Marion Brown - Reference: Marion Brown Capricorn Moon Why Not? & With Burton Greene Quartet - Import 2 CD

Credits:

Marion Brown

Description:

The rhythm section led by Rashid Ali and Reggie Johnson (with former Sun Ra bandmate Ronnie Boykins adding depth to the textural flow exclusively on “Capricorn Moon”) lays a solid foundation, complemented by Alan Shorter’s piercing trumpet and supported by Benny Maupin’s tight, single-note phrasing. The fact that Brown appeared as a sideman on pianist Burton Green’s own, largely overlooked ESP album (recorded just one month later) clearly illustrates how fluid and open to negotiation musical activities were within this nascent community. Although this quartet performed intermittently with Rashid Ali on drums, Ali was unable to participate in this recording because he was working with John Coltrane at the time. Balanced by Green’s playful clusters of dissonance and melodic developments within the piano, this music affords Brown a wide range of interpretive possibilities. It ranges from the sorrowful symphonic poem “Ballad II” to the fierce rebellion of “Taking It Out of the Ground,” in which Brown’s alto saxophone joins forces with Frank Smith’s unstable tenor saxophone to create a knife-edge tension. Brown’s second ESP album, *Why Not*, suggests a transitional phase in his conceptual evolution. It is a shift toward moods that evoke or reveal emotions and programmatic details, ultimately leading to the Southern-set trilogy—*Afternoon of a Georgia Fone*, *Geechi Recollections*, and *Sweet Earth Flying*—that was highly acclaimed in the 1970s. Although the four tracks on *WhyNot* are distinct, they portray Brown as a storyteller, weaving references and allusions to the past into the characters and plot. For example, while Stanley Cowell’s extended piano rhapsody and Brown’s crisp alto add variety to the track, the theme of “La Sorella” is borrowed from the song of the same name composed by the French composer Charles Borel-Claire in 1905, which was originally arranged from a Brazilian folk dance. “Fortunato” is an eloquent and poignant ballad in the traditional style, but one might also speculate that the title refers to the ill-fated victim of the same name who appears in Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Cask of Amontillado.” (Excerpt from the liner notes) ●Tracks 1–4 Marion Brown, alto saxophone Alan Shorter, trumpet Bennie Maupin, tenor saxophone, track 3 Reggie Johnson, double bass Ronnie Boykins, double bass, track 1 Rashied Ali, drums & percussion ●DISC 1, 4, 5 & DISC 2, 1–3 Burton Greene Quartet Marion Brown, alto saxophone Frank Smith, tenor saxophone, track 3 of 2506-2 Burton Greene, piano, percussion Henry Grimes, double bass Dave Grant, drums, track 5 on 2506-1 & track 2 of 2506-2 Tom Price on drums, tracks 1 and 3 on 2506-2 Recorded in New York City, November 1965 ●DISC 2, 4–7 Marion Brown on alto saxophone Stanley Cowell on piano Norris "Sirone" Jones on double bass Rashied Ali on drums

Tracklisting:

1.Capricorn Moon
2.27 Cooper Square
3.Exhibition
4.Mephistopheles
5.Cluster Quartet
1.Ballade II
2.Bloom In The Commune
3.Taking It Out Of The Ground
4.La Sorella
5.Fortunato
6.Why Not?
7.Homecoming