''Dark Day'' is an album by American jazz saxophonist Fred Anderson recorded live in 1979 at the

Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago The Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) Chicago is a contemporary art museum near Water Tower Place in downtown Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The museum, which was established in 1967, is one of the world's largest contemporary ...

and released in a small batch on the tiny Austrian Message label. The performance was part of a series of AACM concerts presented by the museum. Anderson's Quartet features long-time partner trumpeter Billy Brimfield, bassist Steven Palmore and young drummer

Hamid Drake Hamid Drake (born August 3, 1955) is an American jazz drummer and percussionist. By the close of the 1990s, Hamid Drake was widely regarded as one of the best percussionists in jazz and improvised music. Incorporating Afro-Cuban, Indian, and Afr ...

, who contributes the piece "The Prayer", later retitled "Bombay (Children of Cambodia)".''Dark Day / Live in Verona''
at

Atavistic Records Atavistic Records is an American record label based in Chicago, Illinois, known for its no wave and free jazz recordings. Atavistic has released albums by Glenn Branca, Nels Cline, Lydia Lunch, Peter Brötzmann, Ken Vandermark, Pinetop Seven, Sw ...

The album was reissued on CD by Atavistic in 2001 as part of their

Unheard Music Series The Unheard Music Series is an imprint of the American record label Atavistic Records. The series, running since 2000, is curated by Chicago writer and producer John Corbett and focuses mainly on free jazz recordings from the 1960s and 1970s. The s ...

with a bonus CD including an unreleased master recorded at Verona Jazz 1979, only four days after the Chicago concert.

Reception

In his review for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

, Thom Jurek states about the Atavistic reissue "these two dates on a pair of very reasonably prices CDs, with great sound, are gifts rescued from the islands of obscurity, and should be listened to with the awe and wonder they inspire." ''

The Penguin Guide to Jazz ''The Penguin Guide to Jazz'' is a reference work containing an encyclopedic directory of jazz recordings on CD which were (at the time of publication) currently available in Europe or the United States. The first nine editions were compiled by ...

'' says that "''Dark Day'' is the definitive Anderson performance, sombre and cutting by turns, packed with muscular phrases but also strangely tender and vulnerable."

Track listing

:''All compositions by Fred Anderson except as indicated'' # "Dark Day" - 18:40 # "Saxoon" - 11:32 # "Three On Two" - 18:07 # "The Prayer" (

) - 10:55 ;Atavistic reissue CD 2 Live in Verona Recorded live May 19, 1979 at Palazzo Della Gran Guardia, Verona, Italy. # "The Bull" - 16:32 # "Three On Two" - 31:46 # "Dark Day" - 25:12

Personnel

* Fred Anderson -

tenor sax The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while th ...

*Billy Brimfield -

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

*Steven Palmore - bass *

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

tabla A tabla, bn, তবলা, prs, طبلا, gu, તબલા, hi, तबला, kn, ತಬಲಾ, ml, തബല, mr, तबला, ne, तबला, or, ତବଲା, ps, طبله, pa, ਤਬਲਾ, ta, தபலா, te, తబల� ...

References

{{reflist 1979 live albums Fred Anderson (musician) live albums Atavistic Records live albums