"AMM music may initially seem impenetrable, but it sure as hell penetrates you. Soon the desired state is instilled in the listener; a rapt vacancy somewhere between supreme concentration and utter absentmindedness." - Melody Maker
On AMMMusic, long tones sit next to abrasive thuds, the howl of uncontrolled feedback accompanies Cardew's purposeful piano chords, radios beam in snatches of orchestral music. AMM's clearest break with jazz-based improvisation concerned the idea of individuality. Initially through an engagement with eastern philosophy and mysticism and later though a politicized communitarianism, AMM sought to develop a collective sonic identity in which individual contributions could barely be discerned. In the performances captured on AMMMusic the use of numerous auxiliary instruments and devices, including radios played by three members of the group, contribute to the sensation that the music is composed as a single monolithic object with multiple facets, rather than as an interaction between five distinct voices." - Francis Plagne
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Cornelius Cardew / piano, cello and transistor radio
Lou Gare / tenor saxophone and violin
Eddie Prévost / percussion
Keith Rowe / electric guitar and transistor radio
Lawrence Sheaff / cello, accordian, clarinet and transistor radio
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Recorded on the 8th and 27th June 1966 at Sound Techniques by Harry Davis and Jac Holzman.
Available as 320k MP3 or 16bit FLAC
Tracklisting:
1. Later During A Flaming Riviera Sunset - 6:51
2. Later During A Flaming Riviera Sunset (LP Version) - 21:03
3. Ailantus Glandulosa - 5:27
4. In The Realm Of Nothing Whatever - 13:19
5. After Rapidly Circling The Plaza - 1:03
6. After Rapidly Circling The Plaza (LP Version) - 20:31
7. What Is There In Uselesness To Cause You Distress? - 3:00
8. Silence - 0:10
As with the ReR CD release, there are five pieces in this download - tracks 1-3-4-5-7. Tracks 2 and 6 are internal divisions of tracks 1 and 5 respectively. This gives the option of listening only to the shorter versions as originally released. Track 8 allows you to programme silence wherever you wish.
Eddie Prévost began his life in music as a jazz drummer. A recurring interest in this form has been maintained, although always with an experimental ethos. Along the way he has maintained his fifty-year plus experimental credentials with AMM and numerous other improvisation projects, including his now twenty-year long weekly workshop. But drumming has generally been backgrounded to his experimental percussion work. More though, is to be expected of his drumming in 2020 on forthcoming multi-CD album: The Unexpected Alchemy. A part of this Krakow festival recording features the drums and saxophone trio of Ken Vandermark, Hamid Drake, and Eddie Prévost. His most recent released recordings include AMM’s: An Unintended Legacy, and a duo with John Butcher - Visionary Fantasies, both on Matchless Recordings. Also, a solo percussion LP on the Earshots label called Matching Mix. Later, in 2020 he meets with Jason Yarde and Nathan Moore, while in March concerts and recording will hear him drumming with US guitarist Henry Kaiser and saxophonist Binker Golding.
And, early 2020 should see the publication of his fourth book: An Uncommon Music for the Common Man: a polemical memoir.
“Prévost's free drumming flows superbly making use of his formidable technique. It’s as though there has never been an Elvin Jones or Max Roach.” - Melody Maker
“Relentlessly innovative yet full of swing and fire.” – Morning Star
Keith Rowe (born 16 March 1940 in Plymouth, England) is an English free improvisation tabletop guitarist and painter. Rowe is a founding member of both the influential AMM in the mid-1960s (though in 2004 he quit that group for the second time) and M.I.M.E.O. Having trained as a visual artist, Rowe's paintings have been featured on most of his own albums. After years of obscurity, Rowe has achieved a level of relative notoriety, and since the late 1990s has kept up a busy recording and touring schedule. He is seen as a godfather of EAI (electroacoustic improvisation), with many of his recent recordings having been released by Erstwhile Records.
