The Complete Arista Recordings of Anthony Braxton

COMP. 6K
COMP. 6I
Anthony Braxton
The Complete Braxton
Freedom : 1971

6K: AB, sopranino sax; Chick Corea, piano.
6I: AB, alto sax; Kenny Wheeler, trumpet; Dave Holland, bass; Barry Altschul, drums.

We’re embarking on a month-long celebration of the music of Anthony Braxton. The catalyst? The October release of Braxton’s complete Arista recordings from the 1970s. One of THE great lost treasure troves of jazz. To mark the occasion there will be two major contest giveaways, many rare tracks, reflections from musicians and critics, and advice to newcomers on good entry points to this master musician.

This week, we’re kicking things off with a major contest [N.B.: contest now closed -d:o]. Destination: OUT is ecstatic to be giving away a copy of Mosaic’s utterly essential “The Complete Arista Recordings of Anthony Braxton.” This thing is the motherlode, ya’ll! Many thanks to Mosaic Records for generously providing a copy.

The mammoth set includes 13 Arista LPs over 8 CDs, with meticulously remastered sound, all new liner notes, deluxe packaging, etc. Many of these essential albums – spanning 1974-80 – have never been on CD.  Scroll down for more details. This set will retail for over $130 (worth every penny) but we’re giving a copy away to one of our readers FOR FREE (shipping included).

TO ENTER: Email us your answer to the question below at destination[dot]out[at]gmail[dot]com. (Do NOT answer in the comments section of this post.) If you guess two of the three names correct, we’ll count your answer. All correct entries will be put in a hat and the winner drawn at random. The odds are probably better than you think! Contest deadline: Midnight, Tuesday, October 22d Saturday, October 11th.

CONTEST QUESTION: Who were the three instrumentalists who most left their mark on Anthony Braxton, as named in Graham Lock’s book, Forces in Motion?

Good luck!

ANTHONY BRAXTON & THE PLEASURE PRINCIPLE

When most jazz fans think of Braxton, the first associations are often things like difficult… brilliant but academic… cerebral… unemotional… and so on. “The Einstein of theoretical jazz physics,” in Howard Hampton’s phrase. A lot of this is second-hand wisdom, passed down from short-sighted critics or superficial listeners over the years. When Chilly first saw Braxton live, the overwhelming impression was one of exuberance and passion – sweat pouring off Brax’s brow and his glasses flying off his face and landing three rows back into the the audience! The music didn’t fall into the cliched head-solos-head format, but it still offered plenty of riffs, melodies, and riddims to grab onto. It was inspiring, transcendent, and really — fun. Even Chilly’s father, a jazz neophyte with only a McCoy Tyner show under his belt, was won over.

Which brings us to Braxton’s Arista recordings. Maybe in the context of the 1970s these recordings sounded overly daunting and complex. But today, it’s a different story. While still adventurous, many of these sides are instantly compelling, filled with unexpected drama and humor. There are moments of great beauty and recognizable nods and tweaks to the tradition. For all their conceptual headiness, they often deliver on that most rare quality: pure pleasure.

Remember: Ornette’s Atlantic sides were deemed unlistenable when they were first released by many fans, critics, and musicians. Now, that reaction seems certifiable. But Ornette’s Atlantic albums remained in print and fans had an ongoing chance to reevaluate them over the years, until people’s ears caught up with Coleman’s innovations. The vast majority of Braxton’s expansive Arista catalog has been difficult to track down, so its “daunting” reputation has remained set in stone. These key recordings haven’t been seriously reevaluated in decades. Fact is, much of what sounded strange about them in the ’70s now seems surprisingly accessible.

THE ARISTA YEARS - WHAT’S INCLUDED

Anthony Braxton signed to Arista in 1974 at age 29. With major label money behind him, Braxton was able to showcase the full range of his talents – live and in the studio – concise tunelets and sprawling opuses – with quartets, trios, solos, duos, large orchestras, and more. It’s one of jazz’s great runs: Think Monk on Riverside; Coltrane on Impulse; Andrew Hill’s first tenure at Blue Note. These Arista sides are also another example of the vitality of jazz in the ’70s.

Here are the albums included on the box:

Arista AL-4032  New York, Fall 1974 – 1 LP
Arista AL-4064  Five Pieces, 1975 – 1 LP
Arista AL-4080  Creative Orchestra Music 1976 - 1 LP
Arista AL-4101  Duets 1976 – 1 LP
Arista AB-4181  For Trio – 1 LP
Arista AL-5002  The Montreux/Berlin Concerts – 2 LPs
Arista A2L-8602  Alto Saxophone Improvisation 1979 – 2 LPs
Arista A3L-8900  For Four Orchestras – 3 LPs
Arista AL-9559  For Two Pianos – 1 LP

THE ARISTA YEARS – WHAT’S NOT INCLUDED

There are two Anthony Braxton albums released by Arista during this period that aren’t included in the Mosaic Box. These were both licensed by Arista, from the Freedom label: Time Zones, a duet with Richard Teitelbaum, and The Complete Braxton. Since the duo album is easier to find and frankly not as essential, we’ll be shining a light on some of the best tracks from The Complete Braxton over the next two weeks.

“COMPLETE,” YOU SAY?

Obviously the title of The Complete Braxton (later, The Complete Braxton 1971) could not be more ridiculous. Sure, it shows him in a variety of formats with more far variety than your average effort. But if ever there was an artist who couldn’t be summed up by a single album – or even a single box set – it’s Braxton. Naturally, the title was the label’s idea.

Braxton, as quoted in Lock’s book, notes the title “is A LIE. I would never call my work ‘The Complete Braxton’ or any of this nonsense.” To add to the irony, the liners from the original LP release were penned by fellow AACMer Leo Smith, and included this nugget: “I’ve often heard it said that the titles of pieces of music are unimportant. This concept negates the poetic intent of the artist. I find this hard to conceive. Through the titles he or she gives to a work, the artist has an opportunity to relate to history (e.g. Fletcher Henderson’s Teapot Dome Blues), to personal life experiences (e.g. Louis Armstrong’s Coal Cart Blues) to personal philosophy (e.g. Ornette Coleman’s Free Jazz)—the references could go on and on.”

So, anyway, the music: “Comp 6K” is a piano duet with Chick Corea, circa the days of their partnership in Circle. The dazzling interplay, around an almost nursery-rhyme-ish melody, is a reminder of Corea’s formidable skills during this time. The dense playing is intricate, layered, locked-in, and (once the theme is stated) exceptionally conversational. As for what’s being said, we leave that to the listener.

“Comp 6I” showcases the wonderful quartet that’s also on New York Fall 1974, and elsewhere on the Arista set. It’s a straight-up barn-burner, and offered in as trad a structure as you’re going to get, with solos from each member of the band in turn. Braxton in particular really rips; Wheeler also rises to the occasion to put his own stamp on the material. Hard to fathom the “anti-jazz” charges leveled Braxton at various times given this, but we welcome your thoughts on how this goes down.

Small print: Please note that we have agreed to pass the email addresses of contest entrants on to the folks at Mosaic, for mailing list purposes. If you would prefer we not share your email address, just highlight this fact in your contest entry email, and we will keep it to ourselves.