Oliver Lake
Oliver Lake Quartet Live
Oliver Lake Quartet Live
1. Brass & Oak
2. Naisiai
3. Yo' Dance
4. No VT
5. Levels
6. Montana Grass Song
7. Cloth
8. Broken In Parts
9. Pure Improv
Release Date: 02/14/2006
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Oliver Lake at a Glance
Oliver Lake (b. Marianna, Arkansas, September 14, 1944) is an American alto saxophonist, flutist, composer and poet. Lake started playing and studying the alto saxophone in 1960, where in the mid 1960s he was working with the St. Louis 'Black Artists Group (BAG)'. In 1977 Lake co-founded the World Saxophone Quartet, composing as leader and releasing several recordings.
Lake is a resident of Montclair, New Jersey.The State of Jazz: Meet 40 More Jersey Greats, The Star-Ledger, September 28, 2004
Talkin' Stick - Oliver Lake
Talk about simpatico. Talk about telepathic. Talk about tuned in. These musicians (Geri Allen, piano; the hugely underregarded Jay Hoggard, vibes; Belden Bullock, a name that flirts and skirts around my subconscious without, unfortunately, landing on any concrete referents, bass; and the great though criminally unknown Cecil Brooks III, drums) provide what would seem to be the perfect context for the extroverted and expressionistic Oliver Lake, alto sax. The problem is, Lake wasn't satisfied with the role seemingly tailor made for him, heir apparent to Eric Dolphy. Instead, his restless energy thrust him into playing situations even he couldn't have imagined, even as he sought to find his ultimate mode of expression.
Well, he found it, and it ain't this band, great and distinguished and supportive as it is. It's the Oliver Lake Steel Quartet, the band he was meant to play in and lead. Not that this band isn't fantastic. Most jazz musicians would likely give at least several appendages for the chance to play with an outfit this accomplished. And, indeed, the music they produce has a restless energy and fluency sadly lacking in much of the music purporting to call itself jazz these days.
It's especially gratifying to hear Jay Hoggard, an early hero of mine, strut his considerable stuff on "Masaai Moves," where he takes a solo noteworthy both for its formal structure and its joi de vivre abandon, setting the table for equally remarkable statements from Geri Allen and Cecil Brooks III. Throughout, first-rate playing predominates, with the proceedings sometimes elevating into that stratospheric jazz space seldom reached except by practitioners of the absolute highest order.
Perhaps it's wrong of me to characterize the Oliver Lake Steel Band as the superior of the two. Better, maybe, to let the listener decide for him/herself. If you're more oriented to world/funk jazz, perhaps the Oliver Lake Steel Quartet fills the bill. If, on the other hand, you're more into purely modern free-jazz mastery, perhaps this is your ticket.
In either case, you're not going to lose out with Oliver Lake. - J. Dennis "Longboard jazzer" (Monument, CO USA)
Talkin' Stick
1. Talkin' Stick
2. Hard Blues
3. Reminds Me
4. Masaai Move
5. Only If You Live There
6. Shifts
7. Song For Jay
8. Philly Blues
mr. lake is an impressive alto player whom many listeners know through his work with the renowned world saxophone quartet. on his own, mr. lake easily builds a bridge between free jazz's wild thunder and hard bop's relentless groove, as more than readily apparent on this quintet session. the tunes evoke memories of the finest blue note sessions--art blakey's jazz messengers and wayne shorter's sets come to mind--but with a splash of the experimentalism of archie shepp. the band lays down a swinging foundation, and the soloists then build their own statements on top following fancy, but without damaging the coherence of the songs. this is a delicate balance to maintain, but they succeed brilliantly. pianist geri allen shines, but i also enjoyed hearing jay maggard on vibes. i ahd not heard him before, and he is very adept in similar style to stefon harris following bobby hutcherson. overall, this is a very satisfying album. highlights are the david murray tune "hard blues" and the free swinging "massai moves." - p dizzle "p dizzle" (augusta, georgia, USA)
Release Date: 06/25/2009
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Oliver Lake Albums
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Lake Tchicai Osgood Westergaard - Oliver Lake
Lake Tchicai Osgood Westergaard
Release Date: 07/06/2007
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Fetching RSS feed... please stand byDat Love - Oliver Lake
Here's a guy who's ostensibly Eric Dolphy's successor. He carves out a decent enough career going down that path. Weirdo out-jazz. Then one day, out of the blue, as it were, he gets the idea of incorporating a steel drummer into his ensemble.
