Milford Graves With Arthur Doyle & Hugh Glover ‎– Children Of The Forest 2xLP

$

38

"Black Editions Archive is ecstatic to announce the newest release in the Milford Graves Archival series, the double LP, Children of the Forest, featuring previously unreleased 1976 sessions with Hugh Glover and Arthur Doyle that re-write the book on Milford Graves's ensemble music of the 1970s. Graves recorded these sessions himself in his legendary Queens basement laboratory and workshop in the weeks immediately leading up to the March 1976 session that, with the same unit, produced what many consider his most iconic album, Bäbi, recorded at WBAI-FM Free Music Store. Following the death of Albert Ayler in 1970 and up until his storied trip to FESTAC 1977 in Lagos, Nigeria, Graves gigged fairly often as a band leader in the New York Loft scene and traveled twice to Europe (1973, 1974) with duos, trios and quartets comprised of fellow New York City based musicians -- almost always with Hugh Glover, and variously including Arthur Williams, Joe Rigby, Frank Lowe, and Arthur Doyle. The three sessions that comprise Children of the Forest date from near the end of this intensive period of grassroots activity by Graves during a peak era of musical & cultural ferment in jazz & Black American Music. The earliest recordings feature the duo of Graves (drums & percussion) and Glover (tenor saxophone) from January 24th, and Graves solo (drums & percussion) from February 2. In an interview commissioned for this release and conducted by Jake Meginsky, Glover discusses the mastery of form and execution in Graves's playing and approach: 'It has always been a mystery to me how Cuban drummers in Bata were able to modulate the rhythm and the meter. Well, it takes more than one player to do it Cuban style. Prof (Graves) shows you can do it as one player. The reason he's able to do it is because he has an encyclopedic knowledge of the rhythms of the Caribbean, rhythms of Africa, plus rhythms of jazz. He can move around without losing the feel.' The centerpiece of this set is the March 11 session featuring Graves, Doyle on tenor saxophone and fife, and Glover on a rather unusual pair of instruments that would not appear on the Bäbi recording just one week later -- klaxon and the vaccine, a Haitian one-note trumpet. Glover: 'The klaxon -- it's important to keep that tribal possession-state feel... because it's not a Hollywood gallop. It's very much about the energy, this gallop. Prof (Graves) talks about that, talking about the low, the galloping as in the Divine Horsemen of Haiti.' Doyle's visceral and unrestrained tenor playing on the March 11 session is further evidence as to why his work, especially during this period, has attained mythic status among aficionados of free jazz and even noise music. Graves would later discuss Doyle in Conversations (William Parker, 2011 Rogue Art Books): 'There was another horn player I know that really got into it from the gut and he had a certain kind of intellectualism when we performed? that was Arthur Doyle. (laughs) Arthur Doyle would just go into it. I mean really just go into it... something happened there that was beyond the immediate intellectual control of the people who was doing it. It was about just doing it and don't worry about all these people putting you down. The most important thing was what was coming out of your instrument and how it was effecting people.' Listening to these recordings, that spirit is unmistakable. The original 1/4 inch reel, labeled 'Pygmy' by Graves, including 15 minutes of audio from an unknown documentary on the Mbuti People of the Congo Basin, are among the few tapes we've so far encountered from Graves' private archive that seem clearly intended in his conception & sequencing to be an album. For this reason, these recordings are now presented exactly as assembled by Graves, for soonest possible release." --Peter Kolovos & Michael Ehlers
Deluxe double-LP tip-on gatefold with pigment ink foil stamping featuring photographs by acclaimed photographer and free jazz historian Val Wilmer. Includes insert with new interview of Hugh Glover by Jake Meginsky. SHIPPING / ORDER INFORMATION: Orders with a value of $30 or less: $6.00 per order: USPS Media Mail (includes tracking).  Orders with a value of $30 or greater: $6.50: USPS Media Mail (includes tracking, insurance). In either case, if you paid multiple shipping charges when checking out, all overage will be refunded to you! 
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All packages ship media mail unless requested by the buyer to ship another method (the difference for upgrading will be covered by the buyer). Orders are shipped out twice per week, but not on set days - it just depends on the volume. You will not see tracking info posted until the package is ready to go out the door (from which point they get dropped off that night or the following day depending on when they're being worked on).
SHIPPING and PACKAGING (updated 7/12/23): Shipping is a flat $6 per order (apologies on the $4.50-5.50 referenced on the listings - these will slowly be changed). Orders over $50 include insurance. Orders over $100 ship for free. All packages ship media mail unless requested by the buyer to ship another method (the difference for upgrading will be covered by the buyer). Orders are shipped out twice per week, but not on set days - it just depends on the volume. You will not see tracking info posted until the package is ready to go out the door (from which point they get dropped off that night or the following day depending on when they're being worked on). Records that are shrink-wrapped will ship sealed unless otherwise requested by the buyer. Records that are in poly-sleeves or resealable sleeves will be removed from the jacket to prevent damage. For LPs, we use brand new mailers, Bags Unlimited's standard- design heavy duty mailers. Please note we do not do refunds for minor wear that occurs during transit (corner dings, seam split on a sealed record, etc). The orders are packed with quality supplies and a lot of care, but once in awhile we all get packages that get have been roughly handled along the way. If you're preferring your order to be packed a specific way, just send over a message and we can sort it out!
TRACKING ISSUES (updated 7/12/23): All packages are dropped off at the Phoenix, AZ hub. The benefit of this is it will save a couple of days of transit (as all AZ mail is processed through the hub before leaving state). The disadvantage is that they are not consistent in doing a receival scan. With many packages, your first scan may not pop up until it arrives at another distribution center (sometimes with a phantom AZ scan minutes before it). Some packages are making it to buyers across the country in three days, some are sitting for a month on end in various USPS black holes (Phoenix Annex, Jersey City, Bell Gardens - if you ever look at tracking info, these names are surely familiar to you)! Because of this very abnormal and sporadic delay, orders will need to be considered "in transit" for the duration of the time that USPS indicates the order is still "in transit" which is an annoyance that requires patience from everyone involved.
CONDITION (updated 07/12/23): Almost all of the records for sale are NEW. Although there's been records made new without being sealed for decades, some people are convinced that all records come sealed - of course they do not, but as a precaution it's being disclosed. (Believe it or not I have had PayPal claims come through because of a record being "new" but not sealed). When the records are NEW, but not sealed, the record is not removed from the inner sleeve to inspect for quality. The first time it is pulled out will be when the buyer pulls it out. This is important to note as increasingly, new records frequently come with light surface marks, finger prints - etc - doesn't matter if it's DIY release or a professionally packaged-at-the-plant release, these things are packaged by hand. If you're unhappy with the quality of a NEW release, the suggestion will be to contact the label that released it. There is always the potential for minor wear to the corners to occur during shipping even though the Bags Unlimited mailers are heavy duty and nice. If a release arrives from a distributor with observable wear, it will be noted in the listing.