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Producer’s note, 3rd edition McLaughlin on Miles Davis’ “Bitches Brew” and
Tony Williams’ Lifetime than an alto trio that, say,
The “Friends” LP is the unique vision of composer Jackie McLean might lead. The fluidity of his har-
and alto saxophist Marc Cohen (now playing pia- monic concepts with the overlay of the electron-
no as Marc Copland). He put the group together, ic distortions, on top of the pulsing of a jazz-like
brought in the first tunes, and was the energy behind rhythm blew my ears out, only in the best way.
eletrifying his saxophone while staying true to the Finally, someone who’d grown up with the same
rhythmic and harmonic jazz that he loved playing. rock’n’roll as my generation,overlaid on the sophis-
tication of the jazz I was discovering.
I first came across Marc as a Columbia University
musical star when I was asked to record a concert Immediately after the midnight session I rushed into
of some his mianstreanm big band arrangements the studio asking Marc if I could release the tracks
on campus in 1971. Later on my new label, Oblivion
that year I caught him down- Records. Our first two releases
town playing in drummer had been country blues (my
Chico Hamilton’s band. But partner, Tom Pomposello, was
we didn’t really know each the bluesman) but I was itch-
other when May 1972 when he ing to get into the jazz I loved.
showed up with a trio at our Which honestly, I thought
college radio station, would be more in the post Or-
WKCR-FM, for a live perfor- nette Coleman/John
mance on David Reitman’s Coltrane/Cecil Taylor
“Journey to the End of the avant-garde styles I was lean-
Night.” ing towards in those days. But,
this Marc Cohen stuff was
The group –Marc’s alto sax- something else –electric jazz!–
ophone, bassist Glen Moore, and I wanted Oblivion in on
and drummer Jeff Williams– the revolution.
seemed like another modern
First Marc Cohen Trio session May 3, 1972
acoustic jazz trio –no chorded Marc was game –he hadn’t yet
instrument– until I got confused when I was asked had a release under his leadership– but for reasons
to put a microphone for an amplifier, and Marc only known to him, he wasn’t happy enough with
started wailing, sounding more like an “acid the performances and asked for a chance to come
rock” guitarist than any alto player I’d ever heard. back another time for an official session.*
Then they hit the first tune.
We gathered again in December 1972 with Clint
What???!!! Houston on bass and electric bass, and now with
John Abercrombie added on electric guitar. I fired
The beautiful howls that came out of this band re- up the not yet road tested new Scully stereo record-
minded me more of what was happening with John ers that had replaced our worn Ampex’s and hit the
Friends OD-3 www.OblivionRecords.co
first take. The quartet was a richer sound –it helped kind of “missing link” in the development of what
that the studio had been rebuilt with acoustic should have been the kind of positive musical dis-
tiling– and Marc and the band had clearly worked ruption that united the ambitious rock listener with
out some of the compositions’ complexities. the progressive jazz fan, and instead descended in
the the swamp known as “fusion.” Truly too bad.
The music was amazing, everything I’d
hoped for after the May trios. Intricate, but memo- Marc Cohen Copland was –and is, since he
rable melodies, soaring improvisations, rhythm that switched his allegiance to the piano, along with
got to the bottom of the funk, with the rise of jazz his last name, to escape its commonality with a
cadences. The world was waiting for Marc Cohen. one hit pop star– a true visionary composer and
improvisor. For his musical reasons he chose not
We got some amazing reviews: Jazz to pursue the electronic version of his music. But,
Forum called it “the electronic jazz I’m more than happy Oblivion Records was there to
record of the year!” Crawdaddy thought catch the seed that’s grown into what DownBeat’s
it was “a promising indication of Bill Milkowski now describes when
things to come as more and more he says Marc Copland always seeks
young musicians move into the realm a place in music that takes him some-
of New Electric Music.” Even the where beyond the notes.”
more of less traditionalist jazz bible
DownBeat gave the record 5 stars and Amen.
