Jazz Articles about Joe McPhee

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Michael Bisio / Raymond Boni / Dominic Duval / Joe McPhee: Port of Saints

by Lyn Horton
December 24, 2006

The unvarnished truth about improvised music is that it takes us where we never expect to go. Port of Saints describes an epic journey whose main character is the saxophone. A guitar acts as the saxophone's alter ego. Two basses supply avuncular guide posts for traveling to an unknowable but certain destination. The journey is rife both with fantasy and human spirit.

Raymond Boni evokes an extra-terrestrial ambiance through his uniquely overt and detailed approach to the electric guitar. Repeatedly, ...

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Joe McPhee: N.Y.N.Y.1971 & Pieces of Light (1974)

by Kurt Gottschalk
October 7, 2006

Joe McPhee Survival Unit II with Clifford Thornton, N.Y. N.Y. 1971 Hatology 2006 Joe McPhee Pieces of Light (1974) Atavistic 2006

Something that often gets overlooked amongst the generations of post '60s free jazz blowers and fans is that John Coltrane was a conceptualist and that the free improvisation that erupted ...

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Joe McPhee: Survival Unit II with Clifford Thornton, N.Y. N.Y. 1971

by Nic Jones
June 28, 2006

Without quesion, Joe McPhee is an American national treasure, and this recording offers proof that the idiosyncratic free jazz icon been one for over thirty years now. This disc documents a radio broadcast from at a time when the US was undergoing political and cultural upheavals, and the music is both reflective of such a time and the product of a proudly singular musical intelligence. The three announcements which were part of the original recording amount to just 1:43 out ...

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Joe McPhee: New York, NY, 1971 and Pieces of Light

by Clifford Allen
June 27, 2006

What makes Joe McPhee's music so special is something that you may not consciously register at first--it moves differently from the music of his contemporaries. It's slower, polychromatic, concentrated and thick, and its dynamics are deeply subtle.

In the liner notes to his album Oleo (Hat Hut, 1982), McPhee discusses the concept of lateral thinking and its relationship to the Po Music ensemble. One often thinks of music vertically (scales, modes, crescendos and dynamics), but the idea of lateral music ...

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Joe McPhee: Remembrance, Next to You, In Finland, Everything Happens for a Reason

by Robert Iannapollo
May 29, 2006

Joe McPhee Remembrance Cadence Jazz 2005 Boni, Lazro, McPhee, Tchamitchian Next to You Emouvance 2006 McPhee, Shipp, Duval In Finland CIMP Records 2005 Joe McPhee Everything Happens for a Reason Roaratorio 2006

Next year will mark the 40th anniversary ...

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Joe McPhee / Matthew Shipp / Dominic Duvall: In Finland

by Rex Butters
May 21, 2006

With its beautiful sound, In Finland captures three master improvisers live and spinnin' takes. Longtime fans of Matthew Shipp who miss his prolonged flights into thundering, gothic creations: this is your fix. With two tracks hovering around the thirty-minute mark, the performances allow Shipp room to stretch and flex. Joe McPhee sticks mainly to a rich-toned soprano sax, although he plays some playful pocket trumpet. A veteran of Mark Whitecage's ensembles as well as a frequent collaborator of McPhee's, bassist ...

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Joe McPhee – Matt Shipp – Dominic Duval: In Finland

by AAJ Italy Staff
February 27, 2006

Prendete un duo consolidato. Aggiungetevi un terzo elemento e … tutto può succedere. A volte disastri, altre miracoli. Il duo consolidato è quello composto da Dominic Duval e Joe McPhee. Il terzo elemento è Matthew Shipp. Il risultato è meraviglioso. Questo album documenta un concerto tenuto in Finlandia nel 2004. Il primo mai tenuto da questo trio, e speriamo che non sia anche l’ultimo (ma se diamo retta ai titoli dei brani, quello della traccia due - Never Again - ...