Sometimes positive human exchange can take place on social media amid the endless waves of things to make your focus and grip on your phone tighten in order to maintain the symbiotic nature of digital dope. To think of the hours of my life I’ve spent on Facebook in the last 20 years. I’ve gone through various stages like everyone else before reaching a place where I only want to post positive energy. I relentlessly share my creative work more for the work than self-promotion. Sometimes I’ll have an idea and open it up for a discussion and it will actually result in a community based investigation resulting in multiple interesting perspectives. Case in point, I asked Facebook musicians what is “out” in music? (My base is loaded with out-leaning jazz people) The results are too good not to share and build upon here. I also posted a caveat that my post was unstable and may delete itself. I don’t do flame wars, and I really don’t do trolls. Someone tried to cancel me once, which made me somewhat cautious out here.

First, the context of the question:

The original thing behind my post is when Giuseppi Logan came back and right away WKCR wanted a live set before he or we were ready and Bern Nix was listening. The next day at a session Bern said “Man that was really out.”

It had multiple meanings I think.

Now Bern Nix having the tough road he traveled, that was out. His place in jazz history is in as a member of the out.

The live set with Giuseppi was out because he was still getting his chops back and we were still only a few weeks into even knowing each other. The music itself was raw and out in the best way possible: regardless of time, place, circumstance, and environment, this was indeed music and sound that could only come from him.

I believe out can mean all kinds of different things based on context. To elucidate, here’s the highlights from the post:

Out to me always defined a sound or harmony that is outside the typical structure. Not necessarily diminished or augmented, chromatic even. Dissonance and surprise over cliché or rudiments. Out can be composed , or it can be free! Varese composed music that was pretty out. Almost inside the box though, not free. - Nick Gianni

I think the music will be good if the artist is truly playing what they want to. From the “harmonically simple” to the “complex.” Each person’s voice is valid. It is still true though, that what we commonly know as “out” is how my DNA works. - Ras Burnett

To me out is a concept involving deliberate, intervallic dissonance. Extending what might be considered normal for a given musical style or idiom. Also playing out is not about just playing a bunch of random notes. It is a dedicated conceptual development that is a complete, complex and evolving science of Sound. -Dave Ross

I don’t use the term, and prefer “open improvisation” because I don’t accept that there’s a clear distinction between playing within chord changes and not. There are numerous musicians for whom this is situational or who bridge the two. Sonny Rollins is but one example. -Bob Gluck here on the stack.

It’s a subjective term and in the ear of the behearer. The way I use it is to mean “outside of the tradition”. But at this point in jazz, what tradition are you talking about? I am very simple harmonically, compared to most jazz players today, who constantly go in and out of the changes - but there is now a 80+ year tradition of doing that so is it really out? Can free jazz or improvised music really be thought of as out anymore, when there is an 80+ year tradition of doing it in certain kinds of ways? -Tom Hall

People have individual thresholds for out-ness. Harsh noise is very “out”, but when sound is causing me physical discomfort and even pain I draw the line. I saw Marco Eneidi with a singer whose thing was screaming. That was so out I saw myself out the door. I have a friend who loves out and improvised music, and he and somebody he knew went to a Cecil concert. Cecil opened the show by dropping the lid of the grand piano on purpose. His friend immediately got out of his seat and left. - Gerard Cox

Alan Michael Braufman brought the focus back:

This topic, although, interesting to discuss, is more a thing for critics and analysts of the music. Musicians should just play what they are hearing, people can define it however they like.

Finally my favorite comment which just bottom lines all of it:

When connection to spirit is established it’s everything , out, in and everything and everywhere in between. - Anastasia Natasha Culurides

As they say online.. THIS.

When bands catch fire and build together, regardless of the whole in and out thing-people in the room feel it and that is really all that matters in the end. We all know when a musician hits that zone and is creating spontaneously on top of their own mountain. It’s human nature to join in on these experiences, to feel, support, and reciprocate the flow. Live records can capture these moments, but cannot match the feeling of being in the sound, being one with the music. I’ve written before about that time I witnessed Sonny Rollins open the sky. As a musician myself, I remember it happening once with William Parker’s Little Huey Orchestra. A higher vibration was not only present-all who were present entered a higher vibration. The one right above here where Giuseppi Logan and Bern Nix live.

Big thanks to all above for sharing their perspectives.

In the end everyone has their own personal version of what’s out, both in music and in life. My out can be your in and my in can be your out. We and our lives are intrinsically tuned into sorting out all the deeper personal details as we live. Some say that JALC is the most in thing of all time, the temple of in. Some might say that doubling down on jazz history as todays music and having the so called laws of swing is out. Ornette himself is considered one of the progenitors of out, while to harmolodic practitioners, his music is one of the most beautiful in things of all. A friend of mine here in Philly was at the farmers market back in the day when Sun Ra pulled up for some produce wearing all his gear with a small entourage, maybe the ultimate balance event ever of in and out simultaneously.

Playing alto clarinet is out. Playing it in search of new music and myself, that’s in.

Trump is the most out thing in my lifetime I know of, but to MAGA he’s in. He’s their safe zone which is so out. Perhaps America is the greatest in and out paradox of all time. Jazz is created from the reality of slavery. We’re the “leaders of the free world,” complicit in genocide. Do you feel that change coming?

Just keeping it light here this week after all that research on Don Cherry and Jackie Mac. I had to do a double and work all night last night, that’s out. My music exists, and I’m walking my path. As Matana Roberts said once, we all have our own path to walk.

In ain’t no sin

In for the win

Don’t let the out make you pout

(unless you got the Gout)

If you caught it, don’t fright

Fight, back

with that Light.

Good Night and thanks for coming

Meet me outside next week..

ML

The 12 Houses will perform 11/1 at Scholes Street Studio in Brooklyn, NYC at 3 pm.

Deep dive supreme:

After Monk's Trumpets, Bird's Trumpets, Duke's Clarinets, and Don Cherry and the Great Tenors, I’ve arrived at the long time idea to get into Jackie McLean’s trumpet chair. What a journey it’s been. Full disclosure, I never met Jackie, and I know folks are out here that did. I hope they will add on in the discourse. A bebop and hard bop master who adapted his music to the times he was in, while always staying connected to where he came from. After pouring through his discography, he was just always on. Almost half of his recordings as a leader have a trumpet sideman, and in many cases they were in their early 20’s. Coming up as an acolyte of Charlie Parker, Jackie took the alto saxophone and trumpet front line very seriously as one of his primary structures in the studio.

I have a theory that part of the reason Jackie was wired this way was the mentorship of Miles Davis and Charlie Parker. Miles spoke about Jackie a lot in his autobiography. Miles was 24 going on 25 and Jackie was 19 when they were hanging out and playing together. In Miles words, Jackie looked up to him with great respect, like an elder. When Miles recorded Dig, it was Jackie’s first recording and Bird showed up to listen. Jackie was stressed out, but Bird encouraged him. When Miles came back to NYC after cleaning up, Jackie was playing with Miles at Birdland, and Bird was in the audience praising his work. Miles believed it was intentional, as critics started paying attention to Jackie after this. The tough love teaching moment for Miles and Jackie was over Jackie not wanting to learn the tune Yesterdays. They were playing a club in Philadelphia, when DUKE pulled up with Johnny Hodges and other members of the band. Miles called Yesterdays and Jackie flubbed it. Miles went further and told the audience Jackie couldn’t play the tune. This devastated Jackie who never let learning tunes be a crutch ever again, and he told people later that he studied music at the University of Miles Davis. Much later on, on the television show Like It Is, Jackie spoke of how he followed Bird around. In his playing up until his Blue Note period, you can hear the influence of Charlie Parker on Jackie directly, but he never sounds like he’s just playing his lines. Jackie’s tone and feeling supersede that aspect. In some ways he seemed to absorb the soul, or creative syntax of Bird, as if he could speak the language but still maintain himself. Somehow it seems more organic than Sonny Stitt running down Bird on alto. Now, on to his trumpet chair. My focus is on Jackie’s work in the studio as a leader.

In 1955 on his first recording, 24 year old Jackie had 22 year old Donald Byrd on trumpet. On Presenting Jackie McLean in 1955, Jackie’s gifts as a composer and his penchant for playing blues tunes are already on board. On the first appearance of his tune Little Melonae, the tune frees him from Bird to a degree, who passed on in March. Donald Byrd is still forming sound wise, but is clearly on his way to himself, especially on the blues. In 1956, on Lights Out, Donald Byrd returns. Mostly a solid Bop session, Byrd’s Lorraine sounds like a contrafact of Embraceable You. Jackie has Byrd lead on the piece. Jackie’s 4, 5, and 6 was next in 1956, again with Donald Byrd. On Sentimental Journey the Jackie tone is absolutely present. Pianist Mal Waldron’s Abstraction is a stand out feeling drenched ballad. Donald Byrd returned in 1959 on Jackie’s first Blue Note in 1959 New Soil. That Donald Byrd sound is there, free from all influences. Byrd could bust out lines free from Clifford Brown or Miles Davis. His lines are not the textbook vibe, but part of his natural expression. In 1960, Byrd continued solid hard bop playing on the first 3 tracks of Jackie's Bag. When Jackie wanted to move on musically at the time he called Byrd. Again in 1963 Byrd got the call to play with Jackie when he had 17 year old Tony Williams on drums and was meeting the avant-garde on his own terms. 22 year old Herbie Hancock was also on board, and this was right before both of them joined Miles. Byrd’s playing on Vertigo showed that you can take your time, leave space, construct and orchestrate in a more intense, more open environment. His restraint and original tone stand out. Jackie hired Donald Byrd on 6 recordings, and Byrd hired him also for 2 of his own.

23 year old Bill Hardman was 25 year old Jackie’s next trumpet player in 1956 on Jackie's Pal. Jackie’s Pal is heavy in that Paul Chambers on bass and Philly Joe Jones on drums were with Miles Davis at the time. Hardman was a hard bop titan that never broke through commercially. He churns out lines with his own unique articulation. McLean's Scene was next for Jackie and Hardman. In 1957 Jackie had Bill and added Ray Draper on tuba for Jackie McLean and Co. Jackie and Bill just keep cutting and running lines non-stop. Jackie mines another Mal Waldron ballad titled Mirage that shows his gift of being able to reveal emotional vulnerability in his music. In the late 50’s Jackie and Bill also held it down with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers and Charles Mingus. Bill’s total recordings with Jackie as a leader is 3. Bill made a staggering 20 records with Art Blakey and made five of his own.

The next trumpet player Jackie hired was 25 year old Webster Young for the 1957 album Strange Blues. Where Byrd and Hardman could spin endless lines, Young was a more lyrical player strongly influenced by Miles Davis. Miles had met him and told him to go to NYC. Young is like Wallace Roney in that he doubles down on this vibe in almost every musical situation I’ve heard him in. He’s definitely a contrast for Jackie, as Miles was for Bird. They continue this tandem on Makin' The Changes, a record that says literally what they’re doing. Jackie’s A Long drink Of The Blues was next, with a hilarious introduction of the in the studio debate about process. There’s a chance to hear Jackie on tenor, and like Bird he could do it but when they played alto is when they truly came alive. Young escapes Miles somewhat by playing some lines on this one. The crazy thing about Miles influence on all of us is that as soon as you stop playing lines he’s there waiting for you. On Jackie’s Fat Jazz in 1959, Young plays cornet which dilutes the MD vibe to a degree, a powerful move in search of your voice, though I don’t know if that was his intent. I was listening to Webster Young at my day gig when Josh Jackson from WRTI pulled up. Josh suggested listening to Webster’s album For Lady and his album with John Coltrane, interplay for 2 trumpets and 2 tenors. These 2 records are as close as anyone can get to a musician who still feels like a mystery. Webster Young was on 4 records with Jackie Mac. Webster Young below with Buck Hill on clarinet.

30 year old Blue Mitchell was next up on McLean’s Capuchin Swing. Mitchell wasn’t still forming, he was formed. Listening at work my immediate impression was Blue was crisp, confidant, clear, and crackling. Seeing his solos on paper they are textbook perfect, but I realized the key difference: they sound alive. He’s not trying to play correctly, he’s playing with feeling and happens to be correct. The mandate to play lines can take people away from the core feeling in the music. Brownie and Fats, they always had this spilling over the top. On Jackie’s next album that he co-led with Tenor player Tina Brooks Street Singer, the musical environment gives Blue a chance to step outside line construction into a more creative space. Tina Brooks is always mentioned by the tenor mentors in my life. He was a twin, and I worked with his nephew Craig Brooks at Tower Records. Craig was even at a recording session when he was a kid when Tina gave him and his friends a bag of candy to sit and watch it go down.

In 1961 22 year old Freddie Hubbard got the call from 30 year old McLean for his own only record with him, Bluesnik. Full stop. This is a mostly blues based popping album, but Freddie being on board just elevates it to another level. Freddie was already well into his sound and playing language at 22. Freddie is to me truly one of the best to ever do it, and I rail against the word best. He could just do it all. Coming in from the outside I see Freddie recording with Coltrane on Ascension, with Ornette on Free Jazz, and with Oliver Nelson and The Blues and the Abstract Truth. He may not have been a ride or die outside player but he was there on these mountaintops of the time. He was not bound by boundaries! His chops also freed him to just be anywhere he wanted to be. One thing about Freddie that grinded my gears was that later in life when his chops were unstable, it’s all anyone wanted to talk about. When your on the top, some weird thing is people wanting to watch you fall. Freddie Hubbard was truly the trumpet master of the time IMHO. He dances all over this album, making the difficult sound easy as he always did. Freddie in the 60’s below:

I was all about Smalls in my early days in the early 90’s. Smalls is still standing strong as a bona fide NYC jazz club. I went to the after hours sessions many times back then. There was an older guy in the back that people seemed afraid of that I came to discover was none other than Tommy Turrentine, who I heard was living at Smalls. Jackie’s next record, the 1962 A Fickle Sonance had 34 year old Turrentine. Jackie was still in strong hard bop mode and Turrentine is right there. What I learned here is how good Turrentine was at ending phrases. Lyrical ending of a line makes such a big difference between running down 8th notes and melodicism. Tommy had just the right blend of these aspects on this album. He also isn’t afraid to take chances in the environment Jackie built. Turrentine is credited with composing Enitnerrut, which sounds like an orchestration of Jackie’s solo language, so much so that I thought Jackie wrote it. Whatever anyone does in relation to Tommy Turrentine, you must view his interesting discography. He was also indeed the brother of well known tenor saxophone player Stanley Turrentine.

Jackie just keeps it moving with trumpet players, but his next record was a 1962 live co-led session with Kenny Dorham titled Inta' Something. Kenny was one of Bird’s trumpets and this no sideman situation by any means. Interestingly enough, the Bird influence heard in Jackie’s playing had continued to fade and is mostly gone here. Kenny is of course worthy of far more than a paragraph. My takeaway moment here is that on the piece No Two People, Kenny plugs in the harmon mute but plays with zero trace of a Miles vibe. He in fact doubles down into a pure version of his own sound, phrasing, and style to such a degree that you can hear how Miles spoke of in his book, of an event where Kenny sat in with him and cut him. Miles evened the score later on, but KD was on that MD level. Kenny and Jackie sound wise are as perfect a match as you’ll ever find in the history of the alto and trumpet front line. This was more hard bop, though Jackie was feeling the winds of change and followed with Let Freedom Ring, a quartet record of enormous depth and power that needs a whole other stack.

After Let Freedom Ring, Jackie followed up with Vertigo and Donald Byrd as previously discussed. Then Trombone great Grachan Moncur III took the trumpet chair for One Step Beyond, and Destination Out! Incredibly, I got to play with Grachan on William Parker’s Universal Tonality. The titles say it all. 32 year old Jackie was now fully invested in exploring outside on his own terms. After a trumpet break he came back strong with 22 year old Charles Tolliver on It's Time!!! in 1964. Tolliver was really the perfect player for the time. Tolliver has 3 compositions on the album as well. Jackie is turned up on this album and the wild card is Herbie Hancock who is really pushing boundaries and crossing lines here, he was deep into playing with Miles great quintet at the time. His playing is aggressive to the point of musical confrontation in the best way, and everybody is responding. Roy Haynes on drums was in the literal sweet spot, right on the equator between his own in and his own out. An intense environment for 22 year old Tolliver, who not only stands his ground but pushes back. His strong sound and identity are well in place. Jackie and Tolliver stayed on the tightrope but had a different wild card in an on fire Bobby Hutcherson on vibes on Action Action Action. Tolliver is so strong as a composer I feel like he took the baton from Booker Little who died in 1961.

Finally we reach 26 year old King Lee Morgan also in 1965 on Jackie’s album Consequence. Jackie doubled back and reversed to hard bop swing here. Lee and Jackie are very strong. If hard bop was boxing the avant-garde then this round went to hard bop. Once again, Lee needs far more than a substack paragraph. He is revered here in Philly. Jackie kept it moving and merged in and out to a degree with both Lee and Charles Tolliver together on his next album Jacknife. The tune soft blue has both of them as they serve the music more than battle. Jackie always has a wild card on his recordings, an original who is pushing everyone in the best way into new territory and on Jacknife that wild card original is Jack Dejohnette on drums.

Hipnosis was Jackie’s next record where he had both sides of the coin on one album. A 1962 solid straight session with Kenny Dorham, and a 1967 open session with Grachan Moncur III, but not released until 1978. 1967 would be where Jackie truly crossed the line without apology when he hired none other than Ornette Coleman on trumpet, for the legendary New and Old Gospel! I’ve gone into detail here on my thesis. One thing that gets missed is that so much attention is placed on the OC decision that overlooked is truly incendiary playing by McLean! The real fun in this album is that Jackie’s band was all the way down to mix it up with Ornette. While other trumpet players got angry at Jackie’s move, Jackie bottom lined it when he said that whatever you think about Ornette’s trumpet, when you hear it, there’s no doubt that it’s him. They create a truly unique environment here. This was indeed Ornette Coleman in Jackie’s trumpet chair, and when you hear the record, he was the man for the job. I asked OC about this in person and with a lot of emotion he made it clear that getting that call from Jackie really meant a lot to him on a deep personal level. It happened no matter what anybody else thought, wanted, or expected. All I can add I wish they mixed it up on alto at least on one track, I cant help it.

Jackie next kept his vibe of having a young strong new trumpet player by his side with 22 year old Woody Shaw on Demon's Dance. On this fascinating album, Woody is already well on his way to being himself running down his trademark lines. He’s combative at times with the rhythm section as Tolliver was, as if to say “You’re not taking me down today.” Jackie found a way to take all of the music he had played up to this point and blend it all into a new creation that stands on it’s own as original music. The pacing and arc are both perfect. For me, the highlight is the vibe, the human emotion conveyed on the song Sweet Love of Mine. It’s literally the feeling I have for my wife in music. To pull that off in jazz is monumental to me. I feel that the album historically connects Jackie to Woody being the trumpet man of the 70’s.

In 1974 trumpet player Billy Skinner wrote and arranged the Jackie album New York Calling with the Cosmic brotherhood. The Brotherhood was a generation younger but delivered 70’s hard bop without reservation or apology. Skinner is mostly unknown today. He sliced, diced, and slashed some cutting lines in his own way, with traces of Woody perhaps. His different burnished tone fit right in Jackie’s universe.

Finally, to come full circle, 61 year old Jackie once again found the young trumpet player rising, and it was none other than 22 year old Roy Hargrove on the 1992 Rhythm of the Earth. Roy has those crisp, passionate, blues inflected lines that people know and love. What has me shook about this is that I’m the same age as the late great Roy. As Jackie kept it moving as the music moved on, it led him all the way up to my generation with a musician I played with a few times. Roy has moved on, but he really was the trumpet man of the time and our generation. I can’t find a video I’ve seen with Jackie and Roy where you can see Jackie loves what he’s doing. How could you not? When Roy destroyed me on stage at Yardbird Suite after I cut the line and called Confirmation, he didn’t lay me out with malice, he did it with blues and love and the people received it. A powerful lesson was delivered that day. Later on at Smalls when I went out on rhythm changes and pulled it off he let me know he supported taking that risk.

With a final tally of 11 trumpet players to sit in Jackie’s chair, Donald Byrd leads the pack with 6 recordings. Bill Hardman, Webster Young, and Charles Tolliver each made 3. Kenny Dorham , Lee Morgan, and Blue Mitchell each made 2. Finally Freddie Hubbard, Tommy Turrentine, Billy Skinner, and Roy Hargrove made one each. It was never a competition. What it was, was a journey of mentorship and trumpet self-actualization inherent from the backbone of the music. What it was, was the real tradition as I like to say.

Every one of the 11 trumpet players played their own story in life. Each one of them crossed paths with the great Jackie McLean at precisely the right time for them to boost and be boosted.

The photo I can’t find is a group shot of Jackie with all of them in one photo.

In heaven perhaps…

All I can say for sure is that heavy odds suggest Jackie would be smiling..

Peace and learning,

ML

Cover photo: Sacred Geometry Trumpet by Matt Lavelle. 12 x 12 Acrylics on canvas. Zero AI used. Painted while listening to every record listed.

When I talk music with the tenors in my life, we often get into how Don Cherry played with all the great tenors of the 60’s and beyond. That both Sonny and Trane played with him is enough for most, but a closer look reveals 19 tenor players and counting. In academia, I encountered shade towards Don, as he doesn’t play the role of what your supposed to do. To stand with a tenor titan playing trumpet on the front line of the music calls for spiritual, musical, and indeed physical strength. Don and then Roy Campbell Jr. after him had all three. I discovered these mountain tops as a sideman with Sabir Mateen. When Ribas hit the zone into the impossible, I had to enter my own. Standing with musicians who live and play on their own mountain peak in the sky has profound meaning.

