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HUMAN ARTS ENSEMBLE featuring LESTER BOWIE UNDER THE SUN - MONSTROUSLY RARE 1973 PRIVATE PRESSING ON COMMITTEE FOR UNIVERSAL JUSTICE LABEL 1973 COMMITTEE FOR UNIVERSAL JUSTICE STEREO LP TS-73776/73777 NOTE: THIS IS THE SECOND BATCH PRESSING LIMITED TO 1000 COPIES THE FIRST BATCH WAS NEAR-IDENTICAL, BUT WAS LIMITED TO ONLY 500 COPIES
GENUINE U.S. PRESSING
INSANELY RARE STILL SEALED GUARANTEED ORIGINAL FIRST PRESSING
GUARANTEED ORIGINAL YELLOW UNIVERSAL JUSTICE LABEL WITH SUN LOGO AROUND THE SPINDLE HOLE
MONSTROUSLY RARE PRIVATE PRESSING FROM 1973, NOT A REPACKAGED 1975 ARISTA REISSUE
TWO BREATHE AIR HOLES NOTED ON THE SHRINK WRAP
LIMITED, NUMBERED EDITION OF 1000
THE FIRST BATCH COPIES LIMITED TO 500 WERE SEALED WITH A SMALL GOLDEN SEALANT STICKER SECOND BATCH COPIES WERE SEALED WITH THE SHRINKWRAP
THIS ITEM COMES FROM THE INCREDIBLE, SINGLE-OWNER COLLECTION WE ACQUIRED A WHILE AGO, IN WHICH ITEMS ORIGINALLY BOUGHT BY THE OWNER FROM THE MID-1970s to THE MID-2010s WERE KEPT STILL SEALED IN A NEAR-LABORATORY, TIME-CAPSULE CONDITIONS AND IN PRACTICALLY CLIMATE- AND HUMIDITY- CONTROLLED ENVIRONMENT. CONDITIONS OF SOME OF THESE ITEMS RANGE FROM IMPECCABLE TO TRULY UNBELIEVABLE. SOME OF THESE BEAUTIFUL MUSEUM PIECES LOOKED SO PERFECT THAT WE HAD TO REINSPECT AND RE-EXAMINE THEM A FEW TIMES TO MAKE SURE THEY OUR EYES ARE NOT DECEIVING US.
THIS IS NOT AN IMPORT, RECORD CLUB RELEASE OR A COUNTERFEIT PRESSING.
ORIGINAL, THICK CARDBOARD COVER AMERICAN STYLE
As far as we know, this album has NEVER been available on legitimate Compact Disc or in any other way, manner or format.
PLEASE SEE THE IMAGE OF THE COVER, LABEL OR BOTH, SHOWN BELOW
Note: this is a REAL image of the ACTUAL item you are bidding on. This is NOT a recycled image from our previous auction. What you see is what you ll get. GUARANTEED
The Human Arts Ensemble was a musical and theatrical cooperative founded in St. Louis, MO, in 1971 by free jazz musicians who had been associated AACM and BAG Black Artist s Group . Around 1970, public funding began to dry up for arts organizations that were suspected of having ties to radical political groups, and drummer Charles Bobo Shaw had the idea of creating a new artistic co-operative that was open to any person without regard to race. The resulting Human Arts Ensemble was thus able to proceed within a radical political agenda and pursue its unique brand of guerilla theater, yet get the public support it needed to do so.
The Human Arts Ensemble ultimately proved an important training ground for jazz musicians who were interested in free improvisation. Among musicians who spent some time jamming with the Human Arts Ensemble were Luther Thomas, Joseph Bowie, Marty Ehrlich, John Lindberg, and even a young John Zorn, along with more established artists such as Lester Bowie and Oliver Lake. The album Under the Sun, recorded in 1973 was released to wide critical acclaim and even some decent sales despite its avant-garde orientation. Part of the appeal of Under the Sun was its blending of funk grooves with free improvisation. The Human Arts Ensemble continued to present elaborate musical pageants in the St. Louis area until 1977. At that time, part of the key membership relocated to New York, with others electing to stay behind in St. Louis. The group existed only briefly in New York, as Joseph Bowie ultimately became more deeply involved in forming his band, Defunkt, and the remaining Human Arts Ensemble members drifted off to other pursuits.
EXCERPT FROM AN ONLINE BIO BY DAVE LEWIS, ALL MUSIC GUIDE /ALLMUSIC.COM/
The Human Arts Ensemble, led by drummer Charles Bobo Shaw, was one of the central performing groups to emerge from the Black Artist Group BAG , a musician s organization founded in St. Louis in the early 70s. In addition to Shaw, this recording features two other fine musicians who would make their mark, Marty Ehrlich and J.D. Parran, as well as guest appearances by trumpeter Lester Bowie and altoist Oliver Lake. The two side-long pieces follow roughly the same model. A Lover s Desire uses a theme based on an Afghanistani folk melody with an added very funky bassline to serve as a platform for uninhibited improvisation. The improv is more collective than individual with voices surfacing unpredictably and the beguiling melodic riff coming forward from time to time to act as glue lest things get too far out of hand. Parran s bass clarinet work is especially luscious on this piece. The other composition, James Marshall s Hazrat, the Sufi, also has a Middle Eastern tinge, but here the rhythmic drive fragments into a series of stop and start improvisations more akin to some of the spacier Art Ensemble of Chicago explorations and almost as impressive. Under the Sun is an enjoyable, wildly free, and loose session, and one that should appeal to any fan of the AACM and its descendents.
Apparently this album would be issued again in 1975 under Arista s Freedom imprint and would actually generate some buzz and some good sales for an avant garde jazz recording. The makeup of this recording date is a bit different from the previous album: Oliver Lake, Bobo Shaw, James Marshall, and J.D. Parran are the holdovers, joined this time around by Lester Bowie of AEC fame , Marty Erlich, Victor Reef, Butch Smith, Carol Marshall. The slightly larger ensemble adds some electric bass and some vocals to the mix, and in the process creates an album that is distinctively funkier than its predecessor and no less compromising. The first side Lover s Desire practically dares the listener to put on some dancin shoes. A dj looking for some fresh beats could have some fun with much of the tune - and in fact some of the instrumentation about 2/3 of the way through is reminiscent of a dj scratchin at a hip-hop gig. The female vocals are very beautifully done and add to the experience - Carol Marshall makes the tune even more warm and inviting than it would have been already. The second side Hazrat, the Sufi has a more Middle-Eastern flavor, a more free feel to it, and a noticeable blues-soaked edge to it must be the harmonica as the tune progresses . The music takes chances, and yet remains beautiful, spiritual, and sensual.
The music definitely fits in well with the period, and holds up well after five decades. Too bad this album hasn t seen a proper cd reissue.
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CONDITION:
RECORD
IMPORTANT NOTE: unless otherwise noted, ALL records are graded visually, and NOT play-graded we grade records under the strong, diffuse room light or discrete sunlight
a THE ALBUM IS STILL FACTORY SEALED AND IS BELIEVED TO BE PERFECTLY MINT. Please note: sealed items are assumed to be mint and are sold as-is, as we have no way of inspecting them. For our policy on still sealed records click here PLEASE READ BEFORE PLACING A BID .
b The record is apparently pressed on a beautiful, thick, inflexible vinyl, which was usually used for the first or very early pressings. Usually, the sound on such thick vinyl pressings is full-bodied, vivid, and even dramatic. Do not expect to obtain such a majestic analog sound from a digital recording
c Of course, this is a full-bodied ANALOG recording, and not an inferior, digital recording
