Muhal Richard Abrams - Complete Remastered Recordings on Black Saint

For those who are under the impression that AACM is not much more than Art Ensemble, Threadgill and Braxton (of course), this set is a true testament to the generosity, sophistication and wisdom of the AACM's "founding prophet". Also consider Muhal's first two albums on Delmark.

I would agree with the above review with one side note soul note should issue more from their vault.on Muhal Richard Abrams.One of the truly great jazz players piano ever .

I happen to think that the current box set reissue series of the Black Saint/Soul Note catalog is one of the great recent events in the jazz record business. In the past, I never found it easy to locate many albums on this Italian label, so this current title wave of box sets is more than welcome! And admittedly, I'm only now becoming familiar with the recordings of musicians whose names I've known for several decades. Chicago pianist and composer Muhal Richard Abrams is one of them.So keeping this in mind (reviews by more knowledgeable fans may follow?) I'd like to take this opportunity to say a few words concerning the music in this boxed set. It just didn't seem right to see no reviews of this magnificent collection of music, so here goes...This is the third set I've purchased after Henry Threadgill, and George Russell, and I'm enjoying this one the most of the three. Whether the music in question is free, avant garde, structured big band, or blues oriented, Mr. Abrams and his ensembles perform it with a wonderful feeling of enthusiasm and exhilaration. It's got soul, if you know what I mean?An album such as The Hearinga Suite contains some of the most colorful, inventive, and joyful big band music I've had the pleasure of listening to. I can't put into words how blown away I am listening to this album! The compositions contain everything I want to hear in this kind of music. Great sounding mallet percussion, phenomenal reed and horn section, cello, keyboards, and cooking rhythm section. These cats have the discipline to play sophisticated written charts, improvise, and swing their butts off. In short, they can do it all! And to top it off, we get the Abrams piano/keyboard feature, Conversations With The Three Of Me. Sublime is the most appropriate adjective here!I said I was going to say a few words, so I'll stop short of covering all eight albums in this set. The last thing I'll say is that if you are interested in experiencing the music of one of America's great artists in Muhal Richard Abrams, all eight of these albums are worthy of your attention, and they're all right here in this Black Saint box. Get it!Content info pasted from All Music site. Abrams' complex compositional forms often find him collaborating with like-minded musicians from Chicago and New York, with many of them appearing on these sessions, including George Lewis, Roscoe Mitchell, Amina Myers, Thurman Barker, Baikida Carroll, Andrew Cyrille, Craig Harris, Stanton Davis, Marty Ehrlich, Dick Griffin, Cecil Bridgewater, Fred Hopkins, Diedre Murray, and David Gilmore (the guitarist from Cambridge, Massachusetts, not the Pink Floyd guitarist). This set contains eight full-length albums: Spihumonesty (1979), Mama and Daddy (1980), Blues Forever (1982), Rejoicing with the Light (1983), View from Within (1985), The Hearinga Suite (1989), Blu Blu Blu (1991), and Think All, Focus One (1995).

8 album densissimi, con arrangiamenti molto originali, organici fitti e ben assortiti.Non saprei quale preferire: sono tutti da ascoltare e riascoltare. C'è una varietà di toni e colori davvero ampia, un uso misurato dell'elettronica e un raffinato gusto per la ricerca e le sonorità più avanguardistiche senza dimenticare la tradizione: il jazz delle origini e il blues (con qualche pennellata di musica concreta).Musica godibilissima ma per orecchi avvertiti e assetati. Consigliato se vi piace il jazz (anche quello più "di ricerca") e la musica contemporanea.Un trip.

Des choses magnifiques, jubilatoires comme dans les albums Blu Blu Blu, The Hearinga Suite, Think All, Focus One ou View from Within. Certaines compositions sont d'un abord plus complexe. MRA et les autres musiciens sont aux frontières d'un jazz créatif, intuitif et de la musique contemporaine. On ne sort pas indemne de cette expérience.