Don Cherry / Dewey Redman / Charlie Haden / Ed Blackwell - Old and New Dreams (1979/FLAC)

 Formed two-and-a-half years before for a one off record date for Italy´s Black Saint Label, Old And New Dreams, a quartet comprised of former associates of Ornette Coleman was re-launched in 1979. As bassist Charlie Haden explained: „We feel that everything we experienced together playing with Ornette shouldn´t stop. That improvised acoustic music doesn´t happen now, not that way. We´re not duplicating 20-year old songs, but playing from Ornette´s harmelodic concept which each of us grew up in, playing on the feeling rather than the chord structure or melody.“

– Don Cherry - trumpet, piano

– Dewey Redman - tenor saxophone, musette (suona)

– Charlie Haden - bass

– Ed Blackwell - drums

Clifford Jordan - The Complete Strata - East Sessions [6 CD, 2013/FLAC]

 

A really amazing set of work from tenorist Clifford Jordan – a player who first rose to fame in the hardbop scene of the late 50s, but who moved into tremendous new territory with these Strata East recordings of the late 60s and early 70s! Jordan was a Chicago contemporary of players like Johnny Griffin and Von Freeman, but he was never content to rest on his laurels – and stretched out on these records with a spiritual vibe that he'd never expressed before – and which would go onto inspire countless other musicians in years to come! This set brings together all the Dolphy Series recordings that Jordan recorded – either as an artist or producer – two of which were never issued on record at the time. Jordan's own albums for the label are wonderful enough – the double-length Glass Bead Games, one of our favorite records ever – and the killer In The World, which is great too. But this set also adds in other Strata East albums that really help illustrate the scene in which Jordan was working – including the excellent Pharoah Sanders non-Impulse session, Izipho Zam; the modern music of Charles Brackeen on Rhythm X, with Don Cherry on trumpet and Brackeen on tenor; and the great Cecil Payne album Zodiac, which has some of the last trumpet work ever from Kenny Dorham. Plus, the set also features two extremely rare albums – the never-issued Shades Of Edward Blackwell – led by the drummer, with Don Cherry on trumpet and Luqman Lateef on tenor, plus a bit of log drum from Jordan – and the obscure Super Bass album from Wilbur Ware, which features Jordan on tenor, in a quartet with Ware on bass, Don Cherry on trumpet, and Ed Blackwell on drums! These two albums are worth the price of the package alone – even if you have other Strata East albums in your collection – and the whole thing features the usual sublime Mosaic package and booklet.