBER 16, 1978 60c ae pipeline MILESTONE a BT patna © SONNYROLLINS p> RON CARTER CM AL FOSTERBy W. A. BROWER ‘ this end of the musi. Tt sooms that Lam of Fered contracte—its nota problem of getting a contract. But you get an advance trom yout Foyalties to do the record. And s0 what do they want to give mein advance todo a record for them? $5000, $6000, What kind of money. isthat? I ean get that muck up myself. dont needa record company to advance me $5000, ‘That is pennies. Ir hey want to advance me $50,000 then Twill talk to them, “Tam not out here begging. H they want to bffer'me pennies they should pass it om to some of the younger musicians that are com- Ing up. Don't bother me with that, I feel of fended when they offer me even S7000 or S000 coda an album, IF they are that bad of ean get that together without their help. IF they are that hung up for bread maybe they should orraw some from me. am talking about all the companies There isa time angle also, They know about ‘me out here. It has s0 litte to do with merit that itis unbelievable, I's just a matter i 1 Survive ‘of "Yeah, Sam Rivers has. been seound.’ Probably’ when my creativity has peaked and I have started being redundant, They'll come around and say, "He's the great est" AMler my creative period is over. But Lam Sill creative so I'don’t expect them to come Around for awhile,” This is Samuel Carthoene Rivers at 48, his brilliant’ musickanship aside—proud, sens tive, independent and embattled. “They call meall sorts of things —anofficial mayor of the Toft, godfather, damn ..." He laughs, a mix ture of the incredulous and the impih, Ob viously, Rivers seemts to imply, the unofficial mayor and godfather ought to be worth more than "pennies," Besides, he reminded me," as with Miles Davis in the '605 and with Ce. «il Taylor, I eame to New York on top, set. 1 fame with Miles Davis in “63. T went from Miles Davis to Androw Hill, And then I was ‘with Cecil Taylor for about five years So Tam parol the history ofthe ‘60s. am right there! ‘Where were these other guy” Even more pointedly, Rivers mentioned his most recent overseas tour, "Very few groups ‘Ro onalter Ido, Everyone, no matter who is, follow them, Noone follows me. They st it Up all the way around the world like that, [ dont know what that means, but that’s the way itis, Buddy Rich's band opened for me in the south of France, In Genoa, Italy, Enrico Rava with Roswell Rudd opened," In San Remo, the Bill Evans Trio opened, [tell the Promoters, “Look these guys are more famous than Tam and they have all chis publicity and they ae the featured acts you know,’ But over Synthesist and survivor, Sam Rivers pushes improvisation, orchestral composition and Studio Rivbea into the ’80s. there they say, Well, we'd like for you to go fn last, we'd like for you to be our...” Like his music which is simultaneously dicect and allusive,he stopped short and hopscotched an ‘ocean. “Over herein this country though, i L 0 on a concent with anyone, the agents over Fre make sure tha their groups go on fist, ‘So Sam Rivers is quite aware of his postion in the music. Along with Cecil Taylor, Or rette Coleman and Archie Shepp, he is one of the few prominent survivors ofthe avant gar Gist upheaval of the "60s that was centered in New York, He rose to the top not because he ‘was a prime innovator but because he was an excellent musician, As Rivers once told jazz Critic Robert Palmer, "The "60s was aheck of 4 period. A lot af traditional musicians went Fight through the period and didn’t get any- thing out off But Sam Rivets did, Infact he is perhaps foremost among the musicians for ‘whom the revolutionary departures ofthe Late 50s and early “60k were revelations, unlock. ing the doors forthe natural evolution of ideas ‘that were pushing the limits of structural, ‘melodie, harmonic and hythmie conventions ‘So it was appropriate that June 18,1978 found Taylor, Coleman and Rivers all on the South Lawn of the White House: Taylor and Coleman, the innovators and Rivers, the sy thesizer ‘When after 15 years in Boston, Rivers gota call from Miles Davis to join the band on Tony Williams’ recommendation, he was ready, He had been composing and playing more and more adventurcusly. Although there tras a core of musicians to work with includ ing at times pianists Jaki