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Excerpts from and links to album reviews of rather boisterous jazz albums. Artist info links at: Wikipedia; website; Discogs; Bandcamp as available. Links to the full album on: basic/free YouTube; subscription Spotify; purchase download Bandcamp. Check your favorite service. Please enjoy!

Tuesday, November 12, 2024

Sam Rivers' Rivbea Orchestra - ‘Culmination’

Retrospective 1999, with an album from a quarter-century ago.

Culmination was avant-garde saxophonist/composer/arranger Sam Rivers second big band album of 1999. These were his first albums in ~20 years, and the first 2 of 4 total with the Rivbea Orchestra. The album earned a Grammy nomination for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album, as did Inspiration, a year earlier, which earlier earned a post below.

David Adler at AllAboutJazz: “You can practically hear the 70s loft scene come to life as Rivers and the other strong soloists on this record — Steve Coleman, Greg Osby, Gary Thomas, and Hamiet Bluiett among them — take turns navigating the atonal contours of these compositions. Yet another elliptically eloquent statement from Rivers, one of the most refreshingly radical improvisers of our time.”

This is really nice big band, with a bit of a wild streak.  Rivers released >40 albums from 1965-2005, with a few seminal big band albums. Discogs.

'Rivbea' is a combo of Sam’s and his wife Beatrice's name, and she helps arrange.

Sam Rivers' Rivbea Orchestra, Culmination, full album: YouTube ; Spotify

This is on the Jazz Best Albums 1999 playlist at Spotify/Jazz Todayish.  😎

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