i'd never heard of her until sometime this year when i heard the New Thing! comp on souljazz. the song on there completely blew me away. did she really record most of her stuff in the 80s? are any of her albums very similar to that track on New Thing! ("Have mercy upon us")? droney, modal, gospely, chanty with organ? i picked up "The Circle of Time" and it's cool, but i was looking for a something a bit different. only one track on there really reminds me of that song. most of it is either a bit free or a bit trad. i was looking for something a bit more like Alice Coltrane's album "Eternity". i want way more organ
― jaxon (jaxon), Thursday, 15 December 2005 04:33 (twenty years ago)
well crap. after a bit of googling, just found out she played piano on Maurice McIntyre's "humility in light of creator", one of my all time fave albums. word
― jaxon (jaxon), Thursday, 15 December 2005 04:34 (twenty years ago)
and a shit ton of Bill Laswell releases, uh....
― jaxon (jaxon), Thursday, 15 December 2005 04:36 (twenty years ago)
she's a huge session player who's played with pretty much everyone
check out her "Salutes Bessie Smith" album, the last track on there "African Blues" is exactly "droney, modal, gospely, chanty"
― H (Heruy), Thursday, 15 December 2005 09:53 (twenty years ago)
She toured with David Murray after he released "Shakill's Warrior" (Don Pullen plays on the album), and was fantastic. Also played in Lester Bowie's New York Organ Quintet, who were great live and pretty drab recorded. I remember sampling some of her solo albums in the record store a long time ago and thinking they sounded awful, but who knows.
― These Robust Cookies (Robust Cookies), Thursday, 15 December 2005 20:20 (twenty years ago)
nine months pass...
FINALLY got a copy of "Song for Mother E". man, it's been almost a year. sniped on ebay a few times and finally found it in a store i hardly go in anymore.
some other other albums i've picked up in the meanwhile:
"Amina (88)" - kind poppy. what you'd expect of a modern gospel or blues recording. vocals on almost every song. nothing too avant. the jazz songs are a bit upbeat and happy. the best songs on the album are "Arms" & "B.I.", slow emotional numbers. Overall, not unlistenable in the least, but not my favorite album of hers.
listening back to "The Circle of Time (84)" it sounds way better to me than when i first got it. it's less poppy and produced than "Amina". very jazzy. the piano has a keith jarrett sorta tone to it (this is the 80s), but she plays like lonnie liston smith. very modal open chords & lots of long runs. the songs are really nice.
"Salutes Bessie Smith (80)" - it is what you'd expect out of it. a bluesy, song based album. the first side of the record is smith songs and the second side is hers. as H says upthread the last song - the 14minute "African Blues" - is pretty amazing.
"Jumping in the Sugar Bowl (84)" - a close second for favorite album of hers. the title track is this crazy, looping, angular song based on a game she used to play as a kid. the other songs are mellow and emotional. the jazzy songs are upbeat, but funky and not too corny. and the last song, "Cameloupe," is the closest i've heard to "Have Mercy Upon Us". a slow, dirge like droney, organ number.
"Song For Mother E (78)" - completely out of it's time and place. sounds like it shoulda come out five to ten years earlier on impulse or flying dutchman. it's totally spiritual and epic and there are sleighbells all over the thing. there are as many organ songs as there are piano songs and they're all amazing.
― jaxon (jaxon), Friday, 13 October 2006 20:42 (nineteen years ago)
she's on also on the inside cover of the second Charlie Haden Liberation Music Orchestra on ECM (with her eyes closed) but not credited on the album?
― jaxon (jaxon), Friday, 13 October 2006 20:45 (nineteen years ago)