Carla Bley herself did the "tape assemblage" (tape splicing and layering) for the last track, "Barrage," which at times gives the illusion of the band sounding bigger than it actually is. Other times, there are some odd, jarring changes where it sounds as if half the band dropped off suddenly. This is a primitive, early use of such tape tinkering but with psychedelic rock lurking just around the corner, it would become more prevalent in just a couple of years. It's a real trip to hear it being used on music that's unpredictable to begin with.
Alas, the end of the record seems to come too quickly. None of the six selections in Barrage go over five and a half minutes and four of the tracks run less than 4:30, making the total running time less than half an hour. Even taking into account that this was recorded in the LP age, that's awfully short. If there were any leftover tracks, this would have been a perfect opportunity to tack them at the end of the CD, although it's not known if such extra tracks existed.
The other minor complaint is that the recording quality is not quite up to par with Blue Note and other larger jazz labels of that time; Graves sometimes sounds as if he's playing in the next room and Bley is himself is sometimes hard to find in the mix. It's certainly not terrible, but it would have been nice if the reissue had been accompanied with a 24-bit remastering.
Nonetheless, Barrage represents a standout entry in Paul Bley's exhaustive catalog, which is saying something. This is one of the more significant recordings made for ESP-Disk during their productive 1964-65 period, and last week's reissue is a welcome one for fans of Bley and free jazz.
You can check out all of ESP-Disk's offerings, new and old, at their website.
Article comments
1 - Mark Saleski
i think everybody needs a copy of this disc...for either mind expansion, or making unwanted house guests leave the premises.
2 - zingzing
hmm. tape editing? explain more please.
have you heard "music for the gift" by terry riley? can't remember which jazz band he uses... white guy, saxaphonist, junkie... but that's also some amazing stuff from right around this time. maybe 1963. or 2.
3 - zingzing
amazing stuff using tapes, that is.
4 - Pico
zing, I don't have that particular Riley, but you needn't say more, it's on my "must have" list.
Mark, I think your comment is bang on; it should be quoted in USA Today ;-)
5 - zingzing
ahh, it is 1963, and it's chet baker's group.
6 - Pico
As for the "tape editing," the splicing and layering I mentioned in the article for just that one song is the extent of editing done, as far as I know.