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Spontaneous Music Ensemble: Karyobin
by John Eyles
Karyōbin is a crucially important album in the history and development of freely improvised music. Originally studio-recorded in February 1968 and issued as an Island Records LP later that year, it was remastered and re-released on CD by Chronoscope in 1993. Fine as the music was, both of those issues suffered from less than ideal sound balance, particularly of the bass and drums. Now, just in time for the fiftieth anniversary of the album's recording, Evan Parker's favourite sound engineer, ...
read moreSpontaneous Music Ensemble: Oliv & Familie
by Vic Albani
Quando ci si trova davanti alla recensione di un disco come questo o si decide per un agile volumetto di una trentina di pagine oppure sarebbe meglio lasciare correre. Dato che però gli amici di All about jazz si arrabbierebbero se propinassi loro una recensione di trenta pagine, scelgo la strada della pillola anche perché potrebbe anche essere che una pillola invogli la curiosità dell'ascoltatore più che un estensivo trattato. Il tema è quello di una delle prime ...
read moreSpontaneous Music Ensemble: Oliv & Familie
by John Eyles
Issued twenty years after his death, aged just fifty-four, Oliv & Familie serves as a fitting reminder of the Spontaneous Music Ensemble's charismatic and controversial drummer and leader, John Stevens. Not only does this release return to circulation the two Oliv" tracks that constituted the SME's eponymous third album, originally issued on vinyl by Giorgio Gomelsky's Marmalade label in 1969, it also adds the two previously unissued Familie" tracks which shed much light on the ensemble's evolution and development. Most ...
read moreSpontaneous Music Ensemble: New Surfacing 1978 & 1992
by Glenn Astarita
This album offers a snapshot of the post-1976 version of the legendary free-jazz improvisational unit, Spontaneous Music Ensemble's (SME) reign as a quartet. Two thirds of the material is derived from performances by the guitar-violin-percussion rendition, captured at a 1978 concert in Newcastle, England. It was previously released on Trio & Triangle (Emanem, 1978) but the recording quality was less than desirable, emanating as it did from a cassette tape. Producer Martin Davidson cleaned it up, yet eventually tracked down ...
read moreContrasting Faces of Spontaneous Music Ensemble
by John Eyles
For years, the Emanem label has had so many releases by Spontaneous Music Ensemble in its catalogue that it has become the de facto guardian of the SME legacy, the keeper of the flame. Although there have been excellent SME recordings on other labels--Karyobin (Island, 1968; Chronoscope, 1993) and Spontaneous Music Ensemble (Marmalade, 1969; Polydor, 1972) spring to mind--no other label's SME releases match the breadth, depth, richness and variety of those on Emanem. As well as seeking ...
read moreSpontaneous Music Ensemble & Orchestra: Trio & Triangle
by John Eyles
Given the quantity of SME music released by Emanem, cynics might be thinking that quality control must have slipped, that the barrel is being scraped. Miraculously, nothing could be further from the truth. Each new release adds to the body of work available, shedding further light on the exploits of John Stevens' multifaceted ensemble, and putting the whole into sharper perspective. Trio & Triangle is no exception, matching the high standard set by other recent SME releases.
The first three ...
read moreSpontaneous Music Ensemble: Bare Essentials 1972-3
by John Eyles
John Stevens and Trevor Watts are vitally important in the history of the Spontaneous Music Ensemble (and so of improvised music) but the only previous album of the duo alone is Face to Face (Emanem, 1974). From 1968 to 1976 the two often were the SME. But when recording opportunities came up, Stevens usually opted for an expanded version rather than this minimal version. However, from 1970 onwards, Watts recorded SME performances onto cassette tapes. This release comes from his ...
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