Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Evan Parker: Vaincu.Va! Live at Western Front 1978

4

Evan Parker: Vaincu.Va! Live at Western Front 1978

By

View read count
Evan Parker: Vaincu.Va! Live at Western Front 1978
Love or hate it—digital technology has allowed for the reissue of long out- of-print LPs. Once only the province of collectors, Evan Parker's early solo saxophone LP recordings have been reissued as CDs on his Psi label for the past decade. The British saxophonist, a champion of the extended solo improvisation remains a vital voice today. These reissues shed light on his experimental and innovative sound.

Indubitably, the next step in this process is to release unearthed concert recordings.

This live disc is a first-class recording, captured at Western Front—a Canadian artist-run- center for contemporary art and new music—during Parker's 1978 North American tour. The quarter inch tape was restored and mastered for this LP (and digital download), making everything (including old technology) new again.

Like his solo recording from the same year, Monoceros (Incus, 1978), this session is not so much a revelation as it is a recognition of the mighty man's talents. His voice may have deepened as his hair has whitened, but his signature sound was evident 34 years ago.

Both parts were captured in front of a live audience, and Parker gives his performance full stick. Pt. 1 is an uninterrupted circular breathing marathon. He begins with overblowing notes before diving precipitously into vocalized clucks and his (now) signature stuttering trance- inducing repetitions. The pace here is quite rabid and feverish. His soprano maintains channels of agitation through his circular breaths and polyrhythmic finger patterns. Pt. 2, the LP's second side, eases off the pace; he pauses for breaths almost as if one can discern him contemplating his next direction. His multidirectional path here gathers up the post-Coltrane sounds of Albert Ayler, Pharoah Sanders, John Tchicai, and Steve Lacy and invites the next generation to explore this new lexicon. The music on Vaincu.Va! is as fresh today as it was in 1978.

Track Listing

Vaincu.Va! Pt. 1; Vaincu.Va! Pt. 2.

Personnel

Evan Parker
saxophone, soprano

Evan Parker: soprano saxophone.

Album information

Title: Vaincu.Va! Live At Western Front 1978 | Year Released: 2013 | Record Label: Western Front

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Eternal Moments
Yoko Yates
From "The Hellhole"
Marshall Crenshaw
Tramonto
John Taylor

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.