Big Sky

CONVERGENCE
FOR A
AMM III
It had been an ordinary enough day in Pueblo, Colorado
Japo/ECM : 1980

Keith Rowe, guitar and radio; Eddie Prévost, percussion.

Fear of AMM:Â
This post is for anyone who’s been spooked by AMM’s somewhat daunting reputation as Total Free Improvisers. For anyone who hasn’t been sure where to start in their complex and shifting discography. For anyone who’s shied away from checking them out because many folks said they weren’t even “jazz” anyhow.Â

Jazz Satellite:
We’ll leave the “jazz or not” issue to those who care about drawing such lines in the sand. But along with the influence of avant giants such as Cage and Stockhausen, it’s clear the group was also pulling from the jazz traditions of improv. From the original line-up, Rowe, tenor saxophonist Lou Gare, and bassist Lawrence Sheaff all played in Mike Westbrook‘s big band. Eddie Prévost worked with Gare exploring the hard bop of Max Roach and Sonny Rollins. And while AMM catapulted their music beyond the usual limits of even free jazz, they also influenced a generation of key players like Evan Parker.

Free Fusion:
So there’s the avant cred, but what about the funk? The track “Convergence” was scheduled to appear on the near-mythical Jazz Satellites 2 compilation – linking it with other far-flung jazz fusion tracks. Most people don’t even remotely associate AMM with fusion, but listen to the track! There’s an impressive forward momentum, a lurching sort of groove that’s set off against Rowe’s serrated guitar lines. The contorted notes and spasmic tom-tom bursts are part post-punk, part texture drone, part jazzy funk. In it’s oblique way, this is totally rollicking. And fun!

III is the Magic Number:
By the time they recorded this album for ECM subsidiary Japo, this was AMM’s third incarnation. The group has temporarily boiled down to a duo of Rowe and Prévost. The group would soon expand again (see The Wire 271, Sept. 2006 for an excellent AMM Primer that catalogs the group’s many personnel changes), but in many ways De La Soul was right: Three is the Magic Number. This album isn’t the group’s most radical or mind-expanding release, but it provides a welcoming entry point for anyone who wants to get a tangy taste of the AMM aesthetic. The tunes are mostly short, sharp, and spiky — throwing off sparks that will be familiar to jazz and rock fans while adding something new to mix. Â

Pueblo, Colorado:
The album wasn’t recorded in Pueblo, Colorado — the title comes from a snippet of found sound dialed up on the radio — but we like to image it was. We picture Prévost and Rowe in some spacious modern studio located in the middle of a sea of sand and scrub brush. The sun beats down and there’s a stultifying 110-degree heat that sends even lizards scampering for shelter under rocks. The duo hunkers down in the cool, air-conditioned shadows of the studio, futzing around with the state-of-the-art equipment, casually laying down tracks. They take long breaks and stare out the glass walls of the studio commissary until hazy shapes begin to appear along the edges of the desert. It’s early December. The end of the 1970s. Sometimes it feels like they can see the entire next decade stretching out before them. It looks like a wasteland.

An Ordinary Enough Day:
“For A” perfectly conjures that feeling of a long road trip across the Southwest. With its tumbling percussion and scouring guitar tones, it has a palpable sense of space and unforced momentum. You can almost feel the Big Sky above you. There’s a wonderful moment where Rowe dials in the radio, a la John Cage, and some loungey exotica floods the airwaves and temporarily hijacks the piece. It’s a terrific chance moment that enhances the piece rather than sidetracking it, showing how AMM’s emphasis on process (no overdubs!) bears fruit in the results as well. The song and the road trip continue. The duo picks up the groove and marches onward, keeping an eye peeled for more scenic detours. As for the final destination? You’ll only know when you get there.Â

MÂ M M M M M M

Steve Lake’s liner notes for the CD reissue of this album are an excellent source of background information on the session, with a potted history of AMM, to boot. These notes are housed at the internet home of Prévost’s Matchless Recordings, wherein you can purchase a copy of said CD. (Also available at Euro-friendly ECM.)

The Euro Free Improvisation Pages offer, as usual, a wealth of information and links, including another AMM recap, from Prévost himself.

Your Rowe-related questions will be answered, in time, by Mr. Olewnick.