I’m not going for a hard jazz history exact chronological document here. I hope to discover a highlight and way to go for each reader and listener feeling the exchange between Don and each tenor master. Most of all I hope to learn more about Don.

All though Don’s tenor journey may be thought to begin with Ornette, in 1959 he recorded Ornette’s piece Focus on Sanity with John Coltrane. Some people feel Coltrane was being restrained here, but he’s whirling on the opening solo. I don’t think he’s holding back as much as people suggest, maybe the transcription people out here can take a closer look. I get the vibe that he’s visiting the OC world through Don. Don is in the pocket but open to exploring, especially in his second solo. I believe Trane also responds with more openness here, as if he had been at OC’s house a few hours. I can hear the OC influence on both of them here.

in 1961 Don recorded on the famous Ornette on Tenor album, a favorite among musicians. Check out how the band switches up with Don’s vibe on Eos. I’ve heard many times where rhythm sections drop everything and follow Don into a new world when he plays. Eos has a perfect segue. Don was always exploring but deeply listening, and always gave the bass and drums ideas to work with. While at times he would push the exploration vibe hard, he would also co-create. There’s such a vital lesson here on free playing that’s it’s not just whatever you want, it’s creating together. More than that you can feel how the musicians like creating and swinging with Don. Charlie Haden, Jimmy Garrison, and Ed Blackwell and so many others. Sometimes the joy in music is how we respond to each other, and venture where we might not go without a friend.

In 1962 Don recorded live with Sonny Rollins on the famous Our Man in Jazz. Leave it to Sonny who in reaction to the avant-garde at times went further than anyone else. Question for jazz scholars: was Sonny headed out on his own no matter what? Either way, Sonny met the movement on his own terms, and being himself, as on the 25 minute Oleo that opens the record. Don is right there seemingly representing himself, the movement, and even jazz history all at the same time. How could anyone stand with maybe the deepest and truest improvisor of them all cutting loose in the moment? Sonny clearly had to get this stuff out. Don steps right into Sonny’s space around 8 minutes. Sonny does his improvised background thing before handing the baton to Don entirely. Don starts sweeping, cascading, and dancing around the whirlpools edge.

Jim Macnie asked Sonny about Don, and his response says it all:

Don and I would practice together, just he and I. Great fun. He had a fantastic musical imagination, musical mind. He always kept things on a creative, unplanned level. Spontaneous.

Sonny elaborated further to Bret Primack in an essential, wonderful recollection of Don.

Up next, Don’s tenors he called as a leader in recordings. In 1964, Don had his first steady group, captured live in Paris with Gato Barbieri on tenor saxophone and Karl Berger on vibes. To my ears I immediately recognize Don the composer on the album Togetherness. Gato was still breaking free from the influence of Coltrane here. Don is his fully formed self walking the tightrope between structure and freedom in a way that so many of us have been doing ever since. I have my own history with master Karl. In my school days I ended up on a jazz workshop with him and nobody else showed up, twice. One session was he got out the real book and fixed all the chords to what Monk actually played on piano, and it went completely over my head. Decades later I played in his orchestra which was a fantastic learning experience. The first set we learned the music without paper, and the second set we played. Karl was at odds as what to do with me as I was stuck in a swing cornet phase. I quickly learned he was way more into Kirk Knuffke, who I was subbing for but didn’t know it. I tapped out, but did give Karl a melodica, though he didn’t vibe with it. This wouldn’t be the first time I got fired/replaced for brass players that leaders liked more than me. I got replaced by Peter Evans once, and hey I would make the same call and replace myself. I think Pete might actually be a trumpet come to life.

In 1965 in Copenhagen, Don hooked up with tenor sax player Mogens Bollerup for a fairly straight ahead session called Cherry Jam. I hear some Trane influence on Bollerup.

In 1966 Don debuted as a leader on Blue Note with the famous Complete Communion, and Gato returns. The tightness they share on the music is palpable. Man, that first Don solo- risk and dance and wider intervals than any other trumpet player dared to play with. Gato is free of Trane here and pushing outside more aggressively. The music makes me think of my favorite Don quote: “Music should never sound written down.” This music is very natural with structure that doesn’t impede. I think playing like this calls for time to develop that is hard to find in 2026, but still possible. Sometimes it’s already there with the right folks. Gato, Karl, and Don were back at it on the essential Live at Cafe Montmartre 1966 , cutting loose but still “organized”. In 1967 Don released the incredible Symphony for Improvisers with Gato, Karl, and Pharoah Sanders taking his concept further still. I will suggest it’s Pharoah on tenor at the 29:00 minute mark. He plays fluid piccolo on the album. Having 2 big power tenors at the same time, and such seamless transitions, I’m still learning Don. On Symphony for Improvisers jazz becomes itself.

In 1968 Don teamed up with Swedish tenor play Bernt Rosengren on the Brotherhood Suite. Rosengren also appears on Live in Stockholm and then Eternal Now in 1973.

Don’s full on tenor moment with Pharoah came in 1969 on the invincible Where Is Brooklyn? , a favorite of the tenors in my life as well. Pharoah is full bore, and takes the first solo on the album splitting light, yet finds a way to interject lyricism even at the center of the storm. Ornette called Pharoah the best tenor player in the world. Don responds in way that I can hear his influence on Roy Campbell Jr. that I never quite heard before. I was blessed to walk across town with Pharoah once carrying his horn on a very cold day in NYC. What made this memory bizarre is we walked in front of the Dianetics tower in Times Square and the actor Zach Galifianakis was tripping on the video they play outside. I said “I can’t wait to get out of this cold”, and Pharoah said, “Not me, I want to feel it.” However small, I felt this was a window into his universe.

In 1973 Don recorded with tenor saxophone player Frank Lowe on the massive Relativity Suite. I believe Frank takes solos on the first 2 pieces. In 1975 Frank returns with Don on Francois Grillot’s favorite Don Cherry record, Brown rice. Don created his own personal universe on Brown Rice. Jazz scholars, was Miles Davis electric funk an influence? Frank Lowe had his universal light splitting upper atmosphere tenor and at 29:30 on Chenrezig he soars. Don doesn’t break the song undercurrent leading to a deep immersion and co-existence that is extreme humanism. To hear Frank Lowe and Don on a more straight-ahead side check out the fascinating Lowe album Decision in Paradise. This amazing event is a chance to hear Charles and Charnett Moffett together, and with Grachan Moncur III and Geri Allen on board? Leave Substack now and go scope it out.

I can’t front that I was surprised to find tenor player Michael Brecker on the list of Don’s tenors on the album Hear & Now in 1977. His tone is unmistakable on Mahakali. The entrance of fusion rock guitars, I didn’t see it coming. Hear & Now has a universal Don cherry weaved world tapestry with a hugely positive overall feeling that Don seems to be feeling on the cover.

Fast Forwarding to 1988, 52 year old Don mellowed out somewhat, at least for the album Art Deco with Charlie Haden and Billy Higgins. He had tenor player James Clay from Texas on this one. That open Don sound with harmon mute on Art Deco is iridescent. Mr. Clay described himself this way: "Texas tenors are known for playing in a raunchy, straight-forward manner, with lots of emotion and few frills. I'm a typical example of that style of player." He was not tearing any roofs off here, but a welcome visitor to Don’s house.

Dona Nostra on ECM was Don’s last recording as a leader. He had tenor player Lennart Aberg. Don clearly trusted Aberg and gave him space. Aberg is thoughtful and considerate in what feels like Don’s last chapter in music, and life. There’s a time to say goodbye vibe on M'Bizo. I can’t deny hearing a strong Wayne Shorter influence on Aberg.

Now to rewind and get into the tenors Don collaborated with, but not as a leader (besides Sonny and Trane) These are all known names in the jazz world, and additionally contribute to my idea that Don played with all the great tenors of his day and beyond.

The great Albert Ayler had the 2 Don’s, his brother Donald Ayler, and Don Cherry as his brass players at different times. They took vastly different approaches to enter Albert’s spiritual whirling whirlpool of joy. Don Cherry is on 4 albums with Albert. I’ve selected Infant Happiness as the link here. Don enters Alberts space in the incredible wind and rain of Sunny Murray and Gary Peacock. He maintains his own identity but clearly reacts to the vibe. Don was fully in the Albert universe. So much so, that here in this incredible interview he takes the listener into the feeling of what it was like to stand with Albert playing music. Don was spiritually able to enter the space, and said that Albert “carried the gift, and the voice, and reflection of God".

After Don left Sonny Rollins group his next step was the legendary New York Contemporary Five. This 3 horn super group was with Archie Shepp on tenor and John Tchicai on alto with bass and drums. The flip is the repertoire, with originals by all 3 horns, but arrangements of Monk tunes also included like Monk’s Mood and Crepuscule With Nellie that they didn’t solo on. We have a full live set from 1963 in which to indulge. This was a tight group, not as open as Ornette’s work. It was more digestible to those unable to grasp OC, but they still had an edge with the 3 strong, unique, different horn voices. In my personal life I have crossed paths with the legendary Archie Shepp 3 times. I quickly learned that Archie could detect fakeness instantly, and that I was seen as real. My favorite memory is that Archie was trying out a new horn while I was at Roberto’s Winds in NYC. I sat outside the room and listened to him improvise on tenor for almost an hour.

Old and New Dreams is a major long term ensemble for 11 years from 1976 to 1987, but only had 2 studio, and 2 live albums. This makes tenor player Dewey Redman the musician who played tenor with Don more than anyone else I believe. In a quartet with bass and drums, Don and Dewey broke some serious bread. With Ed Blackwell and Charlie Haden they took the core swing and melodic improvisation pillars from OC and churned on, continuing to explore along the way. Ornette was deep into Prime Time during these years. On Open Or Close the OC influence is strong. The way Don can jumble and spiral notes but leave space between them and pace it all out can be intoxicating in the best way. Sometimes Don pushes through lines and paints shapes, a concept I learned from Philadelphia great Bobby Zankel. Here’s a great video of Old and New. Check out Dewey's Tune live.

Check out Don from Old and New Dreams doing a lecture and breaking down the core of harmolodics at Harvard University!

Going down the tenor spaceways, in the late 50’s Don was a sideman with tenor player Charles Lloyd in Los Angeles, but I haven't located any audio or video.

In 1963 Don worked with tenor man Clifford Jordan on the free blowing album It Is Revealed. Prince Lasha and Sonny Simmons were also on board. In 1969 Don was on one track, the opener titled Vienna on Jordan’s album In The World . He plays strong and maintains his identity strongly over the changes and form.

In 1968 Don joined tenor sax player Charles Brackeen on his debut album on Strata-East titled Rhythm X, though it was released in 1973. In the 80’s Brackeen made a series of powerful records on the Silkheart label.

Don led a live album in 1987 with 32 year old tenor player David Murray titled Inside/Outside. David roars on Last of the Hitmen before Don lays in the cut with the harmon. Don remains one of the few trumpet players able to dodge Miles with a harmon. Indeed, the David Murray bass clarinet is in top form on Pettiford Bridge. This is simply a great moment for the BC!

From tenor great Charlie Rouse’s last album Epistrophy in 1989, seven weeks before his passing, Don plays on the last two tracks. What a trip to hear Don come in around 10 minutes with harmon mute, and work through the changes on Round Midnight while once again staying himself. No matter the environment Don was true to himself. Again on Epistrophy Don handles Monk changes entirely as himself.

My final tally is about 19 tenor players that worked with Don, but that was never really the point. By taking a closer look at Don I have discovered that there is so much to learn and hear. I’m just scratching the surface of course.

I leave folks with Don Cherry & The New Eternal Rhythm Orchestra playing Humus - The Life Exploring Force. Peter Brötzmann, Willem Breuker, and Gerd Dudek are all on tenor.

Don Cherry climbed his own mountain in life. While many of us may be climbing to meet him at the top, I’m betting he moved on long ago. His message of humanity and universality is direly needed in 2026. He left his music as a giant signpost to the world to try and remember where we come from and where were all headed. I hope folks dug looking at his music through the tenor lens.

Peace and breaktime here at NSLB.

ML

For Don Cherry

Hello music friends on the Stack. First things first this week. Last week I got into John Coltrane responding to an interview question about the impact Ornette Coleman made on him. This week writer Jim Macnie posted Ornette responding to an inquiry about Trane that was in Musician Magazine in the 70’s:

This confirms it all even further. In the John Coltrane Reference there is mention of a night that both Ornette and Albert Ayler sat in with Trane. To imagine.. Perhaps a reel to reel will appear someday. My research suggested that Ornette played trumpet, which is maddening. We need the tape to hear the facts. Of course as much as I love the OC trumpet, to hear him on alto with Trane? Albert with Trane?

At this point it’s becoming clear that Ornette and Trane had a musical and spiritual exchange. My posts sharing this on social media blew up. I was written to by a person who said he had a degree in jazz, and never knew this. Jazz academia rejected me, and I can’t help but wonder if they saw me as some kind of infiltrator out to challenge “their” perspective on jazz history. They had no need to fear me. I would have told students to learn everything before getting into Ornette-just like Coltrane did! Before he met Ornette, Trane had been mentored by Dizzy, Johnny Hodges, Monk, and Miles as I’ve written about here.

Going further, Frank Kofsky asked Trane about Sun Ra looking for conflict:

Kofsky: Sun Ra claims you’ve stolen all your ideas from him.

Coltrane: There may be something, may be something to it. I’ve heard him and I know-I know that he’s doing, he’s done, some things that I’ve wanted to do.

(Coltrane on Coltrane page 295)

Coltrane was open about how much he enjoyed John Gilmore:

Coltrane: “I’d listened to John Gilmore kinda closely before I made “Chasin’ the Trane,” too. So some of those things on there are really direct influences of listening to this cat, you see.”

(Coltrane on Coltrane page 299)

Going further still, it’s well known that Coltrane studied with guitarist and teacher Dennis Sandole from 1946-1950 in Philadelphia. This early period seems to be where Coltrane built his own pillars and foundation so to speak. Next level research on this has been done. Sandole deserves far more than a substack post. I know that Bobby Zankel and Matthew Shipp both studied with him. Here are 2 links: Marcelo Bettoni and on the evil Scribd if you dare. I say evil because they charge people to read my thesis over there, even me. I don’t spill tea like that often but sometimes It’s warranted. I asked Ornette about Benard Stoleman whom he called “The Assassin.”

One reason people in some areas of academia fear free playing is they feel people start playing free before grasping and building all the elements of the music. There are people who choose this path and start free. We are all wired differently and for some human beings they simply don’t need or resonate with what you learn in jazz school.

All of this is changing though I believe. Maybe it’s already changed. There are many students who seek out the cutting edges right away. There are masters teaching the methodologies of music now that are outside the box, and have been for quite awhile. I’m even seeing more risk taking at the Village Vanguard. Swing isn’t even required as much anymore, though I’m with Sunny Murray who told his students who wanted to be avant-garde to learn to swing first. The Vision Festival in NYC leads with free expression and has been for decades. ARS Nova in Philadelphia has always embraced the front line of the music as I know it. Chicago of course, deep history and the AACM. I only played there twice, both times in and out grinding on the road. I need to learn more about Chicago before I write anything.

Anyway, I’ve been writing about myself here a lot, maybe to much, but giant bright moments require it. As my friend and alto clarinet player James Clark says, I’m mandated. Another term I learned from him is throat-chop: a method to end conflicts quickly and efficiently. I’m not referring to the Pokémon throat-chop, you dig.

My orchestra The 12 Houses is releasing our next album next Saturday, October 3rd on my late Mom’s birthday. This is by design. She always believed in me even after thinking that when hearing Monk for the first time, somebody was playing piano backwards! She always had my back. Once when I had insomnia, she called me every day to help me through it. My mom survived 6 brain surgeries, so she was a master of living on multiple levels. I believe somehow that she will hear the music, which wouldn’t exist without her.

Below are my expanded liner notes:

When the mighty 12 Houses assembled in October, 2022 we had 2 goals. The first one was to record The Crop Circles Suite, part one. The second was to record tunes from our book that we developed during our year long Sunday residency at NuBlu Classic, on the LES of NYC on avenue C. We worked non-stop for 2 days, about 16 hours to try and get it all in. Crop Circles was released here on Mahakala and was well received.

The wild thing about our residency was that we had 2 sets every week to try out new material. I had a composer's dream, and why Duke kept the band going, to hear his music. We had already been performing mostly in Brooklyn for about 7 years, a period documented on our 2 releases on Unseen Rain. Being able to write new music every week, I tried everything. These 5 pieces were all conceived of and arranged during that time. There’s at least 20 pieces we did that didn’t make it to the studio. Sometimes I ran out of gas at NuBlu and arranged music from the masters instead. We had an Albert Ayler week, Ornette week, Coltrane week, Miles week, Wayne Shorter week, and Alice Coltrane week (twice for Alice).

Hathor is the Egyptian goddess of Love. I have a spiritual connection to Ancient Egypt that is difficult to explain, but very real. An astrologer worked on my chart once and deduced that I had 6 lifetimes there. The next level was that when I started painting I suddenly drew and painted both the gods Hathor and Thoth, but had Hathor holding a tenor saxophone, while Thoth was holding a trumpet and a bass clarinet. This painting came from somewhere in an act of mysticism. Cheryl Pyle, a true believer in the flute, leads us off with Jose Luis Abreu on hand percussion. Next, I try to invoke time travel and take us to Ancient Egypt in all its glory. I took a big chance by soloing myself with my piccolo clarinet that belonged to Giuseppi Logan. I was still developing on it. I was absolutely inspired by the clarinet playing of clarinet master Sweet Lee Odom, who was playing soprano saxophone in the session. To close, the great Art Baron joined Jose once again. Art played Great Bass Recorder. Indeed, Art played recorder with Duke Ellington on his Third Sacred Concert.

Art Baron is the sound of Love.

My painting of Hathor and my spirit-guide Thoth. 16x20 Acrylics and zero AI.

I was at Ornette Coleman’s loft with him one day and he declared “The major is white, and the minor is black! What do you think?! (He asked the question to Greg Osby in a pre-interview before they did a public one.)

I was stunned by the levels this question contained. I decided to take the idea to the extreme and write a piece that was entirely a non stop back and forth of minor to major. This is as close as I have ever come to a symphonic type piece. I wrote lyrics and tried to write about the reality of the American story of Black and White. Clearly, there is so much work to be done after the tragedy and spiritual crime of slavery. Nicole Davis takes us to the center with her flugelhorn. Nicole has that unique relationship with sound that I refer to as the blue flame. Check out her entrance on her solo.

Next was a very special and unique moment. I heard a recording of my mother-in-law in Zimbabwe, who wrote and spoke this poem about her birth. I noticed immediately that when she said her same IVANI, she literally wrote the music for this piece, constructed on the actual notes she used in her declarative annunciation. To go even deeper, I asked my wife Sue to read the poem with us. Her very personal rendition brings core humanity to the piece. Sue had 2 requests, and that was that Ras Moshe and Lee Odom would take solos, and this is exactly what we did. Check out what happens when they join forces. After the take, Lee declared “Ivani!”

When my long time close friend and musical ally Francois Grillot was entering his twilight on Earth he asked me that if anything should happen to him, that we record his piece Hymn to the Universe and dedicate it to his daughter Charlotte. Francois wrote this waltz in tribute to his parents when he was growing up in Burgundy, France. The piece features flute player and Francois' wife, Mary Cherney in a very heartfelt performance. Stephanie Griffin and Cheryl Pyle were both close with Francois, and they joined her along with Claire De Brunner on bassoon. Francois was my musical advisor, and when I told him I needed a flute and a viola he said “You need Mary Cherney and Stephanie Griffin.”

Here as Francois requested, is Hymn to the Universe, dedicated to Charlotte Grillot.

Finally, our 12 Houses anthem NO MORE HATE! We played this many times in many different ways and it was a hit at NuBlu with the audience often joining in. No More Hate was the follow up to our other anthem, Dump Trump. One thing I learned from Matana Roberts is how to let words speak out in music in new and creative ways. Sometimes the whole band would stop and we would all just chant freely, no more hate! On this version I tried to do another 12 Houses live performance device which was me talking to the Zodiac Saxophone quartet. Pocket trumpet vs 4 saxes in a battle of love improvisation.

Claire Daly is heard here on her last time in the recording studio. She was always fond of 2 words I try to say often, and what this recording is all about.

Big Love

Big Love to each house, OC and John Coltrane.

The pre-order for Hymn to the Universe is here. Hathor is open and the full album will be released 10/3.

Thanks for listening today..

ML

Cover photo from the 12 Houses recording session for The Crop Circle Suite and Hymn to the universe at Scholes Street studio in Brooklyn.

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On the path of being a creative person, I believe the universe always takes you to something that will help you see yourself, and see ways that you can change and continue mandated, soul contract growth. When you live a life of artistic creation by any means, and never give up, you can enter several periods of evolution. Miles and Trane are the ultimate examples of this going through different periods as the creative forces within them demanded they must. This spiritual drive from within to always keep it moving lies at the center of creation mechanics. It’s the same natural forces that generate absolutes. The Earth must rotate. All of us must die at some point. Some people have an inner yearning to make every second count. John Coltrane may have lived one the most intense artistic transformational examples of this over a very short period, while Miles had an entire life of change since Bird refused to accept his resignation. When you have inherent feelings inside of you like this and life separates you from the process, you must seek balance or you will perish.

