Search - George Russell :: At Beethoven Hall: The Complete Recordings

Russell freein' up

riot67 | detroit | 04/26/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"A great composer, and perhaps the godfather of the jazz avant garde this cd comprised of two lps released indepent of each other in th 60'S is a delight and a must for any serous minded jazz collector. The music is mosly high energy improvising within standard song struture and it features Don Cherry. A major part of the CD focus's on Russells "Lydian Chromatic Concept Of Tonal Organization" with Russell versions of Monks "Round Midnight" and Parkers "Confirmation". Two of the ten tracks "Oh Jazz,po jazz" and "Volupte" exist altoghether outside of song structure and are fine examples of tonal jazz. Overall a fine recording and one that desreves a closer look."

Live Performance from Stuttgart Germany

Christopher Henrici | Washington, DC United States | 05/07/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I'm not a musical expert in the sense of disecting notes, keys, and time signatures in the way of reviewers and jazz critics, I'm merely a jazz collector, I listen and decide if something sounds right or does something on an emotional or cerebral level. Simply by listening to jazz music for many years and reading liner/booklet notes, autobiographries/biographies, and various internet resources- well this is a school in itself. That is how I discovered "George Russell sextet live at Beethoven Hall with Don Cherry". It seems to be a somewhat obscure jazz recording. I got the Japanese cd issue from a merchant here for a very good price. I gather the album is available only as an import that appears to go in and out of print. If this one does'nt have grail status, it should. The music here is, to paraphrase Russells own expression from the booklet notes- Freedom through logic, free playing with no logic is chaos. That is what it sounds like to me- free yet well ordered. Russell explores some familiar jazz themes in a new way and his take on "you are my sunshine" might have had Gene Autrey riding for the hills. The presence of avant-garde trumpet player Don Cherry along with Russells formidable skills as a band leader and composer/arranger make for one of the best live jazz albums I have heard. The recording quality is also very good, everything occuring within a ripe acoustic and given space to resonate (but it should be noted there is a minor issue with the cymbals phasing between channels, which mainly happens on the first song and occaisionally afterwards). Everyone knows about "Kind of Blue", George Russell is the man who inspired the ideas behind it and also recommended piano player Bill Evans to Miles Davis. People interested in reading about George Russell and his Lydian chromatic concept [...]"