Strange Meeting (1987)
Coiled And Ready To Strike – Live On The BBC (1987)
Bill Frisell, Melvin Gibbs & Ronald Shannon Jackson Communicate
RE-UPPED This was a strange meeting. A one-time gathering of greats, guitarist Bill Frisell, bassist Melvin Gibbs and drumming legend Ronald Shannon Jackson. You would think with these guys (and that band name) that there might be some intense jazz/funk head-butting going on here, but the largely improvisational trio made a point of downplaying the obvious, offering up atmospheric, tonal coloring in place of thoughtless frenzied mania . To be honest, expectations may have undermined PT’s impact. Gibbs’ Defunkt resume and Shannon Jackson’s balls-out freeform outfit, Last Exit, were still fresh in people’s minds, while Frisell’s avant garde chops were about to get a sturdy workout in John Zorn’s Naked City. How Power Tools shoehorned Frisell’s languid, almost psychedelic musings into Jackson’s tough to contain propulsion is a study in restraint. Though, they do get dirty, as the controlled freak-out in the middle of the 9 minute live opener, “Blame & Shame,” illustrates (below). Coiled And Ready To Strike is a high quality, unreleased live recording that pulsates with an energy that wasn’t quite captured on the studio album, even though the work is similarly exploratory. The bar is raised in front of a live audience, though, and Jackson & Gibbs drive the trio to even greater heights of tension. Together, both recordings are a snapshot of an under-appreciated experiment that wouldn’t last. I’ve read that Miles Davis guitarist Pete Cosey continued the journey, replacing Frisell, but have never heard any of that configuration’s work.
Coiled And Ready To Strike – Live On The BBC
Blame & Shame (9:33)
Strange Meeting (5:48)
Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing (5:35)
A Song Is Not Enough (8:59)
Untitled (15:32)
Unscientific Americans (16:25)
Howard Beach Memories (8:40)
Strange Meeting
Strange Meeting (5:13)
Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing (3:37)
Wadmalaw Island (5:07)
Unscientific Americans (3:01)
Howard Beach Memories (5:39)
When We Go (4:56)
The President’s Nap (3:55)
A Song Is Not Enough (3:34)
Blame & Shame (5:41)
Unchained Melody (5:22)
10 Comments
Melvin Gibbs is a very underrated musician. From this kind of stuff to the (Henry) Rollins Band and beyond, etc. The Arto Lindsay trio album (Aggregates…) on Knitting Factory has some nice bass playing from him on it.
I saw the Pete Cosey lineup at the Knitting Factory back in '89 or so (was actually a dual guitar lineup, with MBASE guitarist David Gilmore on midi-guitar, I remember him playing sampled percussion sounds). In fact I think someone in our entourage recorded it on a Marantz portable, though I don't have a copy. We showed up early at the KF box office to get tickets, and there was some bag lady hanging out there wearing a weird hooded silver jumpsuit. . . she turned around and we realized it was Pete Cosey!
Funny. Thanks.
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Find them both HERE
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wonderful stuff! thank you!
and lmao at the bag lady story!
chgoray
Thanks Willard!
For whatever reason, I never saw these…Thanks!
There’s a lot of stuff hidden in the closet. Thanks for stoppin’ by.
Aw man, these puppies are gone! May I respectfully request a re-upload?
Thanks!
New links up, thanks.
Don’t know what to expect. Thanks,