David Murray Octet
The Knitting Factory
New York, NY
2/16/1997
BARN165

Original recording: Scheops CMC54 hung from front of balcony -> Sonosax SX-M2 -> Tascam DA-P1

DAT playback: Sony R-500 -> Sound Devices 722 digital input (@24/48)

Mastered: Soundforge Pro 11.0 - *All file manipulation in Soundforge done at 24 bits*. Volume normalization, clap scrubbing (hand scrubbed over 100 loud, nearby claps mostly from S1T7, S2T3). Sample rate conversion 48khz to 44.1khz using iZotope 64-Bit SRC set higher than "Highest Quality" setting w/anti-alias filter. Then dithered to 16 bits using using iZotope MBIT+ with Ultra noise shaping, with high dither settings. Tracked in CDWav. Tagged in Tag&Rename 3.8.4

Early Show
1. tuning
2. Red Car ^
3. banter - band intros
4. Shakill's Warrior
5. banter - dedication to Jerry Garcia
6. China Doll
7. Shakedown Street
8. banter - no more Grateful Dead
9. Ballad For The Black Man
10. banter - thanks / band intros

Late Show
1. crowd / intro / tuning
2. Picasso Suite: Introduction ->
3. Picasso Suite: Catalonian Vonz
4. Picasso Suite: La Vie - The Jazz Life
5. Picasso Suite: Portrait Of Sax And Yac
6. Picasso Suite: Airtime For Hawkins
7. Picasso Suite: When Hawk Meets Pablo
8. Picasso Suite: Reprise; Catalonian Vonz
9. banter - band intros
10. The Desegregation Of Our Children
11. thanks

David Murray - tenor sax
DD Jackson - piano
Gary Valente - trombone
Wilber Morris - bass
James Spaulding - flute / alto sax
James Zoller - trumpet
Winston Byrd - trumpet
Tani Tabbal - drums

^ = I'm not 100% sure on the title of this one, but I THINK it's "Red Car"

Taper notes:
Returning to my occasional "pure jazz" series, covering some of my favorite "real jazz" (i.e. not jambands, or jazz-hybrids) concerts I've seen and recorded over the years, I present to you BARN165, The David Murray Octet from The Knitting Factory here in NYC. Setting the scene -- after Branford Marsalis hooked up with The Grateful Dead in 1990, they continued to pursue some occasional collaboration with other jazz sax players -- notably David Murray, a jazz giant, and Greg Osby. I got to see a couple of these performances (including one with the Jerry Garcia Band!), and was thusly exposed to David. It turns out that the man is a literal jazz GIANT -- having released (by my count on Allmusic.com) approximately 80(!) albums since 1976. Frankly, in terms of living jazz sax players, he's got to be in the top 5. I have since seen him 3 times, and this is the first of them.

Apparently his brief flirtation with the Grateful Dead and Jerry Garcia affected him enough to release an album in 1996 of Grateful Dead covers called "Dark Star: The Music Of The Grateful Dead". This show at The Knit was right around then, so it was a good bet that we would hear some Grateful Dead stuff on this night. Being that this was a big name act at a smallish jazz club, the show was split into 2 separate tickets -- an early show and a late show (and they cleared the room between sets). Sure enough, we got our Dead in the early show -- a pretty "China Doll" and raucous "Shakedown Street", after which David announced that was all of the Grateful Dead that the band had learned. The other tunes that filled out the first set were strong, and the set closing "Ballad For The Black Man" was beautiful. So far, so good -- but nothing mind-blowing.

At this point I had no idea what we were in for in the late show -- possibly some songs repeated from the early show....or maybe some different Grateful Dead from the album. But what we got was by far the most THRILLING, exciting, go for broke big-band jazz music I've ever had the good fortune to experience! After a bit of joking around at the beginning of the set, David announces that he's going to play "The Picasso Suite", dedicated to his idol, Coleman Hawkins. This adventurous 45 minute suite ranges from flute/piano duet to full on saxophone honking, to all horns blowing full blast. It's everything I've ever wanted from a jazz song and was an exciting roller coaster ride. So, in summary -- I came for The Dead, but was lucky enough to get some Picasso, which far and away the absolute highlight of this night! [After seeing this performed, I actually tracked down the original album that this suite appeared on -- "Picasso", recorded in 1992, and only available as a very expensive import from Japan. The liner notes tell me that David based the entire suite on a solo Hawkins sax piece of the same title, for a commission by & eventual live performance the Cleveland Museum Of Art. 2 of the Octet's band members from this show actually played on the original recording -- Tani Tabbal, James Spaulding, and Wilber Morris.]

