Having emerged as part of New York City’s avant-garde spiritual jazz loft scene of the 1970s, saxophonist and flautist Alan Braufman is still active, having cut an LP in 2020 and with another on the way. Alongside these fresh excursions sits a handful of choice reissues and archival releases, with the latest, Live in New York City, February 9, 1975 available April 8 as a 3LP/ 2CD/ digital set on the Valley of Search label. Documenting a recently unearthed 94-minute concert originally broadcast over radio shortly after Braufman’s first album was recorded but before its release, it features an inspired band that includes bassist William Parker and multi-instrumentalist Cooper-Moore.
In late June of 2018, the Valley of Search label reissued the Valley of Search LP, Alan Braufman’s debut, originally put in the racks by the India Navigation imprint in 1975 with a lineup of Braufman on sax, Cooper-Moore (then known as Gene Ashton) on piano, dulcimer, and recitation, Cecil McBee on bass, David Lee on drums, and Ralph Williams on percussion.
The return to widespread availability of Braufman’s debut was a sweet and surprising turn of events, throwing a vivid spotlight on an exceptional improvising unit and with an underheard contributor to the ’70s NYC avant-garde experience as the organizational catalyst. Just as unexpected and equally as cool was the arrival of Live at WKCR May 22, 1972 in 2019, offering nearly 18 minutes of scorch and rumble from Braufman on sax and Cooper-Moore on piano on a one-sided LP in a limited edition of 250 (with copies still available via Bandcamp).
Spread across five sides of vinyl, Live in New York City, February 9, 1975 is a much more expansive affair, recorded in a church (per Valley of Search’s online trailer) that apparently doubled as radio station WBAI’s Free Music Store, with host Susan Mannheimer announcing two sets (she also contributes liner notes to the release) by Braufman on sax and flute, Cooper-Moore on piano, the ashimba (a self-built 11-note xylophone made from discarded wood) and recitation, William Parker on bass, John Clark on French horn, Jim Schapperoew on drums, and Ralph Williams on percussion.
94 minutes might lead some to assume that Live in New York City is sprawling to the borderline of directionless, but while time consuming, that’s not an accurate assessment, as each of the group’s sets has a different focus. The first set is devoted almost entirely to compositions heard on his debut (again, not yet released at the time but explicitly mentioned by Mannheimer in her announcements prior to set two as coming soon), and the second set offers a series of pieces, that with one exception, haven’t been recorded elsewhere.
The first set is a terrific dive into Valley of Search’s elevated post-Coltrane-Sanders gush, but even as Cooper-Moore and Williams return from the sessions for the LP (along with Braufman, natch), this is a very different band, documenting one of Parker’s earliest appearances in his first time playing with Cooper-Moore (the pair having collaborated extensively since).
The addition of John Clark is the most significant departure from the album, which featured Braufman as the sole horn, but also standing out is Cooper-Moore’s playing of the ashimba (which reminds me just a bit of the African mbira); he gets a solo spot in set one and extended space alone at the start of set two, kicking off a run of six pieces for the group that include extensive fluting by Braufman.
Clark gets room to shine in set two and particularly during “Bright Moments,” which sports a vaguely Ayler-like melodic bent, while “O Nosso Amor” (borrowed from the soundtrack to Black Orpheus) works up an frenzied groove. “Sunrise,” a song recorded on Braufman’s 2020 LP The Fire Still Burns (and subsequently remixed by Angel Bat David) closes set two in wonderfully meditative fashion, reinforcing Braufman as a composer of considerable sensitivity and Live in New York City, February 9, 1975 as a rediscovered gem of jazz as freedom.
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