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A Woman’s Guide to the Saxophone Erotics of Jimmy Lyons
27 Sep2006
OTHER AFTERNOONS
PREMONITIONS
Jimmy Lyons
Other Afternoons
BYG/Actuel : 1970
JL, alto sax; Lester Bowie, trumpet; Alan Silva, bass; Andrew Cyrille, drums.
Other Afternoons is an album we’ve been trying to get our hands on for ages. It’s Jimmy Lyons’s first outing as a leader, an all-star session that’s one of the great debuts in jazz as well as a gem in the storied BYG/Actuel catalog. It was cut in August 1969 while The Cecil Taylor Unit was in Europe for non-Actuel fetival performances. With a generous Lyons boxset and a flurry of BYG reissues on CD a few years back, it’s mystifying why this album remains so scarce.
Fortunately our friend Cherise offered to share her copy with us – on the condition she could write a few words about her love of Jimmy Lyons. So without further ado…
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Most folks assume when you’re talking about out sounds that you mean dudes. Not just on the bandstand (which, believe me, is bad enough) but in the audience as well. Hey, some females dig this music too! I used to dismiss Free Jazz because it wasn’t sexy. I mean, when’s the last time you put on some free jazz to get sexed up and busy fucking? It practically feels like heresy to even write “free jazz” and “fucking” in the same sentence. Why is that? Well, Jimmy Lyons showed me Free Jazz can be erotic and cutting edge Black Art Music doesn’t have to skimp on big time sensuality.
The revelation came when a friend played Nefertiti by Cecil Taylor. I was immediately overwhelmed by the piano. I mean when Cecil’s in the room at first you don’t notice nobody but Cecil, right? But then I started to tune in to Jimmy’s sax. He was playing gentle melodies, caressing the noise around him. He was like a patient lover, drawing you out but also not afraid to get freaky, to keep things fresh.Â
Other Afternoons contains my absolute favorite Lyons moments. You’ve got Jimmy going toe-to-toe with madcap Lester Bowie at some wiggy cocktail party. Lester’s like cracking jokes the whole time, some real dirty ones at that, and occasionally getting so silly that he starts blowing bubbles in his drink. Jimmy’s not above that but he’s staying smart, occasionally acting the foil and sometimes correcting Lester’s goofs. Just listen to the title track. His playing is elegant and also weird, just perfect.
Everybody’s got their thing on this album. People say their piece and you can hear them say it. Everybody’s speaking at once but everybody’s listening too. Sometimes the tunes like “Premonitions” get more traditional but nodoby’s got time for stock phrases or lazy cliches. That song never flags, always keeps on moving, a crazy high-wire act that’s another form of seduction. And as always, Jimmy delivers.
- In: Jimmy Lyons
13 Responses to A Woman’s Guide to the Saxophone Erotics of Jimmy Lyons
Sam Byrd
September 28th, 2006 at 12:21 pm
This is an amazing post on a number of levels, not the least of which is the opportunity to read “free jazz” and “fucking” in the same sentence, written by a woman! I love “Other Afternoons”, and while I have often thought of Lyons’ playing as sensuous and romantic, I’ve never thought of it in sexual terms before, I have to admit. But I’m getting there….
You often hear people talk about Dolphy as the missing link between Bird and free jazz… some would say Ornette…far fewer people mention Jimmy Lyons, but for me, he’s the true spiritual heir of Bird’s legacy. “Other Afternoons” is especially wonderful because of the one-time pairing of Lyons and Lester Bowie, but overall I love Lyons’ work with Cecil even more, particularly the ’80s quartet with Parker and Bakr. I also love two other Lyons-led group albums, “Wee Sneezawee” and “Give It Up.” But “Other Afternoons” is far rarer, and I’m glad to see y’all feature it. Keep up the good work!
mwanji
September 28th, 2006 at 2:03 pm
“It practically feels like heresy to even write â??free jazzâ? and â??fuckingâ? in the same sentence.”
What about Gary Giddins’s Cecil epiphany, recounted on this very blog?
I was just listening to Taylor’s “The Eighth” (with the Lyons, Parker and Bakr quartet Sam Byrd mentions) for the first time yesterday. Generally awesome, though I wasn’t really taken with Bakr’s backdrop-of-cymbals playing during the denser passages.
