Dickie Landry 3 LP Sale Bundle (Unseen Worlds)
Dickie Landry Bundle Sale, includes Solos, 4 Cuts Placed in “A First Quarter,” and Having Been Built on Sand
Our own Fred Cisterna writes:
“Solos, 4 Cuts Placed in ‘A First Quarter,’ and Having Been Built on Sand, three albums by the saxophonist Dickie Landry, nicely highlight connections between New York City’s avant art and music scenes of the 1970s. In 1969, Landry quit his native Louisiana and the R&B group he was playing in and bolted for New York. Thanks to Unseen Worlds’s trio of reissues, listeners can check out some of the results of that wise move.
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The collective improvisation on Solos displays the vibrant sound of Gotham’s ‘70s loft jazz era; interestingly, the musicians on the album weren’t really part of that free jazz scene. This particular performance took place at the Leo Castelli Gallery, a key art locus of the era. At the time, Landry and tenor saxophonists (and fellow Louisianans) Richard Peck and Jon Smith were playing in Philip Glass’s group, and the concert was recorded by Kurt Munkacsi, Glass’s sound engineer. The original release appeared on Chatham Square, a label founded by Glass and gallerist Klaus Kertess.
Even though Landry and his cohorts mostly worked in pop and minimalism, their extemporaneous playing here is impressive. Clearly inspired by giants like John Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, and Ornette Coleman, they embrace the challenge of creating in the moment.
New Orleanian David Lee’s drumming displays a quicksilver touch but also drives the band hard. Robert Prado and Rusty Gilder (Louisianna natives who also played with Glass), play both electric and acoustic bass—as well as trumpet. At times, Landry effectively comps and stabs on electric piano, his chords adding to the rhythm section’s push. In addition to Landry, Peck, and Smith, the sax line includes Alan Braufman on alto. The group comes off as both freewheeling and focused. And the compelling music continually evolves over the duration of the double-LP’s four sides.
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1978’s Having Been Built on Sand finds Landry collaborating with conceptual artist Lawrence Weiner, who is primarily known for using words to create visual art. Weiner’s work could take form as installation pieces, books, videos, and, on this LP, a recorded sound performance.
Three performers recite the texts: Weiner, photographer Britta Le Va (reading in German), and performance artist Tina Girouard (in English). The voices play off of each other, and Landry deploys an assortment of woodwinds to add yet another layer.
Word groupings—often artfully flat rather than lyrical--are brought to life in this audio iteration. Repeated phrases go through variations that play with cadence, dynamics, and tempo. ‘Meaning’ can go fuzzy and then suddenly snap into place. Throughout, Landry plays off the spoken language in engaging ways.
‘Song 1’ opens with Landry stating a musical theme on tenor; he riffs on that melody for the rest of the track. Le Va’s German recitation is center stage while Weiner sounds like he could be down the hall, his English barely audible at times. With this basic setup an intriguing space, a sort of sculpture-in-sound, comes into being.
On ‘Song 2,’ Weiner steps to the fore. The artist is a compelling reader. At one point he almost shouts, sounding like an actor in an abstract drama. Landry’s flute continually finds iways to accompany the recitation, such as ‘answering’ the readers or deftly using caesura to create a sense of anticipation.
‘Song 4’ finds Landry joining in on this speech-feast: here the musician wordlessly intones rhythmic vocalizations that drive the track. New material that refers to barons and counts is intercut with phrases that are featured throughout the album, casting the previously heard language material in a new light.
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The music on Four Cuts Placed in ‘A First Quarter,’ is from the soundtrack to Weiner’s feature-length video, A First Quarter. The five musicians who perform on the opening cut, ‘Requiem for Some,’ also appeared on Solos. Lee’s skittering drums undergird a glacially shifting horn lament that is both moving and hypnotic.
‘4th Register’ has a melody that could be from a drinking song, and Landry’s tenor sax, abetted by delay, digs into the catchy tune. For a good while, expansive filigrees and digressions flutter freely without completely abandoning the theme. But Landry eventually moves farther out, incorporating extended technique and vocalization.
‘Piece for So’ is a solo improvisation (with overdubbing) by bassist Rusty Gilder. Pizzicato explorations, starting out in the high register, take place against a raw and rumbling walking pattern. The walk has a slightly loony quality that’s far from rote, and Gilder never bores during the twelve-minute statement.
On ‘Vivace,’ Landry’s and Peck’s tenors clearly contrast; melodic lines that move at a slow tempo co-exist with frenetic flurries. Sometimes both players cut loose, their notes tangling in a rush of forward motion. The whole track is a sustained energy surge, one that ends quietly with a single, drawn-out note.”