Kick it around, people, and have some fun

I always feel self-consciously bourgeois popping off reviews (or quasi-reviews like this one) of money-sucking, ultra-fetishist consumables — even when I have to buy them, which is nearly always. The ne plus ultra of this case might be the Revenant Albert Ayler box. And, yes, I bought one, and have since opened it up just to finger its flowery insides numerous times when the world seems cold and mean, and I realize I’ll never own a Ferrari F430 so I might as well covet this within-reach, insanely juju-infused token of American-surrealist black avatarism. And the music’s pretty cool, too.

 
 Current case in point: The Complete Arista Recordings of Anthony Braxton (Mosaic). This monumental collection of early works by the iconic Mr. Braxton, eagerly anticipated by music geeks the world over, gathers essential, long-OOP works of this essential musician from his first flowering. Solos, duos, trios, quartets, piano duos, big bands and multi-orchestras are enshrined in those rainbow-iridescent grooves. I waited some months before offering up the $136 tithe, and when the blessed tablets finally landed and began to tote up the revs on the holy spinner, my anticipated mystical experience washed out in a wave of letdown. It just wasn’t the same. Boo (h-256) Kelvin–T3 hoo.

Not to be a Braxton braggart, but I was there the first time around. Granted, all that may bestow upon me are some less-than-Gibraltar-solid memories, since I no longer have the LPs upon which to make a proper A/B comparison (and it means, as my teenage daughter reminds me, “You’re so old.”). I do have some OOP RCA/BMG CDs from the late 80s. Just to get this subject out of the way with dispatch, I compared the 1987 BMG  
 Creative Orchestra Music with the Mosaic disc, and could hear very little difference. Maybe a little more presence and separation (but slightly less highs) in the Mosaic; that’s it. OK, great. On the other hand, my recollection of the Arista vinyl quality ranges from medium to poor, especially handicapping the later releases like   
 
 For Trio and Four Orchestras. So it’s fantastic to have this body of work all together in one Mosaic-blessed space, with superb sound, a straight sessionography and never-before-seen period photos. So why the letdown?

My squawk is with the liner notes. Because that’s all they are, is liner notes.

Writer’s credit goes to Mike Heffley, and he’s a righteous choice: musician, former student of AB, and author of The Music of Anthony Braxton (one of the two Braxton books I have not read). No doubt some direction was handed down by Mosaic’s producers (among the latter, the original producer of the sessions,Michael Cuscuna). Heffley’s an engaging writer, very friendly and readable – he even apologizes at one point for getting maybe “overly technical” in his riffs on Braxton’s composerly strategies and musical history discursions. But, by and large we’re given the standard session-by-session rundown provided by Mosaic for all their deluxe box sets. Now, that might be fine for Bobby Hackett or even Andrew Hill, but Braxton? We all know by now that Mr. Braxton’s voice extends beyond the many horns he blows, beyond the bands he presides over and the stages he commands, and well beyond the usual “logic structures” of academe.

  Where’s Braxton’s voice?

Unlike the majority of AB’s original Arista releases, the Mosaic box doesn’t give us that essential side to the man: his thorny, loopy composition notes. Not to reinforce a well-worn “nutty professor” caricature of the man — but if nothing else, Braxton’s notes are unique. And, in their seeming arcane impenetrability, they paradoxically draw us closer to him, something Heffley’s otherwise illuminating notes do not do. Hell, the Mosaic honchos should’ve just plopped Heffley and Braxton in a nice café and let the tape run. As anyone who’s spent any time with the dude knows, among his many talents, Braxton is a peerless raconteur.

A heaping helping of both sides of Mr. B come through on the liner notes to    
 hat ART 1984 – Composition 98, to take one example. Braxton tells us, for instance, “…the progressional realness of world culture has never totally separated its extended information or ritual disciplines to the degree where a given focus is not equally manifested throughout its composite affinity dynamics.” Then, just a few lines later:
“The ‘reception dynamics’ of composition 98 are:
1. Where is dee jazz?
2. Boredum
3. Humer
4. Anger
5. What is it?”