Byard, Hal Galper tnd Phil Moore as well as drummers Alan Dawson and Williams, the circle wasn’ large enough. And Willams, with whom Rivers en. joyed a particularly ereative relationship, had Already forsaken Beantown for the Appie in ‘the company of Jackie MeLean and ultimate ly Mites Aware that Joho Coltrane's probings had probably hastened his exodus from Miles in November 16 0 21the °50s, Rivers joined Davis, “knowing that J ‘wasn't going to lst too long. T knew the way the band was setup that I wasnt going to be there too long, L managed to set myself up in New York. 1 vas looking for aspot in Harlem this size [re ferrin to his Studio Rivbea, looking for chis ientieal place in Harlem. And I found one, bout yhen T went down to speak tothe people in housing they stid, "Well, we are geting ready to build a Harlem Arts Theatre and i’ {Boing to be a complex. I had my program all Setup, same program that Tam using now, in the early "605 “Tetook me five years to find this place, five years before I could even open, So T should have been open around 1966 or 67, but T didn’t get there until 1970, T came in 1964 Tooking for the place, looking all over Har Jem. [found a place, vacant building, sil ‘vacant today, ten years, 15 years after the fact. “The building is stil there. Bu the guys at the planning commission sti, ‘No, we cant let you do this here because we are planning a complex, an aris center, and you would be in Competition with us” And they nixed me.” SO by default the saga of Studio Rivbea, corn sone of the so-called loft jtzz_movement which showeased the new voices of the "70s, began in Sono, What Rivers actually had in mind then and ‘maintains today is not aloft bu, as the name ‘ays, a studio, where he can work out his esthetic in contexts ranging from his almost lepthic ducts with bassstcllist Dave Hol Tan, 19 the Winds of Harlem, a woodwind en semble, to the I4-piee Sam Rivers Orchestra ‘When River’ increasingly busy performance Schedule permits he opens the studio Tbr, workshops, jam sessions and masterclasses. And young musicians know L have rehearsals ‘ong on with all kinds oF diferemt groups “They know that there is no place in New York like this, Uptown there is Iazzmobile and places like tht, but it’ all traditional That is good, too. Iam not saying anything against that, but it goes up to 4 certain level fand it stops, So they know if they want to ‘come in and they want everything, then i Studio Rivbea,” In Rivers view “everything became possible after the '605, “the lst rad eal opening of the music. ‘Avia result, Rivets postulates, “There is no avantgarde, There is no avantgarde in Euro pean classical misic and there is no avant {garde in jazz. There are modernists and trad Uonalists, The "0s is a culmination of the "40e, "Sos and “60s, puting together and using this ‘material that has already been created fand molding it in different ways. We have feached a total accesso all musical elements ean imagine another fondamental change inthe musi, unless we consider the electon. {cand then how can we think of music more a5 an engincer than musician’ Allo this, since standards develop by with standing the ravages of time, leads Rivers 03 Kind of provisional aesthetic, wherein, “There isno such things @ mistake. You go out there and you do your bes. You don’t worry about raking mistakes, because you cant make any mistakes, Impossible, You are the creator Creators don't make mistakes. If there is 4 flaw, the law is intentional there isa crack inthe note the crack is intentional. It has 10 be there—it came from the subconscious, it ‘ame from the physical. But its there anit is part of ie eventhough we ida intend it eis pt of the eration and it sticks, I stands as part of the perfection.” 22.0 down beat Because Rivers! music neues both expe inemation and the inerpolsin o raion, he surrounds hinvelf with only the mort te nicely facile mosstns. Tae members of is Ensembles are more ea than nt composers tnd bund ender ar well as oxuandiag tole iS, For them, mus be simulting 0 work dn acknowledged master who euld not Semore senows wine he decir a ree ompiser. In other words T have no rules. There ino pretation approach ny Sing the same wa) spproschy plying thy ingroviag My aria improvising ee eeeet ee crrecivny ists, became his fone of the ost important re eee oe Giferent way. Bssause once Jou have set eee eee Ve beeen Said in hashing td so you break the rales. SS vhy set the lea way ‘But also Tama composer of many years, 50 1 can Took at something and see how it sounds—once [write it Try to write some: thing different every time [rite a compost tion, Thore ate no real mistakes. If there is & half tor al between the trumpets, say a Bora Bb, Thavedone that intentionally. 