[atsonicpark]

WOW.

First time I heard this album, I just stopped everything I was doing, transfixed, and couldn't operate until the album was over. I originally decided to check this out as I recalled Beefheart had said it was his favorite jazz album (and to anyone who has heard this album and Trout Mask or Decals, you can definitely hear the influence, especially in the drumming, horn playing, and structures; listen to the part at about 5:30 in "Hat and Beard" until the end; if this isn't Decals-era Beefheart, I don't know what is! At 7:42 when ALL the instruments lock in for a few notes, wow!). I am very glad I decided to check this masterpiece out.

One thing that really got me about this album was the tempos, which shift greatly, and without warning. The songs seem to speed up and slow down with the greatest of ease. The drummer is one of the finest I've ever heard, playing all over the place, and usually never locking into a steady tempo at all. That's one thing that really gets me about this album: control, and a real mastery of that control. The musicians may be playing their asses off, but nothing feels clumsy or sloppy. However, there is a real power, energy, and ... nothing feels robotic. You can feel the musicians discovering new rhythms, new ways to interlock and combine their strengths; you share the joy with the musicians. It's amazing.

Track 2 is depressing as hell. Track 3 has some of the most awesome drum/vibraphone interplay ever. Listen to the drums at about 1:25 and how it sounds like they're trying to start a very frustrated awkward rhythm but never get around to it. Yada yada. There are just so many breathtaking moments on this disc. This is the album if you want to hear what's so special about free jazz, imo. It has a great sound to it, amazing performances, and is inspirational and full of depth.

And what's more, lots of great artists have covered OUT TO LUNCH; check out Otomo Yoshidide's NEW JAZZ ENSEMBLE cover, it has many legends of Japanese avant composition: the inimitable genius Yoshihide, Sachiko M: on "sinewaves and contact mic", Toshimaru Nakamura with his no-imput mixing board (!), Taku Unami who is one of my absolute heroes. It's weird as hell, sometimes quite hilarious (Japanese avant garde music has a great sense of humor), and is a real treat on stereo, with sounds swirling all around the mix. Lots of musicians and never sounds cluttered either.

If you've ever said "I'm not a fan of jazz", listen to this album anyway, just for the fucking DRUMS (and the past in 5;37 in track 3 where the bass slides around and sounds like it's talking, then at 6:03 it gets into this super weird stutter where the drummer seems like he's trying his hardest to lock in but the bass player throws him for a ride, until they finally do lock in perfectly, and it's heaven).

Enjoy:
http://www.mediafire.com/?zziydym4dzh

[atsonicpark]

Forgot to mention, the title track is epic as hell, a real workout.

I seriously can't think of an album with more amazing moments compressed in its 40 minute duration. It's addictive as hell too.

[TheDom]

Originally Posted by atsonicpark

If you've ever said "I'm not a fan of jazz", listen to this album anyway

I said exactly that until I heard this one. worthy of all its praise

[Kuhb]

The drummer's name is Tony Williams. He is, along with Elvin Jones (from Coltrane's 60's band) the father of all modern jazz drumming. The scary thing is that when Out To Lunch was recorded, Tony Williams was 19 years old. Nineteen fucking years old.

If you want to hear some stuff he did outside of this album, check out:

Andrew Hill - Point of Departure

Miles Davis - ESP, Miles Smiles, Sorcerer, Miles In The Sky, Filles de Kilamanjaro. The absolute best of the Miles Davis band with Tony Williams is the live Bootleg called Winter in Europe.

Tony Williams- Lifetime, Spring.

Grachan Moncur III- Evolution (where Tony Williams was 17 yo)

and that's just a start.

For more of Bobby Hutcherson, the vibes player, try his album Dialogue.

In my honest opinion, probably the most progressive/revolutionary, least covered and least understood musics of all time is what jazz musicians were doing from about the mid-sixties and through the seventies.

[atsonicpark]

thank you!

[jonathan]

Album is totally sick. Just about anything Tony Williams did with Miles Davis is golden!!! His genius can be seen here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmDhrP54HXs

[Glice]

I assumed this was an old thread; if it was, I would've said something like 'pile of shit'.

As it is, I'm older, wiser, and less inclined towards being a dick. As such, it's just shit. A pile, thereof.

[The Earl Of Slander]

Ignoring Glice being a tool, yeah, this album fucking kills. Tony Williams is an absolute machine. His confidence and control, especially for his age, just floors me. Like on, say, the title track from the Davis 'My Funny Valentine' live album, which is one of my favourite single jazz tracks EVER, he's like 19, playing with Ron Carter, Herbie Hancock and MILES FUCKING DAVIS, and in the middle of Davis' solo he just straight up drops in this samba sounding drum beat that throws the whole thing spiraling in a different direction. Balls of steel right there.

That period in the mid 60s was such a beautiful time for this music, and for me 'Out To Lunch' is one of the great examples of a very particular approach, as also typified by Coleman, Cherry, basically everyone on the 'Free Jazz' record, as well as a few others, which found this special middle ground between structure and improvisation, very defined and melodically driven pieces with the freedom of free jazz. It's a bastardly hard balance to hit, because as you said, it just requires some PUNISHINGLY on the ball musicianship, and a hard to find clarity and reserve in the attitude to improvisation.

I wouldn't want to say it's like the peak of free jazz or whatever, because there will always be a place in my heart for just straight up burning jazz madness ala Brotzmann, or singular and abrasive stuff like Kaoru Abe, or whatever else arm of the music I love, but in itself it was school that I think was just wonderful, and that sadly doesn't seem to have been sincerely picked up on and run with by future players nearly as much as, say, 'Ascension' has been. It's certainly the real core of what I see as linking free jazz and Beefheart, for that feeling of the whole band just moving as particular kind of unit as much as anything else...

[atsonicpark]

thanks for your thoughtful post earl.

yeah man kaoru abe is so amazing... i'm having a tough time figuring out which CLASSIC ALBUM i want to highlight of his.. either winter 1972 or jazz bed...

[The Earl Of Slander]

Winter 1972 is one of the most haunting records I own. My favourite thing I've heard by him, although everything has been pretty stunning. That said, not familiar with Jazz Bed. Is that another solo record?

[The Earl Of Slander]

Oh, by the way, total tangent, but was reminded because of the Freddie Hubbard connection. Have you heard 'Sing Me A Song Of Songmy: A Fantasy For Electromagnetic Tape' by Hubbard's quintet and Ilhan Mimaroglu? I think I've mentioned it around here before. It's a really great little oddity, with Hubbard and his band doing this kick ass improvisations that are then interwoven with loads of Mimaroglu's tape drones, vocal samples and Vietnamese poetry into this tripped out 70s anti-Vietman statement. The whole thing ends up coming across like some other world union of 60s avant jazz, Fluxus drone and just a touch of Harry Partch for good measure. I haven't listened to it ages, even though I own it on vinyl, so I'm not sure if it quite lives up to the full potential of that description, but it's certainly a must hear in its own special way. The fact that there was a time when major labels would finance this stuff just blows my mind.

[Derek]

Andrew Hill - Point of Departure

I was going to post about this. Best jazz album ever.

[EvdWee]

very content for having both Out to Lunch and Trout Mask Replica.

[batreleaser]

i love "out to lunch", been a while since i listened to it though

[Cooking With Satan]

I would suggest hitting up youtube for Charles Mingus' 1964 performance of "Meditations on Integration" in Belgium featuring Eric Dolphy.

It's in two parts.

And it's worth it.