If you're of a mind to find out what Braxton's really up to with his hermetic, Pythagoras-sprung philosophy, the scholarly stuff is out there. Graham Lock's books are a great place to start: Forces In Motion (a nice excerpt can be read here) and Blutopia. And besides Heffley's book cited above, there's also Ronald Radano's more academically-minded New Musical Figurations. And Stuart Broomer's Time and Anthony Braxton is just out.

 
 Speaking of reissues, I’d love to see this singular OOP entry in the Braxton catalogue made available on CD — including the live set, which the 1990 hat NOW issue left out — but sleeved in the original LP-sized packaging, lovingly laid out and printed with diagrams and photos all over the outside and inside, a postcard (shades of Revenant!), and words — columns and columns of vintage Braxton-speak. Mmmmm.

 
 

Comments

[Oran Kelley]

Maybe it's just me but Braxton's blatherings usually seem to fall into a few categories: 1) the utterly incomprehensible; 2) obvious observations, arcanely stated; 3) naiveté/ignorance. When written, they're written in what is best described as an unintentional parody of highest-of-high-academic bullshit.

The question isn't why Mosaic didn't include them, but why anyone would have indulged their inclusion in the first place. He's not a "nutty professor," he's Chance.

[bartleby]

My junior high school general music teacher taught our class about Anthony Braxton. Apparently he'd seen him perform and described the contra-bass saxophone to us. We also went over the chapter at the end of the textbook which included material on Harry Partch and I think also John Cage and listened to recordings of all 3. Years later, when I realized the things I liked most about the rock station were the "Real men of genius" beer commercials I decided to finally check out some of that stuff. Thanks for putting up an excellent post.

[Doug Schulkind]

Commenter Oran Kelley is entitled to his opinion, though I can't help but lament for the legion of Braxton slaggers who get all tripped up over his hyper-intellectualism and forget to actually listen to the music. Doing so, for me, has been a 30-year passion. Thanks for this lovely piece.

Scott McDowell (host of The Long Rally on WFMU) had a terrific Braxton post in this space in '08.

[rosko]

I would be tempted to slag off Braxton as an incomprehensible fake-intellectual, except that my first exposure to him was learning that he made a living hustling chess games when jazz wasn't paying; you can't fake chess. I don't understand his diagramatic song titles, but whether that's because I'm slow or he's being needlessly-difficult is hard to tell-- I'll give him credit for being unique in that respect.

Some of his albums enthrall me, some bore me to tears, some are an awful lot of work for the payoff.

[JM]

A missed opportunity to issue the Quad only 4 Orchestras piece on a multichannel DVD!

[Oran Kelley]

"You can't fake chess" Meaning we ought to have been listening to & taking seriously Fischer's antisemitic diatribes? Or maybe, though you can't fake chess, it's a distinct form of intellectual activity implying little or nothing about one's ability to perform cultural analysis?

[Jason Guthartz]

"Unlike the majority of AB’s original Arista releases, the Mosaic box doesn’t give us that essential side to the man: his thorny, loopy composition notes."

Tom,

With the various writers' permission, I've posted all the original liner notes from the Arista LPs -- along with relevant portions from Braxton's Composition Notes -- here:

http://www.restructures.net/BraxDisco/BraxDisco.htm

You can either go to each Arista album's discography entry and click the blue circle icon, or click the "Essays & Review Index" in the upper-left frame and then see the relevant links in the lower-left frame.

I've also posted the liner notes here:
http://www.scribd.com/people/documents/2875391/folder/41648

Jason

[Jay Davis]

Thanks for a good review of this boxed set, an indulgence I also allowed myself this year. And bless Jason Guthartz for posting the original liner notes (now I know what else I'm going to do on the web this weekend). I "lost track" of this genius, AB, sometime in the very early 80's because of LP's and their limitations. Finding the Mosaic Box was wonderful. And for the person who said "some are an awful lot of work for the payoff," I have to say I agree with you, but it's worth the effort. Music that sounded challenging and disorganized when I first listened at 25 now sounds perfect to me at 55-- and the music hasn't changed.