1am aware that these things are not supposed to be done, according to the traditional concept. | fmm aware, If were teaching the traditional this would note able to be done “Lam aware that what | am doing would not be done were this traditional approach to Composition, T know how it's going to sound. fand I know tha the two teumpets ae going have a hard time playing tin tune. U already know these things, but Till might do it, My experience with compesition and orchesta-§ tion is 50 extensive that 1 know what is going & to go down right and what isnot going to Bo dwn right.” [Ata result Rivers produces a music of con. stant change, Its polymelodie and sometimes 8RIVERS cuted nompage 22 indulges in atonality, Ts often polymetric. Ie ‘may swing Ie may slip ito a loose, arythmic fecling Itmay segue into ballad. it may, ike fan unexpected tornado on & calm afternoon, explode. easy-paced lyricism for screaming Rivers’ resourefulnes and. the protean quality of his composition tech hique, as much as his strength as an impr ser, make him a central figure in today's mu So ust 12 days after he introduced the quar tet of Sonny Rollins, MeCoy Tyner, Ron Car. ter and Max Roach st the White Howse Jazz Festival, "The World of Sam Rivers” was one of the programming highlights of the 25th Newport Jazr Festival (db, 9/7/78). The pro {gram was in (vo pars, presenting Rivers in (Quintet format as well as with hit orchestra The evening opened with The Hong Kong ‘Suir, a work commissioned, strangely enous by the Hong Kong Trade Development Coun cil... fort fashion show. The suite consiat of ch running about ten minute, otnpositions are in the tradition fr half are modernist in Rivers he erm, For "The Worldof Sam doy, Sophistication, Serenity, and. Fin Were ‘chosen ingly, rather than employ the instrumentation of bis current small crsem ble, which is without piano and i {uba, Rivers wed amore Mandar quate! with Mike Nosk om piano and sgnitester. Ted Dinbar on guitar’ Dive Holand on bass and Boy Bate on drums. This ac, which may most the adence. Bur the crow generally followers of new musi, stamped its approval ‘wth a standing 0 RUmuatatreedl aed onto he ver, was the prefiee of is Ifest work for tronths to develop Exvcaron, He and a crack hearsng vice weekly forsixmonths, Them siciansnclred Holland, Joe Daley on tube Hamlet lust, Ricky Ford, Chico Freeman and 3D, Prran on woodvinds, Ray Ander son on trombone, Jack Walrath, Malach Thompion, Olver Beamer and Frank Gordon sn trumpets, nd Warren Sith on rae and persion Rivers as eeu doing wih large ensembl ting over the laste year, and synthesizes themslodic and harmonte iberties nade pos sible by the itnovations Of Taylor ard Cote man, Unfortunatly, River efo inthis asa Has been documented fully only on. Costas (Umpulse SD.9286), recorded in 1974, one tour albums hedidfor ABC. Another st of recordings dating fom 1967 bt not released Ui lat year se part of Blue Nowe re program, involution (BN-LAAS2-H9) hints at ‘What River is alter se melotie approach to orchestration, Ashe explains i the harmontes to approach the composition mmelodiclly.Inother word, Lam writing fot Tovof chords forthe chest, So have 10 ies playing melodies that Ht ln other words g U You could fake any Ruy out ofthe orchestra | And have him stand there and ply hs part by 8 You can cut it in ts eal oom pT reel Kenny Rogers puts you on the pete alerted ere talent Of ceeeren | sound. What you don't have erase ets eer reer nny way Thats where Grammy are eet! cae Peron caay Potente bras eee Poet nts cee ecernet ea ee ec rts es ee eae Set : Sree hea Born ey neat reo) Eee eres eee etc! 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Used by Permission “They blend harmonically, but itis not a ha. monic approach, Tt is melodie approach. 