''For Players Only'' is a live album by violinist and composer
Leroy Jenkins, his first as a leader. It was recorded in January 1975 at Wollman Auditorium,
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
in New York City, and was released by JCOA Records later that year. On the album, Jenkins is joined by members of the
Jazz Composer's Orchestra
The Jazz Composer's Orchestra was an American jazz group, founded by Carla Bley and Michael Mantler in 1965, to perform orchestral avant-garde jazz.
Its origins lay in the Jazz Composers Guild, an organization founded by Bill Dixon which grew out ...
.
The album presents a single, extended composition by Jenkins that was commissioned by the JCOA in 1974. The work was first presented by the JCOA and
WKCR-FM
WKCR-FM (89.9 FM broadcasting, FM) is a Radio broadcasting, radio station licensed to New York City, New York, New York, United States. The station is owned by Columbia University and serves the New York metropolitan area. Founded in 1941, the s ...
via four workshop concerts held at Columbia University from January 28–31, 1975.
Reception
In a 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 databa ...
, Brian Olewnick wrote: "One of seven albums commissioned by the Jazz Composers Orchestra, violinist Leroy Jenkins' ''For Players Only'' is one of the more loosely organized and, for all its charms, most scattershot of these works... The first half of the composition is arranged in suite-like fashion, with briefly stated themes fleshed out by various small groups within the orchestra... in the second half of this composition... each orchestra member play
consecutive, individual solos... Over the course of his career, Jenkins composed a number of knotty pieces, and ''For Players Only'' ranks right up there."
Gary Giddins
Gary Giddins is an American jazz critic and author. He wrote for ''The Village Voice'' from 1973; his "Weather Bird" column ended in 2003. In 1986 Gary Giddins and John Lewis created the American Jazz Orchestra which presented concerts using a ...
referred to the album as Jenkins's "daring Jazz Composers Orchestra spectacle".
John Corbett
John Joseph Corbett Jr. (born May 9, 1961) is an American actor and country music singer. On television, he is best known for his roles as Chris Stevens on ''Northern Exposure'' (1990–1995), Aidan Shaw on ''Sex and the City'' (2000–2003), ...
called the album "one of several very important JCOA documents," and noted that it featured "an incredible eighteen-piece lineup". A reviewer for
Jazz Journal
''Jazz Journal'' is a British jazz magazine established in 1946 by Sinclair Traill (1904–1981). It was first published in London under the title ''Pick Up'', which Traill founded as a locus for serious jazz criticism in Britain.Roberta Freund Sc ...
stated: "''For Players Only'' manages to sound like the work of a small group, while retaining all the textural richness of a larger aggregation."
Track listing
Composed and conducted by Leroy Jenkins.
# "Part One" – 15:45
# "Part Two" – 20:35
Personnel
Order of soloists at the conclusion of Part 2 indicated below.
*
Leroy Jenkins – violin (soloist 18)
* Becky Friend – flute, piccolo (soloist 10)
*
Charles Brackeen
Charles Brackeen (born March 13, 1940 in Eufaula, Oklahoma, United States; died November 5, 2021, Carson, California) was an American jazz saxophonist who primarily played tenor saxophone, but also played soprano saxophone. He was previously ma ...
– soprano saxophone (soloist 15)
*
– tenor saxophone (soloist 7)
*
Dewey Redman
Walter Dewey Redman (May 17, 1931 – September 2, 2006) was an American saxophonist who performed free jazz as a bandleader and with Ornette Coleman and Keith Jarrett.
Redman mainly played tenor saxophone, though he occasionally also played al ...
– clarinet, musette, banshee horn (soloist 3)
*
Anthony Braxton
Anthony Braxton (born June 4, 1945) is an American experimental composer, educator, music theorist, improviser and multi-instrumentalist who is best known for playing saxophones, particularly the alto. Braxton grew up on the South Side of Ch ...
– contrabass clarinet (soloist 13)
*
Leo Smith – trumpet (soloist 1)
*
Joseph Bowie
Joseph Bowie (born October 17, 1953) is an American jazz trombonist and vocalist. The brother of trumpeter Lester Bowie, Joseph is known for leading the jazz-punk group Defunkt and for membership in the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble.
Career
Bowi ...
– trombone (soloist 8
*
Sharon Freeman – French horn (soloist 5)
* Bill Davis – tuba (soloist 11)
* Romulus Franceschini – synthesizer (soloist 14)
*
James Emery – guitar (soloist 6)
*
Diedre Murray
Diedre Murray is an American cellist and composer specializing in jazz and musical theater. She also works as a record producer and curator.
As a performer she has worked with Leroy Jenkins, Marvin "Hannibal" Peterson, Henry Threadgill, Muha ...
– cello (soloist 17)
*
Sirone
Sirone ( Brianzöö: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Lecco in the Italian region Lombardy, located about northeast of Milan and about southwest of Lecco. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 2,270 and an area of .Al ...
– bass (soloist 4)
*
Dave Holland
David “Dave” Holland (born 1 October 1946) is an English jazz double bassist, composer and bandleader who has been performing and recording for five decades. He has lived in the United States for over 40 years.
His extensive discography r ...
– bass (soloist 16)
*
Jerome Cooper – drums, percussion, piano (soloist 12)
*
Charles Shaw – drums, percussion (soloist 2)
*
Roger Blank – drums, percussion (soloist 9)
References
{{Reflist
1975 live albums
Leroy Jenkins (jazz musician) live albums
Jazz Composer's Orchestra albums
JCOA Records albums