Featuring:
Recorded at Studio Rivbea, 24 Bond Street, New York:
Ulrich Steinmetzger - Jazz Podium
Weil er dessen Intensität folgen konnte, war er der bevorzugte Altsaxophonist von Cecil Taylor. Jimmy Lyons (1932–1986) öff- nete in seinem weit ausholen- den Spiel die Errungenschaften Charlie Parkers für modernere Spielweisen. Lyons’ Druck, enge Verschränktheit der Ak- teure, Dynamik und pfeilschnel- le Aktionen bestimmen die hier dokumentierten Auftritte aus den Jahren 1974 und 1976 im
New Yorker Loft des Ehepaars Bea und Sam Rivers, Studio Rivbea genannt. Es sind zwei je knapp halbstündige Lyons- Stücke, das erste mit Lyons’
Frau Karen Borca als gleicher- maßen äußerst bemerkenswerte wie seltene Solistin am Fagott in großartiger Korrespondenz vor Bass (Hayes Burnett) und Drums (Henry Letcher), das zweite im Trio ohne sie und statt Letcher mit Syd Smart an den Drums. Am Lyons’ Spiel besticht die Mischung aus Disziplin und Spontaneität, er zeigt sich auch an dieser Stelle als eine Schlüsselfigur in den Zeiten der Konsolidierung des Free Jazz. Lyons’ Hinterlassen- schaft als Bandleader ist ver- gleichsweise schmal, weswegen die Veröffentlichung dieser Archiv-Konzerte eine editori- sche Großtat ist.
Stuart Broomer - New York City Jazz Record
Jimmy Lyons (1931-1986), who passed away 40 years ago this month, was largely identified with Cecil Taylor throughout his career, his rapid-fire, yet lyrical alto lines a significant component in Taylor’s music, beginning with 1961’s Into the Hot (released under Gil Evans’ name). By the 1962 live recordings from Copenhagen’s Café Montmartre, Lyons, with roots in Charlie Parker, was providing a slightly tart, central linear focus to the maelstrom created by Taylor and drummer Sunny Murray. That role would continue in the Taylor trio with drummer Andrew Cyrille from 1965 until Lyons’ death from lung cancer, and that trio might be the most closely attuned of Taylor’s ensembles, including a term when it expanded to a quartet with multi-instrumentalist Sam Rivers. Lyons—who was arguably the third significant alto saxophonist to emerge in free jazz, his more traditional lines and sound contrasting with his two great contemporaries, Ornette Coleman and Eric Dolphy—recorded little outside Taylor’s realm, and even that involved shared associations, including trio settings with Murray and recordings that would come from performances at Studio RivBea, Rivers’ and his wife Beatrice’s Loft era jazz performance space. These previously unreleased recordings come from Studio RivBea: one by a trio from 1974, the other by a quartet from 1976, each a single piece running past the 26-minute mark. “Diads” (from 1974) has Lyons in trio with Hayes Burnett (bass) and Syd Smart (drums), whose solo after a short motivic theme supports the altoist’s rapid, interlocking, subtly permutating phrases. Midway through, there’s a return to the theme; Burnett joins in and there follows continuing invention, Lyons shifting approaches and densities, from melodic asides to high-speed runs to yipping highs. At 20 minutes in, the tempo drops and he turns to an extended melodic passage, stretching moods from plaintive to playful to a few, gentle squawks, a masterful performance throughout. The 1976 piece, “After You Left” completes the performance that supplied Lyons’ five-minute “Push Pull” contribution to the fourth volume of Wildflowers: The New York Jazz Loft Sessions (Casablanca-Douglas). It includes the saxophonist’s music and life partner Karen Borca (bassoon), Burnett (bass) and Henry Letcher (drums), a well-matched, regular contingent that moves fluidly, closely attuned to Lyons’ shifting approaches. Essential to the work is the stylistic contrast between the leader’s liquid alto playing and Borca’s dry bassoon: the former all momentum, even during lyrical passages, phrases suddenly reconfigured; the latter sometimes pensive, but always involved in detailed, interlocking lines. Whether revelation or reminder, this is fine work from a relatively neglected musician.