said “Cohen has transformed the elec-
tric sax from a gimmick to a concept The recording
in instrumentation with its own iden-
tity and horizons.” Columbia University’s WKCR-FM
was built as a traditional radio studio,
Why didn’t the record make more of for recording announcers and inter-
a splash? Was it that Marc didn’t want views, not instruments. As the 1970s
it to be a leader-ed album, opting for a began, college graduate, music writ-
generic group title “Friends?” Or that er, and DJ David Reitman asked me
I made a cover choice that seemed like to engineer more than the occasional
a good idea at the time, but probably drop in musical guest until we were
put off more potential buyers than it probably recording 45 or 50 perfor-
attracted? Or was it that our label was “the enigma mances a year. Soon, we convinced
of enigmas” as DownBeat tried to compliment us? the station’s student Board of Directors to hit up
the University for funds to rebuild one of satellite
It was all that and more. Mainly, the Oblivion rooms into one that was more fitting to music than
Records’ “management” team’s entrepreneurial just announcers.
inexperience.
As the engineer of more than 90% of KCR’s live
“Friends” ended up as one of those cult LPs, the performances I couldn’t have been more thrilled
Friends OD-3 www.OblivionRecords.co
make Marc’s “Friends” tapes, mastered them on
the maiden voyage of the site, and never mentioned
new studio in December of anything was amiss.
1972. Pristine stereo Scul-
ly stereo machines (there Whew!
was no way we could con-
vince anyone to fund us The Album Cover
four or eight track record-
ers. Damn!), a newly built Sam Steinberg was a leg-
and wired recording con- endary “outsider” artist on
sole with simple left-cen- the Columbia University
ter-right switching and no campus who, in the 1930s,
equaliztion. (I knew noth- started traveling from the
ing about actual electron- Bronx with his mother by
ics, just sound. Thank you three subways to sell candy
Andy Setos, Chuck Weger, bars to students. You can
Don Zimmerman, and the read more about him else-
whole E-school crew.) We where in this
were ready to go. booklet.
Things sounded great. In part, thanks to Marc’s Jof-
frey Ballet day gig buddy, pianist Don Grolnick, Sometime in the 60s Sam was inspired to paint cats
who “consulted.” When I was reviewed the tapes af- and “boids,” eventually branching out to snakes,
terwards, it was quite clear that the new wiring was flowers, even pop culture icons of the day like Elvis
not quite… um, perfect. The left channel was drop- Presley and Richard Nixon. By the 1970s virtually
ping in and out of a few every student on cam-
of the masters. After a pus had at least one
bit of panic, I figured $2.50 “Sam” on their
out a way to remix the wall.
takes so
it wasn’t noticeable. At I had the bright idea
least, that was my most that since Marc Cohen
fervent hope. I didn’t was a Columbia Col-
want to embarrass my- lege graduate, I was a
self in front of those College student, and
older (they were three we were recording at
years my senior), pro- the Columbia radio
fessional musicians. station, what would be
better than a beautifully
Our pressing plant in rendered and colored
The original “Sam” 1973
Phoenix recieved the
Friends OD-3 www.OblivionRecords.co
(by Sam’s sister Pauline) painting by our resident
genius. Marc had no objections that I can recall 40
some odd years later.
–Fred Seibert
Oblivion Records
March 2022
Early years
Copland was born in Philadelphia, Penn-sylvania.
He began taking piano lessons at age seven, but
stopped abruptly at the age of ten when his public
school offered the option of saxophone training.
