''Riffs'' is a live album by American

saxophonist The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pro ...

Jimmy Lyons Jimmy Lyons (December 1, 1931 – May 19, 1986) was an American alto saxophone player. He is best known for his long tenure in the Cecil Taylor Unit. Lyons was the only constant member of the band from the mid-1960s until his death. Taylor never ...

. It was recorded on September 13–14, 1980 at Le Dreher, a jazz club in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, and was released in 1982 on the hat MUSICS label. The album features Lyons on alto saxophone,

Karen Borca Karen Borca (born September 5, 1948 in Green Bay, Wisconsin) is an American avant-garde jazz and free jazz bassoonist. Early life and education Borca studied music at the University of Wisconsin with John Barrows and Arthur Weisberg, gradua ...

on bassoon, Jay Oliver on bass, and Paul Murphy on drums.

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 ...

, Scott Yanow wrote: "For one of his very infrequent recordings outside of the realm of Cecil Taylor, altoist Jimmy Lyons teams up with the talented jazz bassoonist Karen Borca, bassist Jay Oliver and drummer Paul Murphy for lengthy and rather adventurous versions of 'Theme' and 'Riffs #1/II' plus the brief 'Riffs #1/I' which serves as a prelude to the longer 'Riffs.' It is always intriguing to hear Lyons stretching out without a piano and this set helped make listeners aware of Borca's brilliant playing on the rarely utilized bassoon."

Track listing

All compositions by Jimmy Lyons. # "Theme" – 21:00 # "Riffs #1/I" – 3:35 # "Riffs #1/II" – 23:10 Recorded September 13–14, 1980 at Le Dreher (club) in Paris.

Personnel

– alto saxophone *

– bassoon * Jay Oliver – bass * Paul Murphy – drums

References

{{authority control Jimmy Lyons live albums 1982 live albums Hathut Records live albums