Back in the Saddle...

Things have been rather tumultuous lately, but after a busy summer of traveling moving and settling in to our new home, hopefully I will have the chance now and then to to keep up with blogging. I am sure that with whatever I get the chance to share, people won't complain much, or at least the people who are the rare music aficionados! Anyways, for this post I thought I would put up Clifford Thornton's "Ketchaoua" album from BYG-Actuel. I first got turned on to Thornton's music through one of his other albums, "Freedom and Unity." I have to admit that this was only a couple of years ago (Freedom and Unity is still available on CD--I actually found it while browsing through a music store in Santa Cruz, CA), but I have been furiously collecting anything that I can get my hands on related to him since. Now if only the sound on "Freedom and Unity" was a little crisper at times... Oh well--I can definitely manage!

As for "Ketchaoua," it basically is a star-studded line-up including such greats as Archie Shepp (Thornton also appeared on some Shepp albums around the time including "Attica Blues" and "Blasé/Live at the Pan-African Festival"), Grachan Moncur, Dave Burrell and Sunny Murray. For some reason, I don't really feel like summing the music up right now, so I think I will let Brandon Burke from AllMusic.com do it for me, lazy you-know-what that I am:

"Clifford Thornton's only Actuel date as a leader is, like many of the others in this BYG series, an all-star blowing session highly indicative of the times. For some, it will be difficult to tell whether taking credit for composing these pieces is a lost cause. This is some very free music and, save for a handful of scored passages, almost wholly improvised. A number of the scene's top players make appearances here in different groups. On the large ensemble pieces Thornton is joined by Grachan Moncur III, Archie Shepp (on soprano sax), Arthur Jones, Dave Burrell, Beb Guerin, Earl Freeman, and Sunny Murray. Otherwise, "Brotherhood," a piece for quintet, is performed by Thornton, Jones, Guerin, Freeman, and this time, drummer Claude Delcloo, while on "Speak With Your Echo" only the two bassists (Guerin and Freeman) accompany Thornton's cornet. This piece in particular is especially enjoyable and reminiscent perhaps of Arthur Jones' fantastic ballad, "Brother B," from his own Actuel LP, Scorpio. At times the ensemble pieces sound like a Pan-African Morton Feldman, and at others, hazy, psychedelic post bop. Fans of brooding and contemplative improvised music will find a great deal to enjoy here. In fact, many would argue that this is the best LP under Thornton's leadership."

Pretty nice stuff, even if it can get a little bogged down at times, and something I haven't seen posted on any blogs yet. Kind of surprising considering the wide variety of rare albums being posted out there...


Clifford Thornton
Ketchaoua
Recorded Aug 18, 1969
BYG-Actuell
AAC Files - iTunes ready (m4a file extension)

Line-up:
Dave Burrell - Piano, Bells
Claude Delcloo - Drums
Earl Freeman - Bass, Percussion, Conga, Gong
Beb Guérin - Bass
Arthur Jones - Sax (Alto)
Grachan Moncur III - Trombone
Sunny Murray - Drums
Archie Shepp - Sax (Soprano)
Clifford Thornton - Percussion, Trombone, Trumpet, Conga, Cornet

Tracks (split into Side A and Side B, but labeled)
1. Ketchaoua (Thornton)- 12:35
2. Pan-African Festival (Thornton) - 7:50
3. Brotherhood (Thornton) -10:40
4. Speak With Your Echo (And Call This a Dialogue) (Thornton) - 9:15

Two choices for the same file (Sharebee is a mess right now):
*Updated links*--the original zip file was corrupt--sorry!

http://www.mediafire.com/?dv5c5ikck3z

http://rapidshare.com/files/57030495/Ketchaoua.zip

p.s. Did I mention how much I like "Freedom and Unity?" Oh yeah, well, I couldn't resist throwing up a track here--track 7, "O.C.T." Go find yourself a copy of it if you don't have one already!

http://rapidshare.com/files/56932779/07__O.C.T._.m4a

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?1lxi95yxauu