What led me here is my experience since my last stack. First I went into the studio with tenor and soprano saxophonist Catherine Sikora, a true original in 2026. Catherine and I have had a duo for a long tome that deals in complete improvisation. In order to get into the right creative space I had to ditch my daily practice of those damn standards. I wonder if 10,000 choruses of Cherokee in rotating keys over 20 years is enough. Total improvisation was my thing in my early free jazz days after my failed bid to somehow be a part of the straight ahead scene in NYC. These days all I see online are trumpet players playing correctly over changes. There is so much of that now, as if that’s all there is. What I never hear is the life music of Lee Morgan, where Lee was playing his life, not endlessly playing a watered down imitation of another persons life. It takes a great deal of courage and tenacity to move past this for some, and I have struggled with this paradox for a long time. It’s not hard at all for musicians who are wired differently. I’m blessed to know and play with musicians who play themselves, and if 2-5-1 progressions are not them, then they just leave them on the side of the road without fear or apology. They OWN the path they are playing.

I’ve spent years developing my own melodic language, and though I don’t perform this way, I have incessantly worked to integrate with it over changes that I enjoy like on Just Friends. Bern Nix and I used to play it. Bern and I even planned a Duke Ellington album by the way. Ornette was always the key for me to learn how to construct melodically and set myself free.

There’s another side to OC though, a vital and important one. One thing I’ve learned from my friends in Prime Time is that he would push for true improvisation. This means not falling back on any kind of language you’ve developed. You’re sound is you anyway, and that should be enough.

The idea is that every time you play you come up with something completely new.

Even in Ornette’s later years he would just go for it like this. I saw him do it once, he just launched into an impossible torrent of notes like it was 1960, something he never played or wrote in all his years, and he pulled it off. When I witnessed that I was stunned to the point of losing the ability to speak.

It’s not a new idea or concept of course! How many jazz musicians can really do this? It’s a challenge for me, but I play with musicians who live like this.

The next level, and the crucible if you were playing with OC, was to make it work. Good ideas vs bad ones. Did it work? The attempt was more important than the result. It sure helps when you co-create with great drummers. The kings could just endlessly pull it off, Sonny Rollins rest in peace. Sonny had his own extreme standard and would speak of good nights and bad nights. Ornette surrounded himself with improvisation at the highest level in Prime Time, and he heard it all.

After my recording session with Catherine, stay tuned on that, next up was playing at The Philadelphia Museum of Art for Coltrane 100. The kick was that we would improvise with Love Supreme! Then to go even further, just dance, drums, and horns. It was an honor to collaborate with Lauren Putty White and Grant C Weston, thanks to Dr. Anyabwile Love. On a relay from my last stack, Picasso himself was right down the hallway.

So after a week immersed in complete improvisation, now I was headed to my own equator, to play Love Supreme, but open it up. Both can be down at the same time, and based on discussion with listeners, we did it. The key for me was melodic extraction of the 4 movements. I did a full on compositional study on Love Supreme and learned so much by doing it.

In preparation for this event, I was compelled to look closer at the relationship between Ornette and Coltrane. There’s in interview that Coltrane did with Benoit Quersin, documented on page 203 from Lewis Porter’s book John Coltrane His Life and Music, that has stayed with me for years, and I shared it on social media:

Coltrane on Ornette:

“I Love him. I’m following his lead. He’s done a lot to open my eyes to what can be done. I feel indebted to him. When he came along, I was so far into Giant Steps chords that I didn’t know where I was going to go next. I don’t know if I would have thought about just abandoning the chord system or not. I probably wouldn’t have thought of that at all. And he came along doing it, and I heard it, I said “Well, that must be the answer.” Since we have a piano, we have to consider it, and that accounts for the modes that we play, but that’s going to get monotonous after a while, so there probably will be some songs in the future that were going to play, just as Ornette does, with no accompaniment from the piano at all. Maybe on the melody, but as far as the solo, no accompaniment.”

Next unexpectedly, the post blew up to 21,000 views. Some questioned the veracity and I even got some hater trolls. I get it - with so much fake content and AI these days, it reads suspect, but the source is lock solid. Charlie Haden spoke of seeing Ornette and Trane together just talking music non stop. After all, Coltrane asked Ornette to play at his funeral. I transcribed the melody, and during Ornette’s Holiday For A Graveyard at the end of the first section, the last 3 notes are f, d and g- Love Supreme.

People in general like to keep OC in a box, it’s safer that way. By and large they may not be aware of or be comfortable with the fact that Coltrane and Ornette had a musical exchange. People are so obsessed with Giant Steps, and so was Trane (!) until he was looking for a way out! Sure, many people out here have put in the time to master Giant Steps, or learn the solo. After all that work who would want to deal with the fact that Trane himself created and used Giant Steps in one phase of his development, and then to grow he had to let it go. Some folks commented he used aspects of Giant Steps later on, and why not? He had freed himself from the tyranny of voice leading to do just that. For me, Countdown is actually way more difficult than Giant Steps. Hey, how come none of the internet people that play someone else’s solo people have never tackled Lonely Woman? (or Paul Gonsalves for that matter) By the way, if you listen to Lonely Woman is it really about the lady in the department store?

Ornette loved Coltrane also, and he told me in person that after Trane passed he received an envelope with money in it, thanking him. Ornette said that he cried for days after this.

It’s ok for people to love each other. It’s just easier not to talk about it.

In the end for me, I’m trying to be honest with myself musically, and I yearn to move on from the need to prove I can play to myself and others. Kali Z Fasteau used to publicly call me out saying “You’re always out here trying to prove how in you are!” The psychological battleground of jazz and free jazz is no joke. Perhaps jazz is the biggest dysfunctional family of all time, and the most in need of therapy. I was traumatized for years from a comment made to me at a private jam session with Charles Downs from an audience member:

“I see how hard you’re trying, but you must know that you’ll never be the real thing.”

To let that go and move on took time. my guard was down and it imprinted. It’s twisted to me that in high school, my failed audition to be the Wiz in The Wiz, the musical, was my strained vocal rendition of the song Believe In Yourself. I’ll never forget my best friend up in the balcony in tears from laughing so hard.

I will stand up and self-righteously declare hear and now that free jazz is the most honest and fearless music of all. Roy Campbell liked it one day when after I heard him play I told him: “I really liked hearing the usual stuff I never heard before.”

Anyway, I’m choosing to own it all, and OWN my own musical choices. At 56, what choice to I have? I stood in the same place that Wayne Shorter stood at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and played my horn. I’m OWNING that. I’m certainly not bragging. For me It’s a matter of self-actualization. Am I a supermarket manager or a musician? Sometimes you have to answer the same questions over and over and over, even though you know the answer. Then the answer becomes the question.

Every time you play a note the question of who you are is asked.

Every note you play is the answer.

There are billions of stars in the sky and every one of them is a note.

Every note by every musician ever will never be the same amount.

The thing is..

We are the notes.

We are, the stars.

The Soul of the Bass Clarinet (in progress) and Sacred Geometry Trumpet (in progress) by Matt Lavelle

This week I was invited to the Philadelphia Museum of Art for a walkthrough about a performance I’m part of celebrating John Coltrane titled Improvising the Supreme. It’s an honor to participate. I’ve written about Coltrane 3 times here on the stack, though I bet his name comes up every week. The Choice, The Creed, and From Trane to Wayne. There’s a lot of folks writing about Coltrane these days.

Truth be told I have always avoided looking at paint masters. The reason is that in jazz it has taken me decades to process my influences, and I’m not even close to stopping. We know internally when we play something that is coming from or inspired from one of the masters. Whether we decide to acknowledge those influences is a whole other matter. When someone with great success never salutes an obvious influence it can grind your gears. Sometimes we just don’t want to, or are not ready to see it, accept it, process, and let it go. Sometimes the influences are so great that we simply cannot let them go, and they become a pillar in our own world. One time Roy Campbell observed that he heard Freddie Hubbard in my lines and I got mad! I was tight because I wasn’t trying to play like Freddie but it came through anyway. I was also tight to be called out on it, but a true friend will tell you the truth about yourself, even in something as personal as music. This is why for me, I respect true originals in jazz that when no matter how deep you listen, what you’re hearing is all them.

Sometimes having a clear influence in your playing can work if you do something different with it or switch it up somehow, or if you apply it in an environment different from the source. In reverse, that grates on some people. Some unique artists actually extend the work of the source and expand upon it, which I also find fascinating.

If I hear a Bird phrase on a modal piece I find that interesting. I really like Sonny Stitt on tenor, where he escapes Bird to a degree. I like how Jimmy Lyons opened Bird up to create something new and explore in ways Bird never knew would come to be. Bird and Ornette did meet, see my thesis for that.

Miles can be hard for trumpet players to duck. If you get to deep you can feel him looking at you.

As I often say, one way to dodge a very strong influence to is play a different instrument from the source, but we really have no control over whether a musical influence hits or not. If the influence lands on you and resonates internally there’s no on or off switch. There’s no block. There’s no give backs. It’s an imprint. It’s almost like your sexuality. Your internal energy just flows a certain way, or ways. This is why Sabir Mateen chose not to listen to John Coltrane for 10 years!

My core influences are obvious and I write about them publicly so there’s no questions. Nobody else out here is going that deep with Paul Gonsalves. I believe in seeking out influences outside of jazz, and these days I listen to Tripti Mukherjee non stop at work. Her sound brings me peace in a stressful environment.

So the thing is that in my art and writing I have been able to dodge ALL of this.

Or so I thought!

After our meeting at the Philadelphia Museum of Art I sensed the presence of something extremely important. I straight away asked if they had any Picasso’s. I learned there was one right down the hall, a mere 60 seconds of walking from where we will play.

I deliberately strode past every other painting and in fact told them all to get lost- “You’re not the mighty Picasso!”

Then words simply cannot convey the feeling that came over me meeting The Three Musicians in person.

I stood before this piece just overloaded on every level. In this environment I could walk right up to it, right into Picasso’s personal space. I could see the care placed into every line, and every color choice. It was not unlike meeting him. It’s not like jazz, you can’t stand right in front of the music. The other flip is I’ll never meet him and I’ve been blessed to meet several of my jazz hero’s. Reports are that Miles met Picasso in Paris where they couldn’t communicate verbally but that they could see and understand each other to a degree. Miles absolutely spent time with the great James Baldwin.

Encountering a Picasso forced me to take a closer look at my own painting, and primarily that I’m holding myself back. I’m planning on freedom to cut loose right around the corner.

The next level trip for me was to stay in the museum, I was blessed again to have the day unexpectedly off. I thus rolled the cosmic dice and had a grand adventure. I found 2 other artists drawn to color extremes like myself. What really freaked me out was that as I went from floor to floor going upstairs, the museum was designed to take you back in time. I observed similar themes coming through in different ways over time. I witnessed landscapes so clear you literally felt like you had a window into another world in the past. Paintings so vivid and alive that I felt like I was walking around in 1840. You could feel the weather. I hilariously also saw that in every period, there were paintings of a man trying to seduce a woman, and a woman that was not buying it.

The top floor is what shook me the most as the museum went to next level with literal room recreation. The furniture, the walls, the ceiling, everything. To stand in a room where everything was made 100 plus years ago was surreal. You could sense people sitting down and talking, I imagine about some of the same things we talk about. My jazz self was thinking 25 year old Duke Ellington might walk in with an entourage. I was shook by not only the stunning level of craftmanship, but the time commitment. I saw creative works that must have taken years and thousands of hours to create. These artists were either given the means to create on this level or made it happen by force of will, or both. My journey ended looking at a chair made in 1500 just inches away.

I hope folks come through 9/19 2-3 at the West Entrance. Please say hello if you do.

Happy Labor Day..

Next week I won’t be writing but recording in NYC with Catherine Sikora. We’ve had a duo for long time. Please stay tuned on that.

Peace and Picasso

ML

A friend and subscriber here at NSLB asked me to compose a stack on dissonance in music. He was interested from a listeners perspective, not the musicians. I think the first thing to do is parse out that musical dissonance is not just what people don’t like per se, there’s more to it. It’s not cognitive dissonance, which arises from internal contradictions. I’m going to try and unpack dissonance in music from my own experience and perspective.

The textbook definition of dissonance is sounds that are unstable or clashing. For non-musicians it might be something that just sounds wrong to them but they may not know why. Musicians may forget that the average listener has never heard of a minor second before. When you put 2 sounds next to each other like this, it may be to personal for some folks. It’s like when you’re on the bus or subway and you’re sitting down and there’s not enough room for anyone else to sit down next to you. Then someone of semi-large proportions force themselves next to you anyway so that your legs are all leaning on each other the way that maybe only you may only allow from your partner. When you hear two sounds this close together, on some inner level your mind may seek release, and relief - the same feeling you might have when that person who was to big for the small space next to you gets up and leaves your life forever. Tension and release are powerful forces within music, and for many musicians a minor second whether it’s on a piano, or especially with 2 horn players, is an in your face moment of tension. That being said, some people enjoy tension and minor seconds in particular. If you like Thelonious Monk, then you might enjoy the dissonance of minor seconds. He mastered them and used them freely and without reservation. Monk used them as part of his language where a thousand other piano players might avoid them like the plague.

Now Major Seconds also contain dissonance but not as much. They sit right next to each other but give each other just enough space between them as not to officially grate. There’s a certain symmetry to major seconds, a kind of natural order that occurs. Major seconds are like looking at a simple and proven equation. the result is an understood and accepted fact. At the same time however, they feel oddly personal and mysterious at the same time. For me major seconds are eye contact as long as the sounds are sustained. Major seconds could even be that look someone gives you in conversation to see if your listening, to see if your getting what they’re laying down, and if not to pay attention. For musicians, major seconds also give us our beloved whole-tone scale. The sound of this scale has been described as both magic and madness. Sweeping around the piano with whole tones sounds like falling into a dream or entering another dimension. For an example in jazz, check out Wayne Shorter’s Ju Ju. There’s a catch with whole tone semi-dissonance. A friend of mine with perfect pitch says they sound weird to him.

The tritone sound in music has been described as providing the feeling of danger, and even violence. Let’s say you’re watching a horror film and someone is getting stabbed. Well, each stab could have a tritone played to go along with it. So how much danger do you like in music? Do you like to drive fast out on 76 in Philly?

The minor 6th sound in music has been described as sadness, and even anguish. If you stay in this sound for awhile, it’s hard not to reflect on the times in your life when you have experienced loss. There’s just an emotional twist that the sound brings and the cold and lonely rain starts falling. I’ll quote my buddy Giuseppi logan here: “In music, sadness can be beautiful.”

For one last technical look at dissonance for music listeners, I have to add my personal favorite, the major 7th. This sound clashes for most people. As for me, I hear the most beautiful sound in the world. I have been obsessed with this sound ever since I sat down at a piano in 1977 with no musical training. Technically this sound causes “extreme physical and mathematical friction” based on how our brains perceive musical distance. Even the math appears unstable. Since the top note is so close to the original note, the sound creates an inner yearning to complete itself. If you leave this sound alone without resolving it, you could create actual anxiety for some listeners. The sound leaves you in suspense. I’ll go even further and suggest there is something sexual about the sound. Lets say your watching a movie with your partner but you’re both not really watching - you’re consumed with sexual desire. Both of you are afraid to act and continue to pretend to watch the movie while your blood boils within. That’s the major 7th to me, naked vibration and desire. It’s no surprise that Duke mastered it.

In the end with music, dissonance resolves through consonance. Idea resolution or sounds that don’t conflict can make the listener feel safe. In psychology, individuals may change beliefs or justify actions to alleviate discomfort - it’s truly the wild, wild west as soon as you leave your house these days.

Duke is the bridge to a further perspective on dissonance. Actual sounds clashing is not that big a deal compared to making musical decisions that just blatantly push dissonance forward. Sometimes overt overall dissonance is the point. In 1947 Duke recorded The Clothed Woman. Check out his intro. Duke’s Fugueaditty from his Atonal group certainly pushed the envelope. At the end Duke tells the Carnegie Hall audience that the reason he had 8 voices at the end is that they had 2 tunes, and they played them both at the same time.

There’s no way I’m not going to end up in free jazz trying to get into what is behind dissonance. Sun Ra, Ornette, Coltrane and Cecil Taylor broke open all the sealed paint jars, and started mixing and throwing with complete focused intention. There’s always different levels of dissonance but this was music that had to come into existence and came through as an unstoppable force of nature. Ascension and Om stand out to me. This music was not concerned with cleaning up a minor second.

Om in fact brings more to me than analysis of dissonance. I had an unforgettable listening experience back in the day with OM, around 1990. When I got the cassette I was working the overnight shift at a supermarket, but on Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays when the trucks came in. It didn’t help that the night crew I worked with was cooking up crack in the seafood department. Worse, my job was also the register and they told me to look the other way when the dealers arrived. This was pre-internet and my sleep pattern went completely off the wall. I ended up walking the streets in the middle of the night listening to OM and ended up sitting on some church steps at 4am when a cop parked across the street from me with his brights on. I got the message and moved on. I was trying to have a spiritual moment and was to an extent but officer Sick (his actual name) stole my vibe.

What is dissonance in jazz in 2026? At this point improvised music has broken off into it’s own thing and has been for years now. Total improvisation can often not have melody and a kind of random harmony in some occurrences. There are a lot of younger people playing this music. When you look around at the world their inheriting, I get it. In my free music experiences, melody and harmony, tension and release, all of it are often the result with the right people. Everyone’s relationship with dissonance is a very personal thing. For some the tension release occurs when a horn player finally crosses the line to unabashed upper register spiritual exclamation and unabashed exuberance. Charles Gayle on tenor at full power and expression for example, I didn’t hear any dissonance at all. I hear profound spiritual melody, and the harmony is always right in step. With the right people you can musically form a united cosmic, spiritual front. A trio in jazz, and yes..

A horn, bass, and drums can form a pyramid..

Coming back to my original intent, dissonance is in the ear of the listener. One thing that Ornette and Branford Marsalis agreed on is that music is sound. The listener doesn’t know the key, or the changes to the bridge, and doesn’t care. They only know if they feel what your doing. There are a vast number of people who just don’t get jazz, and can’t handle the openness. Even something light like Dave Brubeck is just to much for some people. I played Sentimental Mood with Duke and Coltrane for my stepmother once and she said “All I hear are mistakes.” We forget that for many people if there’s no lyrics, they’re out. If there’s no melody they’re really out. If it’s free jazz we must be crazy. Free improv? When I worked at Sam Ash, one day someone pointed at the trumpet wall and asked me “What are those shiny metal things?”

Taking the widest possible view of dissonance, jazz itself is the best example of it. The very existence of a music that was created out of the tragedy and evil attack on life itself of slavery, a music that was then labeled to be sold in that environment, speaks to creation mechanics and transmutation at the highest levels. The true reality of the music must not be rewritten. I wrote a piece for the 12 Houses called Black and White in an attempt to do a musical portrait of the deeper realties and mysteries of the music. (Coming out Oct 3rd on Mahakala) To go even further, life itself is dissonance. To be alive on Earth you will absolutely come into some kind of inner conflict that eases, prods, or shoves you towards growth. Dissonance is basically the primary way the vibration functions. Who and what do you resonate with and towards?

Flipping the script, there is an audience for dissonance today on different levels, absolutely. Sometimes people are going through it in life, and listening to music with unresolved dissonance and tension can be like group therapy in a way, for both the players and the listeners. As someone who has played for free jazz and improv audiences for decades, you can feel a different energy in the room entirely. While the exuberance of life may come through, sometimes we’re waiting for it to release us, the more common vibe is spiritual catharsis. When you play or listen to music like this you’re pushing buttons, or want, or need, your buttons pushed. Some people enjoy the uncomfortable feeling of things that grate but support growth as Sam Newsome was writing about this week. Another aspect is that music can also help people internally process cognitive dissonance, facilitating emotional expression. I’m not even touching on how music like free jazz is related to the cognitive genius and madness that lies within each of us, maybe another stack down the pike.

When musicians are open and vulnerable and bring you into their personal inner world, as can sometimes occur in jazz and more often in free jazz, then they may invite you to witness their own personal dissonance as they don’t just sit with it, they play through it.

There’s another level to this. Sometimes people are confused by their emotions and don’t know how to express them. They may fear their emotions, and some emotions certainly warrant this!

Then they hear a horn player expressing what’s going in their own internal soul/mind/emotion process and or storm, and the listener recognizes the feeling, and that they feel the same way! Even if they don’t understand it, that shared feeling is now being expressed and felt by the listener as well as the player. Music can thus help you get those feelings out that you may not be able to on your own. In that kind of honest emotional exchange between player and listener, both of us can feel that we are not alone.

In this way, the experience of being human can be the most beautiful dissonance in the known universe.

Paid subscribers, please message me if there’s a topic you would like me to get into.

Breaktime here at NSLB. Peace

ML

When I lived in my room in the Heights I had a bike that I bought after a tour with Sabir Mateen in Germany. I rode it all the way up and down the West Side Highway bike path in NYC. I would have my horns on my back and seek out places to play as close to the river as possible.

Once I started playing I would bliss out and forget about where I was entirely, consumed by music. One day I found a good spot and as I started up I noticed some kids looking at me and quickly forgot about them while I started playing.

My mistake as those kids were sizing me up and targeting. When I stopped playing about 40 minutes later, my bike was gone.

