HYPERITUALS VOL. 2 – BLACK SAINT | liner notes
A deep dive into the titles released by these legendary jazz labels refreshes, and at the same time reveals with unprecedented depth, the history and vital relevance of this music.
The back catalogues of Blue Note or CTI are Aladdin’s caves glittering with sound gems ready to be set into brand new jewellery, in addition to being biographies of the aesthetic and cultural richness of African American sound – an expressive force that never stops pulsing.
Another vast, incredibly stimulating yet little-known catalogue is that of Black Saint / Soul Note, an Italian’double’label based in Milan. Starting in the 1970s, by the 1980s it had established itself as one of the most important imprints for international jazz.
Virtually all of the brightest names in creative jazz or the ‘avant-garde’ of the era, left important artefacts: prominent Americans on the label included Anthony Braxton, Max Roach, Archie Shepp, Don Cherry, David Murray, Roscoe Mitchell and Sun Ra. It also gathered innovative Europeans such as Enrico Rava, Misha Mengelberg, Giorgio Gaslini, to mention just a few.
Today these musicians are considered some of the greats of African American music, but in the mid-1970s they found it difficult, sometimes almost impossible, to release their music in the United States. While American imprints seemed more interested in fusion music, and club and festival networks turned out to be increasingly competitive, the old world of continental Europe not only acclaimed these musicians as artists but welcomed them, with full honours,to its festivals and concert halls. Jazz players of that generation frequently spent time in Europe, including Italy, a situation that offered them opportunities to record live performances and to release sessions that were ignored in the US.
Founded in 1975 by Giacomo Pellicciotti and Giacomo Battistella – who owned the shop of the same name which was Milan’s high temple of jazz until 2008 – Black Saint later found an open and perceptive producer in Giovanni Bonandrini. Next to the more experimental Black Saint, the ‘twin’ label Soul Note was less cutting-edge, though the boundaries were never rigid (which is why we’re choosing to treat them as a sort of double label). Via Polygram’s international distribution, Bonandrini found the key to getting the records out of their niche, so much so that, starting in 1984, they won the prestigious DownBeat Jazz Award for Best Label for six years in a row and conquered the American market.
Among the hundreds of records released–and still available, even though the catalogue is now owned by CAM Jazz–there are many masterpieces, and just as many supposedly minor records that demonstrate the possibilities of sound, of rhythm, inspiring listening, remix, and endless sampling.
In two volumes – the second of which is dedicated to tracks from the Black Saint catalog, while the first is focused on the Soul Note one– the music chosen by Khalab renews in unexpected ways its connection with the present through his dystopian and Afrocentric sensibilities. In this second volume there are moments in which the rhythmic aspect is powerfully explicit (the relentless Maono project by Andrew Cyrille or the fierce tension of Don Pullen’s quintet), others in which the kinetic aspect dialogues on different levels with African American cultural contexts (like Oliver Lake’s nod to tap dance or the dystopian Latin-jazz of Muhal Richard Abrams), others in which the groove does not even need percussion (“Hattie Wall” by World Saxophone Quartet or the intimate dance of “Wait A Minute” from one of The Leaders’ album).There is no shortage of instances where the sound links the present to Africa (the strings in the dialogue between Diedre Murray and Fred Hopkins or the textures of Karl Berger, without forgetting the very delicate polychromy woven by John Carter in “Ode to the Flower Maiden”), or references the most ancestral rituals (from Jarmanand Moye’s “Mama Marimba” with Johnny Dyani to the conscious Archie Shepp of “Song for Mozambique / Poem: A Sea Of Faces”), not to mention Sun Ra’s eternal ability to connect Mayan temples to the farthest sidereal space.
Khalab’s Black Saint / Soul Note universe (which also draws on some work from the 1990s, when, without losing its vision, the label was going through a less vital period) is a colourful one, dotted with rhythmic galaxies in constant motion. It’s a true feast for the ears, and a bewitching siren for the most curious and seasoned diggers.
Enrico Bettinello – curator and music critic
HYPERITUALS VOL. 2 – BLACK SAINT
Wait A Minute by The Leaders
Composed by Chico Freeman, Lester Bowie and Cecil McBee, published by Leaders Pub.
