Although he never rose to star status, alto saxophonist, composer, and improvisor Marion Brown is a crucial figure in the history of free jazz, playing on a few records by those bigger names, leading a bunch of energetic bands, and blazing trails into the transitional 1970s and beyond. The new limited edition CD and digital release Live in Europe 1968 & 1972 deepens the riches of an already considerable discography as it derives from two key periods in Brown’s musical development. The set is out now through the discerning and persevering Lithuanian label NoBusiness Records.
Lots of folks with knowledge of the jazz avant-garde are hip to Marion Brown through his earliest recordings. Those would be Archie Shepp’s Fire Music and John Coltrane’s Ascension, with both vastly important albums dating from 1965 and released by the Impulse label. As a groundbreaking large band experiment, Ascension is likely the better-known of the two recordings today, but Fire Music is more indicative of the path Brown would follow on his own albums.
His debut as a leader was The Marion Brown Quartet, released by ESP-Disk in 1966 with Alan Shorter (Wayne’s bro) on trumpet for three tracks, Bennie Maupin on tenor sax on the track where Shorter lays out, Reggie Johnson on bass except for one track where Sun Ra associate Ronnie Boykins steps in, and Rashied Ali on drums. It’s a solid session that established Brown’s ability to strike a sweet equilibrium between compositional potency and high-energy improv.
Brown next recorded Juba-Lee for the Fontana label, a 1966 date issued the following year, retaining Maupin, Shorter, and Johnson and adding trombonist Grachan Moncur III, pianist Dave Burrell, and drummer Beaver Harris. The larger group expands what came before and sets the table for Three for Shepp, a quintet date for Impulse, retaining Moncur III, Burrell, and Harris, and adding bassist Norris Jones (aka Sirone). For three tracks, Bobby Kapp subs on drums, and for two, Stanley Cowell steps in on piano.
Three for Shepp and Why Not?, a second release for ESP-Disk cut in 1966 but not issued until ’68, finds Brown really hitting his stride. For the latter, the band contracts to a quartet of Brown, Cowell, Sirone, and Ali. Also in 1966, Brown played on pianist Burton Greene’s debut for ESP-Disk. The Burton Greene Quartet is a worthwhile date that documented Brown tangling with the great bassist Henry Grimes and the obscure saxophonist Frank Smith.
From here, Brown followed the lead of many other jazz players during this era, bailing on the distressing environs of the perpetually tumultuous USA for the less contentious surroundings of Europe. The first recorded evidence of this sojourn is Porto Novo, cut in 1967 in the Netherlands for Polydor (later Arista Freedom and currently ORG Music) with bassist Maarten Altena and drummer Han Bennink.
Porto Novo is an absolute smoker of a record and a very nice prelude to the albums that are most closely related to the first three tracks on Live in Europe 1968 & 1972. They are Gesprächsfetzen, a live recording from 1968; Le Temps Fou, a studio date from ’68 that provided the soundtrack to the film Un Été Sauvage by Marcel Camus (director of Black Orpheus); and In Sommerhausen, a live set from ’69.
Both of the above live LPs were released by the Calig label, while Le Temps Fou was issued by Polydor. The commonalities in personnel between this spate of activity and Live in Europe 1968 & 1972 are vibraphonist Gunter Hampel, bassist Barre Phillips, and drummer Steve McCall. Of the three tracks from ’68 on the new Live in Europe set, two compositions, “Current Events” and “61 to Erie Basin,” are Brown’s. Sandwiched between is “Epiphanie,” a piece by Hampel.
The main point of assurance with Live in Europe is that the audio is solid (not perfect, but no dropouts and everybody can be heard), because the band is firing on all cylinders, loose but sharp and burning without losing the melodic aspects that Brown retained throughout his creative trajectory.
Moving into the next decade, Brown cut the Jean Toomer-inspired Afternoon of a Georgia Faun in 1970 for ECM with a stellar band that features Maupin, multi-horn man Anthony Braxton, pianist Chick Corea, vocalists Jeanne Lee and Gayle Palmore, bassist Jack Gregg, and a slew of percussionists, including Andrew Cyrille.
The entire lineup of Afternoon of a Georgia Faun, including Brown, is credited with percussion, which is important to note as the pair of 1972 recordings that complete Live in Europe were made by the duo of Brown and McCall. Brown adds percussion during these performances to fine effect, but there’ll be no mistaking these live cuts with their studio inspirations.
Arguably Brown’s best-known release, Georgia Faun consists of two sidelong tracks, “Djinji’s Corner” and the title cut. They are sequenced in reverse order on Live in Europe, assumedly because that’s how they were played on that day in 1972. That Faun gets performed in its entirety on Live in Europe will be the main attraction for many, but the whole disc is a major addition to an already magnificent discography.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
A-