One day when I was the receiving manager at Tower Records Lincoln Center, I went to the nearby post office to mail consignment checks. After I dropped the envelop in the outgoing mail slot, I was astonished to look down and see a pile of hundred dollar bills on the floor.

My mind started racing and my first instinct was to look around and see if anyone else saw the money. This was in my free jazz renegade live on the edge days and I scooped up the hundreds and bounced. Outside, I tried to stay cool and walk away when a guy pulled up next to me and said he saw me take the money and wanted a cut. Rather than argue or bring attention to myself, I peeled off a hundred and he faded away.

Back at the job I was consumed with guilt. This money belonged to someone else, and I somehow felt my Mom saw it go down. I had to make this right, but in my own way. I went to my squad at the store, my receiving crew and work allies, and gave them each a bill. My man Craig Brooks, nephew of the great tenor man Tina Brooks was laughing at me. Craig was my spirit guide to the streets and we joked around so much I gave him 2 bills.

After all was said and done I had $300.

The exact amount of money that I was short on rent.

Later on I was hustling saxophones at Sam Ash when a legendary alto player came in. He had a rich friend in California who wanted to but him the best saxophone in the world. I sold him the best alto we had on his rich friends credit card over the phone.

The next day, he came in and declared that the horn was bullshit, and so was I for selling it to him. He then demanded a cash refund.

That’s fraud, and I blinked. I couldn’t cross that line. He returned the horn anyway and cursed me up and down. After he left his wife came back in and also made sure that I understood I wasn’t shit.

Same cat was a roommate with a friend of mine in the legendary Manhattan Plaza. My buddy was on tour and when he came back this cat was sitting in the living room just beaming. My buddy asked him why he was so happy, and was told to head into the bathroom for the answer. He had spray-painted the toilet gold. When asked why his response was “The toilet is a throne, and I’m the king!”

Sometimes my music life adventure ties in more directly with music.

One New Years Eve I was at my buddy Ryan Sawyer’s gig at Union Pool in Brooklyn. Somebody asked me to climb on the bar at midnight and play Auld Lang Syne for $50. This got twisted!

3….2….1…

Then instead of everyone cheering, hugging, and kissing, I blasted out the tune so loud and so hard that you could hear a pin drop.

I made them listen to me with brutal musical force, stealing the moment from everyone.

After 20-30 seconds or so, I realized what I was doing and stopped. Union Pool erupted in euphoria that they had held onto passed the deadline. Nobody was mad at me, they just had to let that out.

$50 is the benchmark for weird gigs like that. OTB (Off Track Betting) used to pay me to play the horse race trumpet fanfare at parties. I would have to hide my horn and play it on cue. About 20 minutes of work and paid in cash. Another time I got asked to show up on a guys date in Central Park and play a medley of love songs to help him seal the deal. He tipped me $200 over the $50. Sweet.

My ultimate work-music crossover was when I worked the night shift at an A&P supermarket and would be the only person in the store. Every night around 3-4 am I would play into the store intercom and make the whole store listen. Of course, I was the only one there. Sometimes I took breaks outside. One time I was playing as loud as I could on this Buddy Bolden vibe. The cops pulled up. Who the hell is this guy blasting his trumpet in the middle of the night in a supermarket parking lot?

Another time I didn’t have a car, but was using the vehicle from my day gig to go to a jam session at the Rhinecliff Hotel in upstate NY. I was high as shit leaving one night and got pulled over in a car that wasn’t mine. Saints be praised I got out of it.

Another time however I was driving up there with my girlfriends son and I went off the road. I had a thing then about finding and driving really shitty cars. The cops came and found out he was in parole violation and off he went.

When I was living in NYC my musician life thankfully got more musical. In my early straight ahead jazz days, my job consigning music at Tower Records led me to encounter musicians from outside the world of jazz. As I was a fledgling player then in relation to NYC chops level, I was down to seek out other worlds to see if I fit in anywhere else. The thing is that the trumpet was my calling card, and trumpet doesn’t need to be in every GD place, or does it?

I went into the studio with a Dominican Metal band called Law Biting Citizens. I can’t find any evidence of them online, though there is similar bands out there. They wanted to add trumpet to their extreme vibe. Everyone was chill until their tour manager arrived, and a long standing beef between him and one of the musicians boiled over. He went over a kicked in the bass drum head which escalated into a full on brawl with the entire band. I stayed on the sideline. In between throwing punches the drummer told me not to worry, they just had to handle some internal shit and we would get down to business soon. I did solo on a few things and when I played it for Daniel Carter he felt that it sounded entirely natural in that environment. I recall one live gig with LBC that was complete with everyone being late, groupies everywhere, and the works. People were puzzled by my playing and reacted with sparse applause.

I entered the rap world three times. On one occasion I went to a RICH studio, that had marble everywhere. It was in a high rise and I recall thinking how I never saw anything like this in jazz. They wanted me to rip some plunger solos and some intros and hooks. I remember several of the guys taking turns on the mic, and one guy couldn’t get his flow right. His crew made him keep doing more takes.

On another studio session I showed up to discover this group had a process. First they got as twisted as as possible doing either coke or blunts. When they hit the zone, they got out their notebooks and started writing. Then while riding the wave, rolled the tape. At one point a woman came in and cursed everyone out and stormed off, but she was ignored. I was there for an unknown amount of time. This was not my first time being around stimulants of course. One day I tried to keep up with Giuseppi Logan and Francois Grillot, smoking and drinking. I got so twisted that Giuseppi had to put me on the right bus!

The rap artist I’ll never forget was Maximum Grime, he was the real deal and one of the toughest people I ever met. I remember walking up to his rig, an Escalade or something while a cop was writing him a ticket. He was not afraid of the cop and let him know it. I remember doing trumpet and especially bass clarinet tracks for him. I was very interested in getting the BC to plant in that garden and take root somehow. Max even had me consign a book that his Mom wrote at Tower. Deep cat.

Nearing the apex of my non-jazz adventures was joining a full on band led by poet Sharrif Simmons called Speaking Seeds. Sharrif is still in the game and doing great by all accounts. I played trumpet on the arrangements built around his craft. I was down with his great bass player, Tree. I recall a flute, violin and soprano player as well. Rehearsals were in Bed-Stuy do or die in the 90’s. We performed quite a lot and almost had a family vibe. What I was remember was Sharriff addressing the realty of the world and one phrase that he wrote and spoke especially, that the Portuguese were on their knees.

My peak non-jazz experience was joining Shannon Fields collective Stars Like Fleas. Besides weekly rehearsals I even toured Canada with the Fleas, another music family. They had a tour in Europe booked but I was to broke to make it, and I tapped out at the end. It was a beautiful experience and a group of wonderful cutting edge musicians. Shannon was the wizard behind the music combining so many different elements together that nobody would ever think of. In this way I was able to double down on my free jazz hardcore bass clarinet at the time in a vastly different environment that had just enough singing and coherence to reach people on a wider scale. I hope somebody does a documentary on SLF, or maybe one day we’ll have a reunion concert or something.

I’m short on time as usual, so I’m just letting my stream of consciousness vibe flow. I’m also seeing how much improvisation I can do in my writing. Daniel Carter is always talking about rap and hip hop which led me to improvise some to him via email:

More soon swoon marooned in the grind find gold not old. To many souls sold sound of life the strife is ended and junior walked the bar into eternity gritty nitty where OC Picasso Baldwin and Joyce are sitting on the shore of a lake made of light. Philly ain’t right but maybe out of sight out of pocket. Grind on my Docket but not for long as songs are calling, and not the wrong ones

To this day the only living person to ever see me rap is Ryan Sawyer. We did it at CBGB’s gallery. I had a hostile piece then titled “God is a Pimp.” I would then pick up my horn and just go off. This wasn’t the first time that I confused some tourists looking for jazz. I know my girl Jaimie Branch would have dug what I was doing then! I’ve come a long way since my spiritual anger vibe that I was carrying then. Thank God I let that go.

Meanwhile my adventure continues both in jazz and everywhere..

I’ve been trying to research just what it is that I’m doing here in the painting above that I made and is my cover photo.

It looks like that flower of life in the center, but the flower of life has 6 pedals, and I have 8.

The answer came to me like a pile of bricks made of light falling from the sky..

That’s the flower of death..

Dedicated to the bus passenger in Philly that strung up a hammock in the back and knocked out.

Peace and music to all..

ML

PS: Everything here is a true story and zero AI was used

Painting: Higher Vibrational Cosmology (Intro). Matt Lavelle

Back when I was studying with Ornette, I took pictures of his library and started tracking down some of the books he had, seeking more insight into harmolodics. He let me borrow a few. One day I left a bunch of comic books I had at his place which was pretty ridiculous. One of Ornette’s books stood out above all others: Does God Play Dice? The Mathematics of Chaos by Ian Stewart. Here I thought must be a window into where OC was coming from. Einstein was the source of the question with his metaphor that God does not play dice. He had deep skepticism toward quantum mechanics. He believed the universe was deterministic. Niels Bohr flipped it on Einstein telling him “Stop telling God what to do.”

In a literal scientific sense, the universe does roll dice at the atomic scale. The universe appears to operate on probability rather than strict certainty.

Does God play dice?

The No’s: Some follow the law of Karma. Every event is a direct reaction to a past action. Others believe that God possesses Omniscience and Providence. Everything follows a divine plan.

The Yes people: Free will means God allows us to make choices.

We are the dice..

I still feel that there is always a right decision, we just have the option to go the wrong way, get lost, and yes, go through it. Others believe that life is a playground with rules but God lets the game unfold unpredictably for the sheer joy of experience. Others believe that God is not an all-controlling dictator, but a participant who adapts to a changing, evolving universe. If that’s true then not only do we have far more power than we understand, but we are also the biggest embarrassment in existence in 2026.

There are others who believe in Quantum Mysticism, blending quantum physics with mysticism. Quantum randomness can be viewed as the universe thinking or creating in real-time. God provides infinite possibilities (the dice roll), and human consciousness collapses those possibilities into reality.

God is the roll and the game. God is all that is.

In my experience doing channeled Sacred Geometry paintings I’ve discovered that divine design absolutely exists, but chaos is an inherent part of it and part of the process. I’ve been experimenting with adding mathematical chaos that has opened doors to a next level of higher vibrational cosmology.

Getting back to OC, for him the question was more important than the answer in my opinion. His music could go through everything thing I’ve just written in 30 seconds. He practiced order to a degree with melody and idea resolution, but at the same same brought the beloved chaos, not resolving ideas, challenging form, challenging musical role play and responsibilities, and leaving voice leading on the side of the road.

Just like all the different answers to the question does God play dice, all artists must learn what their personal relationship is with chaos. In looking at some of the most profound artistic accomplishments that I know of, their artistic journey's are largely based on what they discovered within themselves and within the universe when they walked the line, and sometimes, jumped off the cliff. Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Pablo Picasso, and James Joyce all went through what I see as the seasons. Like James Joyce though, they didn’t always start in spring and end in winter.

Duke Ellington called Miles the Picasso of Jazz. Like Picasso, MD kept it moving in search of personal artistic discovery. When Bop first started up, it must have been seen as chaos to the mainstream swing players. Complexity was turned up on every level. If you look closely at Bird solos, he thrived in this environment like no other. There was always logic and order, but there was always a wrinkle and inspired abandon within it. It was always just the right amount of chaos to me. Bird was attracted to order, and wanted to compose more. He said his favorite work was with his strings. Miles was right there with Bird at the start of his own journey. Miles also sought order when he produced Birth of the Cool. Miles modal period was a whole other season as he reduced harmonic complexity. The simpler harmonic structure actually opened the door to chaos. While Miles ventured into deeper levels of expression in response, Coltrane went through this door to open his own. With his 60’s quintet Miles went much further into chaos, right in fact to what may have been his limit at the time. With that band he could walk the line on his own terms, leading, but being pushed at the same time. Later in the 70’s Miles went even further with chaos but in a different direction, going full on rhythm. I will posit that even Miles last period was chaotic by it’s very nature as he was very successful playing music that so many people didn’t want him to. I cant get over people shouting “Kind of Blue!” during his 80’s concerts.

Coltrane of course had his truncated, extreme journey through music. I can’t look away from the fact that Bird, Miles, and Trane battled drug addiction. You cannot get to a higher level of chaos in your life then serving that before everything else, when you know music is the most important thing, That kind of chaos is a weapon. Even in his earliest days Coltrane seemed to seek musical order but walk with chaos to a degree. He mastered order and lyricism within all of his complex ideas and then went full on into musical cosmic law with Giant Steps. (Cherokee is Giant Steps for trumpet players, fight me). Coltrane boxed himself into a corner, and then he found Ornette who showed him the way out through that beloved chaos. With his spirituality becoming his total focus, Trane pushed into even his own limits of chaos. Still, there was always some sense of order present. Check out those Interstellar Space transcriptions.

Now I’ll take this chaotic stack further adding in the 8 seasons of Picasso. I really like that his phases rarely replaced each other completely. Rather, they coexisted and occasionally re-emerged, often in surprising forms. The famous Blue period is well known, and possibly related to the fall of his close friend and artistic ally Carles Casagemas as they lived on the edge of life together. Some suggest that his piece The Old Guitarist is similar to Miles modal kind of blue period.

The melody here is not choked by extensive harmony and can breathe. All of the attention is brought to the body language of the guitarist. These lines go deep and are not intruded upon by the need to prove you played the turnaround correctly. There’s space and somehow the silence of a moment frozen in time. It feels like it just stopped raining and that cold damp vibe is in the air. The guitarist is not just feeling it, he is the feeling, as was Miles on My Funny Valentine.

Some have compared Picasso’s Three Musicians to Giant Steps.

Sharp contrast and those angles are kind of like looking at Giant Steps on the page. People have different relationships with Giant Steps in general, it’s a crossroads in jazz to a degree. Anybody have an idea of who in jazz might play angles like these? The 3 different stand out colors is more like 3 of Duke’s colors to me. It could be Hodges, Lawrence Brown, and Harry Carney. I wish I could have been present for Picasso revealing his new work. He must have thrived in chaos to a degree.

For me, It’s all about Les Demoiselles d'Avignon.

This one says Ornette to me, and even connects to Miles paintings. Picasso was only 25, but the raw humanity here got people in their feelings. He changed the game with this piece, the same way OC did. Both of them were just being themselves and not trying to turn the cart over.

Look, this is me..

Artistic chaos can be a weapon.

I’m not a heavy student of art or writing, but perhaps James Joyce is the grandmaster of using chaos in the writing world. Perhaps books are seasons to a writer. He moved from clear stories in Dubliners to the dense style of Ulysses. Then, he jumped into the dream language of Finnegans Wake.

From The Penelope Chapter in Ulysses:

yes and his heart went like mad and i said yes i will Yes

That right there feels more natural than most of the calculated writing I read. While it could be considered chaos, it’s genuine human expression.

The 10 Thunder Words from Finnegans Wake.

Let em’ have it Mr. Joyce! His work makes me feel less fear in my own writing, and challenges me to go much harder in the paint.

Miles, John Coltrane, Ornette, Cecil Taylor, Picasso, and James Joyce all used chaos in different ways to push that damn envelope. Changing music, changing art, changing writing. Shocking critics who spin out and never recover. Challenging fans and at times splitting audiences. Giving us all many years of reaction and growth that they set up for us. Leaving art that will be here teaching others until the last sunset.

I’ll never forget seeing Cecil Taylor in one of his late concerts in a big room. I was standing in the back and watched an audience member storm out in anger saying “bullshit!”

Really? CT had been being him for decades at that point. His music pushed a button like he was new on the scene back in the day.

So what is our collective relationship with chaos in 2026? Chaos is on the verge of ending us. Somehow we have to hold on to the idea that chaos is required now as the only way to break everything up and move on. I watch a channel called Gaia and if the aliens really do land, then all of our childishness is a wrap. Imagine a human like being walking up to you and making eye contact and then in your mind you can communicate. A being from another planet.

That’s the kind of chaos I’m talking about. LFG.

In my music, art, and writing, I like order within chaos, but not all one way or the other. I like to merge the purest forms of both. Some musicians find their safe spot and will spend their lives there. I was thinking the other day, just how many times can you play free looking for something. How many times can anyone play free looking for something until it’s not about what you discover but the search itself? Do you want to build an audience of people listening to you search or show people what you’ve found instead? I need something to work towards and against. I’m trying to be a better trumpet player, trying to integrate a difficult horn, trying to learn and grow from the reality of channeled sacred geometry art from my higher self, and trying to figure out who I am as a writer by writing this blog all at the same time.

All three of my artistic personalities roll the cosmic dice.

Every solo and recording that Miles, Trane, and Ornette did was a roll of the dice.

Every painting by Picasso was a roll of the dice.

Every book, sentence, every word, every punctuation mark was a roll of the dice by James Joyce.

This stack is a roll of the dice.

The cover photo is a piece I did recently, and a roll of the dice.

Every time we roll the cosmic dice, we get a little closer to the truth.

I feel we’re closer than we have ever been.

Artists of the world, let’s keep rolling and keep leading the way..

ML

Peace

Reading thanks this week for

Sub script ions are need ed and app teach re acted

TBC in the combined liner note music experience here.

Many Jazz musicians need a vehicle to drive. Ornette called it the environment. For horn players, if we need and want to get focused in our music it’s most often quartets or quintets. Trios can certainly work for those inspired by Sonny Rollins and folks who like the openness. A quartet with piano, bass, and drums is a very specific focus. If you’re leading with a horn you are now the lead actor. You’re the main character in the story. The rhythm section is your crew. They are a car that wants to be driven by you. The drummer wields the power of how fast you go, and must be someone you trust down to the core. The bass may be the wheels touching the ground-try driving without the wheels. The piano player may be your best friend sitting next to you looking to support you by any means. The engine of the vehicle is perhaps your own heart and mind.

Horn players also have the sky of history above them when choosing a vehicle. For anyone feeling a quartet, the legacy of the John Coltrane quartet is simply the biggest mountain on the planet. Many of us will never posses the spiritual tenacity to reach such a peak. It may also be possible that the only way to get there is with a tenor saxophone. Nevertheless, with a picture of John Coltrane in my internal woodshed, I needed to form a quartet primarily to discover who I musically was in an environment where Coltrane reached the absolute heights of what the music can be, and how far it can reach.

My first attempt lacked this focus, and was more about finding out who I was musically after I had spent a decade playing straight-ahead and then moved downtown in 1999. My closest musical ally from my earliest days, bassist Francois Grillot was willing to join me in my search no matter where it led. Francois was very musically curious and loved to explore the unknown. I had met pianist and jazz scholar Lewis Porter at Tower Records, and Lewis loves to play period. I had also met drummer Federico Ughi through Daniel Carter. I always felt bad about the way we met. Federico was playing a duo with Daniel Carter at the Internet Cafe, and I was in the front row. I became transfixed by the vibe and got out my bass clarinet and started playing with them without asking them, just ridiculous, but Federico was cool with it. My first quartet attempt had a short run with its peak at the Brecht Forum when it was in Chelsea, I want to say in a building on West 27th on the 10th floor. There should be a documentary on all the music that was played up there. I’ll never forget my bass clarinet neck breaking off and sliding on the floor to the feet of Perry Robinson, who took me in the back to try and fix it mid set. I played a duo there with drummer Ryan Sawyer on a double bill with Rashied Ali (!) I met Ras Moshe there for the first time. I remember standing in the back with Raphe Malik and Roy Campbell, who were discussing the deeper reality of the jazz life. My quartet performance exists on a mini-disc in a shoebox in my basement. I just couldn’t get the feeling right for myself and I changed it to Anders Nilsson on guitar, and I added percussionist and flute player Atiba Kwabena Wilson, that I knew from Roy Campbell’s jam session at the Lenox Lounge in Harlem. The result was my second album Trumpet Rising Bass Clarinet Moon. Have 4, want 6 on Discogs-really? Trumpet Rising is actually an important album in my development. Two of those pieces had big time chord changes, but I was experimenting with alternate fingerings that led to microtones, not a comfortable combination (I always saw microtones as vocal blue notes). My bass clarinet chops were not stable on this live recording, made by Steve Tintweiss, a bass player that played with Albert. My playing however had a real honest and dirty vibe, and the band was straight up churning but wildly open. I told a story about a ballad I wrote before I played it called Summer Snow-a fantasy about when NYC was covered in 3 feet of snow on the hottest day of the year, leading to NYC becoming enveloped in complete silence.

For context, during this time I had been the jazz buyer at Tower Records and then Tower went bankrupt. I was living on 50th at and 10th avenue with a roommate then who had a rent control. May he rest peace, Keith was a very rugged, very sensitive, gay alcoholic. We were friends and he would be drunk listening to me practice for hours and hours. I was living on the edge, busking and trying to survive from playing. My periods of this level of life intensity proved to me that I’m about 11% as strong as Sonny Simmons. This was real life movie shit.

I was still in pursuit of discovery through the quartet vehicle, but looking to switch it up somehow. I had met the great pianist Chris Forbes and Francois was down to roll with me again. Chris and I were always talking about trying to merge Latin music with free jazz. I had the idea to investigate this further and launch a quartet spaceship with Chris, Francois, and drummer Andre Martinez that had played with Cecil Taylor for a long time. The flip and wild card was that I asked Andre to only play congas. I called this group Morcilla, and we played all over the LES and Brooklyn, playing totally free. I have 13 mini-discs of Morcilla. When we went to the studio however, the composition bug returned and I went with all tunes flipping the vibe once again. The Manifestation Drama is another album that I’m satisfied with. It’s a snapshot of right where I was in 2004. Most people haven't heard it, but it contains some real dynamic and emotional discoveries. Sabir Mateen asked “Where’s the Latin?” and he was right of course. The original idea never really came through. The concept that I had established for myself now was free improvisation coming from my written music. My music was not about bop lines or free bop lines, it was more about world creation and soundscapes. My music has always been somewhat cinematic, and exploring the worlds within.

