Rabble Without A Cause
Wednesday November 28th, 2012 with Bernard Stepien
Sam Rivers: Black Africa, 1976

Sam Rivers was hired by Miles Davis in 1964. That could have been the start of an interesting career, but instead, Sam Rivers left Miles Davis shortly after because he ultimately found the music too conservative. The move included new ventures, one of them, in 1968 consisted in playing with Cecil Taylor. In the ‘70s, Sam Rivers started one of the first Loft Jazz experiments (studio Rivbea). This is when he got into very active touring, principally with Dave Holland, also a Miles Davis alumni, but also a myriad of other experiments with small groups like the Tuba/Flute Trio. Rivbea closed at the end of the decade. Decades of touring the world then started. Rivers spent most of his summers in Chateauvallon in southern France and from there toured all major European Free Jazz festivals. In 1976, he was at the Umbria Jazz Festival in Italy with Joe Daley on Tuba and Sidney Smart on drums. The format of the music that was prevailing during that period consisted in playing extensive improvisations (around 15 to 20 minutes each) on four different instruments, soprano and tenor saxophones, flute and piano. His flute work pitched against drums and tuba is probably the most remarkable because of the natural contrast but mostly because of the intensity he could get of this nearly minuscule instrument.