

I lead no man to a dinner-table, library, exchange,īut each man and each woman of you I lead upon a knoll, I have no chair, no church, no philosophy, No friend of mine takes his ease in my chair, My signs are a rain-proof coat, good shoes, and a staff cut from the woods, I tramp a perpetual journey, (come listen all!) I know I have the best of time and space, and was never measured and never will be measured. My son emailed me – “Where did you find this?” so I sent him a link to this page. When I left teaching, students gave me a gift: Leaves of Grass. When I was a teacher, I used the following passage all the time. Especially on this day in this era, as those of us in America work to keep our foundation and legacy healthy.

The opening cut 'Nicrotto' is such a beautiful start to a record - such a gentle swell of harmony - and yet it also starts pulling away from itself about halfway through, where Keith Tippett's piano revs the whole band towards a discordant mess. They give the ninetet a bright and brassy assonance that cuts through the repetitive themes laid down by the saxes and trombones. The duo of Marc Charig and Harry Beckett are the high points for me, who play trumpet, cornet, flugelhorn and tenor horn (though I'm not one to really distinguish these). This is a who's-who of 70s British jazzbos, with some names I sort of recognize and others that I don't at all. The other 7, led of course by Dean's confident if slightly indistinct alto, never overplay. That's a hell of a rhythm section and they really start off with a warm inviting ball on 'Nicrotto', and then into a propulsive, slow swing on 'Seven for Lee'. I like this record lots, but I have a major soft spot for the South African expat/Chris McGregor axis, of which Louis Moholo and Harry Miller are present here. This is from '77 and the liner notes, laid in out a lovingly hand-written manner, talk extensively about the history and composition of the band. They're called Ninesense cause there's 9 of them, get it? Elton Dean was in Soft Machine but here's a place to show off his jazzy side.
