This week’s edition of Mindtrain was devoted exclusively to ‘outside’ jazz recordings of the 1960s and 70s, with an emphasis on music by Gunter Hampel and artists in his circle, most notably Marion Brown, Anthony Braxton and Jeanne Lee (Hampel’s wife until her death in 2000). Many of the tracks I played were drawn from vinyl releases on Hampel’s own Birth Records label, most of which have been to this date unreleased on CD. One of these albums (featured here in its entirety) was Familie, a live concert recording documenting a totally improvised performance by Braxton, Hampel & Lee from 1972, recorded at the Theatre de Mouffetard in Paris on April 1 of that year.

Other artists whose work I chose to include on the program included Eric Dolphy (whose brief recorded legacy cast a huge influence on the jazz avant-garde across the decades following his premature demise in 1964), Archie Shepp and Patty Waters. Jazz is a genre I don’t give enough attention to on Mindtrain, and hopefully this program somewhat served to make up for that fact.

It bears mention that my first exposure to this music (free improvisation, avant-garde jazz or what you care to call it) was in the 1970s as a teenager growing up in Southeastern Massachusetts. Many nights I stayed up listening to late-night college radio on headphones, and it was on stations such as WBUR (Boston University), WBRS (Brandeis) and WBRU (Brown University in Providence, RI), that I was introduced to the recordings of Gunter Hampel, Marion Brown, Sun Ra and other forward-thinking jazz artists. Hopefully this edition of Mindtrain can serve to expose a handful of today’s listeners to this great music.

Listen To The Podcast

The playlist gives artist name, song title, and album title (in that order). A space between lines of text indicates the break between sets where track announcements were made.

Playlist for Mindtrain 13 – 25 October 2011

• Archie Shepp – Blase – Blase

• Eric Dolphy – God Bless The Child – In Europe, Vol. 1
• Marion Brown – Afternoon Of A Georgia Faun – Afternoon Of A Georgia Faun
• Gunter Hampel – Different Point Of View, Different Reality – Cosmic Dancer
• Patty Waters – Black Is The Color Of My True Love’s Hair – Patty Waters Sings

• Marion Brown & Gunter Hampel – Gesprachsfetzen – Gesprachsfetzen
• Eric Dolphy – Burning Spear – Iron Man
• Marion Brown & Gunter Hampel – Exhibit A – Gesprachsfetzen
• Gunter Hampel – Morning Song – The 8th Of July 1969
• Marion Brown & Gunter Hampel – Tomorrow Is The Beginning Of The End Of Yesterday – Gesprachsfetzen

• Gunter Hampel – Look At Me For What I Truly Am, Rather Than That What You Believe Me To Be – Cosmic Dancer
• Marion Brown & Gunter Hampel – Improvisation – Reeds ‘N Vibes/li>
• Eric Dolphy – Hat And Beard – Out To Lunch
• Gunter Hampel – Purple Skies – Enfant Terrible
• Marion Brown & Gunter Hampel – Arrow In The Wind – Reeds ‘N Vibes

• Anthony Braxton / Gunter Hampel / Jeanne Lee – Familie (Parts 1 & 2) – Familie

• Patty Waters – Wild Is The Wind – College Tour