As If It Were the Seasons

As If It Were the Seasons is the second album by American jazz saxophonist Joseph Jarman, recorded in 1968 and released on the Delmark label.

As If It Were the Seasons
Studio album by
Released1968
RecordedJuly 17, 1968 (track 1)
June 19, 1968 (track 2)
StudioTer-Mar Studios, Chicago
GenreJazz
Length44:45
LabelDelmark
ProducerRobert G. Koester
Joseph Jarman chronology
Song For
(1966)
As If It Were the Seasons
(1968)
Together Alone
(1971)

Background edit

After the death of Christopher Gaddy, who played piano on his debut album, Song For, Jarman played with the rhythm section of bassist Charles Clark and drummer Thurman Barker. For concerts he invited guests as Sherri Scott, who adds her voice to the trio for the first pieces in this record.[1] Jarman composed “Song for Christopher”, based on incomplete notations by the pianist, as a memorial to Gaddy. The piece was recorded by the group augmented by six musicians.[1] When Clark died on April 15, 1969, at twenty-four, he had taken part only in three recordings, Muhal Richard Abrams’s Levels and Degrees of Light, Jarman’s Song For and this album.[2]

Reception edit

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic     [3]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz    
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide     [4]

Scott Yanow, in his review for AllMusic claims about the album "Certainly not for everyone's taste, the truly open-eared will find the innovative results quite intriguing."[3] The Penguin Guide to Jazz states "the title-piece exemplifies Jarman's particular blending of lyricism, free space, drifting time and occasional bursts of intensity."[5]

Track listing edit

All compositions by Joseph Jarman
  1. "As If It Were the Seasons / Song to Make the Sun Come Up" - 23:47
  2. "Song for Christopher" - 20:58

Personnel edit

Everybody - bells, gong, harps

References edit

  1. ^ a b Original Liner Notes
  2. ^ Lewis, George (2008). A Power Stronger Than Itself: The AACM and American Experimental Music. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 204. ISBN 9780226476957.
  3. ^ a b Yanow, Scott. Joseph Jarman – As If It Were the Seasons: Review at AllMusic. Retrieved February 18, 2014.
  4. ^ Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 112. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
  5. ^ Cook, Richard; Brian Morton (2002). The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD. The Penguin Guide to Jazz (6th ed.). London: Penguin. p. 778. ISBN 0-14-051521-6.