Richard
September 28th, 2006 at 9:34 pm
Excellent. I have that Lyons box, but I got it right before my exhaustion with jazz, so I ended up not giving it much of a listen. This made me pull it out, and it’s been a delightful night of music. Thanks!
peter breslin
September 29th, 2006 at 11:32 am
If only Cecil’s big band at Lush Life back in the 80′s had been recorded…there was one night when Lester Bowie sat in. I still remember a section with extensive bouyant interaction between Lyons and Bowie and the wonderful trombonist (could it have been Craig Harris?).
Andrew Cyrille was my drum teacher for a good while in the late ’80s…he is an amazing teacher, human being and artist. He had me reading down Basie, Duke, Miles and Gillespie charts and seriously kicked my ass.
Near the end of his life I saw Lyons with CT, coincidentally I ended up sitting between Karen Borca and Raphe Malik and we all had a great time. I was in awe, the way many would feel meeting Jack Nicholson or something. Starstruck by the obscure…..
Silva put out one of the strangest of the larger group BYG recordings: From the Luna Surface. I can trip with that record on without ingesting a thing.
peter
Chris
October 1st, 2006 at 7:19 am
Gotta love it! Not too familiar with Lyon’s solo work, but the I’m in the mood for some “free jazz fucking” now.
Jon Turney
October 1st, 2006 at 1:23 pm
Won’t say this again, but this (c.f. Sam Rivers) also prompted a listen to some old vinyl. Thanks for the nudge. Had pretty much forgotten this, and didn’t know it had evaded reissue on CD. Amazing stuff: esp. from Cyrille.
Anybody in London happens to read and desperately wants to listen to the other half of the LP, I’m sure we can come to some arrangement…
peter breslin
October 1st, 2006 at 1:27 pm
Side note: Luna Surface is a record I’ve owned for at least 25 years, but without the jacket, therefore without any knowledge of personnel, which is nigh impossible to figure from the recording. We live in a Golden Age of accessible formerly obscure info, however. The Alan Silva discography reveals the killer lineup on one of the strangest records ever made (full name of band: The Alan Silva Celestial Communication Orchestra):
Bernard Vitet-tp,frh Grachan Moncur III-tb Archie Shepp-ss Anthony Braxton-ss,as Kenneth Terroade-ts Dave Burrell-p Alan Silva-vln Leroy Jenkins-vln,vla Beb Guerin-b Malachi Favors-b Claude Delcloo-d
3 of those interstellar explorers I have never heard of…..
peter breslin
godoggo
October 1st, 2006 at 5:01 pm
I only have Wee Sneezawee, but this is way better, although I really like the cover of Wee Sneezawee, ’cause it looks like he’s sneezing. Didn’t he also do an album of duets with Cyrille? I seem to have heard that was good.
taran singh
October 28th, 2006 at 8:39 pm
wow! great, i been thinking of organising a free jazz, free love festival. and this post comes as a boost for the same.
http://www.tfjh.blogspot.com
taran singh
October 28th, 2006 at 8:43 pm
and yeah, i love jimmy lyons. anybody heard of marco eneidi? check him out. marco carries jimmy lyons’ sensuality, and more.
David Jeffrey
November 10th, 2006 at 8:06 pm
Cherise, that’s an astute review. So often, the essence of “Free Jazz” ends up lost on recorded media, and to me, insists on participation right there for The Moment. However, this stellar recording retains so much texture and physicality — but your words do it more justice! It was said that Johnny Hodges could undress a woman with his tone. Well, perhaps Jimmy had other ideas and dispensed with the foreplay altogther…When a friend turned me onto this record, I kept exclaiming, “That’s The Sound!” I had been smitten by John Gilmore’s Tenor for years, convinced there was nothing more sublime. I’d always kept a special place for the Bird, Jackie, Dolphy, Simmons alto. Even Anthony Ortega and Braxton. Konitz. But JIMMY. Wow. I coudn’t get over That Tone. The meta-lyrical, free, phrasing. The focus and balance of breath and fire. The texture and weight. What a Language! And as you said, the Sensuality.
The man was a Saint.
And Taran: Marco studied with Jimmy and is still with us , perhaps in Austria now. Thanks for the props. Marco Eneidi is a living legend .
joe
January 9th, 2007 at 12:10 pm
damn!
I missed this somehow the first time around.
Any chance of a repost?
Thanks for all the great music!
ledrew
January 9th, 2007 at 12:20 pm
See here for at least half:
http://destination-out.com/?p=66
Thanks for coming by!