1 4m writing melodic lines for each instrument Ushich itself creates another harmonic texture land a sound of ste own, because its moving Even though T am writing melogically, Lam acutely aware of the harmonic things. Lam hooking up things melodicaly so they ft har monicaly ‘ery to cover a spectrum, I's very dificult to say, Well La doing this to say, ‘Well, 1 like, you know, densities” There ate dense spots but there are also open straight lines. 1 like that too. There is fee atonality and then there is tonality. Somebody says, “He writes swith densities and he Tikes to Waite in com plex, dense harmonies.’ Of course that is pat. fit, Bu to break it down and zero in and say that, when Lam not even writing harmon cally, is something ls. “You don't pin me down. Lam as general as fa musician can be, general and open. T have fot the scope ofthe whole thing and I really {ty to do it that way with every composition.” “Evoeation is no exception. Iisa symphonic oom of "praise and deep respect for creative Aisicians who spend their Lives forging new ‘nuscal paths, opening broad Vistas Dy iscov- fring diferent and interesting directions for further musical explorations;" Rivers ex- plains, The textual richness of Rivers dis Tinct contrapuntal approach, which generates provocative “horizontal clusters und. har monic combinations "ean be heard in the the- matic statement of the fist movement, Taree melodic lines each assigned to a different sec: tion ofthe ensemble and of siffering length, are continually eycled until they resolve mathematically on an extremely bright oF chesteal chow. “The effect is unmistakably that of shout of praise, The music is powerful, not only be:RIVERS. cause of its density but because of the intensity fits inner activity. This sepment also features a soprano sola by Rivers followed by a duet wrth muted trumpet. Joe Daley then takes baritone horn solo, and the shee close out the ‘movement with collective interplay. Part two is csentelly a fantasia for piano, played by Rivers. The third section is a funky ballad for flutes over muted trumpet, The final move: tment is dedicated to forceful blowing—which Rivers on tenor and Hamiet Bluitt on bar tone saxophone can deliver in abundance. [is {stunning creation whieh confirms that Riv rs has the potental to chart original direc- tions beyond Ellington and Basie. Tis aso inescapable that without Studio Rivbea as a laboratory, vocation would not have been possible, Rivbea has provided the ‘continuity of contact with musicans thatthe Tack of steady work and ample ecording op. portunities would have normally precluded Rivbea’s most important function, aside from that of laboratory, i that of @ performance enter, and Rivbes enjoys 4 substantial sub Sicy from the New York Council Oa The Art. Rivers chooses the peeformers from a select Circle of musicians which more or less corre Sponds with the persone! in his band Tn his Summer Concert Series, which ran fortwo weekends atthe end of Augist, Rivers presented Bluiett, Chico Freeman, and pisnist Don Pullen, all of whom have performed and toured with the orchestra, The only “ousier” Febularly included inthe Rivbea mini -fests i Mays! eh at etal sera) Crs eipaoce er eu ined ss Pema estan’ for new sounds... | reese send me he Carer catelog Addi on | ciong with tree bookiet, “How To Choose acamber| sor ce EIIBERt here | Celia ef | 3 as ee 48 1 down beat ato saxophonist Jimmy Lyons, The associ tion between Lyons (who it seems has been trith Cecil Taylor forever) and Rivers goes back to the Taylor Unit of the fate '60s from ‘whieh issued the monumental three volume fet, Mars De La Fondation Maeght (SR 10.011 83908, #3509) on Shandar, and now available fon Pretige as The Great Concert of Cell Tay tan (Quality control rather than patronage is the driving force behind his choices, according to Rivers. When T queried him about his pro ramming he responded: “The musicians that ire dclually inthe forelront of the modern of the 70s are musicians that were around inthe "60s too. We are not talking about musicians that just jumped on the scene, exeept fora few Tike maybe Chico and Jay Hoggard [vibes phonist}, Anthony Davis, Murray (David, fenor saxophone]... that's it. All the rest are musicians that were here n the "60s hike Bll stand Don were with Mingus “Chico would betheanly one that would be considered part of the "705. But he would be Considered 