Crystals (album)
Encyclopedia
Crystals is an avant-garde
/free-jazz LP
by Sam Rivers
on the Impulse!
label released in 1974 in a stereo
/quadraphonic
format.
Thom Jurek wrote: “Musically, this is the mature Sam Rivers speaking from the wide base of his knowledge as a composer, improviser and conceptualist.”
had worked with his Free Jazz Double Quartet, nine years since John Coltrane
assembled his Ascension band, and six since the first Jazz Composers' Orchestra Association was formed and whose first records were issued (a couple of members of that band also performing with Rivers on this record) and the compositions for what eventually became Crystals were written between 1959 and 1972. They were finished as new elements came to him to fit them together conceptually.
Trumpet and Flugelhorn
Avant-garde music
Avant-garde music is a term used to characterize music which is thought to be ahead of its time, i.e. containing innovative elements or fusing different genres....
/free-jazz LP
LP album
The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...
by Sam Rivers
Sam Rivers
Samuel Carthorne Rivers , is an American jazz musician and composer. He performs on soprano and tenor saxophones, bass clarinet, flute, harmonica and piano....
on the Impulse!
Impulse! Records
Impulse! Records was an American jazz record label, originally established in 1960 by producer Creed Taylor as a subsidiary of ABC-Paramount Records, based in New York City...
label released in 1974 in a stereo
STEREO
STEREO is a solar observation mission. Two nearly identical spacecraft were launched into orbits that cause them to respectively pull farther ahead of and fall gradually behind the Earth...
/quadraphonic
Quadraphonic
Quadraphonic sound – the most widely used early term for what is now called 4.0 surround sound – uses four channels in which speakers are positioned at the four corners of the listening space, reproducing signals that are independent of one another...
format.
Criticism
Jazz criticCritic
A critic is anyone who expresses a value judgement. Informally, criticism is a common aspect of all human expression and need not necessarily imply skilled or accurate expressions of judgement. Critical judgements, good or bad, may be positive , negative , or balanced...
Thom Jurek wrote: “Musically, this is the mature Sam Rivers speaking from the wide base of his knowledge as a composer, improviser and conceptualist.”
Background
It had been over a decade since Ornette ColemanOrnette Coleman
Ornette Coleman is an American saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter and composer. He was one of the major innovators of the free jazz movement of the 1960s....
had worked with his Free Jazz Double Quartet, nine years since John Coltrane
John Coltrane
John William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz...
assembled his Ascension band, and six since the first Jazz Composers' Orchestra Association was formed and whose first records were issued (a couple of members of that band also performing with Rivers on this record) and the compositions for what eventually became Crystals were written between 1959 and 1972. They were finished as new elements came to him to fit them together conceptually.
Track listing
- "Exultation" – 8:25
- "Tranquility" – 8:58
- "Postlude" – 2:31
- "Bursts" – 6:51
- "Orb" – 9:36
- "Earth Song" – 4:09
Reissues
Crystals has been re-mastered and reissued in a Mini LP jacket featuring artwork and extensive liner notes from the original vinyl release.Personnel
- Sam RiversSam RiversSamuel Carthorne Rivers , is an American jazz musician and composer. He performs on soprano and tenor saxophones, bass clarinet, flute, harmonica and piano....
- composerComposerA composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
, conductorConductingConducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
, saxophones - Joe Ferguson – alto, tenor & soprano saxophones, fluteFluteThe flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
- Paul JeffreyPaul JeffreyPaul Jeffrey is an American jazz tenor saxophonist, arranger, and educator born in New York City. Perhaps best known for performing with Thelonious Monk from 1970–1975, Jeffrey also worked with musicians including Charles Mingus, Dizzy Gillespie, Clark Terry, Lionel Hampton, B.B...
– tenor saxophone, flute, clarinetClarinetThe clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
, oboeOboeThe oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois" , "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca...
