The Squid's Ear Magazine


Melodic Art-Tet (Brackeen, Abdullah, Parker, Blank, Waters): Melodic Art-Tet (NoBusiness)

1974 recordings at WKCR in NYC from the quintet of Charles Brackeen (flute & sax), Ahmed Abdullah (trumpet), William Parker (bass), Roger Blank (drums) and Tony Waters (percussion), beautifully recorded and essential free improvisation.
 

Price: $15.95


Quantity:

Out of Stock

Quantity in Basket: None

Log In to use our Wish List
Shipping Weight: 5.00 units

Sample The Album:





product information:

Personnel:



Charles Brackeen-flute, soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone

Ahmed Abdullah-trumpet

William Parker-bass

Roger Blank-drums

Tony Waters (Ramadan Mumeen)-percussion


Click an artist name above to see in-stock items for that artist.




UPC: 4779022074394

Label: NoBusiness
Catalog ID: NBCD 56
Squidco Product Code: 17643

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2013
Country: Lithuania
Packaging: Jewel Tray
Recorded on October 15th, 1974 at WKCR, NYC.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

1974 recordings at WKCR in NYC from the quintet of Charles Brackeen (flute & sax), Ahmed Abdullah (trumpet), William Parker (bass), Roger Blank (drums) and Tony Waters (percussion), beautifully recorded and essential free improvisation.

Also available on vinyl LP.

Artist Biographies

"Ahmed Abdullah (born Leroy Bland; May 10, 1947) is a jazz trumpeter who was a prominent member of Sun Ra's band.

Leroy Bland began performing at age 13 in his native New York City. By the 1970s he was performing in New York's loft scene, and joined the Sun Ra Arkestra in 1976, working there on and off until 1993, when Sun Ra died. During that time Abdullah participated in more than 25 recordings and traveled extensively with Sun Ra. He has performed with Chico Freeman, Charles Brackeen, Steve Reid, John Hicks and Marion Brown, among others. He led his own "Solomonic Quintet" and recorded for Silkheart and Cadence Jazz."

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahmed_Abdullah)
6/25/2025

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"William Parker is a bassist, improviser, composer, writer, and educator from New York City, heralded by The Village Voice as, "the most consistently brilliant free jazz bassist of all time."

In addition to recording over 150 albums, he has published six books and taught and mentored hundreds of young musicians and artists.

Parker's current bands include the Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra, In Order to Survive, Raining on the Moon, Stan's Hat Flapping in the Wind, and the Cosmic Mountain Quartet with Hamid Drake, Kidd Jordan, and Cooper-Moore. Throughout his career he has performed with Cecil Taylor, Don Cherry, Milford Graves, and David S. Ware, among others."

-William Parker Website (http://www.williamparker.net/)
6/25/2025

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Roger Blank (born December 19, 1938, New York City) is an American jazz drummer.

Blank's grandfather played saxophone and his father William Blank was a trumpeter who had performed with Cootie Williams. Blank worked with Hank Mobley in Harlem for several years and studied under Charlie Persip. He worked with Sun Ra starting in 1964 and recorded several times with him. He worked extensively on the New York jazz scene in the 1960s and 1970s; he played with and was influenced by Ornette Coleman, and helped found a group called the Melodic Art-Tet in 1971 which was devoted to playing in Coleman's harmolodic style. This group also included Charles Brackeen, Ahmed Abdullah, William Parker, and Ronnie Boykins. Other associations included work with Bill Barron, Don Cherry, John Coltrane, Dennis Charles, Walt Dickerson, Kenny Dorham, Frank Foster, Charles Greenlee, John Hicks, Ken McIntyre, Pharoah Sanders, Archie Shepp, and Charles Tolliver. He relocated to Atlanta in the 1980s and led an ensemble there, but moved back to New York in the 1990s, where he lived in the Williamsburg neighborhood."

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Blank)
6/25/2025

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



1. Before Heaven and Earth and the World Face of the Deep 17:06

2. Above the Cross My Divine 20:04

3. Time and Money Yamaca Open Pit Chena In the Chapel with Cheer 30:35

4. Redemption Consecration 12:08

Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
Jazz
Free Improvisation
Parker, Evan
Staff Picks & Recommended Items
Staff Picks & Recommended Items
Quintet Recordings
Instant Rewards

Search for other titles on the label:
NoBusiness.


