eShop USA > Music > For Alto
For Alto
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
used
Binding: Audio CD
Brand: BRAXTON,ANTHONY
EAN: 0003815304202
Item Dimensions: 22
Label: Delmark
Manufacturer: Delmark
MPN: 420
Number Of Discs: 1
Publisher: Delmark
Release Date: July 25, 2000
Studio: Delmark
Disc 1:- Dedicated to Multi-Instrumentalist Jack Gell
- To Composer John Cage
- To Artist Murray de Pillars
- To Pianist Cecil Taylor
- Dedicated to Ann and Peter Allen
- Dedicated to Susan Axelrod
- To My Friend Kenny McKenny
- Dedicated to Multi-Instrumentalist Leroy Jenkins
Related Items:
Editorial Review:No Description Available.
Genre: Jazz Music
Media Format: Compact Disk
Rating:
Release Date: 25-JUL-2000
Originally released as a two-LP set in 1969, For Alto is 73 minutes of unaccompanied saxophone solos by a young musician issuing just his second recording under his own name. Solo saxophone was then a rarefied tradition in jazz. Coleman Hawkins had done it once in the 1940s and Sonny Rollins in the '50s. More to the point, Eric Dolphy and Jimmy Giuffre had done it a few times in the early 1960s. Braxton was being more than brash, however, and doing something very different. He was applying fresh structural concepts to sustain extended improvisations, and he was exploring John Cage and Karlheinz Stockhausen, as well as the jazz tradition, to mark a new direction in the avant-garde. Forgoing the "energy music" school, Braxton was exploring silence, noise, and forms of serialism with an analytical, almost sculptural, approach to sound. Each piece here explores a different approach or set of materials. There's buzz-saw saxophone on "To Composer John Cage," while "To pianist Cecil Taylor" is heartfelt blues that delves back before bebop for its sources. Tracks 5 and 6 are breathy, extended improvisations, the former exploring pianissimo understatement, and the latter developing elliptical complexity, with both drawing on and redirecting the jazz-ballad tradition. The concluding piece, nearly 20 minutes long, builds dialogue from contrasts between brittle, abrasive overblowing and the merest suggestions of notes. For Alto is one of those rare works that point to new possibilities, and it's been one of the most influential recordings of the past 30 years. It remains brilliant, challenging--perhaps even daunting--music. --Stuart Broomer
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
The sound of Braxton being attacked with a blunt object might also sound very musical.
Also, very intriguing. On the other hand, this is almost the purest hatred I have ever heard on the sax (Capt. Beefheart being number one).
So..........I approve.
Rating:  -
And I'm not even a sax player! How do these people get away with this rubbish? I'm an avant garde musician i.e. I play any old trash. Not in key, no rhythm, no harmony, just sheer irritating noise! Its literally just a load of bum notes without the "oops" in. Unlistenable!
Rating: -
I thought I would provide a little history on this CD and its reception before I offer some mildly phrased opinions.
I had thought the story behind For Alto was fairly well known but maybe not. I believe I read about this in Forces in Motion by Graham Locke. If you are interested in anything AB, that is a good place to start. I am going off memory since I cannot find my copy so if I misrepresent what happened, please correct me in the comments.
Anyway, sometime back around 1967, AB was ... Read More
Rating: -
I can't believe people would actually listen to this. I would rather listen to a cd of people farting. Just terrible. You could train a monkey to play an instrument like this.
Rating: -
Intense, uncompromising solo saxophone. This is not the kind of music to provide background for a dinner party, as Mr. Braxton demands your full attention.
Related Categories:
|