Lester Bowie – trumpet
Arthur Blythe – alto saxophone
Chico Freeman – tenor and soprano saxophone, bass clarinet
Kirk Lightsey – piano
Cecil McBee – bass
Famoudou Don Moye-percussion
Taken from 120129-1 Unforeseen Blessings
Original release (p) 1990
A super group that brought together some of the strongest personalities from the African American creative world (the initial lineup also included Don Cherry and Don Pullen!), the Leaders tried to combine the immediacy of a jam session between “old timers” and the adventurous wisdom of each member (although now somewhat forgotten, both Freeman and Blythe were very popular at the time even outside avant-garde circles). But they were also capable of inspired, chamber moments, like this trio between Freeman’s bass clarinet, Lester Bowie’s melancholy trumpet and Cecil McBee’s double bass. A dance in miniature.
Song For Mozambique / Poem: A Sea Of Faces by Archie Shepp
Composed by Semenya McCord and Archie Shepp, published by Dawn of Freedom Pub. Co. – BMI
Archie Shepp – soprano sax, vocal
Charles Greenlee – vocal
Dave Burrell – piano
Cameron Brown – bass
Beaver Harris – tambourine, vocal
Bunny Foy – vocal
Rafi Taha – vocal
Taken from BSR 0002 A Sea Of Faces
Original release (p) 1975
During the height of the “Fire Music!” period in thesixties, Archie Shepp had established himself as one of the standard bearers in the avant-garde scene. In the following decades, he explored other intense directions. “Song for Mozambique / Poem: A Sea Of Faces” opens the second side of A Sea Of Faces and offers us the exciting interplay between Bunny Foy’s song with the poem recited by Shepp, and the ritual invocation of freedom for Africa over Cameron Brown’s unrelenting bass. Polyphony and call & response grow and weave a moving web of truth around the listener.
Tap Dancer by Oliver Lake Quartet
Composed by Oliver Lake, published by Africa Pub. Co.
Oliver Lake Quartet
Oliver Lake – alto and soprano saxophone, flute
Baikida Carroll – trumpet, flugelhorn
Donald Smith – piano
Pheeroan akLaff – drums
Taken from BSR 0054 Clevont Fitzhubert (A Good Friend Of Mine)
Original release (p) 1981
Since his multidisciplinary experiences within the Black Artist Group of Saint Louis (that resulted in projects like the World Saxophone Quartet), saxophonist Oliver Lake has shown a special attention to the various forms of Black expressiveness. The title of this quartet piece (without bass, but with the elastic contribution of all the components to give cohesion to the music) clearly refers to tip-tap, with its soft movement of feet and metal on the floor. Pheeroan akLaff’s drums create sinuous figures, while piano, flute and trumpet float in the air without any haste to dissipate.
Guitar Vibes by Karl Berger And Friends
Composed by Paul Koji Shigihara and Karl Hans Berger, published by GEMA
Karl Berger – vibes, piano
Santi Debriano – bass
Leroy Williams – drums
Paul Koji Shigihara – fingerstyle guitar
Taken from 120112-1 Around
Original release (p) 1991
German pianist and vibraphonist Karl Berger, played alongside Don Cherry in the 1960s and later founded the Creative Music Studio in Woodstock. He is an artist of great creative openness who has been largely underestimated. The interweaving of the vibraphone with Paul Koji Shigahara’s guitar gives this duo’s piece a delicately cosmopolitan feel, falling between chamber music and African music, as if the different cultures glide through the notes the way a landscape flows by the window of a slow-moving train. A flurry of sound that moves across the skin like a summer’s night.