The title of the Morcilla record haunts me. The Manifestation Drama was about the maddening desire to live my music to the point where it became my full time reality, something I was really struggling with at the time. Having worked full time since high school and going nowhere in my mid 30’s, I had could not rationalize it, and had a nervous breakdown of sorts. I went to Rincon Puerto Rico to decide if I was going to live a life of music one way or another. I went to a rocky deserted beach like area and just went out into the ocean. The current was far stronger than I considered and in the blink of an eye I went from 30 feet out to 100 feet out. I was being pulled out further but I had just enough leg strength to slowly, very slowly, work my way back trying not to panic. Perhaps Albert Ayler himself guided me back to shore. I collapsed on the shore with the discovery that the music was far more important than I knew, and that music was my life. I’m still working full time at 56, in fact I have to stop writing now and catch a bus to work, but I’ve learned after many years of struggle not to resist my path in life.

After all, I’m the one that wrote it.

The next stop in my search piloting a quartet, I let Morcilla go and called one of my main partners over the years, Ryan Sawyer on drums. Ryan is a true original and explorer. He’s one of the few drummers I’ve heard take a solo on a ballad. His presence led to music unlike any I’ve ever played, and music I want to return to. Francois and Chris were still with me. The crazy thing is that this quartet only played together once, and it was filmed by Windows Have Eyes. Watching these videos recently left me stunned at how different the music was. Here’s Faith, Valentines Day, and 7L Stomp. These move from unfettered darkness to defiant light. I’ve got to get back to more non-agenda music where you may write but the music tells you we’re going over here even though you’ve never been there and don’t know what will happen. Trusting music is something I’m still learning from William Parker.

These pieces were all based on the aftermath of being so lonely that I entered an impossible relationship that inevitably collapsed where I ended up living in a room in Washington Heights, 7L. I was also fired from California Psychics for being too honest, true story. My buddy Rogelio and his wife Mireya were an older Dominican couple that gave me a room for $150 a week cash. I was there for several years and became like family. They let me practice, and when I was sick Mireya would make me chicken feet soup. I was really living on the edge during this period being able to tour in Europe with Sabir Mateen and William Parker, but running on empty in NYC. After one tour, instead of trying to improve my living situation, I bought a TV and a bike. It’s called living in the moment. I found some stability working at Barnes and Noble and Sam Ash, and would ride my bike all the way up and down the West Side Highway with my horns on my back. This led me to a park that had a universe dial of sorts that became my primary practice space at the river. Playing music by a river is really my favorite place in the whole world. I still have a picture of this for some context:

I was standing here playing when my cover photo was taken.

The culmination of my quartet journey was at hand. One of my oldest musical mentors, guitarist and harmony master Jack DeSalvo knew me when I was only 19 and only knew 1 scale. Jack had a new record label called Unseen Rain and we were talking about a recording. We agreed that a total switch up and new beginning might be the way to go. I was also very drawn to deal with the jazz side of my internal matrix. In pursuit of that vibe, I asked 3 stone cold jazz men to join me, and I mean stone cold. Hilliard Greene on bass, Tom Cabrera on drums, and Dr. Lewis Porter, pianist and jazz history master. We were a match and recorded The Matt Lavelle Quartet.

I really found my stride here. The flip was that my time with Ornette still had me at odds with my relationship with traditional harmony, and this was not truly a harmolodic situation. Lewis and Hill walked the line with me, and Tom laid it down so that I could search with confidence with my own spiritual swag. The opener, Matt’s Mode won an award for most modern composition of the year from a jazz magazine in the UK. I’ll even go full jazz academia and drop it here:

The flip is that after the Head, we were free to change keys at will but still use the modes in A and B. I ditched C in the studio.

Tamir Rice was written for Tamir after he was murdered by Timothy Loehmann in 2014, and is clearly coming from Coltrane’s Alabama, but on alto clarinet. Matt Bop was actually the most OC thing on the album, with my own free bop line and trying to use it rather than bop harmony. I’ve been threatening myself with making a standards album for years. The thing is that when I do that all this Lester Young stuff starts happening, but I’ve been writing my straight ahead language for a long time on the sideline. No More Shootings was and is a plea to stop what is an everyday occurrence in America now. Fear Has Got To Go was a defiant strut that really got to the heart of the group and was our go to on live concerts. Taps was for my risen brother-in-law, Michael Tapera in Zimbabwe. Taps was a truly special man who uplifted all those around him and was beloved and deeply respected. His passing left a crater that can never be filled.

I was performing quite a lot with my quartet. Besides my 12 Houses Orchestra, it was my lead ensemble. The first album was well received, and Jack was down for a sequel. Like all artists, I had to continue from where I left off and Hope was the result. People slept on Hope, but it’s an honest statement with bright moments. I had a picture of Roy Campbell next to me in the studio. This was one of those days when my horn polygamy caught up with me somewhat. My brass embouchures got tired from all the clarinet work. To flip my own script I led off with an original with changes. The Sideline is a contrafact of Wayne Shorter’s Infant Eyes in a different key and sped up. I didn’t do it to prove anything, I had to write the piece in pursuit of my jazz history masters degree. The sideline is a dark title, as I still struggled with my daily reality. Hope is one of my best pieces and I asked Tom Cabrera to play a protest march that swings, and there it was. I wrote a legit blues head for the studio cat Micio from my job at Michiko studios in NYC. I only found out later that Micio means cat in Italian. Black and White is my best composition, and is a focal point on my next 12 Houses record, more on this later. Trayvon Martin is the next piece about another murder in America. Trayvon fought back, and I wish he won that fight for his life. I finished the album trying to capture the elusive eternal supernatural force of Love. The vamp in the opening is actually a Monk piano voicing from Ugly Beauty, but most people wouldn’t catch it spread out like that. Perhaps the best thing about Hope was that a photo of my Grandfathers bust of Dr. Martin Luther Ling is on the back cover.

A few years later, the quartet vibe returned for a final run at Unseen Rain, but my working quartet was no longer gigging. I went back to the beginning and got my brother Chris Forbes on piano. Hill and Tom returned for the final album. Then the supreme flip, Jack and I agreed to ask the late great Claire Daly to join us on bari sax and make it a quintet. I’ll be damned if I didn’t once again name my daily life in a piece, as I was a full time hospital housekeeper at the time. I may stack the experience-cleaning operating rooms after bloody and violent surgery, being the ER cleaner, and the trash man for the whole hospital. Amputations have to go somewhere after processing. Jack helped me though, and called the album The House Keeper, as I was really the keeper of the 12 Houses. As usual, my music has been my own light in the dark, and the House Keeper album is loaded with both the darkness and the light. Church In Chinatown was a piano piece I wrote for myself to play piano with Daniel Carter and is very sensitive. Claire really schooled me here unintentionally as my solo was very aggressive and contrary to the vibe. She told a musical story with the perfect amount of notes. I believe her solo to be an example of the highest level of her art. Trust was a throwback to Matt’s mode, but with just a melody to work with. It’s like Ornette playing Impressions. Harmolodic Monk was a written piece using Monk’s language as I heard it, and a nod to my recording Harmolodic Monk. Finally, before the Last Sunset, I described the scene to the group:

“Every story within the human race has been lived and told. The story of Earth itself is now complete. We’re watching the last sunset. After we play, if you fly a spaceship to where Earth would be, it’s not there. Earth no longer exists.”

There’s video of the quintet filmed by Westbury Arts. The Housekeeper, Harmolodic Monk, Church In Chinatown, Trust, Last Sunset, and Housekeeper Blues.

The ML4 did perform quite often in NYC. Fortunately, two of these concerts exist on YouTube. If I couldn’t book one, we would stream one on my dime to keep the vibe going. We never toured. Our peak was playing at a church in Harlem arranged by the great Craig Harris. Here’s what I know to exist: Live At Scholes Street, and Live At Jazz Habitat. The one that I can’t locate was live at Shapeshifter, and that one was HOT.

I did make one quartet album without piano, and Ras Moshe on tenor saxophone. I in fact had my only tour as a leader in Sweden with this group. Francois was on board and Ras and I have been brothers since our meeting at the Brecht. The drummer here Bob Hubbard was great, but he couldn't make the tour, and I asked Dave Miller to do it, and he played great. I seem to always have had some kind of collapsed love life thing happening, and during the time of this album I was on the verge of moving to Italy to be with a great bass player there that I had met on tour with Sabir Mateen. The conflict within me was great, thus the title Goodbye New York, Hello World. I remember William Parker liked the title. Rose was the name I gave my cornet that I had gotten from my cousin Lance. You're The Tonic is one of my favorite things I have ever done. The title was from an Ornette riddle. I asked the guys to stay with me on the longest solo I ever attempted on swinging free bop. The thing is that François recorded the bass very strong in the mix, it was recorded in his kitchen. It was here that I discovered what harmolodic bass can truly be. Francois listened so closely and co-created with me to such a level that it’s almost a duet. I also asked the guys to push the conflict and contrast of so called in vs out leading to one of my favorite Ras Moshe solos. I’ll never forget selling a soprano sax to Ras Dad and talking to him at the sales counter when he said “Cut the bullshit and bring me the horn!” There’s great tunes and moments throughout this record. It got 2 good reviews and was then dispatched to the jazz abyss like so many self-published records these days. I’m happy I made it and believe in the music on it strongly. The OC quartet format is my favorite one, and should I tour again that’s what I intend to use.

Finally, to bookend my stack here (during a 9 day straight work bid during a Philly downpour no less) a rundown of my trio work. This could be a whole other stack, but I figure while I’m here…

My first real improv experience was in a trio, a collective vibe, that we called Eye Contact. Ryan Sawyer and Matthew Heyner on bass, we had the whole band story. Our very first time playing together we found a really unique group vibe, and it was released on Utech Records, on a limited run underground vibe. We had a regular hit at Zebulon in Brooklyn that was deep as F. Pieces from Zebulon were released on Embracing the Tide. Eye Contact toured the mid-west on a shoe-string, and peaked in Glasgow, Scotland. We made one studio album, and recorded another one that never made it out. I’ve got 12 or so live recorded concerts, and maybe one day they will make it out. Eye Contact has some of my peak free playing, and for me is my own benchmark of if I’m really playing or not. I was stunned to discover much of our concert in Glasgow here online! Discogs has Eye Contact With God and War Rug. Be warned, the studio album on KMB War Rug is dark. The live material is bursting with blinding light.

In contrast to Eye Contact, I led a trio recording and a trio at the same time called Spiritual Power. SP was a big deal. It was on Silkheart, a major European free jazz label with liner notes by Steve Dalachinsky, and a painting album cover by Bob Thompson. I thought I had arrived on the international stage with this recording, but it never landed like that. I wanted a rhythm section to push me through my jazz side with my tunes at the highest levels possible. Hilliard Greene and Michael T.A. Thompson were the fire, and when listening to the record, Ornette said “One of the reasons you sound so good is the high quality of your environment.” I know of no live videos of Spiritual Power, which played live at least 3 times. I made it a point to play one concert entirely on bass clarinet. SP has a lot of flugelhorn, and a lots of real high note playing that I’ve never done anywhere else. Roy Campbell Jr. was my inspiration here, and he dug this album. The album has some of best early tunes. End Times is a blatant attempt to use wide intervals melodically. Hey Liduva was for Liduva, and another one of my failed Love relationships. Seth Speaks was one of the first things I ever wrote about Seth being channeled through Jane Roberts. Tom Cabrera turned me on to the book Seth Speaks and this was my awakening to deeper reality.

Finally, I recorded In Swing We Trust, and The Big Picture. Swing was a free trio with Tom Cabrera and Phil Sirois on bass. It’s non-hostile, non-confrontational free swing playing. It’s I daresay peaceful. There’s some melancholy in their too. A gentle wading and affirmation through shallow waters of loss on a clear day. For me this is my coming out on e-flat piccolo clarinet, playing Giuseppi Logan’s actual horn. Playing in the upper register like this without straining, enables me to sing in a way the trumpet will never allow without going full Maynard. Picture was my attempt to lead a trio with 2 younger next generation musicians, and we had a good, but short run, that ended during Covid. The idea was to record all music that was written from a spiritual perspective. Music by William Parker, Albert, and my late friend Reverend Nat Dixon, a tenor man with his own literal congregation. Picture is live and the written music is a springboard for aggressive free playing from a spiritual place on clarinets, but reaching a place of embodied faith on trumpet and flugel.

Thank you for spending time with me this week, and I leave folks with He'll Be There For You.

Subscriptions are needed and truly appreciated.

Peace and Music

ML

Cover photo by Taras Logvin

I’m 69 stacks in here on the stack as I call it. I’ve pretty much written a book one week at a time. I plan to write an actual book titled The Spiritual Science of Sound. I’ve written here about musicians I knew and loved, many of whom never got their flowers. I’ve done a fair amount of jazz research here as well. I believe my 6 stacks on Paul Gonsalves to be some of the definitive work that exists out there. Lately I started getting into creation mechanics and deep diving the blues in jazz and asking what is melody? There’s no person, topic or question coming to me this week so I’m indulging myself with a deep dive of me. The main reason being is that I don’t think there’s anybody out there doing research on me the way I do on others. The truth is I’m also a completionist to a degree. That being said, this dive is on my orchestra the 12 Houses. Next week, I’ll do my no longer existing quartet, and then it’ll be a wrap. I was stunned recently after playing the Black Squirrel in Philly to meet a person who had a Matt Lavelle playlist.

I was with Ornette Coleman in his loft once and he was talking about the imbalance of male and female energy in the world. He said what would be amazing would be if there was a large music ensemble that had figured this out. In that exchange, the idea of the 12 Houses was born.

In my first attempt I went to far at the Brecht Forum with a group of majority women. The music was great but the energy went to far in the other direction. Next I went to the Stone for a truly incredible event with Catherine Sikora and Ras Moshe, Ras Miguel, Chris Forbes, Hilliard Greene, Michael T.A. Thompson, Michael Wimberley, and both Andrea Wolper and Lola Danza on vocals. I really went for it on this one. I also tried leading a large ensemble with strings at the Stone that has been lost to time. Both of these events helped me formulate the 12 Houses. I was also largely inspired by Matana Roberts beginning her Coin Coin project. The question I was asking myself is what can I do that’s me that’s just outside of everything.

The Houses first appearance was filmed by Windows have Eyes on June 27th, 2011 at University of the Streets. Everyone looks so serious! It was a beyond risk for me to try conducting and leading a large ensemble. What I was trying to do wasn’t just new to this great group of people, it was new to me as well. I wasn’t even conducting in the rehearsal and Ryan Sawyer suggested I cross the line. Part 2 of this event was a feature for Laura Ortman on violin and vocals singing my piece End Times. Indeed, as bad as things are today, we felt the world was ending then too. Laura is a real life comet that I knew from a music family of sorts known as Stars Like Fleas. SLF was an adventure away from jazz for me, though I was free jazz in the ensemble. I wrote a string quartet piece with SLF in tribute to queen Elis Regina. We added harp and used a pump organ to make it happen. I miss the fleas.

Our next stop was the Firehouse Space in Brooklyn. 12 Houses was official now and I started writing and just going for it. Windows Have Eyes was with me again, and these early wonderfully made videos are truly special in the history of the group. Daniel Carter, Solidarity, and Knee Braces. If you click on anything in this stack, click on Knee Braces. These videos are also Art Baron’s first time playing with us. Art has been the heart of the group ever since. We did a concert with Daniel Carter as our featured and lead soloist, something he doesn’t do often. YouTube has another full concert from the Firehouse: Set one, and Set two.

When Roy Campbell Jr. suddenly died, we sang his name and built from there in free jazz spiritual ceremony.

Shapeshifter Lounge was our next stop with special guests Bern Nix and one time Jemeel Moondoc guest led the orchestra, conducting his music. We also played the Dissident Arts Festival.

Next our Nublu residency began. Every Sunday for a year. Nublu had history and a great vibe. There was a giant picture of Butch Morris on the wall leading a conduction. Butch had led the Nublu orchestra there, so the environment was perfect. This was a composers dream with 2 sets every week. At this time I was working, going to school for a masters in jazz history, and doing hot yoga to keep my knees working. Nevertheless I tried to write new music every week. The real gift is that the houses were willing to come week after week. The audience was hit or miss and the bread was light. We carved out some space on the LES NYC music scene. One night I was stunned when Steven Bernstein and Eric Mingus pulled up. They were at the Stone around the corner.

The weeks that I can still track in all out completionism:

Valentines Day with the 12 Houses

Easter with the 12 Houses

The 12 Houses with Daniel Carter

The 12 Houses: Love Supreme

Let’s Tune the World

Skyscrapers for the Homeless

The Old South Will Die

The Gift

The 12 Houses play Miles Davis

The 12 Houses play Albert Ayler

The 12 Houses play Ornette

The 12 Houses play Wayne Shorter

The 12 Houses play Giuseppi Logan

The 12 Houses play Alice Coltrane

Special Edition

The 12 Houses featuring Nicole Johanntgen

During this time there was many special guests, several from outside the country. The drum chair was fluid for a minute with Ryan Sawyer, Tom Cabrera, Reggie Sylvester, and Bobby Kapp until Jeremy Carlstedt locked in. There’s lots of videos from this period on youtube and the 12 Houses Facebook page. The biggest change was I asked MC-spoken word artist Ar'braf, a master of free verse to join the houses. We had met with William Hooker and he was open to see what we could create together.

From Nublu we went and played a major concert at Roulette that I spent years trying to make happen. Playing Roulette was very important to me at the time. I felt that the 12 Houses were being overlooked and I wanted to plant a flag for all of us, so dedicated to playing. It was a good turnout and my late father was in house. He said he didn’t understand the music, but he was happy to see me in my element. Years later I discovered this entire concert online. Musically it was a wild night overall and the spirit was up. I composed The Black Lives Matter Suite for the occasion and I have mixed feelings about it some 10 years later. There’s music here from our book that was never recorded in the studio. In a spiritual sense, this concert was a bright moment for sure.

Over the course of the story of the band I tried to musically deal with the reality of America many times writing memorial pieces Sandra Bland, Tamir Rice, and Trayvon Martin. We had protest anthems Break Barr, Ted Cruz Must Lose, No More Guns, Bernie Sanders, and our main one Dump Trump. Here in Philly I have 2 more, AOC, and Jasmine Crockett Saves the World.

From Nublu we started playing at 2 music studios. Michiko, where I worked, and Scholes St in Brooklyn. Scholes has become a kind of second home for the houses since then.

In pursuit of completing my completionism we had the following events:

The 12 Houses: Africa (I had spent 2 weeks in Zimbabwe and South Africa meeting my wife Sue’s family)

The 12 Houses: Americana

The 12 Houses: The future is now

The 12 Houses featuring Hilliard Greene

The Night River

The 12 Houses play the Blues

The 12 Houses play Ornette

The 12 Houses with Daniel Carter

The 12 Houses 10 year anniversary

The 12 Houses: For Joe, For Juan, For Ramsey

Indeed, my musician friends Joe Rigby and Juan Quinonez had passed on, as did the great Ramsey Ameen who had joined us for the last few years and believed in what I was doing more than I did, and gifted me with big time support.

During this times James Keepnews produced 2 events for the houses. We played the Red Hook Jazz Festival and then James gave us the one and only time we played outside of NYC. He produced an epic event: Jazz at Atlas: The 12 Houses in Newburgh, upstate New York. The band was at full strength and great videos were made. Afterwards during a Q and A session, Ramsey Ameen gave a heartfelt talk.

Here’s Jazz at Atlas, part one and Jazz at Atlas, part two.

Everything was peaking for 12 Houses then and it led up to an amazing event where we were paired with the legendary Bernard Purdie and storyteller and pianist David Haney at Joe’s Pub. Joe’s Pub is a major NYC venue, and master Purdie is of course a legend. The concert was recorded and released on Bandcamp on David’s series New York Jazz Stories. The highlight for me was opening in a duo with Art Baron on plungers. I’ll never forget seeing Mr. Purdie giving drummer Reggie Sylvester a huge hug backstage. As ever, the human element supersedes all other experiences.

Joe’s Pub was in February 2020. Little did any of us know that Covid was coming down the pike. 12 Houses had peaked and now entered the abyss like everyone else. During this time I moved to Philly, but I’ve been back in NYC 6 times to date with the Houses:

Hymn to the Universe: The Francois Grillot memorial

Big Love: The 12 Houses play for Claire Daly

The 12 Houses play Drom

The 12 Houses: Back at Nublu

The 12 Houses Return: Bali and Beethoven

Indeed, both Francois and Claire, long time friends and Houses had passed on, and we celebrated their lives.

We also attempted an event in Astoria Park in extreme heat: 112 musicians for peace and unity. There was about 30 of us that came through. The warriors came out for this one. Even my Philly crew came out.

The 12 Houses have 3 official studio albums over the 15 year on going story of the music.

Solidarity was first and I’m enormously proud of the work. It was a great picture of the band at the time. The final piece, Faith, written for my Mom’s journey of 6 brain surgeries stands as the ultimate testament of her belief in life.

