''Ninetet (Yoshi's) 1997 Vol. 1'' is a live album by composer and saxophonist

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 Chica ...

with a ninetet, recorded at the

Yoshi's Yoshi's (also known as Yoshi's Jazz Club and Yoshi's Oakland) is a nightclub located in Jack London Square in Oakland, California, United States. The venue originally opened in 1972 as a restaurant in Berkeley, later moving to Claremont Avenue i ...

in 1997 and released on the Leo label in 2002 as a double CD.Anthony Braxton discography
accessed June 13, 2017Joe Fonda discography
accessed June 13, 2017

Reception

The

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 ...

review by Steve Loewy stated "this two-CD set captures Anthony Braxton's "Ghost Trance" music performed by a sympathetic nonet, consisting of a saxophone sextet plus a rhythm section. Each of the group's members is closely associated with Braxton, so that this performance can be said to accurately portray the structure of the music and the intentions of the composer. The sound is surprisingly clear for a live performance, too. This is very difficult music to listen to at one sitting, and the written saxophone parts can be particularly torturous. Pounding pulses devoid of melody, a somewhat limited tonal palette, and lots of repeating phrases (what the composer calls "repetition") add to the complexity and the opaqueness. ... the solos and trio breakouts are nothing less than splendid. For those who have been exposed to this phase of Braxton's music, these two performances are among his best for a small group. For those who have not yet tasted these fruits, you may wish to start elsewhere with a single helping".

Track listing

All compositions by Anthony Braxton Disc one # "Composition N. 207" – 72:00 Disc two # "Composition N. 208" – 71:09

Personnel

– E♭

alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in E, smaller than the B tenor ...

, F alto saxophone,

soprano saxophone The soprano saxophone is a higher-register variety of the saxophone, a woodwind instrument invented in the 1840s. The soprano is the third-smallest member of the saxophone family, which consists (from smallest to largest) of the soprillo, sop ...

C melody saxophone The C melody saxophone, also known as the C tenor saxophone, is a saxophone pitched in the key of C one whole tone above the common B-flat tenor saxophone. The C melody was part of the series of saxophones pitched in C and F intended by the ins ...

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

, B♭

clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

bass clarinet The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B (meaning it is a transposing instrument on which a written C sounds as B), but it plays notes an octave bel ...

contrabass clarinet The contrabass clarinet (also pedal clarinet, after the pedals of pipe organs) and contra-alto clarinet are the two largest members of the clarinet family that are in common usage. Modern contrabass clarinets are transposing instruments pitched ...

*Brandon Evans –

tenor saxophone 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 ...

, C soprano saxophone,

sopranino saxophone The sopranino saxophone is the second-smallest member of the saxophone family. It is tuned in the key of E, and sounds an octave higher than the alto saxophone. An F sopranino (an octave above the F alto (also called mezzo-soprano) saxophone) w ...

, bass clarinet, flute * James Fei – soprano saxophone, alto saxophone, bass clarinet *

Jackson Moore Jackson Moore is an alto saxophonist and composer living in New York. Career When he was 17, Moore studied with Jackie McLean and Anthony Braxton in Connecticut. Between 1997 and 2001, Moore toured with Braxton and participated in the developm ...

– alto saxophone, B♭ clarinet *

André Vida André Vida (born 1974) is Hungarian-American saxophonist, lyricist, avant-garde musician and experimental composer based in Berlin. Vida has been on the forefront of several major developments in experimental music, including his membership in A ...

–

, alto saxophone, soprano saxophone,

baritone saxophone The baritone saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of instruments, larger (and lower-pitched) than the tenor saxophone, but smaller (and higher-pitched) than the bass. It is the lowest-pitched saxophone in common use - the bass, contra ...

J. D. Parran J. D. Parran is an American multi-woodwind player, educator, and composer specializing in jazz and free improvisation. He plays the soprano, alto, tenor, baritone, and bass saxophone, as well as the E-flat clarinet, alto clarinet, bass clarinet, ...

– soprano saxophone,

bass saxophone The bass saxophone is one of the lowest-pitched members of the saxophone family—larger and lower than the more common baritone saxophone. It was likely the first type of saxophone built by Adolphe Sax, as first observed by Berlioz in 1842. It ...

, flute *Kevin O'Neil –

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...

Joe Fonda Joe Fonda (born December 16, 1954) is an American jazz bassist. Career Fonda was born in Amsterdam, New York to parents who both played jazz. He played guitar as a youth but switched to bass guitar later. He studied bass at Berklee College of M ...

–

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

Kevin Norton Kevin Norton (born January 21, 1956) is an American percussionist and composer active in the New York City jazz and contemporary music scenes. He has performed and recorded with a diverse group of musicians, including Anthony Braxton, Paul Dunmal ...

–

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 ...

marimba The marimba () is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars that are struck by mallets. Below each bar is a resonator pipe that amplifies particular harmonics of its sound. Compared to the xylophone, the timbre ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

References

{{Anthony Braxton Anthony Braxton live albums 2002 live albums Leo Records live albums