The Group - Live [NoBusiness]

The Group:
Ahmed Abdullah - trumpet and flugelhorn
Marion Brown - alto saxophone
Billy Bang - violin
Sirone - bass
Fred Hopkins - bass
Andrew Cyrille - drums

NoBusiness Records 2012
Recorded in 1986

The Group - "Live" is yet another volume in the No Business unnamed "vault" series , making available dug up archive recordings that document some of the lost chapters in free-jazz history (Billy Bang's Survival Unit, William Hooker & Thomas Chapin duo and Thomas Borgmann Trio have already appeared on the blog).

It takes tjust a quick look at the names' list to know that this a heavyweight band. The Group did never got a chance to document their music in a studio which makes this release a true digger's treasure.

Jazz Alchemist radio for All Saints day with Billy Bang, Andrzej Przybielski, Bob Marley and Kurt Cobain

Andrzej Przybielski

Tomorrow, Monday 8 pm CET. on www.radiofrycz.pl I'll wait for you with another special set of music. On the occasion of All Saints day we'll celebrate the memory of the late Andrzej 'Major' Przybielski (died 09.02 this year) and Billy Bang (died 11.04). A, fortunately, short list which will allow us also to join the more mainstream celebrations of 20th anniversary of Nirvana's "Nevermind" release and 30th anniversary of Bob Marley's death with a couple of surprising jazz covers.

Hope you'll enjoy it. Unfortunately the program won't be live as the studio is closed. However I should be on-line on facebook during the airing available for a chat.

The playlist will appear below during the program, as will the mixcloud player for those willing to listen again or unable to follow the program live.

Billy Bang

1. Andrzej Przybielski & Oles brothers - Epitafium dla Jacka (from "De Profundis")
2. Brad Mehldau - Lithium
3. Sex Mob - About a Girl
4. The Cool Runnings Orchestra - Is This Love (from "Tribute to Marley")
5. Andrzej Przybielski, Jacek Mazurkiewicz, Paweł Osicki - Rotacje II.1
6. The Bad Plus - Smells Like Teen Spirit
7. Pink Freud - Come As You Are
8. Billy Bang Survival Ensemble - Nobody Hear The Music The Same Way (from "Black Man's Blues / New York Collage")
9. Lester Bowie Brass Fantasy - One Love
10. The Cool Runnings Orchestra - Redemption Song (see the link above)
11. Andrzej Przybielski, Jacek Mazurkiewicz, Paweł Osicki - Rotacje II.3 (Guru)
12. The Light (Waclaw Zimpel / Wojtek Traczyk / Robert Rasz) - Where Did You Sleep Last Night
13. The Cool Runnings Orchestra - Is This Love (unplugged) (see the link above)
14. Billy Bang Survival Ensemble - Black Man Blues (see the link above)
15. Andrzej Przybielski & Oleś brothers - Skoki

Jazz Alchemist for All Saints day with Billy Bang, Andrzej Przybielski, Bob Marley and Kurt Cobain by Jazzowy Alchemik on Mixcloud

Billy Bang's Survival Ensemble - Black Man's Blues / New York Collage [NoBusiness]

Black Man's Blues:

Billy Bang - violin, poetry, bells, shaker, percussion

Bilal Abdur Rahman - tenor and soprano sax, bull horn, percussion

William Parker - bass

Rashid Bakr - drums

Recorded 29th May 1977 at a Day in Solidarity with Soweto. Released for the first time.

New York Collage:

all of the above and

Henry Warner - alto sax, bells, shaker, percussion

Khuwana Fuller - conga

Recorded at Columbia University Radio WKCR 89.9FM at 16th May 1978. Released originally on Anima Records in 1978.

A double treat from NoBusiness Records! An uncovered treasure that puts some light on the few rather obscure chapters of  the loft jazz era, combining new material and a re-issue of a lost gem of the New York avantgarde jazz scene in what would, unfortunately, become a post-mortem tribute to Billy Bang who died on April 11 this year, stripped of the chance to see this release being finished.

As much as these 2 cds (or lps)' serve as a tribute and an important document of the freejazz history, the music itself, as played originally in 1977 and 1978, transcended the art reality, was a gesture of a social protest, a political demonstration, an ideology manifest - to start with the very name of the band - Survival.