End Times was music from the same 2014 session that produced Solidarity. I pursued concertos of a sorts to feature different houses, much like Duke Ellington did with his band members like Johnny Hodges and Cootie Williams. Bright Moments abound. The unique element in these 2 albums is that they included the great singer Anaïs Maviel. Another comet, she continues to soar. I truly believe that she is one of those rare humans that was born to sing.

The Crop Circle Suite: Part One is our most recent release. I’ve written about it quite a bit here on the stack. In a nutshell, the music here is the reason I created the band. It took me about 12 years to get to the point where I could write it. It also took all the music played and documented here to reach.

Crop Circles Part One brings us to the next season of the 12 Houses. During that recording session 5 additional pieces were recorded more in the tradition of the earlier albums. I’ve attempted to record the core of our book. These 5 pieces each have their own story and history. In that way, maybe songs are actually living beings. They arrive this October 3rd, my late Mom’s birthday, on the Mahakala label. The cover photo above is locked in.

This whole thing about Philly being another borough of NYC is a joke. Philly is an entire other universe. From here my hope and plan is to continue the story of the 12 Houses whenever possible. I have several large works in mind for them. I’ve started writing Crop Circles Part 2 and also Sacred Flower Music where I’m writing music from my Sacred Geometry paintings.

I hope folks will get into Hymn to the Universe. I’ll have more to write about the release as we get closer. Like our pianist Chris Forbes says, and Chris was a house on day one, whenever the houses get together it’s special.

If anyone has the energy left for one more link, then the 12 Houses brightest moment is here in a moment filled with hope..

This one is dedicated to each and every house. Once you play with us, you’re a house for life.

Peace

ML

(Dig my own voiceover up top if you’re in the mood-ML)

One morning during my NYC renegade free jazz days I was standing on the 7 train platform in Queens during the morning rush hour headed to work. I had been out playing until 4am the night before, and had just barley escaped a mugging walking through Jackson Heights. There were no benches out there and I was sleepily leaning on my bass clarinet case. This was known as a one piece, a bass clarinet that is built as one long horn that doesn’t separate, so the case was fairly tall. I was tipping, in and out of sleep, when I lost my balance and my bass clarinet rolled off the platform right down into the tracks.

I immediately looked left to see if the train was coming, and indeed it was on the horizon. When you see the train coming like that you might be amazed at how suddenly it pulls up. I was in the state of mind then that all that mattered was playing. It looked like I could get down and get my horn and get back up on the platform, but that wasn’t clear. It was a beat up used horn worth $500. What went down into the tracks however was my music, and I went down in the tracks to save it.

While I was down there a woman screamed and people thought I was possibly committing suicide or something as I chose to go down there. The train was getting much closer, you could feel and smell it. I threw my horn back up on the platform, and then pulled myself up with about 15 seconds to spare. I was offered no help.

Once we pulled out that same woman was staring at me in the same subway car, and rightfully so. I had risked my life and survived.

During this time there would be days when I wouldn’t have a gig or a session and I would just be getting back on that 7 train at the same time every day after work at Tower Records. I would walk down the same stairs and walk into the same car and sit in the same area, deep routine vibe. The 7 train then would be parked, open, and waiting to pull out. The 7 train was also majority people that were not born in the Disunited Snakes. Jackson Heights where I lived then was, and maybe still is, one of the most diverse places on Earth. There was one street that had a Mosque and a Synagogue across the street from one another.

One day I was in the 7 waiting to leave after work when a racist white man in a trench coat started coming on to the train doing these long racist speeches about how everybody on the train was below him and why he was so superior. He was largely ignored for his ignorance, but I started to get wore out by him day after day. One day I had enough and went into my NYC renegade/free jazz superhero vibe, the same one where I went down into the tracks to save my horn.

I have a pretty strong speaking voice and can turn up if I have to. I summoned “the voice,” and put it on him heavy. I told him he was gonna stop with the racist speech or get lit up. He complained but folded. Mission accomplished, or so I thought.

A few days later, here he comes again with the racist speech. I remember asking myself if I was true to my word. Taking action without thinking (Aries) I verbally lit him up again, but I went to the next level and pushed him out of the car on to the platform where he stumbled and almost fell. I yelled at him some more, reminding him that I told him that this was what was waiting for him. He looked at me with astonishment and fear. Case closed, or so I thought.

I didn’t see him for a few weeks, and then here he comes wearing that same trench coat, but not giving the racist speech. I decided to wait and see how it played out.

I was then shocked to see him pull out a bag of miniature flowers, and walk up to every passenger and give them each a flower with a gentle smile.

He had been turned to the light.

I’m not saying I did it, but I’ll accept that I did challenge his darkness. That’s what we Don Ayler type trumpet players can do, with or without the horn.

We are the music we play.

I’ve witnessed the power of music more directly. When I was first arrived in Philly I needed a job and all I found was one as a hospital housekeeper. One of my tasks was to clean rooms after patients were discharged, one way or another. One week I kept entering a room for 2 patients and one of them was an old Asian man, who was blind. He was in pretty bad shape and wouldn’t move or say anything while I cleaned the other side of the room.

On the third time I went into his room I was surprised to see him sitting up in a chair in the middle, wide awake but with his eyes closed. He did not acknowledge me making noise cleaning.

He then proceeded to sing religious spirituals in a full bore baritone voice. He sang them with complete devotion, seemingly feeling them down to his core. I was there for 40 minutes, and he sang for at least 20 minutes as if he were leading a service in church. There were no nurses present, so it I was the only person in this space with him.

A few days later I came back in and he was gone. I don’t know if he left in person or in spirit. He had shown me the power of music in direct application. Whether he was healing himself, or preparing for the journey home, his soul was singing about his path, no matter where it may have led.

Down the road in Philly I was working for Door Dash and Instacart full time. This level of hustle drains the souls energy. One morning it was brick cold and I had to warm up my old car. I developed another work routine during this time, and would sing variations of a song I had called “Cold Car, Bright Sun.” I went to the next level and started filming these renditions and posting them on Instagram, trying to see how many different ways I could do it. I was trying to warm myself up acknowledging the cold car, but feeling the bright sun, which was me trusting life, and walking my path.

My usual parking spot was right in front of my row home, but I was in another spot right on the corner where I live. My neighbor had her car parked in my regular spot. I was in my car warming up and singing Cold Car, Bright Sun when I heard a MASSIVE CRASH. I was so into my song that I was disoriented.

Right behind me where I would 9 times out of 10 be warming up for work and singing my song were 2 wrecked cars. Another driver had completely lost control and totaled my neighbors car. The driver side where I would be was completely destroyed. People were coming out of their houses to help, and someone called 911. The driver had survived and was helped out of what was left of her car. My neighbor was not in her car. Both cars were up on the sidewalk in front of my house where I was seconds earlier walking out to my car.

What cosmic forces had me singing on the right while I could have been killed on the left? The only explanation I have is that my path must continue.

My story didn’t end on the subway platform in queens. My year as a hospital housekeeper didn’t take me out. I survived driving in Philly 40 hours a week for 2 years without an accident. I had my knee replaced. (I was singing to my wife Sue and listening to Trane in recovery) The contrast can be thick: I was unloading 12 pallets of perishable freight off an 18-wheeler with an electric jack when my phone dinged. My friend DM Hotep had sent me pictures of the new Marshall and Jamaaladeen album that I did the cover painting for. That same path led me to study with Ornette, play with William Parker, Giuseppi Logan, and Bern Nix. The same path said tour Europe with Sabir Mateen, and tour myself in Sweden.

I’m still here, and still walking my path.

My story has in fact, has only just begun..

TBC this Thursday when Airlift plays the music of Giuseppi Logan.

NYC 2007

I was down in Battery Park around 2am watching the rhythm of the night river under a silver crescent moon. I was all the way at the end of the walking path, where you can see the statue of Liberty in the distance. There’s blue lights around a garden area that may have its inspiration in the architecture of Japan.

I thought I was alone until I heard a heavy sigh behind me and looked to see a woman seated on a bench wearing a cloak. Her hood was covering her head and she was looking at the ground. Her posture was one of despair and intense loneliness.

I was stunned when she looked up and had no face! Where her face would be was a deep, glowing alizarin crimson. We didn’t speak aloud, but telepathically.

“Are you all right? Is there anything I can do?”

“There is nothing anyone can do now.”

“What’s happened?”

“I have been abandoned.”

“By who? Where are you from?”

“I am from the Tone World.”



“The Tone World!? What is your name if I may ask?

“My name is Alto. Alto Clarinet.”



“My name is Matt. I’m a musician. What do you mean you were abandoned?”

“There have been only a few attempts to bring me life here. I am not seen, but worse, I’m not heard. I’m misunderstood, ridiculed, and considered an outcast by many, a pretender.

I was born in Ancient Egypt, and then moved to the The Tone world for hundreds of years. The Tone World masters sent me on a mission to exist here many years ago. First, the idea of me was given to Iwan Müller and Johann Grenser. They got me started and then sent me to Adolphe Sax to be finished.

With not enough people to give me life, I am unable to truly exist. My light sound is dim. I fear I am fading into oblivion.”

“Well, not just yet. Perhaps I can help.”

“What can be done?” (said with caution but hope)

“Our meeting is no accident. We’ll begin by me playing your sound. I’ll give you everything I can give you. It makes sense that I met you here at 2am. I met bass clarinet here at 4am. I have close friends in the tone world, and if we all work together, then we can solidify your existence. It’s just not right to leave any sound behind.”

“Are the people ready for me now?”

“People are strange but so are you, and so am I. We’re also harmolodic, I’ll explain. Trust me. Come with me.”

Alto gently placed her hand in mine and gingerly stood up from the bench. She whispered to me:

“Where shall we go?”

I looked back to the path that led me here, that also led make to my room uptown in Washington Heights and told her:

“Our future awaits.”

****

Part 2

I remember bidding and winning an alto clarinet on Ebay while I was working at Sam Ash at the late Music Row in NYC. This was right around the time I met Giuseppi Logan. The only time I saw or heard anyone play the AC was Sabir Mateen. At the time I was in 3 of Sab's bands. I was playing trumpet and bass clarinet at the time and was very drawn to this horn that he was a master of. I got an open hole plastic Bundy for $300 and started checking it out. Once I started playing out with it, I was on a gig with the great JD Parran, the other living master of the AC. JD gave me some pointers and a lesson to get me out the gate.

Other than that, I went my own way, and in time, the AC and BC were battling for space. I decided to focus entirely on the AC for about 3 years, with of course my trumpet always being my home base and first priority. BC came back when I encountered a great one that I could get in a trade for my silver Bach Cornet. I may have maxed out 3 credit cards to finalize that deal.

The turning point for AC was at Ornette's. Almost everything I did or played with OC was under tight scrutiny. The most extreme for me was he told me to stop playing my bass clarinet mid solo, and said, "Give me that." He took it and put it on a couch outside the music room. He handed me my trumpet and said, "This is your horn."

So when I brought the AC over, I was gambling and afraid it would backfire somehow. We played a free duet for about 20 minutes. Afterwards I asked him what he thought and his whole vibe was different. He said, "Oh man, you're onto something with that horn."

I've never looked back from that moment.

The next learning milestone appeared when I was in Bern Nix's quartet. I asked him if he wanted the AC, and he said "Sure, as long as you can get down on it just as hard as when you play trumpet." I doubled down, and gave it everything I had in 100's of sessions with Bern.

Incredibly to me, I've been exploring and trying to define the AC for close to 20 years. I've definitely passed the 10,000 hour mark, though I have not mastered it. I have limited classical chops. Mostly, I try to sing, and do my thing. After many years I finally found the right set-up and as saxophone players know, that’s a big deal.

As ever, I remain fascinated as to why the sound has been cast aside from not only most classical players, but jazz. It has a unique voice, and a viable function. I know there's jazz AC players out there, but the only one's I know stateside are Sabir, JD, Andrew Lamb, Gerald Thomas, Jon Irabagon, Joe McPhee, Blaise Siwula, Matthew Banks, Madam Data, James Clark, and Dawoud up in Harlem. All of us practice horn polygamy, except Dawoud. He is the only person I know that only plays alto clarinet. He has a Selmer to boot, and is proud of it. This clip below from a Selmer ad says it all about the alto clarinet.

Perhaps all of us not giving up on the sound is making slow progress. I’ve tried to somewhat lead a crusade for alto clarinet over the years, and in the last decade or so I have attempted to make her home here permanent after I found her in the park. I do believe I made the only solo alto clarinet album in history, The Abandoned Sound. If I were to be able to just play one piece for someone on alto clarinet, it would be Dusk. Alto’s big moment came for us both recently, as she took the stage with me and got to play with William Parker, Matthew Shipp, and Hamid Drake in celebration of Daniel Carter. She met the moment, and I was proud of her to step up.

For the ultimate technical deep dive on alto clarinet, Mark Wolbers has dived deep.

The trip for me is that I’ve never played better on trumpet. Getting a Bach 43 changed everything for me. I feel like I’m really playing trumpet after playing 30 years. As I’ve written before the horn was gifted to me, and was the horn of Kevin Clark, a true ride or die Philadelphia trumpet man. The bottom line is that life-force is attached to horns when we spiritually commit. I always wondered about E-flat piccolo clarinet. When Giuseppi Logan passed on and I was given his horns, now I had one, and there was no other way I would have been able to procure and pursue it.

In truth, the piccolo clarinet has also been dismissed in jazz, though is widely accepted in the classical world. What gives? Like I did with alto, I’ve tried to push, if not lead with piccolo clarinet recently. I actually went to far and was called back home by the other horns. Piccolo clarinet enables me to process the influence of Coltrane’s soprano playing primarily. It’s a way to sing really high with zero effort from what is required on trumpet. Freed from classical constraints it can also get exotic as Duke might say. I have a recorded moment with it that throws up a signpost to the music world, though most will not see or hear it. I called it of course Giuseppi's Horn. For Giuseppi, it was whatever horn he could get his hands on. He brought this one to Sam Ash one day and we got him a mouthpiece and off he went back to Tompkins Square Park. The further trip is the horn is stamped with the word LEVEL. As Matt Lavelle says, you just can’t make this stuff up.

When I see the Downbeat Polls, both alto clarinet and I don’t exist. When I see alto getting the shade, I say that certainly tracks with her history. At this point though, I figured out the spiritual puzzle in regards to myself.

I’m 56 and have played jazz/free jazz seriously for 36 plus years. I was on the NYC scene most of that time and have recorded a decent amount. I have never appeared in a single downbeat poll ever, including rising star.

I don’t beef about it, I checked myself. I used to though and would post my verified Miles Davis quote “there’s no best in the arts” over and over.

The downbeat writers don’t know me, like me, hear me, or whatever. I used to think maybe I just care more about the music than the game. I’ve had a full time job all these years so it could also be I haven’t had the time and money to play it.

A good friend and great musician told me we all have our own path to walk, and that hit home.

Since not being “seen” by the Downbeat polls has been my path, then that’s the path I want, and I wouldn’t trade 36 years of being recognized like that for the success of staying on my path.

My path believes in the power of music, art, and even yes, writing to be vital to what we are trying to do down here on Earth.

Here’s to all artists true to their path, seen or not. If being seen by downbeat is your path, or not, be blessed. (I say that spiritually and not religiously)

Peace and time to shed before work

ML

Dedicated to alto and piccolo clarinet. May their sounds reign and know peace

Thanks to Sam Newsome for inspiring writing on specialties. Also thanks to William Parker who introduced me to the tone world.

ML

In 1979, I was the trumpet star of Pine Tree elementary, playing Popeye the Sailor Man for the whole school (with a scary high Bb above the staff). My first teacher in elementary school was Mr. Natoli, who struggled with my need to improvise with confidence unscripted in performance. I made my first LP recording with the all-county band pounding out trumpet 3 on March of the Three Oranges. My Mom, rest in heaven, told me decades later she knew which sound was me. In support, my late father gifted with me Herb Albert’s Rise, and of course Chuck Mangione’s Feels So Good. No Jazz in sight.

All at once my parents got divorced, I changed schools, and my grandfather (and hero) died. I was now the school outcast at Monroe-Woodbury Junior High. My teacher was now Mr. Sherman who ridiculed me in front of the band and put me on tuba, because the fat kid played tuba. Sherms put me in a room with a tuba while the orchestra rehearsed and gave me no instruction, not even a book. This musical humiliation of a kid led me to give up music. Before I quit however, I drew the picture below and gave it to my Dad.

Where could this possibly have come from?

I made it back to music when I was 16. I was sitting outside sketching in front of Nyack High School when the school music teacher, Bert Hughes, came over and said he heard I used to play. He offered to help me get my chops back that summer with the plan to join his jazz big band and do a tour of the Soviet Union during perestroika. It was here that I was baptized in my first actual jazz experience. I went to Sam Goody and they gave me Miles Davis You’re Under Arrest which I didn’t know what to do with. I eventually ended up with Miles greatest hits, Louis Armstrong’s greatest hits, and Maynard Ferguson’s Rocky album, all on cassette. Later on I would be told to quit art in college by a teacher I can’t remember, and then drummer Jimmy Lovelace would tell me to quit music at Smalls in NYC. It was persist or perish.

Fast Forward to just a couple years ago. My parents were both going down..hard. Their Twilight’s both had a sharp, crisp, stinging pervasive relentless darkness. As we were clearing out my fathers house, I found the trumpet spaceship drawing from 1982 above. I was always making art for him, though he certainly didn’t deserve it. I was stunned to discover that at 12 years old, I forecast what I would devote my life to around 30 years old when I finally found the realm of free jazz. As soon as I found this drawing, I decided to do a modern day update, now that I’ve been painting since Covid.

Here was the result:

I like to expand painting concepts, and after this one I mused where I could go next. Who would fly a bass spaceship I wondered? There’s only one possible pilot, the great Jamaaladeen Tacuma. I had got to know him through my brotherhood with Bern Nix. We had been talking about a painting. I wrote him asking what bass of his would make a good spaceship? I was stunned again when he responded with the idea for me to do an album cover painting for a record he was producing and playing on: Marshall Allen’s 101, an Audio Odyssey!!

Like all of us, I have always been in complete awe of Marshall. Though he lives around the corner from me now, we never met. I have marveled especially at his creative power, getting even stronger. I’d witnessed him conduct saxophone killers in the Arkestra. The heaviest for me was when he did a Vision Festival Conduction and Daniel Carter went with the vibe, something he doesn’t do. I asked him how that went down and he said the only word that was needed… “Marshall”

I went to work on the painting right away. My car transmission went down, and this gave me a week to really go to town as I couldn’t work. This was the real work. Jamaaladeen asked me to bring by what I had done to the studio where he and Marshall were working on the recording. This was the art without any color. “The ink stage” is what I call it. I went over to the studio nervous to meet Marshall. I had a message to deliver. We showed him the painting and he had an instant musical reaction that said he dug it. While we were all listening to some play backs I gave him my message:

“Man, I have a message to deliver to you.”

“Oh cool, what’s that?”

“Sabir Mateen says hello and that he loves you.”

Marshall Allen then had a wide smile and proclaimed:

“Mateeeeeeenn…”

A few weeks later the painting was finished, and Marshall’s 101st birthday ritual was going down at Solar Myth in Philly. Jamaaladeen wanted us to present the painting to Marshall during the event. It was packed. I was surprised to see Andre 3000 on stage. My friend from NYC, the great Dick Griffin was on trombone. Dick is a fellow painter-musician with his own incredible story. He’s one of the most honest people I’ve ever met. We also played together on Spontaneous with William Parker. My solo on Spontaneous is the space trumpet music I imagined in 1982. Marshall was leading the way musically and he just kept getting stronger and stronger as the night went on. After maybe 90 minutes of music we did the presentation. I’m pointing at the the Ra house, which I placed on top of Marshall’s EWI spaceship.

Now the album is ready to come out on July 24th, and here’s the link! Just yesterday Terry Lawson and I played a parade here in Philly, but on the way Terry said we had to make an important stop. We pulled up to the new Marshall Allen mural, just minutes from my row house.

My music, painting, and writing worlds are all here together on this post.

All 3 of us have a heartfelt salute to the living legacies of Marshall Allen and Jamaaladeen Tacuma.

Thanks for reading. Subscriptions are needed and truly appreciated. My artwork is all at Mattlavelleart on Instagram. I do album covers as well. Please contact me if interested.

Happy Sunday,

ML

Between playing at the Vision Festival in NYC last night, and working full time as a closing manager at a supermarket, I have no new topic to delve into this week, so I’m going to do what Johnny Griffin said he did with Monk, and go for myself. When I first started writing in 2009 or so, it was true improvisation. It was also improv without chops. I intentionally used grammar wrong, ending sentences like this..,,, That may make readers cringe, and these days it’s borderline gross and disgusting right? I just let it fly. I went so far as to even write a book this way called NYC SUBWAY DRAMA and Beyond. To try and humiliate me at my day gig at Sam Ash, the horn repair guys gave a copy to trumpet king Jon Faddis to get his response. Mr. Faddis had an interesting response though, he asked wouldn’t it be interesting to write a story with absolutely zero punctuation?

Last night Daniel Carter got his flowers at Vision Festival 30 and it was an honor to stand with him. He received a standing ovation, which was great to witness. True to himself, he made the music a group experience, and the music was the leader. DC is part of the core story of NYC free jazz.