Mayan Temples by Sun Ra Arkestra
Composed by Sun Ra, published by Enterplanetary Koncepts
Michael Ray – trumpet, vocal
Ahmed Abdullah – trumpet, vocal
Tyrone Hill – trombone
Marshall Allen – alto saxophone, flute
Noel Scott – alto saxophone
John Gilmore – tenor saxophone, timbales
James Jackson – bassoon, african drums
June Tyson – vocal
Sun Ra – piano, synthesizer
Jothan Callins – bass, electric bass
Clifford Barbaro – drums
Earl “Buster” Smith – drums
Ron McBee – congas and percussion
Jorge Silva – percussion
Elson Nascimento – surdo percussion
Taken from 120121-2 Mayan Temples
Original release (p) 1990
Love On A Far Away Planet by Sun Ra Arkestra
Composed by Sun Ra, published by Enterplanetary Koncepts
Randall Murray – trumpet
Tyrone Hill – trombone
Pat Patrick – alto saxophone, clarinet
Marshall Allen – alto saxophone, flute, oboe, piccolo
Danny Ray Thompson – alto and baritone saxophone, flute, bongos
John Gilmore – tenor saxophone, clarinet, timbales
Leroy Taylor – alto saxophone, alto and bass clarinet
James Jackson – bassoon, african drums
Ronald Wilson – tenor saxophone
Carl LeBlanc – guitar
Taken from 120111-1 Hours After
Original release (p) 1989
Sun Ra recorded for Black Saint during the last five years of his long career, but the music that emerged from those sessions sounds remarkably fresh. Part of the repertoire resumes the dialogue – that was never fully interrupted – with the language and repertoire of the big bands of the swing era, but there is no lack of “ethereal”, hypnotic, and enthralling themes, such as “Love On A Far Away Planet”, with its inexorable, rolling bass ostinato, using synths to create alien sounds and then weaving a sort of otherworldly serenade with the flute and the other wind instruments.
“Mayan Temples”, from the album of the same name, the last recorded in the studio in 1990, a year full of concerts and traveling that sees Sun Ra’s health suffer, is then a spectacular summary – finally recorded as it deserved – of the imaginative polychromy of the Arkestra, between splendid solos, soft exotica temptations and an expressive richness that is still able to amaze.
Laja by Muhal Richard Abrams Octet
Composed by Muhal Richards Abrams, published by Ric-Peg Publishing Co.
Stanton Davis – trumpet, flugelhorn
John Purcell – flute, soprano saxophone, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, bass clarinet
Marty Ehrlich – piccolo, flute, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, B clarinet, bass clarinet
Rick Rozie – bass
Warren Smith – vibes, marimba, gongs
Thurman Barker – drums, orchestra bells, marimba, gongs
Ray Mantilla – bongos, conga drums, and assorted percussion
Muhal Richard Abrams – piano, gongs
Taken from BSR 0081 View From Within
Original release (p) 1985
In his tireless ability to rework different languages and trajectories, the Chicagoan pianist and composer Muhal Richard Abrams – founding father of the pivotal Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) – never set boundaries. Opening with a long percussive moment by Ray Mantilla, “Laja” seems to unfold like a classic Latin-jazz flower, but soon reveals unpredictable aspects, in the lines of the wind instruments or in the hallucination of the vibraphone that seems dazzled by an alien apparition. The most experimental lines of African American creativity coexist in this pyrotechnic octet with the most irresistible rhythms. What emerges is a true masterpiece.
Metamusician’s Stomp by Andrew Cyrille & Maono
Composed by Andrew Cyrille, published by Major “A” Music
Andrew Cyrille – drums, percussion, foot
Ted Daniel – trumpet, flugelhorn, wood flute, foot
Nick DiGeronimo – bass, foot
David S. Ware – tenor saxophone, flute, foot
Taken from BSR 0025 Metamusician’s Stomp
Original release (p) 1978
A very original drummer who emerged through Cecil Taylor’s projects but who also boasts an excellent track record as a band leader, Andrew Cyrille has always been a tireless originator of rhythms. “Metamusicians’ Stomp”, with its contagious bass line interjected by the meteor Nick Di Geronimo, allows Ted Daniel’s trumpet and the exuberant tenor of David S. Ware, then not yet 30 years old, to swim in Don Cherry-like atmospheres, between obsession and freedom, reconnecting the clouds of free jazz to the dust raised by dancing feet.
Ode To The Flower Maiden by The John Carter Octet
Composed by John Carter, published by Ibedon Publishers – ASCAP
John Carter – clarinet
Bobby Bradford – cornet
Red Callender – tuba
James Newton – flute, bass flute
Charles Owens – soprano saxophone, oboe, clarinet
Roberto Miranda – string bass
William Jeffrey – drums
Luis Peralta – waterphone, percussion
Taken from BSR 0057 Dauwhe
Original release (p) 1982
Polychromatic portrait of an imaginary primeval Africa and the first episode of an amazing five-disc project on the history of African Americans, Dauwhe by clarinetist John Carter, is a fascinating and anomalous record. With unexpected calm and aching impressionism, innervated by unusual instrumental combinations, he painted pictures of impressive sonic intensity such as “Ode to the Flower Maiden”, with James Newton’s flute and Red Callender’s tuba, to give the material a sense of immortal polyphony. The rhythm? It does not need to be explicit, it has been beating deeply for so long.
