Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Life Time

Sort of hard to believe that Anthony Williams was just nineteen when he lead his first session. The result was perhaps one of the most interesting artifacts of avant garde Jazz. Lifetime is a masterful work that may require several tries to truly get, but it is worth the effort Unflinchingly sparse, these pieces rely heavily on the negative space between notes and phrases, the record almost becomes more about what isn't there rather than what is. What remains is almost a sculpture of sound that may require you to abandon traditional notions of what music is and what it is for. Because of it's difficult nature and it's demands on the listener alone, Lifetime is an achievement and easily one of my favorite records of any genre. See where it takes you.

16 comments:

Wain said...

Love your jazz posts.
Good to see you are back.
Cheers!

mattack said...

Dude, I really appreciate the jazz posts. Keep 'em coming.

I really like Jazz, but it's one of those musical black holes the completist in me fears to go down.

Thanks for scratching the surface.

Anonymous said...

Really enjoyed this. Uncommon beauty to the playing, especially his drumming. Where is he in your favorite jazz drummers? Thanks for posting.

Phil Clark said...

Awesome album! One of my favorites. As a FYI to anybody who checks this out and explores further,don't confuse this with his later band The Tony Williams Lifetime. Also good stuff but an entirely different animal. Good to have you back and posting again.

hhhaaaooonnn said...

oh dammit, you convinced me, I'll try it.
thanks

Shane said...

thank you for using .zip files instead of .rar. I mostly visit this site at work and can't get whatever I need to open .rar files on this Mac with out requesting it from IT, blah blah blah.

Death Breath said...

This is such a great record. Not only is it hard to believe he's the shit, but, it's also crazy that he inspired a lot of the people that inspired the people most of your followers listen to.

Hebridean Monty said...

Black hole for sure!I'm pissed off that one day I'm gonna fuckin' die and never hear it all...plus all the metal and all the other stuff I like...anyway, thanks C.H. for doing your bit to help me along that long road...

deterra said...

This is an amazing album. Thanks for posting it.

Silky Bravado said...

Space is the place we forget about as musicians way too often. I can't wait for the new reminder.

said...

I'm gonna stop downloading your jazz posts and just go out and buy the records instead. Always shithot, and actually possible to find in this punk-and-metal-hating country.

anarkistattak said...

excactlly what matattack is saying!
just didnt know how to word it
thanks again!

simorgh said...

Always down with your jazz recs! Thanks.

Theilf said...

I'll have to give this a go, great writing.

Anonymous said...

Incredible shit. I'm still trying to find my footing in the genre, so keep these posts coming, please! :)

Tom said...

Really cool album; it is definitely different and defies genre categorization. The use to two basses in the first couple songs is very interesting.