Anthony Braxton - Town Hall 1972

Release date 2020

For those seeking the deep roots of Anthony Braxton's numbered series of compositions -- numbering close to 200 -- this 1972 concert is essential in that it features live recordings of "Composition 1" (for percussionist Jerome Cooper), "Composition 2" (for pianist Frederic Rzewski), and "Composition 3." This marks a return home, albeit a temporary one, for the composer and multi-instrumentalist -- Braxton left the United States for France in 1968, where he made a few recordings for European labels. Braxton showcases his work in a number of settings here -- in a pair of trios with bassist Dave Holland and drummers Phillip Wilson and Barry Altschul, and on "Composition 3" (for vocalist Jeanne Lee) saxophonist John Stubblefield and Lee herself become a part of the band. Also in the mix is in a wildly abstract but street-tough read of "All the Things You Are." On "Composition 1," Braxton, Holland, and Wilson establish early on what would be a trait in the composer's improvisations, which is the notion of a theme thoroughly stated, abstracted, deconstructed, and reconstructed into something wholly other while remaining recognizable.

by Thom Jurek