"The copycats make money...I'm into making vistas." B. September 25, 1923, d. December 26, 2011.
Of interest mainly to hardcore/longhaired jazz fans, maybe--but hugely influential, so even if you're just a student of modern music history, Rivers's name is probably one you should know. His most "listenable" albums are arguably his early ones for Blue Note, although he did a slew of compelling indie- and self-produced things, some with younger acolytes, late in life.
Among his long discography are three quad albums for Impulse! in the early/mid 70s (two live trio, one large ensemble); a couple were reissued on CD, though I don't know if they retain the QS encoding. Around the same time, Rivers and his wife opened an East Village loft studio that was to jazz, says pianist Jason Moran (quoted in the New York Times), what Kool DJ Herc's South Bronx parties were to hip-hop, representing different aspects of "the Black freedom struggle that was happening the city at that same moment, with musicians going off grid and getting free, making music for the people." William Parker hung out and played there, as did Henry Threadgill, David Murray, and longtime associate Dave Holland. Miles Davis would drop in (Rivers did a brief stint in Miles's quartet), along with various 70s scenesters.
As you might imagine, the jazz blogosphere has things to say. Apologies if parts or all of the following are behind paywalls. The Kevin Whitehead piece for NPR is probably the place to start:
https://open.substack.com/pub/iverson/p/tt-306-sam-rivers?r=1ma0jw&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=webhttps://open.substack.com/pub/thegig/p/rivers-run-deep?r=1ma0jw&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=webhttps://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/22/arts/music/sam-rivers-centennial-studio-rivbea.html
Of interest mainly to hardcore/longhaired jazz fans, maybe--but hugely influential, so even if you're just a student of modern music history, Rivers's name is probably one you should know. His most "listenable" albums are arguably his early ones for Blue Note, although he did a slew of compelling indie- and self-produced things, some with younger acolytes, late in life.
Among his long discography are three quad albums for Impulse! in the early/mid 70s (two live trio, one large ensemble); a couple were reissued on CD, though I don't know if they retain the QS encoding. Around the same time, Rivers and his wife opened an East Village loft studio that was to jazz, says pianist Jason Moran (quoted in the New York Times), what Kool DJ Herc's South Bronx parties were to hip-hop, representing different aspects of "the Black freedom struggle that was happening the city at that same moment, with musicians going off grid and getting free, making music for the people." William Parker hung out and played there, as did Henry Threadgill, David Murray, and longtime associate Dave Holland. Miles Davis would drop in (Rivers did a brief stint in Miles's quartet), along with various 70s scenesters.
As you might imagine, the jazz blogosphere has things to say. Apologies if parts or all of the following are behind paywalls. The Kevin Whitehead piece for NPR is probably the place to start:
https://open.substack.com/pub/iverson/p/tt-306-sam-rivers?r=1ma0jw&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=webhttps://open.substack.com/pub/thegig/p/rivers-run-deep?r=1ma0jw&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=webhttps://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/22/arts/music/sam-rivers-centennial-studio-rivbea.html
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