Trevor Watts Amalgam - Closer to You

This was discreetly slipped into the contributions section a while ago by Alex in Solex. I thought that was quite convenient, because it saved me the time it would take to digitize my own copy, so basically what I've done is to add track titles, convert the files from wav to flac and scan the front and back of the album covers. Nice work, too, if I may add, so thanks to Alex for the job.

This was, I believe, the third last album Trevor Watts did with his Amalgam group, The following, "Over the Rainbow" and "Wipe Out", added Keith Rowe on guitars and were interestingly a source of imspiration for the indie rock Sonic Youth group. After that, Trevor Watts headed in a more rhytmically complex direction with his Moiré Music concept, combining jazz with African-inspired percussion and even, as has been suggested, the rigorous composition technique of Philip Glass and other American minimalists. That compositional complexity was to some degree foreshadowed by the excellent "Cynosure" by the Trevor Watts String Ensemble a few years before (1976) and released on the Ogun label in 1978. The Ensemble was a much larger group than the trio on display here. This one runs the gamut from tight funk to the more spacious improvisation of the Spontaneous Music Ensemble, with which Trevor  Watts was associated for many years. In fact, the very early Amalgam albums had John Stevens on drums and have been posted here before. This album reflects the individual personalities of the players, one coming from a jazz-improv background, one from soul and funk and one from rock and blues.This diversity shines through on this record and makes for an, shall we say, interesting amalgam. A very fine record all in all, I think and really quite accessible.

Trevor Watts - alto and soprano saxophone
Colin McKenzie - bass guitar
Liam Genockey - drums

Side A
De Dublin Thing (Watts)
South of Nowhere (With Quiet Beginnings) (Watts, McKenzie, Genockey)
Keep Right (Watts)

Side B
Dear Roland (Watts, McKenzie, Genockey)

Recorded at Windcroft, High Wickham, Hastings on 5, 6 and 7 May, 1978 by Keith Beal

Produced by Keith Beal (who also did the front cover) and Trevor Watts

Released on the Ogun label in 1979

Amalgam - Play Blackwell & Higgins

Continuing with the Amalgam/Jeff Clyne-oriented posts, this was recorded after the "Prayer for Peace" we posted here before. After this recording, Amalgam was to head off in a more explicit fusion direction with a change in personnel with John Stevens vacating the drum chair and Jeff Clyne leaving the bass to others. Interestingly, Clyne became a member of Nucleus and in the mid-70s started his own fusion project under the name of Turning Point. Stevens himself started the band Away, but we'll get to all of that in due course.

Meanwhile, here they are all in tribute mode - to the drummers of the early Ornette Coleman combos and to Coleman himself, of course. In the liner notes, Watts credits the natural melody and the pure rhythm approach of Coleman and the influence both drummers had on the evolution of Stevens. This is not tribute by way of emulation, but by feel - by playing what's right in the given context. Only two tracks here, both recorded live with Stevens down in the steam room, the bassists plying lightly in the background and Watts up front with short bursts of melodic rhythm. Perhaps that is a key characteristic of Watts - the sense of rhythm - strongly explored in later years with his various percussive combos under the moniker of Moire music. Still active, I'm happy to say and just recorded for the Berlin-based Jazz Werkstatt label. Amalgam was a vehicle for the development of the more convential side of the duo's playing; the Spontaneous Music Ensemble another vehicle for going beyond the conventions. And Stevens is a thrill here - his stamina is just amazing!

1. Blackwell (Stevens). Live at Birmingham Arts Lab 23.3.1972
Trevor Watts - alto, John Stevens - drums, Ron Herman - bass
2. Higgins (Stevens) Live at Phoenix, London 24.1.1973
Trevor Watts - alto, John Stevens - drums, Jeff Clyne - bass

This is off a 2004 cd rerelease on FMR Records, originally issued in 1973 on the A label.

Recorded by Trevor Watts, re-mix by Dave Pickett and sleeve design by Margaret Richards

Amalgam - Prayer for Peace

I sometimes feel that this blog is turning into a series of commemorations, at least as my recent posts are concerned. We have posted on Rashied Ali and Sirone recently, and now is the time to commemorate another bassist who passed away on 18 November at the age of 72. Jeff Clyne was a regular on the UK scene and has played with many of the key figures in British jazz from the late 50s onwards; Tubby Hayes, Stan Tracey, Ian Carr, Keith Tippett etc. He was a founder member of Nucleus and had his own fusion group in the mid-seventies which we will come to in a later post. And he played with Amalgam on a couple of albums and with John Stevens as well which we have blogged before, namely here and here and here and here and here.

I have chosen the first album by Amalgam which sees the group working in a trio setting:

1. Tales of Sadness
2. Judy's Smile I
3. Judy's Smile II
4. Judy's Smile III
5. Prayer for Peace*

Trevor Watts - alto sax
John Stevens - drums
Jeff Clyne - bass
Barry Guy - bass*

Recorded on 20 May 1969

This is from a cd reissue by FMR records which seems to be out of print for the moment. The original album was out on Transatlantic, a label better known for folk music.

The album is a beauty - a elegiac, melancholy tone to the compostions - all by Trevor Watts. Three takes are featured of the same tune - showing that a tune can never be exactly reproduced, at least not as far as these musicians are concerned. Listen in for the deep, warm tone from Clyne's bass and the bitter-sweetness and passion from Watts' horn. This is a seminal album and I hope that our readers feel the same.

I don't normally request items, but I'd like to make an exception. If anyone has the Jeff Clyne, Ian Carr (again with Watts and Stevens) album "Springboard", recorded in 1966 and released in 1969 on Polydor, I'd love to hear it. Never reissued and the vinyl is way up in the three digit price range, and way beyond what I'm willing to shell out for any piece of vinyl, so if there are cheaper ways of making it accessible, I'd be very interested.

Meanwhile, enjoy!