Marion's explosive best
Robert E. Lloyd | Deerfield Beach, FL | 03/15/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Forget the fact that Han Benink's work on this recording is a staggering, epic event rarely seen in jazz percussion. Ignore the fact that Marty Altena's bass work is exquisite. Just listen to Marion Brown's dynamic, expressive alto work, and you will be convinced that he is one of the great saxophonists in jazz. Although his earlier work for ESP records is exceptional, it was this album that showed Marion at his most innovative, urgent, compelling yet playful best. This is one not to be missed."
Very much overlooked
Phasedin | New Jersey | 02/11/2006
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Even in the jazz world, Marion Brown is fairly obscure (despite having briefly played with John Coltrane). In fact I may have never discovered Brown myself-despite having a couple of thousnad of jazz recordings-if it weren't for composer Harold Budd writing and dedicating one of his very best compositions to Brown (who Budd said was his very favorite saxophonist). Being an enormous fan of Budd's work and being a jazz fan I decided to check out Browns own work finally, years later.
I don't remember exactly why I picked up "Porto Novo"-it may have been my appreciation of the Black Lion jazz label-or because I love very small group and solo recordings (probably for both reasons I chose this).
This recording contains 2 different sessions: December 1967 trio with Bassist Regteren Altena and Drummer Han Bennink, and a session from December 1970 , a duet with Leo Smith on trumpet and percussion.
As I said i'm partial to small groups, so I really like these recordings. Don't expect great sound quality-this was in general a lousy time for recorded jazz since most engineers were getting in touch with the recording of rock and pop music which is quite different from acoustic jazz. But at least the recording is fairly clear.
I don't know if Black Lion is now defunct as a label or not-I hope not. However, here in the U.S. this has been out of print since the American label that distributed Black Lion recordings here, DA Music, is out of business, sadly..
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Great free-jazz!!!
Jakob Hellberg | Gothenburg, Sweden | 03/27/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Marion Brown is not a very well-known saxophonist. That's a shame (IMO). While he doesn't play 1000 notes a minute or play intricate notes on complicated chord extensions, he has a remarkably simple sound which is instantly recognizable; bluesy and soulful but also a bit melancholic and vulnerable, really unique!!! He is really one of the best examples of the free-jazz revolution that Ornette Coleman and other initiated, there was no place for individualists like him in the Hard-bop/mainstream jazz scene so he (like all the best free-jazz musicians) tried to create totally personal music, to be themselves in a market dominated by copycats and followers. This record features Marion with two great european musicians: bassist Marten AAltena and the EXPLOSIVE drummer Han Bennink. Together they improvise freely over Browns simple and beautiful melodies. This record is one of my favourites from the more obscure free-jazz 60's records and is definitely worth buying!!!"
Track Listings (7) - Disc #1