I have a bizarre relationship with jazz history. I have a masters in it, and enjoy research on my own terms as I do here on the stack. What I have received here in a year is about 1 month of a student debt payment. I have written about the musicians I knew that didn’t get to work on their own legacies. In the last few years, the universe has sent me to help people document directly.

It started when I played with the great Gary Hassay. As soon as I met Gary he told me that he was running out of time and that he was worried about his archives, and his legacy. The universe arranged our meeting as I was there to play, but I also knew who to call. I reached out to a jazz history master archivist who sent a team to do the right thing with Gary’s work. Time did run out for Gary, but his music made it to a safe place to live on. This same jazz archive superhero is now working with my buddy Francois Grillot’s hundreds of sessions from his NYC kitchen. Deep in the Francois archives is the next Bern Nix quartet album, fully recorded but unreleased before both Bern and Francois left town. Now I’m personally assisting with the Roy Campbell archive. One of the first things I discovered is seen in my cover photo. Roy, Francois, and Dee Pop were all friends of mine. There in front of me were the 3 of them playing together live at CBGB’s (upstairs) to a packed house, and they were on fire. Francois was recorded really well, (the bass often suffers) and he is just free swinging his ass off in musician speak.

I end up involved in the music of my close friends that have passed on so much that I see myself like Luke Skywalker sitting with force ghost Obi-Wan Ben Kenobi. One thing I can say but cannot explain here, is that musicians who dedicate their lives to music are still involved with and aware of what is happening with their music down below.

Even further, when we are playing music here, they somehow can sense it. They may even come and listen even though we can’t see them. You can feel their presence. Not just musicians, but also people that are close to us. It can happen even just in the woodshed. I was shedding tunes one day when I suddenly heard Claire Daly’s voice. She said “I knew you could play this way!” I was playing her bass clarinet that she sent me before she passed, which could be a factor but unknown. I know that Roy Campbell Jr and my late mom Theresa Beck where both in the house last night. Roy was there to hear his people and my Mom was there for me. The trip with Roy is that he might pull up with Lee Morgan. I don’t think people grasp the scope of spiritual power that can flow through a trumpet. Roy and Lee are still trumpet players if that makes any sense.

The culmination of all of this is that just recently I have begun the process of releasing the second half of the recording weekend session that resulted in the Crop Circle Suite with my 12 Houses orchestra. This music was from our book that developed during our year long residency at Nublu classic. The recorded 5 pieces are stacked with bright, heartfelt, and touching moments.

What’s heavy is that as Francois Grillot was entering his twilight here in this vibration, he asked me that if anything should happen to him, that I record his piece Hymn to the Universe and that we dedicate it to his daughter Charlotte.

Francois did ascend, and when we made it to the studio we did exactly as he asked, recording his great waltz, composed for his parents in Burgundy, France.

Now on my late mom’s birthday October 3rd, the music will be released.

From the skies above, force ghost or not, I can sense and feel Francois smiling knowing that one of his last wishes will now be fulfilled.

They are still with us, urging us to keep going.

Trust and Believe..

See you next week, peace

ML

We Love You DC

I’m no John Coltrane scholar, but I have participated from my moon base here in North Philly. When I first arrived from NYC 4 years ago, I was asked to do a talk on Coltrane’s astrology chart at a Coltrane symposium. I’m playing at a Coltrane tribute here on September 19th. I often think about how Coltrane made the move from Philadelphia to NYC, while I made the move from NYC to Philadelphia. When I play NYC now, I travel what has been dubbed “The Coltrane Commute” but in reverse. I was just there last night with Ras Moshe Burnett. When I was working for Instacart, I ended up with a delivery right near Coltrane’s Philadelphia house. It was raining hard, but I pulled up and took pictures. The well known row houses in Philly and Baltimore, that’s what Coltrane had, and that’s what I live in now, a row house. I’ve learned the folks here are very proud that Coltrane came up here. I did another delivery and had Coltrane playing softly on my phone in my pocket. A nice older lady opened the door and she instantly sang his name, telling me that when she was a kid, Trane and his friends would be practicing in her kitchen!

I’ve been drawn to take a closer look at Coltrane’s time in Philly before New York. To think he was making this commute to work for Dizzy Gillespie and Johnny Hodges while battling a heroin addiction boggles the mind.

It started with Coltrane joining Dizzy Gillespie’s big band in September 1949, to play lead alto. Paul Gonsalves was the main tenor soloist as I’ve chronicled here in my stack. Dizzy was playing commercial material but still making it hip, as a mater of survival. In his book To Be or Not to Bop, Dizzy said “The bebop fad ended because the press could kill anything it created.” As he elaborated, “Our music, modern jazz, continued and grew. Miles ushered in an innovation that the press immediately smeared with the term cool jazz.” When Dizzy had to downsize in June 1950, 24 year old Coltrane got the call to join Dizzy in a small group on tenor saxophone.

From January 1951, we have a live broadcast of Dizzy and Trane. Right off Dizzy is burning it up, and Coltrane holds his own with fluid chops with a Bird influence. There is where I had to immediately pause and consider that Coltrane was essentially in Bird’s chair. While Bird and Diz were working independently of each other in January 1951, Diz had Trane, and Charlie Parker had one of his last live performances with Miles Davis at the Hotel Diplomat. Proof that this is Miles here can be found by listening to April in Paris, and what a trip to hear Bird play Caravan!

Back to Coltrane with Dizzy, he was entrusted with the break and solo on Tunisia. The urgent vocal upper register sound that we know from Trane is there as he meets the moment. On Birk’s Works, the advanced harmony hasn’t arrived yet, but that sound and feeling is Trane. The real trip is to hear the strong influence of Dexter Gordon. Coltrane was open about it, but it’s striking to hear it so clearly. In March 1951, Coltrane was in the studio with Dizzy for We Love To Boogie. Coltrane has the lead solo, and the first chorus is all him. I was struck to hear a Pres moment on the second chorus. While the Dexter and Pres influence moments are present, they are isolated, and Coltrane worked through them. I’ve read commentary like “Coltrane wasn’t Coltrane yet” I disagree. His sound and rhythm are there. He was growing in search of truth through his craft. Incredibly, also in March 1951, is the time Miles Davis hired both Coltrane and Sonny Rollins (with Bud Powell and Art Blakey!) for a dance job at the Audubon Ballroom.

From the book Coltrane on Coltrane:

“See, I stayed in obscurity for a long time, because I was happy to play what was expected of me, without trying to add anything. I saw so many guys get fired from bands because they tried new things that I was somewhat disgusted to try anything else! I think it was with Miles Davis, in 1955 that I started to realize what else I could do.”

“What I didn’t know with Diz was that what I had to do was really express myself.”

10 years later in 1961, Coltrane as a leader was paired with Dizzy for a European tour. Though he was more fully actualized, the learning continued:

While still living in Philadelphia and working in Philly and NYC, Coltrane joined alto saxophone king Johnny Hodges in the Spring of 1954. Hodges had left Duke Ellington from 1951 through 1955. While Coltrane didn’t record solos in the studio, a live date exists from that summer, believed to be in California. Coltrane was hired as the only other saxophone (tenor) and expected to play a specific contrasting role. Here was 27 year old Coltrane with the Ellington greats Hodges, Shorty Baker, and Lawrence Brown, but without Duke. Incredibly, Call Cobbs, the piano player known from playing with Albert Ayler much later is on piano.

On Thru for the Night, a laid back strut, after a mellow solo by Baker, Coltrane plays double time swing, leaving almost no space, in sharp contrast to the older guys. Hodges was in his mid 40’s. It’s an aggressive move and Coltrane is getting closer to himself.

Castle Rock will make you flip your wig. One of the expectations of the gig, a rhythm and blows blow out. It’s well known that Trane walked the bar as a working musician, but here you actually get to hear him do it, standing with the ex-Duke low key renegades. The low B-flat SLAMS and the BIG BLUES on top, Trane does the job. The thing is you can hear that’s it’s him doing it. As ever, when Coltrane held out notes in the upper register, his voice is unmistakable.

Back to the mellow strut, on In A Mellow Tone, Coltrane follows solos by Hodges and Baker. He’s still amped from Castle Rock and swoops in with loud swing playing. Some of the phrasing we know from his later years comes through with a little of his sweeping double time towards the end. Lawrence Brown follows right in the pocket with his complete uniqueness. Another mind bender is that after all that blowing, Hodges gave Coltrane a ballad feature on Don’t Blame Me. I was again struck by the vibrato and still present shades of Dexter Gordon. It’s a short and somewhat declarative, semi-dramatic rendition, a pleading to not be blamed. There are absolutely shades of Trane here.

In the book Coltrane on Coltrane again, Trane spoke about the experience.

“I enjoyed it. Yeah, I enjoyed it. Yeah, we had some true music, you know. [ Laughs ] Lawrence Brown, I like him immensely.”

“We played honest music in this band. It was my education in the older generation.”

Coltrane is on record saying that Hodges was his first inspiration on saxophone. Years later after Coltrane recorded with Duke Ellington, Johnny Hodges, who had put an indelible stamp on the composition In a Sentimental Mood as a member of the Ellington band, told producer Bob Thiele that Coltrane’s version was “the most beautiful interpretation I’ve ever heard.” – Ted Gioia.

To think that after Dizzy Gillespie and Johnny Hodges, Coltrane was still growing and seeking guidance. Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk were next, as is well documented. Only then did he truly plant his flag after the crucible with Miles.

John Coltrane had no time to waste, and he felt he had already held himself back battling addictions. When asked about his astrology he said:

“I have my moon in conjunction with Mars In Taurus, in direct opposition with Saturn, the deadly planet, in Scorpio, the sign of death! Also I have my ascendant and my Venus in the sign of Virgo; three bad aspects of my birth chart. I won’t live to be very old!” (John Coltrane His Life and Music by Lewis Porter p-256)

I’ve placed the last sentence in italics myself, as this is a haunting statement. Just how much of this belief did Coltrane carry as part of his music? He was right of course. Death is the most elusive mystery of astrology and life, but on some level, had he accepted that he only had a short time to exist here? His legendary practicing makes sense from a perspective like that. The astrology supports his statement on his later music that he had no choice other than to play it. It’s the sound of extreme transformation. Here’s a good time to pass the baton to Lana Jackson at The First Wave.

People are receiving John Coltrane’s messages today more than ever. If the world is truly experiencing a spiritual awakening, then his music is right there for people that are ready. While he was canonized in 1982, I feel that John Coltrane lived a life of profound humanity. He spent many years studying, practicing, and seeking guidance. Can anyone in jazz conceive of the idea that Dizzy Gillespie, Johnny Hodges, Miles Davis, and Thelonious Monk were all his on the bandstand mentors? Has anyone been more ready than John Coltrane when he formed his great quartet? As is well known, his search continued right into Interstellar Space.

I have not modeled my life after John Coltrane, but I cant escape the parallels. Hildred Humphries, Roy Campbell, Sabir Mateen, William Parker, William Hooker, Guiseppi Logan, Bern Nix, Daniel Carter, Charles Gayle and Ornette Coleman were and are all in person mentors. I’m here in Philadelphia playing in Philly and NYC. At 56 I’m ready for my own bust out. Even though I’ve always had a full time job, I came here to actualize my music as well. I’m not on a timer though, or am I?

Either way, I don’t worship John Coltrane. I see his life as a testament, a creed:

Do the work.

Discover the truth.

Get better every second of every day.

TBC at the Vision Festival 6/28 with Daniel Carter and Black Octopus. I joined three other musician-writers to write about DC here.

For the Rose.

Through my relationship with Mahakala Music, I continue to encounter devoted musicians that are not on the NYC or Philly scenes. Here’s to the musicians holding it down in Baltimore, Washington D.C., Boston, Detroit, Minnesota, Los Angeles, Memphis, the mid-west, and beyond. Over the years I’ve seen many musicians pass through the NYC scene and tap out as a matter of survival. After an experience like that, some eventually let their music quest fade. I’ll never forget a guitar player I met working at Tower Records who after 2 weeks of living in the city hit a wall and bounced, never to return. I’m not throwing shade on NYC (Congrats KNICKS!) My people there are still on the front line and finding a way, and Mamdani is on fire like a great transformative musician. I see him as the first true leader of a future that we all have no choice but to reach. Mamdani is changing without destroying, he’s building, not breaking. Back to music, there’s a long history of musician survivors that existed underground most of their lives in NYC. Whenever this subject comes up when I’m with my fellow music practitioners, the name Ken Simon will always come up. Ken would want people to remember his music, not his appearance on The People’s Court, his getting fired by Cecil Taylor, or how he terrorized us at the Sam Ash counter over reed discounts. The stories about Ken are legendary and I need a full stack to flesh it out.

There are also very special musicians who build, develop, and practice their craft without ever having the need to live in the NYC cauldron. Musicians who plant their creative flag outside the big scenes doesn’t mean that they’re not a vital part of the music. Here’s the great Aaron Martin Jr. leading off The 12 Houses play the Blues right next to and before the late great Claire Daly. Aaron would make the trip all the way from his home base in Washington, D.C. to play with us. He had a deep history there. Hasan Abdur-Razzaq was a great alto saxophone player based in Columbus Ohio, both a prolific visual artist, and a lifelong devotee and practitioner of free jazz. Razzaq comes from the Cleveland scene of the late 1960’s that produced the Ayler Brothers, and cellist Abdul Wadud, amongst others. I hope folks will take a listen.

Coming down the pike on Mahakala, I’ve encountered saxophonist Frank Trompeter and drummer and percussionist Richard Gilman-Opalsky and their new album Antifascist Freedom Music. Richard was in NYC for a period and crossed paths with my friend Ras Moshe at a music protest. He was also on the ABC No Rio scene. Life called him to Springfield, Illinois. Richard was hesitant to leave without knowing he could keep playing his music out there until he discovered Frank, where as he described it, they felt an instant fire connection. Frank is a Chicago native and into Mars Williams. Upon first listen, I felt an extreme intensity coming from the duo. I in fact heard a level of urgency that I rarely encounter even in the NYC underground to be honest. This music is not about exploration and abstraction of sound. As Richard explained, he wished that the music could be force listened to by the ICE murderers right before the executions of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, and that the music would have made them lay down their guns. Richard said that when they hit the studio, George Floyd, Renee, Alex, and the reality of Chump’s America was on their mind and boiling over. The recording is very much an in the moment flashpoint reaction. Richard noted that Fascists hated jazz and that he plays percussion instruments that were banned in Nazi Germany.

In contrast to the energy of the music, on our interview Richard sounded peaceful but just as serious. He side he gravitates towards music that pushes and leaves you empty. He tries to separate and protect the music but is getting comfortable with musical honesty. Richard cited Sun Ra as an inspiration and said he believes in the idea of music for a different world. Ra seemed to not only point out out that he wasn’t part of this world, but that somewhere out there is what the world could be if we could dispatch all this hate and ignorance. Richard cited the great David S. Ware and Milford Graves as profound influences in musical and spiritual honesty, and in being unstoppable forces of music. Richard also loves the wizardry of the great drummer Marc Edwards. He also cited Charles Mingus album Let My Children Hear Music. He opposes people not stating overtly that jazz is Black music, and the fact that all musicians today, by and large, their hero’s are Black. Besides teaching political theory at the University of Illinois, Richard teaches revolutionary politics in prison. In prison he’s seen that no music is allowed as the goal is to inflict pain on the inmates non-stop. Richard himself plays music every day, admittingly at times as self-therapy. He describes himself as a lifer in the music liner notes and knows in his heart that he is never going to stop.

Frank Trompeter believes in what America could be, which led to the piece titled Lift Every Voice and Scream, where he deconstructed the Star Spangled Banner. Frank plays soprano, alto, and tenor saxophone on the album. He is a full time believer in his music with Richard as evidenced in the title on the piece Another Twenty Years. This piece brings out Franks soprano voice starting on a peaceful island within the maelstrom before the crashing tidal waves are summoned.

You can join Richard and Frank on the front line on Antifascist freedom music, released fittingly on July, 4th 2026. Repeated listening is suggested to digest the depth. There’s 2 kinds of records. Those you hear once and you’re good, and those you come back to, the ones that are on to something, possibly something the listener can discover about themselves in the process. The music here calls you back.

To bring it full circle back to the off the grid music warriors out there, Richard hipped me to the incredible alto saxophone of John Gruntfest, also known as “Waveman.” Gruntfest has been out there living the music since the 60’s. He told Richard he gave up on recognition and decided to focus on the music long ago. Upon listening to Gruntfest, I heard a level of alto I have only heard reached by Sabir Mateen. In my own life my closest collaborators have all given their lives to music, no matter the cost. Speaking of, I just played with Philadelphia tenor legend Terry Lawson last night at the Black Squirrel. TL is one of my main music partners here in Philly. Terry toured with Roy Haynes back in the day, playing Slugs, and the legendary Apollo theater. Like everybody in my stack today, Terry is music from then, now, and forever more. Here is Terry on fire with Jamaaladeen Tacuma, Mary Halvorson and Tomas Fujiwara!!

Finally, I’ll be with Daniel Carter, in celebration of DC, to close out the Vision Festival this year. Next stack I’m going back in time again to take a closer look at John Coltrane with Johnny Hodges and Dizzy Gillespie.

For the record, I may use A.I. as a research tool, but I will never, ever, let A.I. write for me. Subscriptions are both needed and appreciated.

Peace

ML

For much much more on free jazz history in Cleveland and Detroit, check out the book I Hear Freedom by Cisco Bradley

Indeed much has been written about the passing of Sonny Rollins, much of it within 24 hours. I’ve been writing in my head all week at work and Sunday is the day to reflect. Like I said to an audience I played for on Wednesday, Sonny Rollins transition is so large an event, that you can see it from space. The spiritual and musical cavern he left is vast.

The first Sonny that reached me was his solo version of Body & Soul. As a burgeoning musician, the clarity and coherence was planted in my musical DNA, where it resides permanently for all of time. It was Sonny here that actually helped me to hear Bird clearly. Soon after, I realized that here was a hero that was still with us. I was an art student at Suny New Paltz when Sonny came through. Backstage I asked him the ridiculous question who was taller, him or John Coltrane, as I was also deep into Trane at the time. The lessons and directions in their music have made such impact, that all jazz musicians have to keep listening and process it all out for themselves over a course of years. Sonny was actually cool with the question and answered it honestly. I even apologized afterwards, but he said “I get it.” To redeem myself I asked him about Clifford Brown and Sonny said that Clifford was a beautiful person. He added that since I played the trumpet, Clifford was a true example of doing the work to become great. A friend of mine, a tenor player, gave Sonny roses.

Years later after a failed bid in the straight ahead battleground, I was working as the jazz manager at Tower Records at Lincoln Center in NYC. I was asked to be Sonny’s assistant at an autograph signing and grasped the opportunity with a tight fist. When I arrived he was seated in a closed off area at a table with 2 chairs and I pulled up. I had planned what I would try to talk about and nervously said my favorite Sonny Rollins moment was Three Little Words. I had no idea Lester Young was fond of the song and it’s wonderful lyrics. I was all about the stunning level of in the moment improvisation. Sonny was wearing shades and looking in another direction, but when I said that he turned and lowered his head, making eye contact, and said:

“Me too man, that was one of the good ones.”

Soon after a woman entered that Sonny knew and I disappeared from view. I had received an incredible gift, and insight into his relationship with his music.

I kept listening of course, and will continue to listen like all of us today. I saw him at Bradley’s in the Village. My supreme Sonny listening experience was up next on August 10th, 2004 at Lincoln Center, right next to my job. Sonny was playing a free outdoor concert and everybody in my crew was buzzing. In a moment I’ll never forget, I met up with Daniel Carter, Sabir Mateen, and Ras Moshe, all deep tenor saxophone players, to witness the king. The sky was so overcast that I was scared of a rainout, but Sonny forged ahead. During the music Daniel was being very vocal about how he felt about the music, and a woman nearby made the mistake of asking him to stay silent. Don’t take us out of the Sonny zone. I’ll never forget how Sonny went from musician to musician to trade improvisation, to talk to them. Sonny was so hardcore that he traded with the percussionist on a ballad!

As the music continued, the sky darkened and became ominous, and the wind picked up. Sonny continued on. He launched into a solo cadenza deep into the set and as he did, he was in commune with nature. The clouds would not break. The heavens above literally parted in this moment. After the concert, a brilliant sunshine spread across Lincoln Center. I had seen with my own eyes what I heard Sonny speak about: the big picture.

Afterwards, we went to my spot, I lived at 50th and Broadway. I remember Daniel saying that Sonny was far beyond any notion of free vs. straight-ahead. He was Sonny. Sonny himself said years later that however people view him, he was happy to sometimes be considered a free player.

Sonny’s relationship with free jazz is something I have studied for years. A vital connection point that for me unites jazz like nothing else. For a musician like him, a true master of rhapsodic melodic improvisation that transcends all boundaries to take the chances he did just boggles the mind. This is the mark of a true artist. As evidence I present his closing improvisation on East Broadway Run Down. Did anyone in jazz history ever go that hard in the paint?! Sonny went even further playing openly in direct exchange with the father of the tenor saxophone, Coleman Hawkins on the famous Sonny Meets Hawk. Has there ever been a moment in jazz history when someone was so honest about the environment they were in at the time, in relation to the tradition of the music? Sonny answered the ultimate what if question when he could have easily gone straight down the road out of respect. Hawk was the ultimate collaborator having been part of the early bebop movement himself. Sonny didn’t just explore in the studio, he hit the road with Don Cherry, Henry Grimes, and Billy Higgins as is well known. Sonny was down with Ornette and his explorations. I asked OC about Sonny and he said that Sonny asked him to join him playing down by the literal riverside. Sonny’s connection to nature is revealed here once again. The supreme example will always be Sonny playing out on the bridge.