From the original liner, 1st edition, Spring 1973 Be-ginning his career on alto sax, Copland became
part of a vibrant music scene in his hometown in
MARC COHEN is from the early 1960s, learn-ing and playing with Mi-
chael Brecker, a close friend and fellow high school
Philadelphia home of all good saxo- student. In 1965 he briefly studied harmony with
phonists. He has played with Chico Romeo Cascarino in Philadelphia and also began
Hamilton and was with Dreams for training in composition with Meyer Kupferman and
studied saxophone with Joseph Allard, both in New
a short time. His alto saxophone is York.
modified by an octave divider, two
wah-wah pedals, a fuzz-tone, and a In 1966, Copland moved to New York City, where
he attended Columbia Uni-versity. He became part
tape echo box. His tenor sax is quite of a late 1960s and early 1970s New York jazz
ordinary. scene that expanded from the traditional clubs into
lofts around the city. During this period, Copland
was, along with John Abercrombie and Glen Moore,
a mem-ber of the Chico Hamilton Quartet. He ex-
Friends OD-3 www.OblivionRecords.co
perimented by adding electronic pro-cessors to his Bob Belden, Jane Ira Bloom, Joe Lovano, Herbie
alto, culminating in the recording of Friends, an Mann, James Moody (with whom he toured for
electric jazz album produced by a small New York three years), John Scofield, Jim Snide-ro, and Dave
City start-up label, Oblivion Records. This album, Stryker. A busy sideman, he began to appear with
with Abercrombie, Clint Hous-ton, and Jeff Wil- his own bands in local clubs, but remained unre-
liams, achieved a kind of cult status, earning a five- cord-ed as a leader. Acting on a tip that the Japanese
star review in DownBeat magazine. label Jazz City was searching for ten American pia-
Increasingly, however, Copland was writing music nists, Copland sent an audition tape to guitarist/pro-
with more complex chords that suggested to him an ducer Yoshiake Masuo. After listening, the pro-du-
approach to music very different from his acoustic cer called Copland to decline, saying that the label
and electronic saxophone work. He came to feel that had already reached agree-ment with ten pianists.
as an instrument, the saxo-phone was not a suitable A few weeks later Masuo called back to say one
vehicle to ful-ly express his musical imagination. pianist had dropped out, and offered Copland his
By 1973, he had decided to switch to piano. first record deal. My Foolish Heart, Cop-land’s de-
but disc as leader, was recorded at “The Studio” in
For the next decade, Copland labored in Washing- Soho, and Copland went on to record two other CDs
ton, D.C. and Baltimore in rel-ative obscurity while with the label:
mastering his new instrument. During this period he • My Foolish Heart/Jazz City, 1988
un-derwent a kind of apprenticeship, play-ing with (John Abercrombie, Gary Peacock, Jeff Hirshfield)
well-known musicians passing through the area who • All Blues At Night/Jazz City, 1992
asked for him as an accompanist. Backing up dif- (Tim Hagans, Peacock, Bill Stewart)
ferent mu-sicians one week to the next, he worked • Songs Without End/Jazz City Spirit,
with artists such as Randy Brecker, Bob Berg, Hank 1994 (duets with Ralph Towner)
Crawford, Art Farmer, Cur-tis Fuller, Tom Harrell,
Eddie Harris, Harold Land and Blue Mitchell, Dave Copland apparently liked the sound at “The Studio”
Liebman, Bob Mintzer, Gary Peacock, and Sonny because he recorded several albums there in the fol-
Stitt. During this time he also led his own bands lowing years.
