James Finn, Faith in a Seed

[Nate Dorward]

Still no sign of the promised Clean Feed disc from Mr Finn but meanwhile here's a second helping from the Cadence orbit. Opening the Gates was one of the most thrilling free outings I heard this year; it was originally a demo, so it had a slightly wonky recording, with a big gorgeous sound for Finn's tenor but rather wimpy on the drums; the new one fixes the latter problem. (I'm sure that the obligatory JC debate about the CIMP house recording style will kick in here; all I'll say is that I found the disc entirely listenable, though I had to goose the bass a little.) It's Warren Smith on drums (Whit Dickey was on the previous one), with the familiar Dominic Duval on bass. Anyway, the new one is pretty stirring stuff too--a little more varied & compositionally oriented than the previous disc, with some free-time tracks, some swinging tracks, a tenor/drums duo, & a hymn at the end (in dedication to Roland Hanna). The 17-minute "A Weathered Spirit Resolute" is a major achievement, a 3-against-2 groove with a little dancing figure repeated at intervals, which after a cooling-off interlude builds to an unexpected & genuinely scary climax at the end. (Finn is the kind of saxophonist who seems always to have an extra gear to work with--just when you thought it couldn't get more intense it does.) The tenor/drums encounter on "Struggling to See the Sun" is pretty attentiongrabbing too. I like this one about as much as Opening the Gates, which is to say that it's highly recommended. Fans of late Trane will get a lot out of this.

[Steve Reynolds]

I will listen to Mr Finn due to Mr. Dorward's recommendation

and this written while listening to the *man* ripping all things possible to threads with Sanders & Edwards

[Uli]

I never heard Mr. Finn but with Warren Smith and Dominique Duval as rhythm group, he may be the *man*. It goe on my list.

[Steve Reynolds]

I really like Warren Smith but somehow I have very few recordings with him playing

damn I wish I had a CD buying budget

hello Uli - hope all is well

[Nate Dorward]

Steve, you've probably got Warren Smith in your collection somewhere! The list of his recordings on AMG is surprisingly long & it ranges from Lena Horne to Anthony Braxton to Gil Evans to Roland Kirk.

I gather the Clean Feed disc is due out in January. It has the same band as on the CIMP (i.e. Smith not Dickey).

Ah yes the EP/Edwards/Sanders discs--never picked that set up, as I wasn't sure if I could take two full discs of it! Probably should give it a shot. It sort of coincided with my getting a few bum Parker discs in a row (things like the dull Synergetics--Phonomanie III & Obliquities) & I got a little more cautious.

[Steve Reynolds]

I know there are way too many EP recordings - and I know "The Two Seasons is two full shows (2 sets each night for a total of something like 154 minutes) but the recording itself is so up close and alive, and the performamces by the trio rival anything Parker has recorded with any of his other trios (Guy/ Lytton or Von Schlippenbach/Lovens or Rogers/Muir).

Fact is, only set one from "At The Vortex" comes anywhere near the overall energy and fire of "The Two Seasons"

plus if there is one recording that highlights why Mark Sanders is one of the great ones, this is it - and it features the grooviest end of his spectrum of playing.

It drives my wife crazy, but I scream alot listening to the music, maybe mostly during the second track on the first CD - like being in the front row at the club

[Dick Bowman]

I'd like to hear more opinions on Mr Finn's work - I've listened to the brief samples on the Cadence site but they leave me ambivalent. The technique's there, but I can't tell whether Mr Finn has a musical message, which leaves me wondering whether or not to order either of his discs (I've been listening to this music for so long I can usually work out pretty quickly whether something's going to hold my interest). One problem being, if he is just "adopting the style" - I really can't see why he would want to. Maybe I'm thinking of someone like James Carter as a point of comparison - the technique was all present, but he never seemed able to build a solo (and now he's off very successfully doing something quite other than free jazz); that's my suspicion. I'd much rather hear the technically-flawed with a message (thinks Frank Lowe, for example). Anyone want to put me right?

[Nate Dorward]

Yeah, I think he's the real thing. Not that I wish to denigrate Carter (whom I sometimes like, other times not) but Finn's poles apart: it's all about eloquence & calm authority--& while some of the music is quite beatific what's most compelling is the willingness to push to genuinely thorny, self-lacerating areas which are light years away from Carter's cheerful special-effects playing. The stuff at the end of "A Weathered Spirit Resolute" is genuinely frightening.

Just been listening to this back to back with Opening the Gates & I'd give this one the nod over it because, though Duval gets kinda buried on Faith in a Seed compared to the earlier disc (where he's well-caught), Warren Smith is far more interesting than Dickey. Dickey approaches Gates with the usual fill-all-the-spaces rumbly approach, which isn't nearly as effective. Smith lets in a lot of space & doesn't just play full-out for the duration.

[Ennis Snavely]

Originally Posted by Nate Dorward

Steve, you've probably got Warren Smith in your collection somewhere! The list of his recordings on AMG is surprisingly long & it ranges from Lena Horne to Anthony Braxton to Gil Evans to Roland Kirk.

His new one is pretty good. "Race Cards" has him with Andrew Lamb, who sounds great, Mark Taylor and Tom Abbs. Smith has been one of my favorites for a long time. His Strata East recordings (under the the Composer's Workshop Ensemble) are both worth seeking out.

I saw him in a duo with Bill Cole earlier this year and thought that he really carried the show. He's a great drummer, mallet player and composer. He is always sure to add something special ton any date hes on. Another great, overlooked player.

[Captain Hate]

Comparing this to late Trane is pretty much spot on but this also reminds me of when Murray was playing with some real fire with Dyani and Cyrille on 3-D Family . The sound is improved but goosing the bass is unfortunately required; maybe Vladimir should send out a "CIMP equalizer" with each order.

[Derek Taylor]

Originally Posted by Captain Hate

maybe Vladimir should send out a "CIMP equalizer" with each order.

Seems only fair since he’s the culprit for the ‘sound’ in the first place

Count me as pundit for this silver platter too. Took a few spins to adjust to Smith’s space/nuance in relation to the harder-edged emphatic aspects of Finn’s horn (different from Dickey’s frenzied density and weight on the debut), but it fits now.

For the record Finn's been doing his thing for quite awhile; his recordings that are the late bloomers, not his style. Looking forward to the Clean Feed disc in the New Year.

[Nate Dorward]

Yes Finn's biography is actually quite interesting--dig it up on his website, there's a feature article on him by another author there. Some scary life-experiences documented on there, & a lot of duespaying. I'm actually surprised how intensely late-Traneish the music is given that his experience as a musician is so diverse & mostly not in that bag (hard bop, r'n'b, composition, &c) though I note he was a close friend of the late Arthur Rhames.

Hm, two Cadence reviewers talking up a Cadence release..... some major conflict of interest going on here, alas, but it is a great disc.