4 modernist because Ne has a per ‘Sonal concept st well asthe fundamentals. He hs & knowledge of the history of the musie and is able to perform it. These are che only ‘musicians [think that have afture. The other Find the ones that nartow themselves off and don't have any knowledge of raition, are in trouble Rivers" astesement of Lyons is unequivocal, “1 eonsider Jimmy Lyons the top ato player fom the scene today, You doa't even see him Tisted in the polls, Lam a saxophonist, and Jimmy Lyons is that. The next cat probably ‘would be way further down as far as playing the instrument.” Bluitt he considers, ". I meet the ext atthe door “He wants to talk about the music, So I tll him everything, He's asking dumb questions But [was cool. Sometimes you have to find ‘out why is he asking certain questions. Finally I said, ‘This music of course originated, hs its deep roots, in Africa. I really comes fron the South.” You knov, the usual things: this is biues-oriented music, the rural tothe city Sol was mentioning Fletcher Henderson's band, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, the innovat. ‘ors—Charlie’ Parker, Dizzy, Erie Dolphy ‘Andi said, ‘OF course all the major imnovators Of the music have boen black musicians vas about to go on, but he cut me off ‘here. That was enough for him, That's some: {hing that everybody knows, that all the inno. vators have been black Then according to Rivers’ play-by-play, the discussion moved to the "6 versus the '50s And whether one was more ot less cerebral or primitive than the other. And from there they ‘went on to the flative merits of Jack Tea garden, Lennie Tristano and Lee Konitz. Rv rs apparently siruek a raw nerve. with his {ues when he secused “symphony orchestras of rank predjudic,” His interviewer ied with, “Black musicians just can’ play violins. Thete is no such thing 4&8 a good black violinist.” Rivets’ counter punch, provoked though it might have been Sill haunts him in certain citces, ‘Sam Rivers—proud, sensitive, independent embatled—must have felt vindicated last spring listening to President Carter testify “At frst this jazz form was nox well accepted in respectable circles,” And after a pause, "| think that there was an element of racism, Rivers closes his case, a mixture of the in credulous and slightly impish “That writer provoked an answer by trying to rewrite history,” Rivers began, "Now, you «an rewrite the history, but you can't rewrite the history with someone that has lived the history. That's even worse, Imedn ». [didn't even fead about it. was there ‘Sim Rivers plans to keep living in history He came 10 New York with vision, Fifteen years in the Apple haven’ muted his inner ‘ices. He looks to the 80s and forsees an im- Portant role for the Rivbea because," the Musicians coming in are younger than the ‘ones that came in the “7s.” Iwi be up t0 Rivoes to help sustain their enthusiasm with Interesting, challenging things to do.” On Aust 8, 1978 Sam Rivers went into Big Apple Studios for a quartet session. Not only was ithe fis time that he was recording with his new drummer Thurman Barker, an ‘ACM member and most recently with An- thony Braxton, not only was the usually peolix Rivers limiting his impromptu excursions to five and ten minutes with an eye toward air play, He was laying tacks for his own record company ‘Avname? Undoubtedly it was only half in Jest that he wondered outloud, "don’t know, maybe Quality Records f that mame isn't out thereby the time T hook it up. Ihave to check and see but I don't think there is any quality ” He laughs, but could not be more serious, “So 1 will ty to feature the most promising young musicians, in addition tomy awa work, in addition 10 other established musicians ‘who would like to be a part of it. [ill be the final judge ofthis because i's my record la bel." his committment to himsel, i is stamina, he reminds one of the man in the commercial who asks, rhetorically, “How do you think a man Tike me got to be’... man Tike me?” cy RICO CORPORATION Box 3266, North Hollywood, Ca. 91609 Recommended Reeding. Free. (if you're as serious about your music as we are about our reeds) RICO CORPORATION Po. fo conceal Nome Ads. iy Ste. 9266, North Hollywood, Ca. 91609 Pete send your free 16:pege bookie! tli ‘bout read, trom cane Held November 16 1 49