in local clubs, playing with many of the musicians
who lived and worked in the area. One of these, His local trio and quartet gigs and were now more
bassist Drew Gress, later moved to New York and frequent, and as word of his trio spread, he began
over the years has become one of Copland’s chief to play regularly at everal venues around the United
musical collaborators. States, first with Peacock and drummer Bill Stew-
art, and later, when Stewart was no longer with the
Mid 80s/Early 90s original trio, with Billy Hart. This last trio made two
In the early 1980s, Copland returned to New York. albums:
For a time he returned week-ly to Washington to • At Night/Sunnyside, 1992 (Gary Peacock
continue private teaching and a steady trio engage- and Billy Hart)
ment, but after a couple of years these regular vis- • Paradiso/Soul Note, 1995 (Gary Peacock
its tapered off in favor of more exten-sive work in and Billy Hart)
New York City. During this period he worked with
Friends OD-3 www.OblivionRecords.co
Mid-1990s to 2000 begun touring Europe with his own groups, first in
In the 1990s, on the recommendation of Peter Er- duo with John Abercrombie, and later in trios and
skine and John Abercrombie, Copland recorded quartets. As a result, at the beginning of the millen-
with Vince Mendoza, in the process making the nium several European labels took an interest and
acquaintance of Japanese producer Takao Ogawa. be-gan to document his work. These record-ings so-
A few years later Ogawa and Copland bumped into lidified his position as a leading and original voice
each other in a New York studio, agreeing to meet on his instrument in various contexts; each disc was
to discuss re-cording possibilities. Ogawa subse- greeted enthusiastically by the press. His work from
quent-ly organized and produced Stompin’ with Sa- 2000 to 2006 can be divided into solo piano work,
voy (Savoy), featuring an all-star quintet including duos, trios, and quartets:
fellow Philadelphian Randy Brecker and Bob Berg.
Because of the limited distribution in the U.S. of his Solo piano
previous CDs, this release effective-ly became Co- In 2001, French producer Philippe Ghielmetti heard
pland’s American debut. It garnered high praise in Copland with his trio in Paris, and invited him to
the American press, which cited his unique way of record his debut solo piano album. The album fea-
re-interpreting the standard repertoire, an approach tured almost all Copland originals. Three years lat-
which was widely copied by younger musicians er, Swiss producer Werner Uehlinger followed suit.
later in the decade. The release led to three years of The two albums helped further establish Copland’s
touring with the quintet in major clubs around the unique approach to music:
country. Savoy recorded three other albums, as well • Poetic Motion/Sketch, 2001
as a fourth CD that was never released. (Solo piano)
• Stompin’ with Savoy/Savoy, 1995 • Time Within Time/Hatology, 2005
(Randy Brecker, Bob Berg, James Genus, Dennis (Solo piano)
Chambers)
• Second Look/Savoy, 1996 (John Aber- In Poetic Motion, cross references with-in Bill Za-
crombie, Drew Gress, Billy Hart) vatsky’s poem of the same title and between the
• Softly/Savoy, 1998 (Michael Brecker, Tim poem and the music are everywhere, increasing the
Hagans, Joe Lovano, Gary Peacock, Bill Stewart) complexity and richness of the artistic experience.
• Untitled/Savoy, unreleased (Drew Gress, In Time Within Time Copland wrote his own verse,
Bill Stewart, Jochen Rueckert) which helped unify the theme of “time” that is pres-
ent in the CD title, the cover photograph, and the
Softly, like the other Savoy albums, was praised for musical titles and content.
