ANTHONY BRAXTON — Composition, Improvisation, Synthesis

Jazz music community with review and forums

4.05 | 2 ratings | 1 review

Boxset / Compilation · 2011

Filed under Avant-Garde Jazz
By ANTHONY BRAXTON

Tracklist

1 Composition No. 23B 8:20
2 Composition No. 70 10:01
3 Composition No. 106A 3:15
4 Composition No. 135 5:10
5 Improvisation (With Max Roach) 5:50
6 Composition No. 103 5:24
7 Trillium E Act 2 7:51
8 Composition No. 23N 5:48
9 Composition No. 185 7:25
10 Composition No. 219 + 221 + (Lang-Music) Part II 8:54
11 Composition No. 355 11:13

Line-up/Musicians

Accordion – Peter Cafarella (tracks: 2), Ted Reichman (tracks: 9)
Acoustic Bass, Bass Clarinet – Carl Testa (tracks: 11)
Alto Saxophone – Anthony Braxton (tracks: 2, 3, 5, 9, 11)
Alto Saxophone [F-saxophone] – Anthony Braxton (tracks: 2)
Baritone Saxophone, Bass Saxophone, Sopranino Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone, Contrabass Saxophone – Anthony Braxton (tracks: 11)
Bass – Dave Holland (tracks: 1), Joe Fonda (tracks: 9), Jonathan Zorn (tracks: 2), Mark Dresser (tracks: 8)
Bass Clarinet, Alto Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone – James Fei (tracks: 2)
Bassoon, Contrabassoon – David Novak (tracks: 2)
Clarinet [E-flat], Alto Saxophone [F Saxophone], Soprano Clarinet [B-flat Clarinet] – Anthony Braxton (tracks: 2)
Clarinet, Sopranino Saxophone [E-flat] – Anthony Braxton (tracks: 9)
Conductor – Anthony Braxton (tracks: 6), Chris Jonas (tracks: 10), Jackson Moore (2) (tracks: 10), James Fei (tracks: 10)
Contrabass Clarinet – Anthony Braxton (tracks: 2, 9, 11)
Cornet – Taylor Ho Bynum (tracks: 2, 6, 11)
Directed By [Blackboard Strategies] – Anthony Braxton (tracks: 10)
Drums – Barry Altschul (tracks: 1)
Drums, Percussion, Vibraphone – Aaron Siegel (tracks: 11)
Drums, Vibraphone, Glockenspiel, Marimba – Kevin Norton (tracks: 9)
Electronics, Conductor – David Rosenboom (tracks: 4)
Flugelhorn – Taylor Ho Bynum (tracks: 2, 11)
Flute – Anthony Braxton (tracks: 2, 9)
Guitar – Mary Halvorson (tracks: 11)
Orchestra – CalArts New Century Players (tracks: 4)
Percussion – Gerry Hemingway (tracks: 8), Kevin Norton (tracks: 2, 9), Max Roach (tracks: 5), William Winant (tracks: 4)
Piano – Marilyn Crispell (tracks: 8)
Reeds – Anthony Braxton (tracks: 1, 4, 8)
Trombone – George Lewis (tracks: 4)
Trombone [Tenor], Trombone [Alto] – Roland Dahinden (tracks: 9)
Trombone, Trumpet [Bass], Trumpet [Piccolo] – Taylor Ho Bynum (tracks: 11)
Trumpet – Forbes Graham (tracks: 6), John McDonough (tracks: 6), Kenny Wheeler (tracks: 1), Nate Wooley (tracks: 6), Nicole Rampersaud (tracks: 6), Sam Hoyt (tracks: 6), Tim Byrnes (tracks: 6)
Tuba – Jay Rozen (tracks: 11)
Violin – Jason Hwang (tracks: 9)
Violin, Electric Bass, Viola – Jessica Pavone (tracks: 11)

About this release

New Braxton House – NBH010

Track 1 recorded May 14, 1975 – Sendesaal Radio in Bremen, West Germany
Track 2 recorded May 01, 1998 – Washington, D.C.
Track 3 recorded June 02, 1985 – Planet in Brussels, Belgium
Track 4 recorded October 05, 1992 – County Museum of Art in Los Angeles, CA
Track 5 recorded June 26, 1989 – Teatro Romano, Verona Jazz Festival, Verona, Italy
Track 6 recorded September 23, 2007 – St. Mark's Church, New York, NY
Track 7 recorded March 18, 2010 – Brooklyn, NY
Track 8 recorded November 12, 1993 – The Knitting Factory, New York, NY
Track 9 recorded October 14, 1995 – AkBank Jazz Festival, Istanbul, Turkey
Track 10 recorded April 18, 1998 – Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT
Track 11 recorded May 30, 2008 – Pittsbugh, PA

Thanks to snobb for the addition

Buy ANTHONY BRAXTON - IMPROVISATION, SYNTHESIS COMPOSITION music

More places to buy jazz & ANTHONY BRAXTON music

Amazon.com — Jazz music new releases, best sellers on CD and vinyl

ANTHONY BRAXTON IMPROVISATION, SYNTHESIS COMPOSITION reviews

Specialists/collaborators reviews

Recently the Tri-Centric Foundation released 26 so called “bootleg” CDs of the work of avant-garde saxophonist and composer Anthony Braxton. Don’t be fooled by the word bootleg because most of these recordings are of very high quality and show Braxton working in a wide variety of mediums from large orchestras to solo works. The album being covered in this review, “Composition, Improvisation, Synthesis”, can be listened to in its entirety here at JMA on our Anthony Braxton page. If this review has been copied and pasted on another site, then you can hear this album at tricentricfoundation.org or on the Anthony Braxton page at jazzmusicarchives.com.

This CD contains a great collection of material that covers a wide variety of styles. The order of the cuts on here seems to be random with no particular attention to year of performance or style of music. Some might complain about this, but actually the constant variety helps keep this sometimes difficult music more interesting. Some of the music on here could become tedious if served up in larger quantities of sameness. Much of Braxton’s music sounds more like avant-garde concert hall music rather than “jazz” as we would usually think of it. There were critics, earlier in his career, who said he was not playing jazz, but listen to the first track on this CD and you can hear Braxton playing furious hard bop, pushing the tune to the limits with crazy wide interval leaps and rapid fire runs that had him sounding like Dolphy taken one step further.

Other interesting tracks on here include the second track where the instruments of the orchestra combine points of color to make a whole sheet of sound somewhat similar to a Jackson Pollock painting, and track five where its just Braxton on soprano and Max Roach on drums for a free jazz work out. Track seven sounds like an outtake from an opera with plain spoken words mixing with operatic vocals in a thick tapestry of sounds. On tracks eight and nine Braxton shows a humorous side with cartoonish music that sounds somewhat similar to “Out to Lunch”, only with musical figures that are even more petulant, childish and obsessive.

A big thanks to the Tri-Centric Foundation for all this great music is in order. “Composition, Improvisation, Synthesis” is much more than just avant-garde jazz, this CD should appeal to fans of avant-garde music in general as well as people who like “outsider” music. Anthony Braxton is one of the great talents of our time whose legacy will probably grow over the coming decades.