, bassett horn, bassoonBassoonThe bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family that typically plays music written in the bass and tenor registers, and occasionally higher. Appearing in its modern form in the 19th century, the bassoon figures prominently in orchestral, concert band and chamber music literature... - Roland AlexanderRoland AlexanderRoland Alexander was an American post-bop jazz musician from Boston, Massachusetts.Alexander played tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, and piano. He graduated with a bachelor's degree from the Boston Conservatory and then moved to New York City in 1958...
– soprano and tenor saxophone, flute - Fred Kelly – soprano and baritone saxophone, flute
- Sinclair Acey – trumpetTrumpetThe trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
- Ted Daniel – trumpet
- Richard WilliamsRichard Williams (musician)Richard Gene Williams was an American jazz trumpeter.Williams was born in Galveston, Texas, and played tenor saxophone early in his life before picking up trumpet as a teenager. He played in local Texas bands and attended Wiley College, where he majored in music...
– trumpet - Charles Stephens – tromboneTromboneThe trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
- Charles Majeed Greenlee – trombone
- Joseph Daley – trombone, tubaTubaThe tuba is the largest and lowest-pitched brass instrument. Sound is produced by vibrating or "buzzing" the lips into a large cupped mouthpiece. It is one of the most recent additions to the modern symphony orchestra, first appearing in the mid-19th century, when it largely replaced the...
- Gregory Maker – acoustic & electric bass violinBass violinBass violin is the generic modern term used to denote various 16th- and 17th-century forms of bass instruments of the violin family. They were the direct ancestor of the modern cello. Bass violins were usually somewhat larger than the modern cello, but tuned the same or sometimes just one step...
- Warren SmithWarren Smith (jazz musician)Warren Smith is an American jazz percussionist.Smith was born in Chicago, Illinois, into a musical family; his father played saxophone and clarinet with Noble Sissle and Jimmy Noone, and his mother was a harpist and pianist. He studied clarinet under his father from age four...
– drums, percussion - Harold Smith – drums, percussion
Woodwinds
- Bill BarronBill Barron (musician)Bill Barron was an American jazz tenor and soprano tenor saxophonist.-Biography:...
, Hal Batch, Hammiet Bluett, Anthony BraxtonAnthony BraxtonAnthony Braxton is an American composer, saxophonist, clarinettist, flautist, pianist, and philosopher. Braxton has released well over 100 albums since the 1960s...
, Richard Burch, Bobby Capers, Ron Bridgewater, George Davis, Dave Hubbard, Louis Keel, Robin KenyattaRobin KenyattaRobin Kenyatta was an American jazz alto saxophonist.-Career:Born Robert Prince Haynes in Moncks Corner, South Carolina, United States, Kenyatta grew up in New York. He played with Bill Dixon there in the 1960s, playing with his project "The October Revolution in Jazz"...
, Pat Patrick, Bob Ralston, Bill Saxton, John StubblefieldJohn StubblefieldJohn Stubblefield was an American jazz saxophonist, flautist, and oboist.Stubblefield was an adaptable musician; he was stationed with the World Saxophone Quartet , Reggie Workman , McCoy Tyner , Freddie Hubbard , and George Russell .-As leader:* Prelude with Onaje Allan Gumbs, Cecil McBee, Joe...
, James Ware, Monty WatersMonty WatersMonty Waters was an American jazz saxophonist , flautist and singer. Waters received his first musical training from his aunt and first played in the church. After his education in college, he was a member of a Rhythm & Blues band...
, Dave Young
Tubas
- Morris Edwards, Howard JohnsonHoward Johnson (jazz musician)Howard Lewis Johnson in Montgomery, Alabama, is an American jazz musician known mainly for his work on tuba and baritone saxophone, although he also plays the bass clarinet, trumpet and other reed instruments....
