Jazz Articles about Sam Rivers

About Sam Rivers

Album Review

Other than new product framed on forward-leaning jazz and improvisational artists, this record label annually resurrects gems from the vaults, evidenced on this adrenaline- fueled recording of the late great saxophonist Sam Rivers and his superstar trio. This follows the label's release of Zenith (No Business, 2019) which is Rivers' quintet caught live at a Berlin venue in 1977. The saxophonist and his trio are captured at San Francisco's legendary Keystone Korner club. Hence, they shoot for the ...

Album Review

Sam Rivers Quintet: Zenith

Read "Zenith" reviewed by Vincenzo Roggero

by Vincenzo Roggero
March 23, 2020

Probabilmente è questa l'unica data che vede all'opera questo quintetto e sicuramente è questa l'unica registrazione conosciuta. Siamo durante il tour europeo datato ottobre-novembre 1977 nel quale Sam Rivers tiene concerti a capo della Rivbea Orchestra, o suonando in quartetto, in trio, in duo e per l'appunto in quintetto, in sostanza il quartetto stabile dell'epoca con l'aggiunta di un secondo percussionista. Scelta perlomeno curiosa quella operata da Rivers, perchè Charlie Persip era noto più per l'appartenenza ai gruppi di Dizzy ...

Album Review

Sam Rivers Quintet: Zenith

by John Sharpe
January 4, 2020

Concertgoers must have been forced back in their seats by the intensity of Sam Rivers opening foray at the 1977 Berlin Jazztage Festival. After an annunciatory tenor saxophone burst, he goes for the jugular with fierce vocalized overblowing atop a churning four piece rhythm section. But if that sounds forbidding, then like the audience, listeners to this historic recording, released as the second installment of NoBusiness Records' estimable Sam Rivers Archive Project, following Emanation (2019), should be enthralled by the ...

Album Review

Sam Rivers: Emanation

Read "Emanation" reviewed by John Sharpe

by John Sharpe
August 28, 2019

This unissued 1971 live date from the Jazz Workshop in Boston is the first in a projected eight volume series sourced from the personal archive of the multi-instrumentalist Sam Rivers, who died in 2011. It captures Rivers with his trio of the period, completed by bassist Cecil McBee and drummer Norman Connors, over two freewheeling sets. Rivers was one of the most significant voices in the 1960s avant-garde. He recorded classic albums for Blue Note, was a founder member of ...

Radio & Podcasts

Sam Rivers Quartet Live In Padua, 1978

by Centro d'Arte Padova
May 25, 2018

For this new installment of our “From the Archive" series, we present an excerpt from the concert by the Sam Rivers Quartet hosted by Centro d'Arte in 1978 in Padua, Italy. The quartet featured some of the finest musicians operating in the creative scene of the '70s, with Sam Rivers on saxophone, Dave Holland on double bass, Joe Daley on tuba and Thurman Barker on drums. The track is a prime example of this band's ability to shift from groove ...

Album Review

Sam Rivers: Contrasts

Read "Contrasts" reviewed by Hrayr Attarian

by Hrayr Attarian
October 25, 2014

Multi reedist Sam Rivers' 1980 Contrasts in addition to being his only date as a leader for ECM, is a perfect example of his mid-career oeuvre. A sublime balance of intense, almost mystical lyricism and a singular sense of adventure permeates the album that appears for the first time in the CD format and is simultaneously rereleased on LP after 34 years of its initial appearance. The classically influenced “Solace" opens with Rivers' soprano saxophone meandering around percussionist ...

Album Review

Sam Rivers: Contrasts

Read "Contrasts" reviewed by John Kelman

by John Kelman
March 2, 2014

In a significant discography now approaching forty titles as a leader across five decades, Contrasts stands out as the only recording that left-of-center saxophonist/flautist Sam Rivers led for ECM. Originally released in 1980 on vinyl and previously unavailable on CD, it is finally seeing the light of day again as part of the label's Re:solutions series--and in three formats, no less: CD, four for the first time and one only available previously for a limited time in Japan; high resolution ...