Grateful Dead historians will note that there is a semi-well-circulated David Murray show from just about a month later at The Fillmore in San Francisco (on 3/6/97) which is famous for being the night that Bob Weir, Phil Lesh and Jeff Chementi sat in with David's Octet (or Nonet?), and also the night that Phil Lesh met guitarist Stan Franks who was in David's band that night (he was one of Phil's "Friends" for a short time). It's worth noting that only one of the players in David's band on this night in NYC also played that night in SF (Winston Byrd). San Francisco got 2 more Dead songs in their show, but we got Picasso!

I believe that this show (+ the Branford Marsalis show I released as BARN164, and the jazz show that will be following in short order as BARN166) was a part of the the Knitting Factory 10th Anniversary Celebration, where the owners brought out a lot of big jazz names to celebrate. I have seen David Murray 2 more since then, and was also blown away in different ways each time.

So 17+ years later, I present what I could argue is the best, most exciting jazz performance I have yet to see -- and I've seen quite a lot of them. If you are ready to be blown away, just skip to the beginning of the 2nd set and get on the roller coaster!!!

Enjoy

Recorded, transferred, mastered, tracked, tagged, and posted by Scott Bernstein

I can't recall whose Scheops I was patched out of -- possibly Craig Savarick? [This was a few months before I bought my own microphones...]

