The Found Tapes Live In Los Angeles is a four album or 3 cd box set taken from 3 shows Phil and his quartet of Billy Childs, Ralph Penland and Tony Dumas played in the period from December 1978 to July 1981. The bulk of the box set is made up of the compete recordings from the Maiden Voyage on July 19th 1981, the box set completed by one tune from the Sound Room in December 1978 and two tunes from Two Dollar Bills in 1980.
The Found Tapes opens with the 16 minute long He The One We All Knew a slowly evolving improvised free jazz piece, with lots of shakers, tambourines, bird callers and keyboards, as well of course as Phil's Trombone, that joins this gently building opening tune about three minutes in. At about the 6-minute mark they start to really swing, the cymbals marking the time for all the cosmic tones, to play around, above or below the melody, drawing you deeper in to Phil's world, as the piano fills build and build toward an eventual cosmic break, that leads into a drum solo that seems to marry a train rhythm to spectral fills.
Vibes From The Tribe is a hefty 20 minute piece that opens with the drums and keyboards jostling for supremacy, as the trombone slinks across the room, eventually bringing in a funky bassline with some called instructions, as the laid back fluid sounds envelop you, in some quite Sun Ra style keyboard gymnastics, that accentuate what Phil's trombone is doing, as it leads us on a merry dance. It increases in pace and intensity with florid piano runs, with ever more complicated drum patterns, taking them all out to Saturn, before allowing the Bass to walk everything back to a more manageable place, slowly getting to be almost imperceptibly quiet, in need of the keys to wake things back up, ready to vibe to several different dimensions on the outskirts of those China Gates.
Of Times Gone By feels like it has a burst of energy kicking it into gear, as a silky trombone line weaves around what the keyboards are doing, set against the expansive percussion helping them to reflect on the early days of free Jazz, marrying it into the hard bop tradition in places, but never forgetting the spectral influence of Sun Ra.
Then comes a version of Bye Bye Blackbird that opens with Phil playing the tune reasonably straight, almost straight enough to reduce me to tears, as this tune often does, due to how much my dad loved it, making us listen to it on almost every long drive we ever went on. Then they leap off the straight and narrow, allowing the band to take flight, for the highest branches of those Californian redwoods, as the cymbals take over, as the cascading almost main sound, for the piano to flutter between most amiably, until the bass solo gets going as it springs back into life when the trombone and drums come back in, they even return briefly to the main theme.
Saint Thomas opens with a more tribal vibe to the drums with the piano undertow for Phil's trombone to punch in and around a shuffling shimmer of tambourine, the imperious trombone solo flies over a familiar drum and bass riddim, before it gets totally low slung like they are trying to get the audience to all lie on the floor meditating on the wonders of St Thomas.
After a few words from Phil to sing the praises of his band, they swing into I Love You that's spry upbeat and falling head over heels in love with a goddess, who is sashaying across the dancefloor in front of them. This sinuous breakdown feels like the seduction is well under way, enticing that goddess towards them, how can she not fall for the appeal of that bassline, the gentle caresses of the keyboards, as she slowly falls into the waiting arms, the trombone comes back in to salute the embrace.
|
Love Dream opens like they are relaxing and chilling out, getting in the mood with a soft light seduction by descending cadences on the piano, a sinewy trombone part drawing the lovers ever closer together. In the central section the lovers have obviously intertwined as perfectly as the piano and drums have, as they seek that higher plain of love together, just before the bass comes in to be smoothly caressed and plucked, the lovers glowing in the candlelight before the massively climactic ending.
After the band intro they go into Just The Way You Are in a rather mellow almost loungecore way that's just missing a crooner to emote the lyrics, but of course this is instrumental.
The final tune they played at the Maiden Voyage is a version of One Night In Tunisia that from the get go gets playful with the tunes main theme, it has a more be-bop feel, as they go above and around the melody of this jazz standard, making sure that this version isn't some pat cocktail bar version, it has plenty of weight to it as they stretch out over 17 magical minutes.
The first of the bonus tunes is a shorter version of He The One We All Knew recorded at The Sound Room in December 1978 that opens with Phil's trombone fluttering against the cymbal work, as the piano joins them, the tune takes flight, as they get going. The piano runs magically as the tape appears to be a little stretched in places, against the super busy cymbals with minimal drums and super unobtrusive bass.
The action then moves to Two Dollar Bills in 1980 first for an alternate take on Bye Bye Blackbird that's more out there than the first version, this time it has more in common with the way John Coltrane re-invented My Favourite Things than any more traditional reading of a standard like this. Every once in a while during the 13 minute odyssey of this version they come close to the melody, before making sure they are behind the beat, or below the melody anything to keep the casual listener guessing as to what tune they are actually playing.
The second tune from Two Dollar Bills in 1980 is Birdlike that closes this boxset by paying tribute to Charlie Parker whose influence has been apparent through much of this set, this has a cool hard bop edge to it as Phil's Trombone flies into the stratosphere, as he re-works one of the tunes he regularly played with Freddie Hubbard the walking bass solo that heralds the return of Phil's trombone at the end of the song is exquisite.
Find out more at https://orgmusic.com/products/the-found-tapes-live-in-los-angeles?_pos=1&_sid=5cb676913&_ss=r https://linktr.ee/philranelin
|
