''Live at Fire in the Valley'' is a live album by Trio Hurricane: saxophonist

Glenn Spearman Glenn Spearman (February 14, 1947 – October 8, 1998) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. He was associated with free jazz and experimental music. Spearman was active in Oakland, California, in the late 1960s but moved to Paris in 1972 and ...

, bassist William Parker, and drummer Paul Murphy. It was recorded in July 1997 at the Fire in the Valley festival in Amherst, Massachusetts, and was released by

Eremite Records Eremite Records is an independent American jazz record label founded in 1995 by Michael Ehlers, with early involvement from music writer Byron Coley. Ehlers was a student of Archie Shepp's at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. After college, ...

later that year.

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 databas ...

, Steve Loewy wrote: "Spearman was a special kind of free-style musician, who could encapsulate the whole jazz tradition in a single chorus. He reached way back to the big-throated saxophone sounds of the 1940s, but updated them with advanced technique. You can hear a bit of Illinois Jacquet in his playing, but you can also find traces of Charles Lloyd and Archie Shepp. The five pieces found on this CD are attractively paced, with plenty of solo space for all three members of the group. The group sound is infused with the blues, although it is a modern distorted version for the '90s. This performance closed the Festival, and the crowd exploded with enthusiasm after each number. It is not hard to see why." The authors of ''

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 ...

'' awarded the album 3 stars, and commented: "This strong festival set derives much of its compelling power from bassist Parker, but it is Spearman compositions which dominate. 'Initiation' and 'Blues for Frank and John' almost exhaust the energies of the group... but the enthusiasm of the crowd spurs them on." Writing for

All About Jazz ''All About Jazz'' is a website established by Michael Ricci in 1995. A volunteer staff publishes news, album reviews, articles, videos, and listings of concerts and other events having to do with jazz. Ricci maintains a related site, ''Jazz Near ...

, Derek Taylor stated: "This disc and another offering on Soul Note represent the complete discography of the group. Though a pair of outings may seem paltry in number the heights of creative catharsis attained by the players on both demonstrate that the old adage of quality over quantity definitely holds true in the realm of improvised music. Even more importantly the music of Trio Hurricane expounds the benefits that can be reaped by subjugating the individual ego to greater good of the group; a valuable lesson that many musicians still have yet to learn."

Track listing

All compositions by Glenn Spearman. # "Initiation" – 12:50 # "Blues For John & Frank" – 10:27 # "Tones For William" – 11:41 # "N.Y.N.Y." – 11:10 # "The Natural" – 5:00

Personnel

– tenor saxophone * William Parker – bass * Paul Murphy – drums

References

{{Reflist 1997 live albums Glenn Spearman live albums William Parker (musician) live albums Paul Murphy (musician) albums Eremite Records live albums