its originality and sophistication, but also received
special attention for its presentation of a unified al- Duos
bum concept. For years, the duo in jazz was a rarely seen ensem-
ble. Copland concentrated on this somewhat ne-
The early 2000s glected format in many of his recordings between
The Savoy jazz catalog was largely in-active in the 2000 and 2005. His partners on the various projects
late 1990s, and for a couple of years Copland went played diverse instruments, including alto sax, so-
unrecorded. But In the mid-nineties Copland had prano and tenor sax, guitar, bass, and trumpet:
Friends OD-3 www.OblivionRecords.co
• Between the Lines/Steeplechase, • Brand New/Challenge, 2003
2000 (with Tim Hagans) (John Abercrombie, Kenny Wheeler)
• Double Play/Steeplechase, 2001
(with Vic Juris) Quartets
• Bookends/Hatology, 2002 In the nineties, Copland wrote and ar-ranged exten-
(with David Liebman) sively for his quintet and quartet; he returned to this
• Round and Round/Nagel Heyer, format with four CDs in the 2000s. Each featured a
2003 (with Greg Osby) fourth instrumentalist familiar with Copland’s way
• Night Call/Nagel Heyer, 2004 of reworking standards, and his sense of original
(with Greg Osby ) composition:
• What it Says/Sketch, 2004 • Lunar/Hatology, 2001 (Dave Lieb-man,
(with Gary Peacock) Mike McGuirk, Tony Martucci)
• And…/Hatology, 2003 (Michael Brecker,
A final duo release from this period fea-tured Cop- John Abercrombie, Drew Gress, Jochen Rueckert)
land in duets with another pia-nist with a harmoni- • Both/And/Nagel Heyer, 2006 (Randy
cally advanced bent, the American Bill Carrothers: Brecker, Ed Howard, Victor Lewis)
• No Choice/Minium, 2005 (duets with
Bill Carrothers) 2006 to 2012
During this period Copland recorded ex-clusively
Trio with the Pirouet label. His out-put during this period
Perhaps the album most responsible for opening the included mostly trios, but also duos, quartets, and
door to wider public ac-ceptance for Copland during a quin-tet CD. Some Love Songs recalls his earli-
the new millennium was his return to the trio format er ballad disc Haunted Heart, with the same trio of
with his regular working band of the period, with Gress and Rueckert. Beginning with Modinha, the
Drew Gress on bass and Jochen Rueckert on drums. pianist embarked on the three-volume “NY Trio
The album was an application of the pianist’s lyri- Series”; he later returned to the trio of Gress and
cal bent to the interpretation of ballads, a song form Rueckert for “Some More Love Songs.”
that lends itself naturally to his style. The trio de- • Some Love Songs/Pirouet, 2005
veloped the rapport evident on the album through (Drew Gress, Jochen Rueckert)
several years of steady gigs in New York, and USA • Modinha–NY Trios Vol. 1/Pirouet,
and European tours. Another and very different trio, 2006 (Gary Peacock, Bill Stewart)
with Kenny Wheeler and John Abercrombie, was a • Voices–NY Trios Vol. 2/Pirouet,
meeting of three individualist instrumentalists and 2007 (Gary Peacock, Paul Motian)
composers. This latter trio recorded twice, and also • Night Whispers-NY Trios Vol. 3/
toured Europe frequently: Pirouet, 2008 (Drew Gress, Bill Stewart)
• Haunted Heart and Other • Another Place/Pirouet, 2008 (John
Ballads/Hatology, 2001 (Drew Gress, Jochen Abercrombie, Drew Gress, Billy Hart) å, 2009 (duo
Rueckert) with Gary Peacock) Alone/Pirouet, 2009 (solo piano)
• That’s for Sure/Challenge, 2000 (John • Contact/Pirouet, 2010 (Dave Liebman,
Abercrombie, Kenny Wheeler) John Abercrombie, Gress, Billy Hart)
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• Crosstalk/Pirouet, 2011 (Greg Osby,
Doug Weiss, Victor Lewis)
• Speak to Me/Pirouet, 2011 (duo with
John Abercrombie)
• Some More Love Songs/Pirouet,
2012 (Drew Gress, Jochen Rueckert)
From the original liner, 1st edition, Spring 1973 Abercrombie’s appearances at Paul’s Mall led to
several fortuitous meetings. Organist Johnny Ham-
mond Smith spotted the young Abercrombie and
JOHN ABERCROMBIE has invited him to go on tour while he was still a stu-
played and recorded with Dreams, dent. During the same period, Abercrombie also met
Chico Hamilton, Barry Miles, Gil the Brecker Brothers, who invited him to become a
new part of their group Dreams, which would be-
Evans and is along with Clint in come one the prominent jazzrock bands of the late
Jack DeJohnette’s band. On side one 1960s and early 1970s. Abercrombie appears on the
his guitar sounds from the left group’s eponymous debut album.
