Afternoon Of A Georgia Faun

Sound DNA

• Jazz
• Avant-Garde & Free Jazz

• sparse
• meditative
• cerebral

About

Alto saxophonist Marion Brown, a trained ethnomusicologist with a Wesleyan degree, was among the circle of John Coltrane devotees who joined the tenor great for his 1966 late-career landmark album <i>Ascension</i>. A native of Atlanta, Georgia, Brown made only one album for the highly regarded ECM label, but it’s a standout in the storied German label’s catalog: <i>Afternoon of a Georgia Faun</i>. Released in 1970, with a title recalling Debussy—via Mallarmé—the album was the first part of a trilogy devoted to Brown’s southern roots (followed by the albums <i>Geechee Recollections</i> and <i>Sweet Earth Flying</i>). The names on the cover are of high stature, laid out in a visual style reminiscent of the cover of Cannonball Adderley’s classic <i>Somethin’ Else</i>. Chick Corea and Bennie Maupin, both of whom took part in Miles Davis’ <i>Bitches Brew</i> sessions almost exactly one year prior, are among the numerous musicians—including Brown himself—credited with playing bells and miscellaneous percussion on <i>Georgia Faun</i>. Corea explores some two-piano textures with Gayle Palmore (who’s also one of two vocalists, along with the great Jeanne Lee). Maupin and Anthony Braxton, meanwhile, provide an array of reed sonorities from bass and contrabass clarinet to musette and wood flute. And Andrew Cyrille’s drumming and Jack Gregg’s bass fit together like a healthy knee joint. The album contains only two pieces, each of about equal length. “Afternoon of a Georgia Faun” is more ethereal and abstract than “Djinji’s Corner,” named for Brown’s young son (now a DJ who proudly extends his late father’s legacy). The former evokes Georgia’s natural environment with its percussive soundscape, while the latter is a bit more idiomatically free jazz—or “energy music,” in the parlance of the day. Most of the vocalizing is glossolalia and extended techniques, of which Lee was a master. But in one passage on “Djinji’s Corner” she briefly lapses into words, imploring in a pointed staccato: “Listen to it, listen to it, louder, louder, can you hear, can you hear?”

via Apple Music

Tracklist

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