Clifford Thornton

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Henry Grimes & Marzette Watts: The Call

by Glenn Astarita
October 5, 2026

Long before Henry Grimes became known as jazz's great Lazarus story, he was simply one of the most technically astonishing bassists working in New York City's' free jazz underground. Recorded on December 28, 1965, and issued by ESP-Disk in 1966, The Call stands as his debut as a leader, and it remains a document of quiet audacity rather than the raw energy so often associated with the label's catalog. Teaming with clarinetist Perry Robinson and drummer Tom Price, Grimes assembled ...

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Clifford Thornton: Ketchaoua Revisited + Arthur Jones Trio: Scorpio

by Alberto Bazzurro
January 30, 2024

Clifford Thornton è una di quelle figure rimaste fin troppo fra le pieghe della mitologia (sia detto ovviamente senza alcun intento ironico) free, e più ancora il pressoché sconosciuto altosassofonista Arthur Jones, l'uno nato a Philadelphia nel 1936 e scomparso nel 1989, l'altro nato a Cleveland nel 1940 e morto nel 1998. Questa preziosa ristampa, che allinea i dischi d'esordio in proprio di entrambi, editi a suo tempo dalla leggendaria Byg Actuel, l'uno, Ketchaoua, nel 1969, l'altro, Scorpio, due anni ...

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Archie Shepp: Blase And Yasmina Revisited

by Chris May
June 23, 2021

The three albums tenor saxophonist Archie Shepp recorded in Paris for BYG Records during one week in August 1969 tend to get overlooked in the slipstream of the dozen or so he made in the US for Impulse earlier in the decade. More is the pity, for as Blasé And Yasmina Revisited so resoundingly attests, the BYGs contain some of the most audacious, many splendored and deep roots music that Shepp has recorded in his still-kicking career (at the time ...

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Clifford Thornton: Freedom & Unity

by Mark Corroto
November 1, 2001

Under the direction of John Corbett, Atavistic’s Unheard Music Series is not only preserving creative music documents but is writing the history of a woefully under documented time. Freedom & Unity, the latest in this series by little known trombonist/trumpeter Claude Thornton, is a natural extension of the music of Ornette Coleman.

Recorded one day after John Coltrane’s funeral, this session features Trane sideman Jimmy Garrison on two tracks and Joe McPhee (playing trumpet) on three. Thornton, who rehearsed across ...