In a joint interview with David S. Ware (thanks Matthew Shipp and James Keepnews for sharing), Sonny elucidated on the idea:

FM: Sonny, you said once in an interview: the saxophone is an open sky...

SR: Yes that's true. But you know Franck, I think that what I meant was "music is an open sky. I think that the real, well expressed thought from me could be interpreted as the saxophone is an open sky; that would not be far from the mark...

Here I would suggest a book with that actual title by Eric Nisenson.

Sonny Rollins was a truth seeker and messenger at the same time. He was never afraid to give it all to the search for deeper human meaning through music. In the same interview Sonny said:

“We can make things celestial. If you look around in this world, nature, even a beautiful city like Paris which is the most beautiful city of the world, it is just concrete, so you need, it's so much more to it. And music sort of, is definitely a bridge to other things, if you can use it. Music is also providing people in another way, which is very good, people enjoy music when they are going to work, music helps them at that level just. But going to more profound levels, so it can also, like you said, depending on where your mind is and under, and music, what it can bend to, it is more than just a pleasant way to live in this world. Much more than that.”

The last time I saw Sonny was at Ornette’s funeral. I was sitting with Hamiet Bluiett in the middle somewhere before it began. Ornette’s saxophone was on a stand that I had just given to Denardo.

The whole church went quiet and turned back, looking to the entrance.

Sonny Rollins walked down the center aisle, and as he did a legion of jazz musicians spiritually bowed in respect.

*

Now the world sees.

Sonny Rollins, his mission complete, has left us with his music.

Sail on, saxophone colossus..

Now and forever..

*

For Sonny Rollins

To complete my Paul Gonsalves focus, his sideman work without Duke Ellington that is not generally known. Next week I’ll leave my time machine and return to 2026. As jazz musicians today we always have to decide to live in the past or the present, and for some of us, the future.

Trumpet player, big band leader, composer and arranger Gerald Wilson was Paul’s roommate while they were with Count Basie. For the final word on Paul, nobody said it better than Gerald in this live interview. As Gerald said, Paul was also a great guitar player and also an artist. Paul did a painting of Gerald that was totally accurate, but added a beard and said that’s how Gerald would look when he was old. He spoke of how fluent Paul was to just play anything, without even having to go over it. Most telling to me was the statement “He would give you the shirt off his back.” True to form, Paul takes care of business with Gerald in a roaring big band setting on Romance in 1954.

While Duke was in Chicago in 1957, pianist Billy Taylor incredibly scored a date as a leader with Duke’s core soloists at the time: Clark Terry, Britt Woodman, Johnny Hodges, Paul Gonsalves, and Harry Carney. Taylor’s balanced program places them in a modern environment. The key difference is how they respond harmonically with Taylor’s more straight-forward approach on piano. Paul is concise, clear, and swinging as ever at 3:30 and 16:44 on Taylor Made Jazz. I rode an elevator once with Mr. Taylor and we just smiled at each other.

In 1960, Duke’s clarinet player Jimmy Hamilton led and arranged a large ensemble date, and featured Paul on the recording Swing Low, Sweet Clarinet. Paul can heard throughout as a voice in the ensemble. he solos with crisp coherent swing on tracks 1, 2, and 5. Hamilton also played tenor but stayed focused on the clarinet here. I keep reading how hard the clarinet is to play. If you want perfect clarinet technique, no doubt. Clarinet is like trumpet where you have to decide if the horn itself will tell you how to play music.

26 year old Quincy Jones arranged Two Years of Torture in 1960 for Ray Charles, and Paul got the tenor solo. The vibe here of course, is that feeling when you’re cut off from your significant other emotionally and yes, physically as well. Paul goes more sweeping chops than raw blues expression here. I met a saxophone player that toured with Ray and I heard some off the wall stories. Ask me about these in person, they’re too hot for Substack.

In 1961, Nat Pierce assembled a large ensemble in the studio and composed The Ballad of Jazz Street in 3 parts for the entire side of the album. Paul is featured on Part Two. The vibe is walking alone in a city at night. You’re headed to a bar with the feeling that your girl just left you, you’re broke, or both. The feeling is transformed into the deeper meaning of the human experience through music. Pour me another and keep em’ coming..

In 1961 there was also a rare recording led by Duke’s baritone saxophone man Harry Carney. Harry asked several of his brothers from Duke to join him on music composed and arranged by British jazz musician Kenny Graham. Paul got the feature on the blue ballad Baby Blue. Dig the piano and bass opening and close, like landing on a cloud.

In the early 60’s Paul hooked up with Latin-American music band leader Phil Barboza, his early band leader in New Bedford, MA. Barboza played Cape Verdean music, connecting Paul to his roots. Paul is featured here on the stellar Vi Vi. He uses more vibrato than usual and is all in with declarative tenor singing. Paul is also heard here with Barboza on Só Sabe. Só Sabe (He Only Knows) has unexpected, intriguing transitions that are executed flawlessly. A truly rare, unique, and original moment in Paul’s story. Dig that record cover (my cover photo).

I’m betting folks never heard Quincy Jones arrange a Charles Mingus tune with solos by Paul Gonsalves and Clark Terry! Boogie Bossa Nova from 1963 will give you just that. As close as we’ll ever get to hear Paul with Mingus. Check out Paul’s high note entrance!

In 1963, Sal Nestico couldn’t make a date with Woody Herman and Paul stepped in. Paul basically steals the show here towards the back of Aurora. Paul also takes a nice turn on “Freud’s and Alice’s.” He also sprints while the band struts on Woodpecker’s Ball. I don’t know much about Woody aside from that time Bird played with them and Bird just burned everything down.

In 1964 Johnny Hodges got the Duke crew together for Impulse on Everybody Knows Johnny Hodges. I remember seeing the sealed CD at a Barnes & Noble and seeing Paul in the photo montage on the cover, right next to Hodges. Paul takes a nice turn on Everybody Knows. The tune is pure Hodges. Paul gets a slice of Billy Strayhorn’s 310 Blues following an aggressive Ray Nance plunger solo. Finally Paul eases in on more classic laid back Hodges on Papa Knows. A rare solo without piano and just bass and drums for Paul on the A section, with his buddy Ray Nance on the bridge for contrast.

I have searched for anything by Paul with Tommy Dorsey but I have come up short. He was with Dorsey in fall of 1953, but I don’t know the context. I’ll leave the word on that from Paul himself who said “I worked a couple weeks with Tommy Dorsey once, and Tommy was a wonderful guy, but there was no feeling at all and musically it was miserable.” No shade on Dorsey here.

Finally, to close my deep dive into Paul Gonsalves, a track I’ve posted once before that I have had on repeat. Buried in a session with Mercer Ellington and named differently. I posted this once before on my stack What is Melody? In 1966, Paul Gonsalves and Louie Bellson played with 24 year old Chick Corea in a beautiful, first time rendition of his song Windows. True that Chick is in a McCoy Tyner space, and Paul plays a short solo, but that feeling he puts into the melody and solo says it all.

All of these episodes are windows into Paul Gonsalves personal musical world. I have already outlived him myself. He lived more life than most during his 53 years.

Where is he now? Where’s Duke?

Só Sabe my friends..

Só Sabe

*

My work on Paul Gonsalves is dedicated to every living artist in 2026

For my next stack on Paul Gonsalves, I will focus on his work as a leader, or co-leader without Duke Ellington. Paul was Duke’s primary soloist after Ben Webster from 1950-1974, but he was prolific in recording without him. Johnny Hodges made 35 plus recordings as a leader before his early passing at 62. Clark Terry is king with 114 recordings as a leader, as he also out outlived them both considerably. It may surprise some that I’ve located 23 records by Paul Gonsalves. Some are blowing sessions, some are concept albums, and there are several masterpieces. Paul is generally perceived through the lens of Ellington as they were bonded in a way I explored in my last 2 stacks. He clearly was driven to create outside of that context whenever possible.

It took a minute for him to cook though. He began in 1957 in Chicago while Duke had a long run at the Blue Note. The result was the album Cookin’. Cookin’ is his first album as a leader at 36 years old. Paul and Clark Terry were tight and worked together often, and it’s really a co-led session. Willie Jones is on piano, but Jimmy Woode on bass and Sam Woodyard on drums were also with Duke. Hard driving swing was the agenda. Paul wrote Festival, a clear pull direct from the famous Newport solo. He also wrote Paul's Idea, a crisp boppish swing vehicle.

While Duke was in Germany in 1958, the same group called German pianist Carlos Diernhammer and hit the studio again to record the album Dimuendo Crescendo and Blues. Paul took what could have been any of the thousands of blues choruses he played in his life and orchestrated it into Autobahn. That rising dissonant harmonic line at the end is one I heard him play in solos years later.

Still on a Duke vibe, Paul’s next session was Ellingtonia Moods & Blues. While Paul is billed as the leader, Johnny Hodges, Ray Nance, and Booty Wood are present from Duke’s band on this 1960 recording in NYC. Paul wrote 2 arrangements for this one. Chocataw sounds like he again orchestrated his own improvisation language and vibe into a piece.

In December of that year is when Paul first broke the mold with his well known recording “Gettin’ Together”, which I have written about before. As stated in the liner notes, no other Ellingtonians, past or present, are on hand here, and there are no tunes associated with the Duke. A quintet with Nat Adderley on cornet and Sam Jones on bass (from Cannonball Adderley), and Wynton Kelly and Jimmy Cobb (from Miles Davis), was simply a boss move, produced or not. Paul was 40 years old. Hardcore listeners may notice that the piece Hard Groove is actually the piece Paul’s Idea from his first recording. I believe Paul wrote J. and B. Blues and close listening reveals that during his solo he plays the last part of his tune Autobahn linked above.

In 1961 Paul hooked up with tenor sax player Harold Ashby for the album Tenor Stuff. What they both didn’t know at the time was that Ashby would replace Jimmy Hamilton with Duke in 1968. Ashby was inspired by Ben Webster but was clearly his own man and fully formed here.

Incredibly, while I was working at Tower Records in the 90’s, we had an elevator from the jazz floor to the basement receiving area where I was the supervisor. The elevator opened one day in receiving and out walked Harold Ashby by mistake. I recognized him and introduced myself right away. He gave me a ticket to hear him at the Village Vanguard and told me Paul stories.

While the whole album is a gas, on 2 tracks we get the chance to hear Paul Gonsalves on guitar, his first instrument. To hear Paul in an entirely different universe, check out his guitar on Swallowing the Blues. Paul also plays guitar on London Broil, but I’m still hunting a link.

Next up Paul landed a 3 album deal with Impulse Records, and these albums are real standouts in his career and any serious jazz collection. I have all 3 original copies. Cleopatra - Feelin’ Jazzy was recorded in May, 1963. Incredibly Paul recorded Tell It The Way It Is! on September 4th, 1963 and then recorded Salt and Pepper on September 5th, 1963! Can you imagine? They must have taken advantage of Paul’s schedule while Duke was off for 2 days. Recording 2 records in 2 days is a trip. I must admit that I did it myself once for Unseen Rain recording The House Keeper and Harmolodic Duke in one weekend.

Bright moments abound on all 3 recordings. Cleopatra was a true concept album with a killer band assembled to pull it off. I could write a whole stack on this one, but nothing tops the moment with Paul and Roy Haynes on drums here on Blues For Liz! For me the laid back strut on Rapscallion In Rab's Canyon is the moment on Tell It. Paul got his Duke crew together again to great effect. Finally, Paul and Sonny Stitt taking care of business on Perdido from Salt & Pepper is top shelf. Peak is the vibe and interaction with Paul, Hank Jones, and Osie Johnson on drums.

At some point during 1963 in Europe with Duke, Paul got the crew into the studio with Gerard Gambus on piano and organ for the album Rare Paul Gonsalves Sextet in Europe 1963. Ray Nance on cornet and Rolf Ericson on trumpet are again featured as they were on Tell It Like It Is, so this was more than just a one time studio idea. Paul called Robins Nest from his Basie days.

On the road with Duke again around this time, Paul met up with three British musicians in Switzerland. With a good vibe, they hit the studio for a quartet session with tenor, piano, bass, and drums. The result is the interesting Boom Jackie Boom Chick. Paul wrote the title and lead off track which reminds me of his blowing on Cleopatra Feeling Jazzy. Pianist Pat Smythe wanted to hear Paul blow on a John Coltrane piece. Paul felt they needed another tenor player, whom they located in the studio. The result was Village Blues, Paul takes the second solo and maintains the opening vibe and mood. Do check out the ballads on the album and the Far East sounding Taboo. Hearing Paul as the only horn is interesting and wasn’t common, I wish we had more of this.

In 1964 Paul hooked up with British tenor saxophonist Tubby Hayes after Tubby filled in with Duke on a night that Paul became ill. In 1965 they had a chance to jump into the studio in a quickly arranged session between the 2 friends. They co-wrote the driving TUPA. I couldn’t help but think of the album Fours and Twos with George Garzone and Joe Lovano. There are no shades of Duke here, just lots of serious tenor and personal camaraderie. Tubby and Paul hooked up again in a large ensemble recording in 1965 called Change Of Setting, from which we have Soft and Supple.

In 1967, Paul made a quartet album with Swedish pianist and organist Jan Johansson, Bob Cranshaw on bass, and Al Heath on drums that is mostly off the radar. A solid standard date from which we have Paul’s single chorus on You Go To My Head. He finishes with a beautiful cadenza. Johansson opens a mysterious St. Louis Blues on out of time solo organ. Paul brings it in on a slow midnight vibe. After foggy organ and bass solos, the blues are summoned. To close, Johansson returns to a sinister back alley vibe where it sounds like someone is about to get jumped and have their watch stolen.

I was stunned when I first discovered Love Calls, an album with Paul and Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis, recorded in 1968. Instead of the expected tenor duel, they doubled down on an album of entirely ballads. Anyone into Paul’s music simply must hear this as his playing seems to be even more open and emotionally vulnerable. The arrangements are intricately spaced so that Eddie and Paul have a balanced exchange. Has there ever been 2 more original tenor sounds? On the opening of Weaver Of Dreams it’s just Paul and Roland Hanna on piano. Time almost stops, with more space than Paul usually leaves. It’s these slow open solo moments in the album, imbued with emotional expression, that get the souls attention.

While Duke was in Argentina in 1968, Paul and trumpeter Willie Cook hooked up with a local rhythm section led by pianist Enrique Villegas and recorded Encuentro. This one wasn’t released until 1977 after Paul had passed. Paul is the leader here and inspired as usual. It’s also a rare chance to hear more from Willie Cook! The sound throughout here is centered around Villegas accented rhythmic push on piano. He was known to be unpredictable and open to new ideas. Paul was also feeling the bass of Alfredo Remus. From the liner notes: “Paul Gonsalves enjoyed the enthusiasm of audiences on the tour, not only for his brilliant solos but also for his great personality offstage. In Brazil, his knowledge of Portuguese made him the principal interpreter of the band. In Argentina, he was always surrounded by groups of admirers, among whom he made many friends, having long and lively conversations.”

In 1969 while Duke was in France, Paul was featured with Francois Guin in a large ensemble recording called With The Swingers And The Four Bones. Paul requested an arrangement of Darn That Dream. Translated from the French liner notes: “On a fast tempo, his phrasing seems tormented; beautiful sonority, but showing a weakness and torrential inspiration. In the ballads, however, he displays a delicate lyricism, reinforced by a sensual sound.”

In 1970 Paul connected with 3 English musicians and trumpet great Kenny Wheeler. Again from the liner notes: “To find Paul Gonsalves in the company of European musicians who could be described stylistically more modern is reasonably predictable.” We have the album title track Hummingbird. While this reminds me slightly of Paul’s work on Duke’s Far East Suite, this is quite far away from Duke’s universe. What a trip to hear Paul followed by Wheeler!

Back with his Duke family, Paul and Ray Nance recorded Just A-Sittin’ And A-Rockin’ in 1970. Norris Turney was on board and Hank Jones returns from Paul’s Impulse record with Sonny Stitt. Paul and Ray Nance were buddies and this album speaks as coming from people who have known each other for a long time. The tracks and pacing are really a perfect blend of their friendship. The only track on YouTube is a version of Lotus Blossom where you just hand your heart to someone, looking them in the eye and confess your complete devotion. Go ahead and try to copy this A.I.

Back in France in 1970, the year I was born for context, Paul led a spontaneous session with Cat Anderson and Norris Turney from Duke, Art Taylor on drums, Joe Benjamin on bass, and Prince Woodyard on organ. I don’t have a link for this one yet. There was a deliberate choice to make a record with a different sound and to push the envelope, both in the playing and the compositions. This is one hundred percent a non-Duke session with 3 of Duke’s soloists. I think Cat is playing flugelhorn, though not confirmed. He stays down in the normal registers and is more interested in line construction and spacing. Turney does not play like Johnny Hodges at all, whom he had replaced with Duke when Hodges passed. Turney was open to avant-garde playing and he pushes slightly here, but not too much. Paul begins Miles Davis’ Walkin’ with his Up Jump improvisation solo closing cadenza variations, a deliberate action. He also solos immediately while the band plays the head. In closing all 3 horns improvise freely with no clear ending or resolution. At this point the avant-garde was well underway in jazz and at the very least Paul and the guys left the door open. Fascinating.

Next a true classic in every sense of the word, and one of my all time favorite Paul Gonsalves recordings. I’ll never forget, before the internet, hearing a track from this one on WBGO radio Newark when I was living on the edge in upstate New York. I had a pick-up truck that was in bad shape and dangerous to drive. Nevertheless, I immediately drove to Tower Records in Paramus, NJ to try and get Paul Gonsalves Meets Earl Hines. Lo and behold, they had one copy. Stanley Dance made it happen. Here was Paul with perhaps the first avant-garde jazz musician of them all, Earl Hines, a founding father of the music. To top it off completely, Jo Jones was on drums bringing Paul back to his Basie days that I got into last stack. Merging the swing of Gonsalves, Hines, and Jones created an epic moment getting to the heart of the music. I’ve been listening to this one for close to 20 years. What gets to me is how the 3 very unique rhythmic conceptions unite so perfectly. Moten Swing is the top shelf for me. Jones and Hines start it off both being completely themselves together. The way Hines splits himself with his left hand and right hand, like 2 different people at once, continues to astound. Has anyone in jazz piano history been able to play so differently with both hands simultaneously? Jo Jones unexpectedly solos next on just the rims with a chorus as a tap dancer. Paul enters improvising melodically, free of the original melody right off. As ever the swing escalation begins, but with Paul taking nice harmonic risks, right in perfect lyrical time. At 4:11 the group enters another soundscape of strut that sounds to me like a scene from The Bingo Long Traveling-All Stars. Paul has never made his horn talk so much. Finally, where the most freedom often occurs in jazz: the improvised ending. Paul brings the original melody, but Hines is still improvising single note lines. As Paul continues, openly in response, Hines creates an entirely new counter-melody. I remain in awe of this moment. Jones brings them back to Main St, before Hines creates a Hines chord finish.

Entering Paul’s twilight, his album with Roy Eldridge, Mexican Bandit Meets Pittsburgh Pirate is where he last defiantly planted his sword. Paul was not Mexican, but had the nickname Mex and didn’t fight it. From the liner notes of the album with Cat Anderson: Paul Gonsalves, whose parents were born in the islands of Cape Verde is proud of his origins both African and Latin. Paul Gonsalves grew up speaking Cape Verdean Creole (Crioulo), a Portuguese-based creole language, rather than standard metropolitan Portuguese. Getting back to the music, Duke’s nephew Michael James and Stanley Dance were behind this recording. Sam Jones returned from Paul’s album Gettin’ Together. Eddie Locke was on drums, and Cliff Smalls was on piano. Paul’s health was starting to slow him down, but that inner drive that he possessed in his music was still burning. Of course Eldridge was always ready. 5400 North is peak, and as Stanley Dance wrote in the notes, momentum was maintained in their furious choruses.

Paul’s last known recording just several months before he passed in his early 50’s was another double tenor album with the vice-president, Paul Quinichette. This recording is hard to find and has gotten a bad rap. It’s more a compilation of random events. Paul plays Yesterdays in a quartet without Quinichette, and takes several more choruses than expected. The tempo is slow and there is a certain amount of painful loneliness present. Paul’s chops are intact. Paul and Paul only play together on Little Mama. When they trade, Gonsalves is ready to mix it up but Quinichette simply will not release his essence of Pres vibe.

For the truly hardcore Paul Gonsalves folks out here, a mostly unknown session exists online, titled Sittin' In. The personal and date are unknown, but the idea was to have Paul blowing with additional percussion, guitar, and vibes. The ritmo is up and Paul is ready as always. Check out Lady In Red, Cape Verde Blues, Tenderly, I Hear A Rhapsody and Original Afro-Cuban.

Well, I hope you have enjoyed my show this week. I have one Paul Gonsalves post left: rare recordings without Duke.

Special thanks to Alexander Dunford, who years ago sent me copies of almost all of these recordings for the sheer mutual love of the music. This stack would not be possible without his generosity.

Finally, I have a new recording just released that I have been writing about here. My art and writing are all included on this special new release titled Whirlpool.

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For Mercer Ellington, Stanley Dance, and Michael James