The I Love Fred Anderson Thread for I Love Music

However, I did hear a track from his (new, I think?) duet album with Hamid that was sick. Hamid is Funky, and in a duet setting Fred's restraint (sticking to simple melodies and variations) really holds things down instead of seeming overly simplistic or obsessive.

I went to the Velvet one night when I was in town for other reasons. Fred wasn't playing, just tending bar. So I hung out and talked to him, Jemeel Moondoc and Chad Taylor (they were playing that night).

Fred's biggest problem is that he was obscure for so long that now that he's been discovered, he's released way too much product. Still, there are four or five CDs everybody should own:

2 Days In April (Eremite) - this one may be the greatest free jazz album of the late 1990s-early 2000s.

The Fred Anderson Quartet Vols. 1 & 2 (Asian Improv) - different bands on each volume. The band with guitarist Jeff Parker is particularly killin'.

Back At The Velvet Lounge (Delmark) - Fred's in great form, and he's got some kid trumpeter making his debut recording just blowing fire all over.

Dark Day/Live In Verona (Atavistic) - moody, beautiful. Love to hear Fred with Bill Brimfield.

How recently was this? I saw Jemeel there once and it was amazing (think the recording of it came out on Eremite).

Anyway, I love the guy. I've gushed elsewhere on ILM.

Which is Another Place again? Is that the Neighbors record? That was once listed in the Atavistic Unheard Music Series as an "upcoming" release over a year ago and then nothing happened. I think I asked Fred about it once and he said it was sort of up in the air whether or not it was going to come out.

I think I might have to buy that duet record, just for all that out-in-the-open Hamid playing.

(x-posts)

Broheems, yeah, the role reversal thing was exactly what I liked about it so much, it really brings out both of their strengths.

What about that Joe McPhee/Hamid Drake album? I always meant to hear that.

The McPhee/Drake thing (the one on Okka Disk) is great. I love Hamid; the Die Like A Dog albums (Peter Brötzmann, Toshinori Kondo or Roy Campbell, William Parker and Hamid) are fucking amazing, and their live shows are even better.

I heard not long ago that the David S. Ware quartet is gonna put out a 3-CD archival live set - with three different drummers. One disc with Whit Dickey, one disc with Susie Ibarra, and one with Hamid (he subbed for Guillermo Brown on a European tour).

Oh, that trumpeter on the Back at the Velvet disc that Phil alludes to is Maurice Brown, and yeah he is outstanding. He relocated to New Orleans a couple years ago and apparently he's been blowing up big down there; he's become a real local celebrity, according to some Trib profile of him that ran about a month ago.

Hey, Maurice Brown...I think that guy sat in with my band in New Orleans!

Also, looking back I'm afraid I would disagree with Phil's picks. I don't know, I like all of his discs. I'm well aware of the limitations of his particular style (that burrowing a motif into the ground that Jordan alluded to), but the thing is he largely keeps recording with different groups - putting himself in different contexts - so it continues to work for me.

Anyway, I'd really need the Steve McCall duet disc (Vintage Duets), the live disc with Hamid and Marilyn Crispell (Destiny, fucking GREAT), the disc with the DKV Trio, and Missing Link, the Nessa disc which was I think the first recording released under his name (he had previously been on Jarman's Song For record, though.) But Phil is definitely spot-on in his assessment of the Eremite 2 Days in April disc; that one's a scorcher.

i had one Fred album and didn't care for it too much. don't remember why?

Anderson also appears on Jarman's As If It Were The Seasons, which I like better than Song For.

Oh, I forgot to mention -- I had no idea until recently, but record-setting college wide receiver at Pitt, Larry Fitzgerald - just selected I think 3rd overall by the Arizona Cardinals in the NFL Draft - is the grandson of the woman that own's Fitzee's Ribs!! Is that awesome or what? There's one family that will soon be a few million dollars richer....

Live, the Coltrane-influence on his playing seemed more pronounced than on the recs I've heard.

Jesus that David S. Ware 3 CD set sounds mouth-watering - what w/ that and the Ayler/Revenant box I'm going to be fuckin' broke

oh, it will continue; new space has been built out, but, gah -- simply can't imagine not going to the old Velvet on Sundays anymore .... :(

view from the bar

Fred and Donna

the great Ernest Dawkins on the left, Jabari Liu gettin down, Isiah Spencer on drums, some other guys

Me and Cato

keyboard GENIUS roll-call : Justin Dillard and Jim Baker

http://static.flickr.com/48/118671045_c295f4b12e.jpg?v=0

Happy 80th Fred!!

AACM-related birthday gigs all this week at the tiny Velvet Lounge in Chicago.

Legendary Chicago saxophonist, one of the founders of the AACM. Ran his own club, the Velvet Lounge, for decades. Instantly recognizable on the horn; once you'd heard one of his records, you could pick him out after ten seconds. He was 81. My favorites from his medium-sized discography are 2 Days in April, a double disc with Kidd Jordan on sax, William Parker on bass and Hamid Drake on drums; Dark Day/Live in Verona with Billy Brimfield on trumpet, Steven Palmore on bass and Drake again; From the River to the Ocean, with Jeff Parker on guitar, Harrison Bankhead on cello, piano and bass, Josh Abrams on bass and guimbri, and Drake again.

That post was supposed to be the start of a RIP thread. He died this morning.

sadness, endless sadness

big void

farewell friend, I love you

hadn't heard this - this makes me really sad - Bill Dixon, now Fred. fuck.

:(

only just heard abt fred's passing, from a brief mention in the wire

saw him play a fantastic gig w/ a great group that included hamid drake and jeff parker, at the all tomorrow's parties curated by tortoise. the set was really well received by a surprisingly large crowd, and anderson seemed really touched and surprised by the acclaim. a happy memory that i just wanted to make note of, and mourn the loss of another great musician.