Oliver Lake- Ntu: Point From Which Creation Begins (1971)

Recorded in St. Louis in 1971 and released on Arista Freedom in 1976, this new thing killer is, like most of Lake's work, regrettably underheard.

[From AllMusic]
Oliver Lake is an explosively unpredictable soloist, somewhat akin to Eric Dolphy in the ultra-nimble manner in which he traverses the full range of his main horn, the alto. Lake's astringent saxophone sound is his trademark -- piercing, bluesy, and biting in the manner of a Maceo Parker, it was a perfect lead voice for the World Saxophone Quartet, the band with which Lake has made his most enduring mark on jazz.

[From PEN America]
Musician, poet, painter, and performance artist, Oliver Lake has created chamber pieces for the Arditti and Flux String Quartets; arranged music for Bjork, Lou Reed, and A Tribe Called Quest; and collaborated with poets Amiri Baraka and Ntozake Shange, choreographers Ron Brown and Marlies Yearby, and actress/author Anna Deavere Smith. He has done jazz-poetry collaborations with Huang Xiang since 2004.

I'll leave the description of the album to the the man himself, but expect more from Lake and his BAG and Human Arts Ensemble contemporaries to be posted soon. Ntu: The Point From Which The Creation of Botched Surgery Begins.

[Original Liner Notes]

SEPARATION

first it's the salad
    then the meat
        then the vegetables. . . .
                                "WAIT"

bring all my food at one time on the same plate!
dixieland, be-bop, soul, rhythm & blues, cool school, swing, avant-
garde, jazz, free jazz, rock, jazz-rock

WHAT KINDA MUSIC YOU PLAY?
                                "GOOD KIND"

Aretha franklin & Sun Ra is the same folks,
Coltrane & the Dixie humming birds same folks,
Miles & muddy waters same. there is no................there is no................

                LABELS DIVIDE! SEPARATE
                THE ORAL AND THE LITERARY

One music-diff feelings & experience, but same....the total
sound-mass sound-hear all the players as one

        THE HISTORY OF AFRICA WAS MEMORIZED, LIVED, EXPERIENCED, NOWED!
         "WE DIDN'T READ IT WE DID IT!"


oral-literary;
                       oral-
                        do
                         experience,
                          improvise,
                           adjust,
                            create

literary-
                       catalog,
                         label,
                         divide,
                          read,
                           interpret,
                            criticize,

        NO SEPARATION-Yeah, don't put me in no bag...
i'm open, may do anything     PUT ALL MY FOOD ON THE SAME PLATE!
    AFRICAN concept of color....
          if it has light, it's yellow

                                NO SUBTLETIES
    he must be colorblind      NO WAY! rt. picasso?
read da music! play the music! create the music, read the music
Can u read music? naw, it's best jest to create it & play it
that's more direct-t-t-t-t-t-t-t

=========================================================



SIDE ONE
Africa (Lake, Johnson) -12:57
Tse'lane (Baikida E.J. Carroll) -5:55

SIDE TWO
Electric Freedom Colors (Lake, Carroll) -6:24
Eriee (Lake) -7:40
Zip (Lake) -4:40

Oliver Lake: Alto sax, soprano sax, flute, small instruments
Baikida E.J. Carroll: Trumpet, small instruments
Floyd LeFlore: Trumpet, small instruments
Joseph Bowie: Trombone, small instruments
Richard Martin: Guitar
John Hicks: Piano
Clovis Bordeux: Electric Piano
Don Officer: Electric Bass
Charles Bobo Shaw: Drums
Don Moye: Conga