DAT Transfer: 12/11/2011
Mastering, tracking, tagging: 12/7-11/2014


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Here's a rundown of all of my previous BARN archival releases (all can be found on archive.org except as noted):
BARN1 - Col Bruce Hampton and the Code Talkers at Bret & Joyce's wedding 9/17/2005
BARN2 - Col Bruce Hampton and the Aquarium Rescue Unit (w/guest Warren Haynes for all of set 2) Wetlands 11/20/1993
BARN3 - moe. Wetlands 7/8/1995
BARN4 - Dan Bern Bottom Line 7/31/1998 (late show)
BARN5 - moe. Birch Hill 10/31/1996
BARN6 - moe. Maxwells 1/20/1996
BARN7 - Dan Bern Central Park Summerstage 9/19/1997
BARN8 - Dan Bern, Bottom Line 8/1/1998
BARN9 - moe. Bayou 4/5/1997
BARN10 - moe. Irving Plaza 4/4/1997
BARN11 - moe. AKA 9/7/1995
BARN12 - Yolk AKA 9/7/1995
BARN13 - Robert Walter/Johnny Vidacovich/James Singleton/Donald Harrison Preservation Hall 4/30/08
BARN14 - Phish Las Vegas, NV 10/31/1998 (on bt.etree.org)
BARN15 - Phish Great Went @ Loring AFB, Limestone, ME 8/16/1997 (on bt.etree.org) - by request
BARN16 - Phish Great Went @ Loring AFB, Limestone, ME 8/17/1997 (on bt.etree.org), includes orchestra set - by request
BARN17 - Phish Red Rocks Amphitheater, Morrison, CO, 8/4/1996 (on bt.etree.org) - by request
BARN18 - Phish Red Rocks Amphitheater, Morrison, CO, 8/6/1996 (on bt.etree.org) - by request
BARN19 - Phish Red Rocks Amphitheater, Morrison, CO, 8/7/1996 (on bt.etree.org) - by request
BARN20 - Phish Red Rocks Amphitheater, Morrison, CO, 8/5/1996 (on bt.etree.org) - by request
BARN21 - God Street Wine, Irving Plaza, NYC 6/24/1993
BARN22 - Leftover Salmon, Wetlands, NYC 10/1/1994
BARN23 - Anders Osborne, Manny's Carwash, NYC 11/5/1997
BARN24 - Anders Osborne, Manny's Carwash, NYC 11/6/1997
BARN25 - moe. Pool Party, Morganville, NJ 6/2/1996
BARN26 - Widespread Panic, Stone Pony, Asbury Park, NJ 11/7/1992 (on bt.etree.org)
BARN27 - Stew ["Passing Strange"], The Turning Point, Piermont, NY 4/6/2003 (on bt.etree.org. dimeadozen.org)
BARN28 - Stew ["Passing Strange"], Joe's Pub, New York, NY 5/22/2003 (on bt.etree.org)
BARN29 - Percy Hill, Lion's Den, NYC 3/16/1996
BARN30 - Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Irving Plaza, 8/3/1995
BARN31 - Percy Hill, Wetlands, NYC 6/8/1996
BARN32 - Bad Livers, Mercury Lounge, NYC, 11/15/1999 (opening for Leftover Salmon)
BARN33 - Bad Livers, Mercury Lounge, NYC, 11/16/1999 (opening for Leftover Salmon)
BARN34 - G. Love And Special Sauce, Central Park Summerstage, NYC 6/18/1995
BARN35 - The Band, The Great Lawn, Central Park, NYC 5/16/1993 (on dimeadozen.org)
BARN36 - The Band, Mountain Stage Radio broadcast, Charleston, WV, recorded 4/4/1996 (on dimeadozen.org)
*** Start of New Orleans Jazzfest Appreciation mini-series (note that BARN13 technically belongs in this series) ***
BARN37 - Ivan Neville's Dumpstaphunk, Tipitina's, New Orleans, LA, 5/5/2008
BARN38 - Steve Kimock Band, Tipitina's, New Orleans, LA, 5/6/2001 (2AM show)
BARN39 - The Funky Meters, Tipitina's, New Orleans, LA, 5/6/2001 (11PM show) (on bt.etree.org)
BARN40 - Anders Osborne, Tower Records instore, New Orleans, LA, 5/7/2001 (on bt.etree.org)
BARN41 - Joe Krown Trio w/Walter "Wolfman" Washington, Russell Batiste + special guest Mike Gordon, Tipitina's, New Orleans, 5/5/2008
BARN42 - Russell Batiste and Friends, The Howlin' Wolf, New Orleans, 5/1/2008 (on bt.etree.org)
BARN43 - Global Noize, The Howlin' Wolf, New Orleans, 5/1/2008 (on bt.etree.org)
BARN44 - Deep Banana Blackout, The Howlin' Wolf, New Orleans, LA 5/6/2000
BARN45 - Bela Fleck And The Flecktones, The Saenger Theater, New Orleans, LA 5/5/2000
BARN46 - Medeski Martin And Wood, The Saenger Theater, New Orleans, LA 5/6/2000 (on bt.etree.org)
BARN47 - String Cheese Incident, The Saenger Theater, New Orleans, LA 5/5/2000
BARN48 - Soulive, House Of Blues Parish, New Orleans, LA 5/5/2001