, Bob Stewart
Percussion
- Horace ArnoldHorace ArnoldHorace Emmanuel Arnold, or Horacee Arnold is an American jazz drummer. He was born in Wayland, Kentucky.Arnold first began drumming in 1957 in Los Angeles while he held a position in the Coast Guard. In 1959, he began performing as "Horacee" when he joined a big band led by Dave Baker; he also...
, Clifford Barbero, Art Blakey Jr., Roger Blank, Sonny Brown, Norman ConnorsNorman ConnorsNorman Connors is an American jazz drummer, composer, arranger, producer, and headliner, who has led some influential jazz and R&B groups. He also achieved several big R&B hits of the day, especially with love ballads.-Biography:...
, Andrew CyrilleAndrew CyrilleAndrew Charles Cyrille is an avant-garde jazz drummer.Cyrille was born in Brooklyn, New York into a family with a mother from Haiti. He began studying science at St...
, Steve Ellington, Billy HartBilly HartWilliam "Billy" Hart is a jazz drummer and educator who has performed with some of the most important jazz musicians in history.-Biography:Early on Hart performed in Washington, D.C...
, Maurice McKinley, Steve Solder, Scoby Stroman
Trumpet and FlugelhornFlugelhornThe flugelhorn is a brass instrument resembling a trumpet but with a wider, conical bore. Some consider it to be a member of the saxhorn family developed by Adolphe Sax ; however, other historians assert that it derives from the valve bugle designed by Michael Saurle , Munich 1832 , thus...
- Ahmed AbdullahAhmed AbdullahAhmed Abdullah is a jazz trumpeter. He began playing when he was 13 years old. By the 1970s he was performing in New York's loft scene, and joined the Sun Ra Arkestra in 1976. Since that time he has played with Chico Freeman, Ronnie Boykins, Charles Brackeen, Steve Reid, John Hicks and Marion Brown...
, Jothan Callins, Earl Davis, Joe Dupars, Steve Furtato, Ron Hampton, Virgil Jones, Don McIntosh, Vinnie McQuan, Marvin Peterson, Michael Ridley, Norman Spiller, Charles SullivanCharles Sullivan (musician)Charles Sullivan is an American jazz trumpeter. He has made recordings as sideman with Woody Shaw, Dollar Brand, Ricky Ford, and King Curtis, among others...
, Clifford ThorntonClifford ThorntonClifford Thornton was an American free jazz trumpeter and trombonist. Born in Philadelphia in 1939, he studied with trumpeter Donald Byrd in the mid-1950s and worked with various players such as tuba player Ray Draper. After a stint in the army, Thornton moved to New York City...
, Robert Williams, Yousef Yancey
Trombone
- Bill Campbell, Astley Fennell, John Gordon, Vincent Holmes, Majeed Lateef, Grachan Moncur II
Bass Violin
- Ronnie BoykinsRonnie BoykinsRonnie Boykins was a jazz bassist and is best known for his work with pianist/bandleader Sun Ra, although he had played with such disparate musicians as Muddy Waters, Johnny Griffin, and Jimmy Witherspoon prior to joining Sun Ra's Arkestra.-Biography:He joined the Arkestra during the Chicago...
, Bob Cunningham, Yousef Hamin, Stafford JamesStafford James-Biography:As a young man, Stafford James enlisted in the Air Force; after his discharge he studied at the University of Chicago with Rudolf Fahsbender. In 1969 he moved to New York City and studied under Julius Levine at the Mannes College for Music. Here he met Pharaoh Sanders, with whom he...
, Hakim Jami, Martin Rivers, Reggie WorkmanReggie WorkmanReginald "Reggie" Workman is an American avant-garde jazz and hard bop double bassist, recognized for his work with both John Coltrane and Art Blakey....
Production
- Producer: Ed Michel
- Publisher: RivbeaMusic (BMI)
- Recorded at Generation Sound Studios, New York, New York. on March 4, 1974
External links
- Jazz album blogspot http://jazzfever.blogspot.com/2009/05/sam-rivers-crystals-1974.html
- Sam Rivers YouTube interview http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhS4WHACgJQ