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Sample The Album:
Mongezi Feza-pocket trumpet
Mike Osborne-alto sax
Kenneht Terroade-tenor sax, flute
Harry Miller-bass
Earl Freeman-bass, piano, voice
Selwyn Lissack-drums
Louis Moholo-Moholo-incidental percussion
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UPC: 808713070224
Label: DMG ARC
Catalog ID: DMG/ARC 702
Squidco Product Code: 7203
Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2006
Country: USA
Packaging: Digipack
Recorded September 1969, London, UK. Originally released on the BYG associated 'Goody' label in France.
Considered by many fans to be one of the rarest late '60s Euro/Brit avant jazz recordings, these sessions bring together such legendary players as Harry Miller, Mike Osborne and Louis Moholo in a free jazz outing that unites European, American and African players.
For this reissue on New York avant record store Downtown Music Gallery's own ARC label, Friendship Next of Kin is presented in two versions: an edited version which includes a drum solo excised from the original take (replayed here), and the album version without the solo.
"Recorded September 1969: London, England. The career of white South African Selwyn Lissack is a mysterious one. It is unclear when he left, but he was in England in the late '60's. He played in a group with Lol Coxhill; recorded Facets, his only album as a leader; and played on The Sun is Coming Up by Ric Colbeck (whatever happened to him?). He then gave up music and is now a well known sculptor, working mainly on holographic sculpture. This album has a stellar lineup, including alto flamethrower Mike Osborne and fellow South African Harry Miller. It also borrows two participants and the side-long track format of Kenneth Terroade's Love Rejoice (BYG/Actuel, 1969).
Free Jazz is best categorized geographically. Groups like the Spontaneous Music Ensemble and Iskra 1903 cast the mold that will forever be equated with improvisational music from the UK-sparse, understated and often quite tedious. However, this is definitely NOT what Facets of the Univers or its players are about. Players like the always-intense Mike Osborne, like Harry Miller, who could and did play just about everything with everybody, like Kenneth Terroade, who participated in the American expatriate free jazz scene in Paris that was well documented on the BYG Actuel series. The approach to extemporization is in fact closer to the Actuel model than one might expect. The brief march-like melody of the title track is merely a jumping off point for various solos, both unaccompanied, and in tandem with others. Lissack plays with an appealing sense of urgency, each line always rolling out towards the next phrase, keeping the music mobile. The piece ebbs and flows as three horns simultaneously ascend to frenzied peaks, then descend into near silence. The second piece Friendship Next Of Kin is more influenced by contemporary classical music in its sparseness. It does not disappoint in energy as the intensity rises steadily for the second half. It is perhaps only marred by some bizarre spoken word that is unfortunately common to this kind of music. The liner notes did not originally identify the piano player or speaker but it can be safely assumed that it is Earl Freeman [and passerby Louis Moholo provides some incidental percussion]." - Andrey Henkin, AMG
Artist Biographies
• Show Bio for Harry Miller "Harold Simon "Harry" Miller (25 April 1941 - 16 December 1983) was a South African jazz bass player, who settled in Europe, becoming one of the UK jazz scene's "most vibrant and dynamic talents". Miller was born in Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa. He began his career as a bassist with Manfred Mann, and went to settle in London, England. He was a central figure in the mixture of South-African township music and free-jazz that dynamised the scene in London at the end of the 1960s and into the '70s. Miller recorded frequently with musicians such as Mike Westbrook, Chris McGregor, John Surman, Mike Cooper, Louis Moholo, Keith Tippett and Elton Dean. At the end of the 1970s he moved to the Netherlands for economic reasons, where he worked with musicians of Willem Breuker's circle. Miller also appeared on the album Islands by the progressive rock band King Crimson, in 1971 as session musician. Miller died in a car crash in the Netherlands in 1983. The record label Ogun Records, which he founded with his wife Hazel Miller, was vital for documenting that period, and is still active today." ^ Hide Bio for Harry Miller • Show Bio for Earl Freeman Earl Freeman, born in Oakland, California on March 11, 1931; died July 25, 1994, was a bassist, multi-instrumentalist, poet, and artist. He is known for the groups Bill Summers & Summers Heat, Friendship Next Of Kin, The Freestyle Band. ^ Hide Bio for Earl Freeman • Show Bio for Louis Moholo-Moholo "Louis Tebogo Moholo (born 10 March 1940), is a South African jazz drummer. Born in Cape Town, Moholo formed The Blue Notes with Chris McGregor, Johnny Dyani, Nikele Moyake, Mongezi Feza and Dudu Pukwana, and emigrated to Europe with them in 1964, eventually settling in London, where he formed part of a South African exile community that made an important contribution to British jazz. He was a member of the Brotherhood of Breath, a big band comprising several South African exiles and leading musicians of the British free jazz scene in the 1970s and is the founder of Viva la Black and The Dedication Orchestra. His first album under his own name, Spirits Rejoice on Ogun Records, is considered a classic example of the combination of British and South African players. In the early 1970s, Moholo was also a member of the afro-rock band Assagai. He has played with many musicians, including Derek Bailey, Steve Lacy, Evan Parker, Enrico Rava, Roswell Rudd, Irène Schweizer, Cecil Taylor, John Tchicai, Archie Shepp, Peter Brötzmann, Mike Osborne, Keith Tippett, Elton Dean and Harry Miller. Moholo returned to South Africa in September 2005, performing with George Lewis at the UNYAZI Festival of Electronic Music in Johannesburg. He now goes under the name Louis Moholo-Moholo because the name is more ethnically authentic. South African promoter Slow Life in March 2017 at the Olympia Bakery in Kalk Bay, Cape Town produced a show where Louis performed along with Mark Fransman, Reza Khota, Keenan Ahrends and Brydon Bolton." ^ Hide Bio for Louis Moholo-Moholo
12/18/2024
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
12/18/2024
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
12/18/2024
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
Track Listing:
1. Friendship Next of Kin (An homage to Kenneth Teroades's "Love Rejoice")
2. Facts of the Universe
3. Friendship Next of Kin (original album version)
All compositions by S. Lissack
Improvised Music
Jazz
European Improvisation and Experimental Forms
December 2006
London & UK Improv & Related Scenes
Septet recordings
Free Improvisation
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DMG ARC.