simmons, coltrane etc.

kevin asks:

> Can someone listen to the first track of Sonny Simmons' Burning
> Spear and tell me what Mingus tune he is deconstructing?
>

is there a specific moment in the track? cuz i've got it going here now and can't hear no mingus, but you know the mingus better than me. what i do hear in simmons' initial statements over the ensemble (0:37-0:38) is a two-note descending figure at an interval of (i think) a fifth that's very very close to the opening of coltrane's "father son and holy ghost" (from MEDITATIONS), occurring six times from 0:37 to 1:04. plus simmons' embellishments of that motif (0:47-0:49, 0:59-1:04) strike me as being very coltranesque figures. then the very first statement in his solo proper (1:25-1:25), which is also the song's opening theme, sounds like a little nod at "a love supreme" or perhaps even "sun ship." it makes sense too that since simmons is, i believe, playing tenor on this track, he would make some coltrane references.

clifford jarvis is such a great under-recognized drummer (as evidenced by john gilmore, a consequence of spending your career with sun ra). he offers that same churning, bubbling drive that he contributes to the sun ra recodings he's on. (and dig it: that's him on jackie mclean's RIGHT NOW as well!)

and talk about how trumpeters always get overlooked -- how great is barbara donald? what a bright, near blistering tone. violinist michael white reminds me of billy bang a bit here, far less frenetic than his aylerian namesake michael sampson. (the clarity of this recording relative to some of those live aylers.) i feel like i know the two bass players here, cecil mcbee and richard davis, pretty well but am at a loss to distinguish them here (even tho the liner notes indicate who's in what channel).

this is a great performance, thanks for reminding me of it.

http://www.sonnysimmons.org/