Free Jazz Fire

Sam Rivers-Part 1- Instrumental Solo of the Tenor Sax andPart 4- Group With Tenor Sax
From: Vol 1- Essence- The Heat and Warmth of Free Jazz [Circle Records, 1976]

Sometimes I go for quite some time without exposing my ears to the mind-expanding sounds of Free Jazz. This is an unfortunate thing, since I am inspired to create and write everytime I hear it. Now when one usually thinks of Free Jazz, they think Sun Ra, Coltrane-late 60's, and the man who coined the term Free Jazz- Ornette Coleman. In my opinion, one of the most underrated free jazz saxophonists is Sam Rivers. His ensemble, the Sam Rivers Rivbea Orchestra, recently released a record on Aurora releases called Aurora, but unfortunately I haven't heard this yet. I want you to listen to a couple tracks from a live recording from the Bim Huis in Amsterdam-1976 called Essence- the Heat and Warmth of Free Jazz. As I listen to this record, I feel the raw spontaneity combined with skilled musicianship that inspired countless free-jazz musicians to practice until they deeply felt the passion and soul in their own music. The band consisted of Sam Rivers on flute and tenor sax, Joe Daley on tuba and Warren Smith on drums. Each of them play a short solo before the band let's loose with wild abandon on the track entitled Part IV- Group With the Tenor Sax. It is very refreshing to hear Sam walk the line between classic Blue Note-era hard bop and Albert Ayler-inspired cathartic squawking and squealing. However, this album has too much unbridled imagination and creativity to be dismissed as a cacophonous racket. It even features an incendiary, psychedelic flute solo on the last track entitled Part V- Group with the Flute that doesn't sound like anything else in the Jazz world.

I found this description about the album on the Oink website, which is a torrent download site focusing on rare independent records:

His tenor is brimming with idiosyncratic fire, while his flute spools out long strands of melody. The interaction between Rivers, Daley and Smith is markedly different than with other 70's trio, with Dave Holland and Barry Altschul. Daley tapped a vocal quality that is largely, if not totally unavailable to a bass player. Smith’s background as an orchestra percussionist informs his playing to an appreciable degree, distinguishing him from Altschul, who is primarily a jazz kit player. Once the solos are performed, the trio heats up rapidly.
Enjoy listening to this rare stuff!