Ted Daniel: Brass Tapestry

Clifford Allen

CD/DVD Reviewer since 2002

Clifford Allen wishes he could've shared a loft at 27 Cooper Square in 1966.

Recent articles (228 total)

Published: November 14, 2007

AAJ: Which is freeing in a way, but if you don't know what you're doing or don't have a basis, it can make things very difficult.

TD: You know, I suspect that in the future people will be talking about what a great period in the music this time was, and in some ways they are right because it is a major change in how and who is making the music. But you feel it's a little shaky here and there—this is before it solidifies again.

I think the good thing about being a little older is that you have your feet on the ground with regards to what you want to do; you have certain experiences that you're drawing from and that's one of the things that makes me happy about this band now—the cats there know who I am and what I've been doing. It's simpatico that I have a lot of foundation that I can use. But I'm very happy about being back on the scene and playing what it is I'm playing.

AAJ: The work is coming from three different angles, so there's a lot of interesting stimulation that's coming through.

TD: I've always been like that, and when you mentioned earlier in the conversation about Brute Force being very different from working with Sunny Murray, yes it is, but those are interests that I have and I enjoy going in those diverse ways.

Thanks to Ted Daniel and the staff of All About Jazz New York for making this interview possible.

Selected discography:

Michael Marcus & Ted Daniel, Duology (Boxholder, 2007)
Billy Bang, Vietnam: The Aftermath (Justin Time, 2002)
Julius Hemphill, Rag, Bush and All (RCA Novus, 1988)
Andrew Cyrille & Maono, Metamusicians' Stomp (Black Saint, 1978)
Ted Daniel & Energy, In the Beginning (Altura, 1975/1997)
Ted Daniel, Tapestry (Sun, 1974)
Sam Rivers, Crystals (Impulse!, 1973)
Dewey Redman, The Ear of the Behearer (Impulse!, 1973)
Archie Shepp, Things Have Got to Change (Impulse!, 1972)
Ted Daniel, Sextet (Ujamaa, 1970)
Brute Force, Brute Force (Embryo, 1969)
Sonny Sharrock, Black Woman (Vortex, 1968)