Hank Shteamer’s New York Times piece on Zoh Amba was my introduction to her and I’ve since been enjoying her playing quite a bit. She’s covering a lot of territory with her improvisations, and each piece on Bhakti is its own kind of trip.
Two more victims of COVID-19: Giuseppe Logan and Henry Grimes, both of whom had extended musical trials and disappearances followed by later-life public resurgences. Included in this post are Mr. Logan’s quartet LP from 1965, and Mr. Grimes performing on Marc Ribot’s 2005 Albert Ayler tribute, Spiritual Unity. Both men strike me as characteristically New York improvisers, a bit more introverted than their Chicago-based peers, for example, somehow more aggressive in their spiritual stance.
Abdul Wadud, “Happiness,” By Myself: Solo Cello, 1977.
“I hear the ‘Cello’ as being percussive, chordal, linear, in a group improvisation context, and capable of many effects. In short I hear it as an ‘instrument,’ and not as the ‘accustomed sweet sounding instrument’ which tends to stifle a whole new world of music.”
