Roberto Miranda’s Miranda’s Home Music Ensemble

Joel Futterman Trio
In-Between Positions (s)
Silkheart SHC5-163

Despite being in the midst of the retro Young Lions phenomenon that culminated in Wynton Marsalis’ TIME cover, there was still important improvised music being recorded during the 1980s. Additionally, as these significant session attest, collaborations between venerable and slightly younger players were also featured.

Recorded on opposite sides of the US, the discs are also from far different ensembles —a trio and an 11-picece – with In-Between Positions (s) from Newport News, Va. an instance of no-holds-barred Free Jazz while Live at Bing Theatre is a Los Angles concert that mixes Spiritual Jazz with echoes of Bop and Latin sounds. Long-time Cecil Taylor cohort, alto saxophonist Jimmy Lyons (1931-1986) is on the 1982 trio disc with pianist Joel Futterman b. 1946), who now often plays with Kidd Jordan and the pianist’s associate , percussionist Robert Adkins. Recorded in 1985, the LA-concert was the only time that West Coast Free Jazz legends, pianist Horace Tapscott (1934-1999); clarinetist John Carter (1929-1991); trumpeter Bobby Bradford (b. 1934) and flutist James Newton (b. 1953) shared the stage. Impetus was bassist Roberto Miranda (b. 1946), who had worked with each man and convened them plus other horn players and a rhythm section heavy on Latin percussion to interpret and amplify seven of his compositions.

A single protracted improvisation, the eight sequences that make up “In-Between Positions (s)” flow logically into one another with many peaks and few valleys as the three lobby atom-sized and gargantuan textures among themselves. Lyons, whose incursion include Bop as well as Free Form, bites, bends and blows distinctive patterns, Futterman sways and slides through a collection of glissandi and singular dynamics while Adkins fluid patterns accent the narrative as it slithers from lento to andante to allegro and onto presto in many combinations. As the echoing tones fragment the program becomes more intense as reed multiphonics snarl and trill alongside a waterfall of keyboard tones. Relaxing into a quiet interlude at mid point, that interlude is succeeded by yakkity-sax-like stretches above drum pops and expressive between-the-keys piano strokes. Meanwhile Futterman’s variations on the initial theme harden enough to allow him to comp percussively as the drummer creates forceful expressions with metal slaps, cymbal echoes and rim shots. Piling notes upon emphasized notes Lyons unleashes a variant of call-and-response with snarls answered by piano pumps until the final sequence slows to a microscopic evaluation of the preceding motifs. The climax finds slides down to the piano’s lowest notes serving as artful contrasts to bomb-dropping drum accents and knife-sharp reed ripostes.

By necessity more carefully arranged and leaning towards melody Miranda’s tunes on the other CD take advantage of conventional Jazz tropes. These include a walking double bass line, connective beats from the four percussionists that combine Bop and Bolero, surging blended reed tones and swinging wide colorful arcs during piano breaks. Tapscott’s solos that affix to grooves while digging deep into the piano’s basement tones; Newton’s propelling of low-pitched vernacular trills; Bradford’s brassy Salsa-inflected trills; and Carter’s whoops and whorls as he plays give notice that the horn players could play inside if they wished. The concert’s finale is based on an interacting rasping vocal and Latin-percussion climax following a track where Miranda confirms his supple bass command playing unaccompanied. Still it’s the middle tunes which most brilliantly define the bassist’s ideas and arrangements. Churning percussion extensions plus quasi-Dixieland jumps situate the flowing sequences in a space where Ramsey Lewis’ sometime Latin explorations and Chick Corea’s early cadenced melodies coincide. With drum interludes alternating with David Bottenbley clanking guitar riffs or Thom Mason’s biting alto saxophone, everyone gets to participate in adding to the rhythmic furor. Those expositions also include Boppy clarinet pops, repetitive piano cascades, brassy bugling and Charanga-like flute tonguing that floats over the ensemble. Latin tinges, Free Jazz and spirituality combine in “Prayer #1” that at almost 17 minutes confirms Miranda’s plans. Harmonized and ambulatory, the exposition is both modal and cadenced and weaves bass clarinet lowing, Bradford’s high-pitched capillary techniques plus maracas and timbales vibrations to culminate in a slippery flute section. As the narrative ascends to allegro, saxophone split tones sand keyboard punches splinters the melody. Eventually trumpet bent notes and reed smears reduce the heated interface to a meditative finale.

Each disc readily captures choice sounds that were still being produced outside the media’s fixation with the retrogressive Jazz mainstream. Now they can be appreciated in their proper context.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Positions: 1. Position 1: Intuition – 2. In Between Position(s) 1: Concept – 3. In Between Position(s) 2: Challenge – 4. In Between Position(s) 3: Defense – 5. In Between Position(s) 4: Affirmation – 6. In Between Position(s) 5: Repose – 7. In Between Position(s) 6: Clarity – 8. Position 2: Illumination

Personnel: Positions: Jimmy Lyons (alto saxophone); Joel Futterman (piano) and Robert Adkins (drums and percussion)

Track Listing: Bing: 1. Platform for Freedom 2. Faith 3. Agony in the Garden 4. Prayer #1 5. Deborah Tasmin 6. Improvised Bass Solo 5/25/85 7. Dance of Blessing, Happiness & Peace

Personnel: Bing: Bobby Bradford (cornet, trumpet); Thom D. Mason (alto and tenor saxophone, bass clarinet); John Carter (clarinet); James Newton (flute); Horace Tapscott (piano); David Bottenbley (guitar, electric bass, percussion, vocals); Roberto Miranda (double bass, congas); Louis R. Miranda, Jr. (drums); Elias “Buddy” Toscan (drums, timbales); Cliff Brooks (timbales, congas, bongos); Louis R. Miranda Sr. (vocals, percussion)