As it says in the liner notes to this recording, "He [Russell] looks like Charles Ives, sounds like Albert Ayler." A succinct and accurate summary of what you're in for on this, Russell's first solo record made at the age of 65. Although Russell died soon after recording this, there's no sense of desperation on this record; instead there is pure joy, the silly seriousness that Russell brought to all of his recordings. There's even a track (a good one no less) entitled "Kenny G," meant for    [ read more ]

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CD $14.20

Most of the time, music critics like to pretend they know everything, are hip to every artist, on top of every trend -- what bull. I knew jack about Hal Russell until I heard Kevin Whitehead rave about this recording (and Russell in general) on NPR. Sufficiently impressed, I bought the disc the same day. It turned out to be one of the smartest things I've ever done and began what has been a love for the music of Hal Russell and a sadness that he's no longer around to make more. Whitehead was    [ read more ]

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Recorded live in 1979, this album features some absolutely scorching live performances from one of Hal Russell's final pre-NRG Ensemble groups, rounded out by Mars Williams and Spider Middleman on saxophones, Russ Ditusa on bass, and George Southgate on vibraphones (plus drums on one track). They stir up a glorious racket on tunes by Dave Holland and Ornette Coleman as well as originals by Russell and Williams. The bulk of the music sits somewhere on the line between {$Ornette    [ read more ]

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Recorded two months after Hal's Bells, it was if Russell knew something and tried to get as much recording as possible done before he died. Sadly, he died a mere five weeks after recording this amazing record. Constructed as an aural autobiography, The Hal Russell Story combines a stream-of-consciousness narrative with some rock-solid jazzified blowing and dissonant free playing. The main body of the piece is made up of numerous short segments, some under a minute, but the ebb and flow of the songs   [ read more ]

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This Is My House is the NRG Ensemble's second CD with saxophonist Ken Vandermark on board in place of the late Hal Russell, yet oddly it has a more transitional feel to it than the group's previous album, Calling All Mothers. Unlike that record, This Is My House doesn't feature any of Russell's tunes -- Vandermark and fellow reedman Mars Williams take care of seven of the eight pieces, with drummer Steve Hunt accounting for the other. While there are a couple of more "tradition   [ read more ]

CD $16.13