The polite thing to do with this recording is to note it, and pass on. Many people are doing just that; musicians are rather wearily saying that they have no comment, there is nothing by which to judge it. To get het up about it all is just a waste of time. If you don’t like it, go somewhere else, it’s not poisonous. The record wisely starts with John Coltrane; he at least is relatively conventional, within the wide bounds he has set himself. The important thing about him, the men who work with him, and also about Grachan Moncur and Hutcherson, is that they have proved their ability in the normal mainstream of contemporary jazz. The Ayler track is ugly, difficult, hard to take. It appears formless, and the main solo work is a string of incoherent trick-effects, which may or may not be calculated. Brilliant Corners seems almost straightforward, with improvisation from both Spaulding and Tolliver which would pass muster, but not draw overmuch attention, in any fairly anonymous modern group and there are pleasant vibes passages.
We know that Grachan Moncur can be very good and his track consists of extended trombone muttering over a busy background, followed by the imaginative and delicate work of Bobby Hutcherson. Both these tracks are acceptable. I can see a little of what some people may look for in the Archie Shepp performance. It is effective as a caricature, it uses the post-Ornette tvpe of vocalisation of jazz but not like a human being, more like some awful pop-art cartoon figure – a thalidomide Popeye. Both Shepp and Ayler produce worrying music. That in itself is no sign of excellence, nor even of interest.
Discography
(a) Nature Boy; (b) Holy Ghost; (c) Blue Free (22½ min) – (d) Hambone; (e) Brilliant Corners (22½ min)
(a) John Coltrane (ten); McCoy Tyner (p); Jimmy Garrison (bs); Elvin Jones (d).
(b) Donald Ayler (tpt); Albert Ayler (ten); Joel Freedman (cello); Lewis Worrell (bs); Sonny Murray (d).
(c) Grachan Moncur III (tbn); Bobby Hutcherson (vib); Cecil McBee (bs); Bill Harris (d).
(d) Ashley Fennell (tpt); Virgil Jones (tbn); Archie Shepp (ten); Marion Brown (alt); Fred Pirtle (bar); Reggie Johnson (bs); Roger Blank (d).
(e) Charles Tolliver (tpt); James Spaulding (alt); Bobby Hutcherson (vib); Cecil McBee (bs); Billy Higgins (d).
(HMV CLP 1932 32s.)
