Chicago is Now!

My list has been posted over at D:O, but to reiterate:

1 8 Bold Souls, Sideshow (Arabesque, 1992)
2 William Parker/In Order To Survive, The Peach Orchard (Aum Fidelity, 1998)
3 Greg Osby, Banned in New York (Blue Note, 1998)
4 Myra Melford Extended Ensemble, Even the Sounds Shine (hatHUT, 1995)
5 Douglas Ewart and Inventions Clarinet Choir, Angles of Entrance (Aarawak, 1990/1998)
6 Anderson/Crispell/Drake, Destiny (OkkaDisk, 1994)
7 Jon Jang, Two Flowers on a Stem (Soul Note, 1995)
8 Horace Tapscott, Thoughts of Dar Es Salaam (Arabesque, 1997)
9 Charles Gayle, Touchin’ on Trane (FMP, 1993)
10 Anderson/Kowald/Drake, Live at the Velvet Lounge (OkkaDisk, 1999)

FYI, these were not listed in any kind of order relating to quality. It was just how I happened to write them down.

Today I'm planning to write about two of the four of these discs that hail from the great windy city of Chicago. Namely the two Fred Anderson discs,  Anderson/Kowald/Drake, Live at the Velvet Lounge, and Anderson/Crispell/Drake, Destiny.

Yes, I gave 4 out of my top 10 albums to discs made in Chicago. I told you I was biased. However, it really does reflect my listening from the decade, because when I delved into the wealth of music coming out of this great city, I did so in depth, and as such my collection has a decidedly Midwestern slant.

The first record I want to touch on is the Fred Anderson, Marylin Crispell, Hamid Drake disc Destiny. This recording was initiated by Ms. Crispell, as she was scheduled to play a Women In Jazz festival here in Chicago and was asked who she might like to play with. She chose Fred Anderson, and Hamid Drake was the other logical co-conspirator given his long association with Mr. Anderson.

Fred Anderson is one of my favorite artists. To my ears, he is singular in the so-called avant-garde for his lack of extended technique. If you ask him about it, he'll tell you it's because he's actually a bit older than a lot of the other players associated with the genre, and he was really deep into Charlie Parker. So that's where he's coming from: he plays lines, melodies, wrapping them around and around, but never getting into the realm of squonks and squeals.

Fred has a huge sound. Enormous even. He's said that's due to his early practice regimen of playing outside in the parks, and learning to really project. It's a wonder he projects as well as he does, given his hunched over posture that would seem to constrict his diaphragm. Anyone who's felt the physicality of his sound in person can tell you that it doesn't seem to hamper him one bit.

I've listened to Fred mostly in settings without a guitar or piano to frame his improvisations harmonically, allowing for my imagination to fill in the blanks. Fred paints pictures with his lines and I would fill in some of the colors. I remember the first time I heard this recording, it was revelatory to hear a piano framing his improvisations. I got this feeling in the pit of my stomach, and I liked it. Crispell obviously had enormous ears, figuratively of course, and was an empathetic improvisational partner to Fred. I've seen Fred perform with people for the first time before, and when he stops playing and allows Crispell and Drake to do their thing, I can see him standing off to the side of the stage, pensive, reflective, and with a grin on his face listening to her go.

This isn't the only recording of Fred Anderson with a harmonic instrument: Birdhouse features Jim Baker on piano, Chicago Chamber Music features Bradley Parker-Sparrow on a few tracks on piano, several recordings, including the recent From the River to the Ocean feature Jeff Parker on guitar, and with Irene Shweizer on one track on Portrait, as well as this year's trio recording, which I have yet to hear.

This CD has it all for my ears: energetic swirling improvisations, sensitive avant balladry, great solo, duo, and trio interactions, and a vitality that translates from the live performance to the disc.

The second of the two Fred Anderson discs that made their way onto my list is the 1998 Live At The Velvet Lounge, showcasing Fred in my favorite setting for his music: the trio. Here he's joined by Peter Kowald and Hamid Drake; elsewhere, he's had Tatsu Aoki, Harrison Bankhead, and William Parker as the link between him and Drake in the trio setting.

Fred, in a trio, at the Velvet Lounge is the first thing that comes to mind when I think of him. The two nights of music that became his recent Delmark disc Timeless were both incredible, and I count several of his performances in this format, at that venue, as my top listening concert experiences of my life.

This one consists of two long, 30 minute-ish improvisations that bookend a more restrained second track. Fred Anderson always manages to make music that captures my imagination, first and foremost. When I listen, I am transported, and he always brings me back down for a safe landing. His musical relationship with Hamid Drake can't be emphasized enough: they have an incredible level of comfort, while retaining the ability to challenge each other through their interplay.

I think both Destiny and the Live at the Velvet Lounge disc are out of print unfortunately. If you come across a used copy, grab it up.

More on the other two Chicago discs soon....