Silva, Alan / Celestial Communcation Orchestra - Luna Surface CD
SKU
URP-SGJZ-2011
A super-wild classic from the BYG Actuel series and the first time ever on legit CD! Recorded in Paris, August 17, 1969.
Alan Silva – violin
Archie Shepp - soprano saxophone
Anthony Braxton - soprano sax, alto sax
Kenneth Terroade - tenor saxophone
Bernard Vitet - trumpet, French horn
Grachan Moncur III – trombone
Leroy Jenkins - violin, viola
Dave Burrell – piano
Beb Guérin – bass
Malachi Favors – bass
Claude Delcloo - drums
“For twenty-eight minutes, Silva conducts his orchestra through the maelstrom. That "conducts" part is interesting. Silva would make out charts that look like waves, showing where some instruments would rise to the top and others would back away. So there is a method to the madness, even though "rising to the top" just means "out blowing the other instruments".
Still, listening here one can distinguish "pieces" of the improvisation. It is all solos and no solos. The brilliant men on the brass become indistinguishable until each gets a bit of a piece, and there's Anthony Braxton, there's Grachan Moncur, there's somebody you don't know, but you can hear the individuality.
If it sounds like a jackhammer to you, you may not know. But if you get a lift out of it, you can really start to distinguish it. Its twenty eight minutes feels like an hour at least, and when it winds down to a stop, the world seems so quiet, just wavering there. And it does wind down, with a lovely part at the end featuring Dave Burrell and then Leroy Jenkins finding space as the others disappear, only to have them swell back again for a finale. It perhaps really is "celestial communication": maybe this is how aliens converse? It's as close to "alien music", truly, as anything on the planet.”
- LabelSolid
- UPC4526180714699