Recommended & Related Releases:
Parker, Evan / Barry Guy / Paul Lytton
Live at Maya Recordings Festival
(NoBusiness)
Superb improvisation from three masters - Evan Parker on sax, Barry Guy on bass and Paul Lytton on drums - performing at the Maya Recordings Festival, September 23 - 25, 2011 at Theater am Gleis, Winterthur, Switzerland.
Quat Quartet (Fred Van Hove, Els Vandeweyer, Paul Lovens, Martin Blume)
Live at Hasselt
(NoBusiness)
Excellent free improvisation from the quartet of Els Vandeweyer (vibraphone), Fred Van Hove (piano / accordion), Paul Lovens (percussion), Martin Blume (percussion) recording at Kunstencentrum BELGIE & Cultuurplatform Motives for Jazz.
Group, The (Abdullah / Brown / Bang / Sirone / Hopkins / Cyrille)
Live
(NoBusiness)
A previously unreleased concert recording from 1986 of a group of leading out jazz artists (Billy Bang, Fred Hopkins, Andrew Cyrille, &c.) playing original compositions as well as a cover of Mingus' "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat".
Mezei, Szilard Tubass Quintet
Canons - 2nd Hoisting [VINYL]
(NoBusiness)
Four extended compositions from the Tubass Quintet led by Szilard Mezei (performing on double bass instead of his usual viola) performing with a heavy group of 4 double bassists and tuba.



Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought:
Parker, Christopher / The Band of Guardian Angels
Soul Food
(Mahakala Music)
An open and free album of modern jazz evoking loft-style collective improvisation but controlled under the compositions of pianist Christopher Parker, in his debut album as a leader with the incredibly talented sextet of Kelley Hurt on vocals, Daniel Carter on winds, Jaimie Branch on trumpet, William Parker on bass and Gerald Cleaver on drums
Fujiwara's, Tomas Triple Double
March
(Firehouse 12 Records)
"March" refers to the foundation of repurposed march rhythms NY drummer Tomas Fujiwara employs for the compositions in his second release with his Triple Double sextet, actually two trumpet-guitar-drum trios brilliantly interacting, with fellow drummer Gerald Cleaver, both Mary Halvorson & Brandon Seabrook on guitar and Taylor Ho Bynum on cornet & Ralph Alessi on trumpet.
Gonzalez, Dennis Ataraxia Trio+2 (w / Phelps / Lakpriya + Derek Rogers / Jess Garland)
Nights Enter
(Ayler Records)
Unlike anything in trumpeter Dennis Gonzalez's discography, this album was developed from Moog recordings by Derek Rogers, whose shifting tonalities and colors led Gonzalez to a Jon Hassel-influenced approach, adding a rhythmic basis of tabla and djembe from Jagath Lakpriya and sitar-inspired harp from Jess Garland, underpinned by the rich bass work of Drew Phelps.
McPhee, Joe
Black Is The Color: Live in Poughkeepsie and New Windsor, 1969-70 [2 CDs]
(Corbett vs. Dempsey)
Unreleased material from Joe McPhee's archives, three live settings of the saxophonist and pocket trumpeter in upstate NY: a quartet with vibraphonist Ernie Bostic and the rhythm section of Tyrone Crabb and Bruce Thompson live at Vassar College; live in New Windsor with saxophonist Reggie Marks; and an outdoor concert at Poughkeepsie's Lincoln Centre.
Parker, Charlie
Selections From The SAVOY Recordings
(ezz-thetics by Hat Hut Records Ltd)
The second of two volumes in celebration of legendary saxophonist Charlie Parker's 100th birthday, here remastering his landmark recordings for the Savoy label in New York City between 1945-48, performing with jazz greats including Bud Powell, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, John Lewis, Curley Russel, Max Roach, &c. for some of be-bop's finest and best known compositions.
Parker, Charlie
Selections From The DIAL Recordings
(ezz-thetics by Hat Hut Records Ltd)
The first of two volumes in celebration of legendary saxophonist Charlie Parker's 100th birthday, here remastering his landmark recordings for the Dial label on the US West Coast between 1946-47, performing with jazz greats including Miles Davis, Lucky Thompson, Erroll Garner, Barney Kessel, Red Calender, JJ Johson, Max Roach, &c. for some of Parker's best known and essential compositions.
Carter, Daniel / Matthew Shipp / William Parker / Gerald Cleaver
Welcome Adventure! Vol. 1
(577 Records)
After decades playing together, the quartet of Daniel Carter on tenor sax, trumpet & flute, Matthew Shipp on piano, William Parker on bass, and Gerald Cleaver on drums, release the first of two planned studio albums, with two extended and remarkably warm collective excursions bookending a shorter "Scintillate", in an exceptionally solid album of masterful modern jazz.
Brown, Marion
Why Not? Porto Novo! Revisited
(ezz-thetics by Hat Hut Records Ltd)
Reissuing two essential albums from saxophonist Marion Brown--Why Not? (ESP, 1968) and Porto Novo (Polydor, 1969)--the first recorded in NY in a quartet with pianist Stanley Cowell, bassist Sirone and drummer Rashied Ali, the second recorded in The Netherlands in a trio with Han Bennink on drums and Maarten Van Regteren Altena on double bass; essential.
Parker, Evan / Barry Guy / Paul Lytton
Concert In Vilnius
(NoBusiness)
Three British free jazz giants, having worked in a number of configurations and as a trio over many decades, are caught live in the Russian Drama Theater during the 2017 Vilnius Jazz Festival--Evan Parker on soprano & tenor saxophones, Barry Guy on bass, and Paul Lytton on drums, for four improvisations of nuance and surprise, incredible mastery, and profound conversation.
Riley, Howard
Constant Change 1976-2016 [5 CDs]
(NoBusiness)
Pianist Howard Riley in a 5 CD box of absolutely impressive solo piano never before released on CD, including festival recordings in Paris & Debrecen, a 1987 cassette-only release, and three new albums from 2014, 15 & 16 titled as "Longer Story" "One", "Two" & "Three"; esssential!
PaPaJo (Hubweber / Lovens / Edwards)
Spiela [2 CDs]
(Creative Sources)
The long-running trio of Paul Hubweber on trombone, Paul Lovens on drums, and John Edwards on double bass in an album releasing a radio concert from Croatia in 2003, and another from Klangbrucke in 2009; highly attuned free improv with near-telepathic dialog from three masters.
Chicago Reed Quartet (Mazzarella / Rempis / Williams / Vandermark)
Western Automatic
(Aerophonic)
Four generations of Chicago saxophonists--Dave Rempis, Ken Vandermark, Mars Williams, and Nick Mazzarella--come together in an interactive saxophone quartet with each player providing 2 compositions of well-developed, powerful, engaging free and lyrical jazz.
Wooley, Nate (w/ Ingrid Laubrock, Sylvie Courvoisier & Matt Moran)
Battle Pieces
(Relative Pitch)
"Battle Pieces" was conceived as a background for an improviser, using linguistics, tape processes & aleatoric concepts to fashion an ever-shifting composition that supplies the soloist with information within the context of an ever-changing series of densities, velocities and silences.
Shipp, Matthew Trio
Root Of Things
(Relative Pitch)
Pianist Shipp's long-standing trio with bassist Michael Bisio and drummer Whit Dickey, complex and inspired compositions that makes modern creative approaches to jazz beautifully accessible and essential.
Ward, Jason
Euphoric Nightmares
(Ten Speed Records)
Guitarist Jason Ward takes the listener on a journey in sound through dark looping structures and hypnotic approach.
Davidson, Scott with Shipp / Shorter / Bisio / Dickey
Dreamland
(NO LABEL)
Percussionist Scott Davidson, whose music is informed by jazz, classical Indian and Middle Eastern music, teamed up with pianist Matthew Shipp, bassist Michael Bisio, drummer Whit Dickey and reedist Lloyd Shorter for this album of world encompassing and rhythmic jazz.
Pisaro / Chabala
Black, White, Red, Green, Blue (Voyelles) [CASSETTE]
(Winds Measure)
Guitarist Barry Chabala's interpretation of composer Pisaro's piece, instructing the performer on structure and pitch but allowing the precise timing and sound to the player; plus a reworking of Chabala's recording taking advantage of cassette hiss and sine tones.
Machinefabriek
Stroomtoon II
(Herbal International)
After recording Stroomtoon in December 2011, electronic sound artist Rutger Zuydervelt wanted to capture more of the roughness and spontaneity of his live performances, so he recorded more material for this second installation.
World Heritage, The
Live At Goodman
(Magaibutsu)
The World Heritage in their 5th release recorded live at Tokyo's Akihabara Goodman in 2012, amazing improvised instrumental rock from Tatsuya Yoshida (drums), Seiichi Yamamoto (guitar), Natsuki Kido (guitar), Yuji Katsui (violin) and Mitsuru Nasuno (bass).
Postmarks (Boris Hauf / D Bayne / Martin Siewert)
National Parks
(Monotype)
The duo of saxophonist Boris Hauf and pianist D Bayne team up with guitarist Martin Siewert in this collection of tracks inspired by different U.S. national parks and their representation in iconic posters.
RLW & Srmeixner
Just Like A Flower When Winter Begins
(Monotype)
An interesting mixture of sound and spoken word originally recorded as a DJ set by RLW for a birthday celebration that was remixed with help from Stephen Meixner.
Laubrock, Ingrid & Tom Rainey
And Other Desert Towns
(Relative Pitch)
After many years collaborating together, New York saxophonist Ingrid Laubrock and drummer Tom Rainey present their debut as a duo in a series of improvisations, from subtle interaction to rousing interplay.




The Squid's Ear Magazine

The Squid's Ear Magazine

© 2002-, Squidco LLC