Zebra Walk by Diedre Murray, Fred Hopkins
Composed by Diedre Murray, published by Erdeid Publishing
Diedre Murray – cello, sticks
Marvin Sewell – guitar, dobro
Fred Hopkins – bass, sticks
Newman Baker – drums, spoons
Special guest:Ray Mantilla – congas
Taken from 120143-2 Stringology
Original release (p) 1994
The world of Diedre Murray (composer of imaginative depth with precious forays into jazz) and Fred Hopkins (an important figure in the Black creative scene of the 1970s Chicago-New York axis) is formed by subtle, dancing folk lines. The plot between cello and double bass, here extended to Marvin Sewell’s guitar, opens up to different forms and rhythms, without losing the chamber aplomb even in the most exuberant instants. “Zebra Walk” crackles on Ray Mantilla’s congas fire, starting like a 1950s noir, and dangling dangerously on the edge of swing before opening up for the solos. It’s a little-big magic.
Mama Marimba by Joseph Jarman, Don Moye feat. Johnny Dyani
Composed by Johnny Dyani, published by Steeplechase Music
Joseph Jarman – sopranino, tenor and baritone saxophones, shell conch horn, flute, bass bamboo flute, frog flute, bass clarinet, voice
Famoudou Don Moye – drums, donno, chèkèrè, conch shell, rumbo congo, rattle, bendir, whistles, trap drums, bird calls
Johnny Dyani – piano, bass, tambourine, vocal
Taken from BSR 0042 Black Paladins
Original release (p) 1980
Members of the Art Ensemble of Chicago, multi-instrumentalist Joseph Jarman and percussionist Don Moye explore new shapes in the Black Paladins project, with South African double bass player Johnny Dyani. Inspired by the Black poet Henry Dumas (killed by the police in 1968 in unclear circumstances), they open spaces for colourful collective moments, such as “Mama Marimba”, in which the instruments alternate and the singing brings everything back into an intimate and contagious sacredness, capturing the story of the African American peoples.
The Sixth Sense by The Don Pullen Quintet
Composed by Don Pullen and Frank Dean, published by Anderson Music Co.
Olu Dara – trumpet
Donald Harrison – alto saxophone
Don Pullen – piano
Fred Hopkins – bass
Bobby Battle – drums
Taken from BSR 0088 The Sixth Sense
Original release (p) 1980
If ever there was a musician with a “sixth sense”, it’s certainly Don Pullen. A pianist with a solid and very deep technique, he was able to bring to life some of the most significant pages of Mingus in the 1970s, and with an implacable denial of the incompatibility between post-bop rigour and the tensions of breaking codes typical of the avant-gardes, he was always able to “sense” where the music could ignite. In quintet with Olu Dara and Donald Harrison on horns and the relentless riffing instinct of Fred Hopkins and Bobby Battle on rhythm, he projects the visions of the 1960s Blue Note themes onto the difficult paths of the years that followed.
Hattie Wall by World Saxophone Quartet
Composed by Hamiet Bluiett, published by Teimah Music Co.
Hamiet Bluiett – baritone saxophone, alto flute, alto clarinet
Julius Hemphill – alto and soprano saxophone, flute
Oliver Lake – alto, tenor and soprano saxophone, flute
David Murray- tenor saxophone, bass clarinet
Taken from BSR 0077 Live in Zurich
Original release (p) 1984
Incredible groove without a rhythm section?Just ask the World Saxophone Quartet.Formed specifically to take part in a concert (which was fiery according to the chronicles) at the University of New Orleans, the group united three members of the Black Artist Group of Saint Louis (Hemphill, Lake and Bluiett) and the brash Californian David Murray. R&B, hard-bop, free, gospel, swing, complicated Ellingtonian harmonies, involving all the saxophones, clarinets and flutes available ensued. A global success of fervent dances, as in “Hattie Wall”, which will become a sort of signature of the quartet and the gateway to their intricate rituals.
Enrico Bettinello – curator and music critic