channel. He is on the right After graduating from Berklee, Abercrombie headed
channel for “Nursery Rhyme” and to New York, where he quickly became one of New
on “Loose Tune” he isn’t. York’s most in-demand session players. He record-
Friends OD-3 www.OblivionRecords.co
ed with Gil Evans, Gato Barbieri, and Barry Miles, more open music” with a propulsive beat, demon-
to name a few. He was also a regular with Chico strated in the group’s three releases, Getting There
Hamilton’s group. (featuring Michael Brecker) in 1987, Current
Events in 1988, and John Abercrombie, Marc
But it was in Billy Cobham’s band, which also fea- Johnson & Peter Erskine in 1989.
tured the Brecker brothers, that Abercrombie first
started to build a following. He was featured on From there, he moved to partnerships that he would
several of Cobham’s albums, including Crosswinds, shuffle and reshuffle for the next 20 years. He re-
Total Eclipse and Shabazz, all of which staked new united with his “Gateway” bandmembers in 1995
ground in fusion jazz. The group was booked into for an album appropriately titled Homecoming, but
large concert halls and arenas, appearing on bills not before forming yet a third ensemble that would
with such top rock attractions as the Doobie Brothers. make several recordings together. Abercrombie had
It was not, however, the direction Abercrombie had long been enamored with the sound of jazz organ,
hoped his career would go. “One night we appeared so he teamed with organist Dan Wall and drummer
at the Spectrum in Phildelphia and I thought, what Adam Nussbaum in While We Were Young and
am I doing here?” he said. “It just didn’t compute.” Speak of the Devil (both 1993) and, in 1997 Tactics.
Another album, titled Open Land, added violinist
In the early 1970s, Abercrombie ran into Manfred Mark Feldman and saxophonist Joe Lovano to the
Eicher, who invited him to record for ECM. The re- mix.
sult was Abercrombie’s first solo album, Timeless,
in which he was backed by Jan Hammer and Jack His affiliation with Feldman, in a quartet that in-
DeJohnette. Abercrombie’s second album, Gateway, cluded Marc Johnson and drummer Joey Barron,
was released in November 1975 with DeJohnette ushered in a period of looser, freer, almost improvi-
and bassist Dave Holland; a second Gateway satory playing. “I like free playing that has some
recording was released in June 1978. relationship to a melody; very much the way Or-
nette Coleman used to write all those wonderful
He then moved on to a traditional quartet format, re- songs and then they would play without chords on
cording three albums on ECM--Arcade, Abercrom- a lot of them,” he told AAJ. In fact, Abercrombie’s
bie Quartet, and M--with pianist Richie Beirach, work from this period has been compared to cham-
bassist George Mraz and drummer Peter Donald. ber music, with its delicacy of sound and telepathic
“It was extremely important to have that group for communication between musicians.
many reasons,” Abercrombie told AAJ in 2004. “It
was, of course, a good band, but it was also my first Throughout the 1990s and into 2000 and beyond,
opportunity to really be a leader and to write consis- Abercrombie has continued to pluck from the ranks
tently for the same group of musicians.” of jazz royalty--and be plucked for guest appearances
on other artists’ recordings. One propitious relation-
His second group, a trio with bassist Marc Johnson ship was with guitarist, pianist, and composer Ralph
and drummer Peter Erskine, marked the first time he Towner, with whom Abercrombie has worked in a
experimented with the guitar synthesizer. This gave duet setting. (Abercrombie has also worked in gui-
him the opportunity to play what he called “louder, tar duos with John Scofield, for 1993’s Solar and
Friends OD-3 www.OblivionRecords.co
with Joe Beck in Coincidence, released in 2007).
Abercrombie has also recorded with saxophonist
Jan Garbarek and bassist Eddie Gomez.
Graphics:
The Oblivionettes co-starring Susan DeLaney
Photography:
Trebor Trepla, Fred Seibert, Robert Alpert
Advice:
Don Grolnick, Michael Altshuler, Lisa Lenovitz