Ken McIntyre - “The Complete United Artists Sessions”
Blue Note Records. Released 1997, recorded 1962-1963.
Format: 2 × CD, Compilation
Credits:
Alto Saxophone, Flute – Ken McIntyre (tracks: 1-8 to 1-12, 2-3 to 2-9)
Alto Saxophone, Flute, Oboe – Ken McIntyre (tracks: 1-1 to 1-7)
Alto Saxophone, Oboe – Ken McIntyre (tracks: 2-1, 2-2)
Bass – Ahmad Abdul-Malik* (tracks: 2-3 to 2-9), Bob Cunningham (tracks: 1-1 to 1-7), Ron Carter (tracks: 1-8 to 2-2)
Piano – Ed Stoute (tracks: 2-3 to 2-9), Jaki Byard (tracks: 1-8 to 1-12)
Trombone – John Mancebo Lewis (tracks: 2-3 to 2-9)
Drums – Ben Riley (tracks: 1-8 to 1-12), Edgar Bateman (tracks: 1-1 to 1-7), Louis Hayes (tracks: 2-1, 2-2), Warren Smith (tracks: 2-3 to 2-9)
Strings – Unknown Artist (tracks: 1-1 to 1-7)
Violin, Concertmaster – Selwart Clarke (tracks: 1-1 to 1-7)
Composed By – Ken McIntyre
Engineer – Bill Schwartau (tracks: 1-8 to 2-9), Bob Lifton (tracks: 1-1 to 1-7)
Producer – Alan Douglas (tracks: 1-8 to 2-9), George Wein (tracks: 1-1 to 1-7)
Liner Notes – Ken McIntyre, Michael Cuscuna
Design – Patrick Roques
Mastered By – Ron McMaster
Reissue Producer – Michael Cuscuna. Remixed from the original three-track tapes in 1996.
Tracklist:
CD One
1-1 Miss Ann 7:22
1-2 Lois Marie 7:28
1-3 Chittlin’s And Cavyah 5:01
1-4 Permanentity 6:12
1-5 Tip Top 4:47
1-6 Kaijee 3:19
1-7 Reflections 5:37
1-8 Say What 5:03
1-9 96.5 4:18
1-10 Arisin’ 10:06
1-11 Laura 3:25. Written-By – D. Raskin*, J. Mercer*
1-12 Speak Low 5:59. Written-By – K. Weil*, O. Nash*
CD Two:
2-1 Cosmos 5:22
2-2 Sendai 6:46
2-3 Undulation 6:33
2-4 Turbospacey 10:33
2-5 Bootsie 7:05
2-6 New Time 7:43
2-7 Naomi 7:18
2-8 Someday 8:47
2-9 Mercedes 5:02
Disc 1, #1-7 originally issued as “‘Way, ‘Way Out” (United Artists UAS 6336).
Disc 1, #8-11 and Disc 2, #1 & 8 originally issued as “Year of the Iron Sheep” (United Artists UAS 15015).
All other titles previously unissued.
Disc 1, #1-7 recorded on May 27, 1963.
Disc 1, #8-12 recorded on September 4, 1962.
Disc 2, #1&2 recorded on August 31, 1962.
Disc 2, #3-9 recorded on June 11, 1962.
THE COMPLETE UNITED ARTISTS SESSIONS ENTRY ON DISCOGS.COM
Liner notes by Michael Cuscuna, March 1997.
Ken McIntyre’s music has always held a special attraction for me. Just as I was discovering modern jazz, his second Prestige album “Looking Ahead” with Eric Dolphy came out. I played it endlessly. There was something so lyrical and joyous in Ken’s playing and writing that it was absolutely infectious. I doubled back to his first album “Stone Blues” with a Quintet that included trombonist John Mancebo Lewis. By that time, “The Year Of The Iron Sheep”, produced by Alan Douglas, was issued. Curiously, Lewis was listed in the personnel, but his trombone was nowhere to be found on the album. Even then, I thought that there must have been more music than was released. There was. Preparing to reissue this material, I found six originals by Ken’s Quintet, with Lewis as well as a version of “Speak Low” and another original with the quartet that featured Jaki Byard, all of which have sat in the vaults for 35 years. They are included in this collection for the first time with Ken’s enthusiastic approval.
A year later another U.A. album “Way, ‘Way Out!” was issued. In ’64, Ken appeared on a Bill Dixon septet date for Savoy, playing alto and oboe. The next year, he recorded on flute with the newly formed Jazz Composers Orchestra for Fontana. His next major recording, this time playing bass clarinet as well as alto sax and oboe was on Cecil Taylor’s Blue Note debut “Unit Structures” (B2-84237) in 1966. Little or no recordings occurred for the next decade.
In 1976, Alan Douglas and I were putting together a series of recorded concerts at Sam Rivers’ loft Studio Rivbea to be issued as a series of album called “Wildflowers”. We found Ken through Nils Winther, who’d begun recording him for Steeplechase Records the year before. The two compositions we issued by Ken in that series, “New Times” and “Naomi” were it turns out, among the unissued titles that Alan had recorded with him 14 years earlier.
After a spate of albums on Steeplechase and a 1983 appearance on trombonist Craig Harris’s first album recording activity ceased. In 1990 he recorded a tribute to Dolphy with alto saxophonist Thierry Bruneau and appeared on “Dream Keeper” by Charlie Haden’s Liberation Orchestra (Blue Note B2-95474). Since then, he has been on the liberation Orchestra’s European summer tours.
Although he has continued to appear with his own group sporadically, Ken, now known as Makanda, has devoted the bulk of the last 35 years to university teaching. In 1996 he retired his professorship and is looking forward to focusing solely on his own music. That’s something we can all look forward to.
– MICHAEL CUSCUNA, March 1997.