Marion Brown & Leo Smith: “Creative Improvisation Ensemble” (2023) Vinyl Review

Recently a friend sent me a cartoon online. It has three panels. In the first panel, a guy asks, “Who are we?” and the crowd responds, “Record collectors!” In the second, he asks, “What do we want?” and they answer, “More records!” And in the final panel he asks, “Where will we put them?” The crowd responds, “We don’t know!” I laugh each time I see this. And though I have no idea where I’m going to put any more records, Black Friday is coming up this week, and that means more Record Store Day releases. Have you seen the list? It’s a good one. One of the records coming out on Friday is a re-issue of Marion Brown & Leo Smith’s Creative Improvisation Ensemble, featuring music recorded in May of 1970. Marion Brown is on alto saxophone, and Wadada Leo Smith is on trumpet, and both also play percussion. The record has been out of print for decades, and now will be available in translucent red vinyl.

Side A

The first track, “Centering,” makes me smile from its beginning. It’s like characters introducing themselves in short bursts, or two people coming across various noise-making devices and trying them out, perhaps even dropping one or two. This track isn’t much more than a minute long.

Then as “Njung-Lumumba Malcolm” starts, it feels like we are entering some magic realm, its doors slowly opening before us. There is a moment of silence, and then the saxophone and trumpet take us deeper into exploration of the realm. What is interesting almost immediately is the willingness to let pauses play a part, for thought and contemplation to almost be heard, for hesitation to be felt. And then there are wild and exciting moments, these instruments racing forward, as if startled or frightened. Are they being chased, or maybe just in belief of being chased? They then relax, catching a breath, before rounding the next corner and coming into contact with some other strange entity. And it begins to feel like it’s about communication. A conversation of sorts is occurring. The percussion soon takes a strong part, playing beneath the trumpet, creating an interesting atmosphere, until that mysterious land has wrapped itself around us, covering all possible exits. We hear footsteps in the dark, and some activity. As we step toward it, creatures scatter about, and while it may seem like madness, we get the feeling these strange beings know precisely what they are doing, dismantling our reality, and building something that suits their tastes in its place. Strange contraptions, all of which are in motion, perhaps building yet more odd contraptions. Suddenly a train horn blasts, as a warning, and we wonder what might be heading our way now. But is it in fact a train horn, or a living beast shouting out a call? Seems the latter, for that call is answered. And we enter a space where the creatures might be wounded, and are reaching out for help.

Side B

“And Then They Danced” eases in, sounding a call over a vast but desolate landscape, and we wonder who might be left to respond. There is resilience and a beauty to the call itself. The saxophone then adds its voice to the message, adds its strength. Interestingly, the trumpet drops out, and the saxophone sounds the call again. There is a brief pause before the track goes into a section of percussion. Something is building here, a large and insistent power rumbling and rising, stretching out across the land like a military force, causing those in its path to run. Suddenly the movement stops. And when the percussion resumes, the saxophone accompanies it, giving it a different vibe. Now it does feel like some kind of unusual dance, where the steps are not coordinated, but created by an unbalanced denizen of an alley fire escape, someone who believes he leads a great company of dancers who will follow him over broken glass. The trumpet then joins the percussion and is either leading those phantom dancers out of a burning building or into one. Perhaps it is all memory. The saxophone and trumpet engage in a wild discussion of what has come before and where everything might be heading, sometimes in agreement, sometimes speaking over each other, eager to be heard, eager to get a point across. Until the saxophone finds its voice alone, looking around and perhaps wondering what happened.

“Rhythmus #1” opens in a darker space, where time is fragmented but still chiming, and tiny beings scamper about, engaged in important business that might seem like confusion to any outside looking in. Many glass legs scurry over rock and brick and bone. This track is all percussion.

Record Track List

Side A

1. Centering
2. Njung-Lumumba Malcolm

Side B

1. And Then They Danced
2. Rhythmus #1

This special re-issue of Creative Improvisation Ensemble is scheduled to be released on vinyl on November 24, 2023 through Org Music as part of its Freedom Records series (Marion Brown’s Porto Novo was also released in this series).