Whaaaa???
How's that work? He just hears something in his head. Your Know? He hears Lyndon Achee, even though he's never heard of the dude. But he hears what he does--make steel drums sound like they've never sounded before. Then he actually stumbles, via a vast system of networking, on Achee, even though he'd not previously known a player like this existed. He's not Andy Narell. He's not Oliver Molineaux. He's not anybody that could've been imagined, even though, somehow, Oliver Lake imagined him.
Then he encounters him. And the whole history of jazz shifts. It accommodates, welcomes, this new wrinkle.
And an artist who formerly was relegated to keeping alive the Dolphy flame finds an entirely new context to ply his genius.
Amazing.
But not that atypical.
And that's what I've come to love about jazz: its protean nature. Its ability to appropriate and accommodate the most unlikely resources, and, once incorporated, to carve out a music of both unexpected, impossible-to-anticipate, revelatory character.
Make no mistake, Oliver Lake has stumbled onto what he was always meant to become, meant to do, as a jazz artist.
This weird amalgam of funk electric bass (courtesy of Reggie Washington), punkish, rockish drumming (purveyed by one Damon Duewhite [huh?]), a-traditional steel drumming, and Dolphy-esque alto brilliantly morphs into some new jazz tongue. And we, the listeners, can do little but express our admiration, our awe at the magic that emerges.
This, the second Oliver Lake Steel Quartet recording consolidates the advances of the first disc and transforms the music into some kind of ur-jazz Nu territory. - J. Dennis "Longboard jazzer" (Monument, CO USA)
Dat Love
1. Stolen Moments
2. Double Space
3. Venus
4. Dat Love
5. 2G
6. Senor Blues
7. Song For Jay
8. Time
Release Date: 05/04/2004
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Oliver Lake Videos
Kinda' Up - Oliver Lake
Kinda' Up
1. Kinda' Up
2. Land Of The Freaks
3. Cloth
4. Yes You Broke
5. Le Sport Suite
6. Goodbye Pork Pie Hat
7. Socket
8. Lonnie's Lament
9. Brooke Rap
Why do so many brilliant, original, monumentally creative jazz musicians get virtually ignored? Case in point: Oliver Lake. The fiery alto and soprano saxophonist has made many fine albums, but is almost invisible on the jazz scene (which itself represents less than 5% of records sold).
Kinda Up is his finest. He'd wanted to make a record with a steel drummer for some time, but had never found one he thought would properly mesh with his unique sound and concept. He found a wonderful partner in Lyndon Achee, who takes a very in-your-face approach to his instrument. About as far removed from the refined approach of Andy Narell (himself a very fine player) as one could get, Achee plays steel drums with an abandon I've never heard before.
Much of the music features intense melodic doubling of sax and steel drums, with additional tricky harmonic passages adding sophistication and mystery. The result is a kind of musical exuberance seldom if ever encountered in a jazz instrumental setting.
Special mention should be made of Pheeroan akLaff. This well-traveled and very accomplished drummer seems to have found the perfect musical partnership here: He's a literal monster on his kit, pushing the proceedings practically over the edge all the while providing amazing color and rhythmic chicanery. Also worth mentioning is Lake's soprano playing. He gets the brightest, most penetrating sound of anyone I've heard on this difficult instrument.
With its effervescent personality, its masterful musicianship, its entirely engaging island ethos--probably most clearly manifested in the Calypso "Yes You Broke"--Kinda Up is one of my all-time favorite jazz albums. - J. Dennis "Longboard jazzer" (Monument, CO USA)
Release Date: 03/07/2000
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