Steve Tintweiss And The Purple Why: "Live In Tompkins Square Park 1967" (2025) CD Review

A few years ago, The Purple Why's MarksTown was released, the album featuring live recordings from 1968. Since my childhood, I'd been drawn to music from the 1960s (especially the late 1960s), and was surprised and delighted to learn there were still albums and bands from that time that I hadn't yet heard. I loved MarksTown and was eager to hear more. There was a hint at the time, which I took as a promise, that there would be more releases coming. And now we have Live In Tompkins Square Park 1967, a previously unreleased concert recording from August 7, 1967. It features all original material, most of which was composed by Steve Tintweiss. Much of the music flows from one track to the next. The band is made up of Steve Tintweiss on double bass and percussion, Jacques Coursil on trumpet, Perry Robinson on clarinet, Joel Peskin on tenor saxophone and bass clarinet, Randy Kaye on drums and piano, and Laurence Cook on drums, with guest James DuBoise on trumpet. 

There is a short track at the beginning with a bit of tuning and audience noise, and then the band gets right into it with a wild track titled "Water," featuring some great, loose percussion, which becomes insistent, demanding, bringing a glorious chaos to some order. The horns respond with their own needs and desires, singing them, shouting them. And the band rolls straight into "Land," with many excited voices seeming to celebrate the very ability to raise those voices, sound almost for its own sake, and it begins to be organized around the drums as they march forward up the field, up the street, up the very side of the buildings lining the street to the rooftops from where they can shout to the sun. It is an unleashed joy. Then something within begins to settle, to ease back, even as the drums begin to make new demands, create new avenues. new strides forward, and the audience responds enthusiastically.

"Land" leads straight into "N.E.S.W Up/Down," and now we are back on the city streets, a dance of hundreds of cheerful people making its way up a main avenue, the building and the street itself changing colors in response to the sound. Brighter colors are spattered upon each edifice, and the buildings lean into the music, showing appreciation for the new life given them. The movement, the motion verges on the chaotic again, but with no sense of danger, and the multi-armed creature reaches out in all directions, grabbing hold of the taller structures as if to bring them to orgasm. There is then a pause, a breath, and one voice remains, maybe unsure, reborn, stepping into a world that starts to come alive again itself, welcoming, and the march down the street resumes with renewed vigor and joy. As that piece concludes, "Are You Lonely?" emerges, driven by percussion. I think the answer to the question in the song's title must be No. This track features some cool work on bass, taking this into darker, stranger territory that is also more personal, more intimate. The bass then leads the group into "Waltz Of Eternity," and the joyful spirit returns, even if there is a sense of death beneath it, like a strangely joyful dirge. A funeral procession where Death itself leads the fun, his baton pointing the direction to oblivion, which startlingly has a great light at its center. Who would have thought it? But no one has the opportunity to stop and think, the momentum of the sound carries them along on its great current, a tangled mass of arms and legs and hair and bricks and street signs and brass. We are all in there somewhere. And someone is creating a solid form from it all, molding it into something tangible, recognizable, heavy. Then the horns take us out of it and remind us again of the end to which we are all dancing or stumbling, each at our own pace.

We are ushered into unusual territory with "Space Rocks," which has an uneasy beginning. Watch your step, for the spot you next plan to plant your foot might disappear before you're able to put your weight down. Things are sliding slowly to the side, and a very cool atmosphere is created, coming in from a new center. Various creatures join in, announcing their presence to the skies and to each other, a delicious orgy of animals and monsters bumping into each other. The crowd loves it, understandably. "California Sandra" then has a light, playful vibe at its start, like we're about to go to some sporting event, though first having a drink with friends, getting ready, you understand. But then it becomes a dance, and any thought of competition is gone. If there were two teams, there is now one, and the goal is not to win anything, but to change the disposition, the mood of the surrounding place, to get people shaking and smiling. And it seems they are successful. This is a fun track. The energy increases, and the tone becomes more insistent. Then, the demands met, the music pulls back slightly for a moment, before howling joyfully again. Then a smooth, cool section emerges, led by the bass, and it feels we are in a different place, sipping a strong drink at a night club.

"To Angel With Love" is the album's only track not composed by Steve Tintweiss. This one was written by Randy Kaye. Here we enter more romantic territory, and thus more recognizable, familiar territory. And so we relax a bit, letting our bodies ease into the piece's mood. And it is over all too soon. We are then led into what promises to be a similar mood at the start, a piece titled "Ramona, I Love You," but which quickly adds darker, dramatic elements. The percussion seems to take over, driving things forward with more force, sometimes feeling everything all at once, which is overwhelming and delicious. Don't we all want to experience that? And then there is a moment to catch one's breath. That track leads straight into "D-Drone," a short piece that feels like connective tissue, taking us to "Y Interlude," which soon gathers a joyous energy over a grand hum. It then starts to get into stranger places, seeing where various voices might take us, seeing which, if any, will become dominant, as they swirl around, each with its own exclamations. The drums attempt to organize them, get them all in line, but abandon that endeavor after a moment, and instead become part of the general sound. But it's the drums that begin to emerge, and for a moment I think there'll be a drum solo. Interestingly, soon things grow softer, more thoughtful, and then the horns seem to welcome the sun, or some such important presence, dancing around in excitement. That leads straight into "The Purple Why," putting this band into the category of groups who have a song sharing their name (on MarksTown, it was titled "The Purple Why Theme"). This piece slowly and playfully sneaks up on us and grabs us, then eases back to do so again, a mischievous creature that finds delight in the odd step, in the unusual motion.

CD Track List

1. Warm-up And Announcement
2. Water
3. Land
4. N.E.S.W. Up/Down
5. Are You Lonely?
6. Waltz Of Eternity
7. Space Rocks
8. California Sandra
9. To Angel With Love
10. Ramona, I Love You
11. D-Drone
12. Y Interlude
13. The Purple Why

Live In Tompkins Square Park 1967 was released on August 7, 2025 through Inky Dot Media.