Speaking from my own experience, free jazz and “prog” are two categories of music which, if you’re looking to learn more about and you ask someone who claims to be into them where you should start, chances are, depending on how much the person you’re asking thinks of their own taste and intelligence, you could get some extremely varied recommendations. I would even go as far as to say there’s a good chance the person whose advice you’re seeking might even take the opportunity to test you. To imply that if you don’t like or “get” their recommendation, it’s somehow a reflection of your own (poor) taste and (lack of) intelligence (and/or sophistication). And this is why a lot of people hate people who are really into music like free jazz and prog. It just takes one bad apple etc. etc etc.
I don’t think I could define what “prog” was exactly when I was first introduced to the “Nurse With Wound List” but I knew I loved lists of records I didn’t know anything about because they were an easy way to keep track of new music to seek out. The first person who I spoke with about the list told me it was “mostly obscure prog stuff” and this delighted me as it was a lot cooler to walk into a record store and ask, “Yeah, uhhh do you guys have any Ovary Lodge?,” than to ask, “Uh, I want to learn about prog. What should I buy?” If I knew the band names it sounded (maybe) like I already sorta knew what I was looking for. Anyway, it became pretty apparent right away that everything on this list was not only insanely rare but so varied musically, the adjective “prog” barely even meant anything. I don’t remember what it was but the first record I came upon on the list that I splurged on after the shop guy told me, “If you want prog, you gotta buy this..” (Brass City Records, Waterbury, CT late 90’s) was so out there and weird (and frankly boring) it was like someone telling you they want to get into hip-hop and you recommending they listen to “Rappin Duke”. I was turned off immediately but also suspected the shop guy was just tryin’ to BLOW MY MIND, MAN…
Free jazz came much earlier and much more organically for me. My first exposure was seeing a series of concerts in Amherst and Northampton, MA in the mid-90’s, put on by Michael Ehlers and Byron Coley. Talk about being at the right place at the right time: I moved to Northampton in late 1994 and shortly afterwards the concerts started being held weekly at a Unitarian Church right around the corner from the record store I worked at. The first free jazz I ever heard was seeing Peter Brotzman, Jemeel Moondoc, Joe & Mat Maneri, Joe Morris, Borah Bergman, William Parker, Alan Silva, Denis Charles, Sabir Mateen, Marco Eneidi and so many more, playing live in this little church. Needless to say: it was a lot easier to “feel” this music hearing and seeing it live than through my shitty stereo speakers. I went to the shows for the same reason I went to my first punk shows: it was something to do, it was new and exciting, and it seemed…special…like something not just anyone knew about or would understand. Like punk, I was hooked.
Getting back to Prog: my interest was piqued again in the late 90’s when I was given a Magma record that was recommended by Weasel Walter of the Flying Luttenbachers on his website, which I had discovered was (at the time, 1997 or so) the most comprehensive study of “No Wave” music on the internet. Information beyond “No New York” and Neutral and 99 Records and recommendations of likeminded artists from around the world like Diamanda Galas, Immortal and the aforementioned Magma. Somehow, it all made sense. I got why Walter liked Magama, and I liked Magma. I didn’t seek more prog out in the following years, but when I came upon it at stores and in friends’ collections, it made a lot more sense to me and it was easier to pick out what I liked and didn’t like, and I was able to develop a vocabulary for it.
So, all that said… If I really, really had to recommend a starting point for prog and/or free jazz to someone nowadays, knowing what a daunting experience it could be to dive into either world, I think I’d recommend this collaborative LP from the great British soprano saxophonist, feee improviser (and actor!) Lol Coxhill and the Japanese avant-garde vets Totsuzen Danball from 1983. I did some digging on this one and didn’t find much. From what the liner notes tell me: Totsuzen Danball (translation: “Sudden Cardboard” (!!!)) recorded their parts in Japan, Coxhill recorded his parts in the UK, and then the sounds were assembled back in Japan where the record was released on TD’s own label Floor. Now, if I had to guess..I would say this sounds like Mr. Coxhill may have been playing while listening to TD’s recording..but if that ain’t the case, I’m even more floored at what they’ve accomplished on this recording. TD isn’t exactly playing as “free” as one might expect, they’re certainly moving with a groove that doesn’t fall far from the jazz-prog tendencies of some of Coxhill’s buddies in Canterbury. Future TD collaborator Fred Frith would’ve fit in perfectly on side one of this LP. Side two starts off with the TD guys echoing some of the quieter sentiments of Tori Kudo’s solo recordings or maybe even Loren Mazzacane Connors’ 90’s output? It just sounds…comfortably familiar, but at the same time not what we think of when we think of a “song”. I don’t know or care what that means right now, but I mean it. If Coxhill couldn’t hear the same thing I heard while he played his part well, I just don’t know what to say. The guy was always a master of improvising, yet sounding like he’s playing exactly what he’s supposed to be playing at any moment. Listening to his solo debut “Ear Of Beholder” from 1971 is the perfect way to start listening to his music. It absolutely sets the tone for every recording he made by himself and with others over the next 4+ decades of an extremely prolific career.
On paper, the Coxhill/Totsuzen Danball LP looks and feels like a “difficult” listen.. and if you’re expecting “songs”, well, I guess it’s not an easy one,. To me its a perfect example of the beauty there is to be found in improvised music, or music that’s perhaps a little more “progressive” than what a lot of people are used to. It’s challenging, but completely unpretentious. Playful, joyful and serious at the same time. A testament to creativity and the ability to take familiar sounds and turn them into something no one has ever heard before, and may never hear again.