BARN49 - String Cheese Incident, Cajun Queen Riverboat, New Orleans, LA 5/3/2000
BARN50 - New Mastersounds, House Of Blues Parish, New Orleans, LA 5/2/2008
BARN51 - Funky Meters, Bonnaroo, Manchester, TN 6/13/2003 (on bt.etree.org)
BARN52 - George Porter And The Runnin' Pardners, Village Underground, NYC, 5/19/2001
BARN53 - Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Tramps, NYC 10/29/1993 late show
BARN54 - The Meters, Tramps, NYC 5/15/93 late show (on dimeadozen)
BARN55 - The Meters, Tramps, NYC 10/29/93 late show (on dimeadozen)
BARN56 - Wild Magnolias, Wetlands, NYC 2/10/2000 (on bt.etree.org)
*** end of New Orleans Jazzfest Appreciation mini-series ***
BARN57 - Blues Traveler, Livingston Gym @ Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 4/17/1993
BARN58 - Phish, Greek Theatre, Los Angeles, CA, 10/29/1998 (on bt.etree.org)
BARN59 - Jazz Is Dead, Bottom Line, NYC 2/7/1998 (late show only) (on bt.etree.org)
BARN60 - Grateful Dead, Cal Expo Amphitheatre, Sacramento, CA 5/27/1993
BARN61 - The Dude Of Life (w/Trey Anastasio and Jon Fishman for entire show, plus Page McConnell for a bunch), Wetlands, NYC 2/5/1994 - on bt.etree.org
BARN62 - ALO, High Sierra Music Festival Main Stage, Quincy, CA 7/3/2005
BARN63 - Leo Kottke & Mike Gordon, High Sierra Music Festival Main Stage, Quincy, CA 7/3/2005 (on bt.etree.org)
BARN64 - Dan Bern, The Bottom Line, NYC 11/11/1998
BARN65 - Galactic, Knitting Factory, NYC 10/18/1997 (on bt.etree.org)
BARN66 - Bruce Hornsby, Paramount Theater, NYC 12/7/1993 (on bt.etree.org)
BARN67 - God Street Wine, Irving Plaza, NYC 8/26/1993
BARN68 - Warren Haynes Midnight Southern Jam - Wetlands, NYC 8/5/1993 (on bt.etree.org)
BARN69 - Dave Matthews And Friends (Trey Anastasio, Tim Reynolds, Tony Hall, Brady Blade, Ray Paczkowski) Bonnaroo 6/11/2004 (on bt.etree.org)
BARN70 - Rana at Bret & Joyce's wedding, Whitehall, NY 9/17/2005
BARN71 - Soulive - Baby Jupiter, NYC 6/11/1999
BARN72 - Chris Barron, Nightingale Bar, NYC 7/14/1997
BARN73 - Chris Barron, Nightingale Bar, NYC 11/17/1997
BARN74 - George Porter's 60th Birthday w/PBS and friends, Blender Theater, NYC 12/29/2007
BARN75 - Jennifer Hartswick Band with special guest Trey Anastasio, Lion's Den, NYC 11/7/2003 (on bt.etree.org)
BARN76 - moe., Gathering Of The Vibes, Seaside Park, Bridgeport, CT 6/20/1999
BARN77 - Project Logic, Gathering Of The Vibes, Seaside Park, Bridgeport, CT 6/20/1999
BARN78 - Phish - Beacon Theater, NYC 4/13/1994 (on bt.etree.org)
BARN79 - Phish - Beacon Theater, NYC 4/14/1994 (on bt.etree.org)
BARN80 - Phish - Beacon Theater, NYC 4/15/1994 (on bt.etree.org)
BARN81 - The Recipe, Wetlands, NYC 11/12/1999
BARN82 - Ominous Seapods, Wetlands, NYC 6/4/1999
BARN83 - Coby Brown Group, Wetlands, NYC 11/12/1999 (on bt.etree.org)
BARN84 - The Big Wu, Wetlands, NYC 11/12/1999
BARN85 - Moon Boot Lover, Wetlands, NYC 6/5/1999
BARN86 - Percy Hill, Wetlands, NYC 6/5/1999
BARN87 - Miracle Orchestra, Wetlands Lounge, NYC 6/5/1999
BARN88 - Jiggle The Handle, Wetlands, NYC 6/5/1999
BARN89 - Jiggle The Handle, Wetlands, NYC 10/2/1998
BARN90 - Lake Trout, Wetlands Lounge, NYC 6/5/1999
BARN91 - Olu Dara, Bell Atlantic Jazz Festival, South Street Seaport Atrium, NYC 6/6/1999 (on bt.etree.org / www.dimeadozen.org)
BARN92 - Donna The Buffalo, Wetlands, NYC 11/12/1999
BARN93 - Radiators (w/Merl Saunders sit-in), Irving Plaza 10/8/1998
BARN94 - Tiny Lights, Wetlands, NYC 8/18/1993
BARN95 - Tiny Lights, Wetlands, NYC 1/5/1994
BARN96 - Radiators, Irving Plaza, NYC 11/14/1997
BARN97 - Radiators, Manny's Carwash, NYC 5/30/1998
BARN98 - The Wood Brothers (w/Medeski, Wolleson, and special guest Amos Lee), Bowery Ballroom, NYC 5/17/2008 - on bt.etree.org
BARN99 - Pieta Brown, Bowery Ballroom, NYC 5/17/2008 - on bt.etree.org
BARN100 - Jeff Buckley, CBGB's 313 Gallery, NYC 12/18/1993 - on dimeadozen
BARN101 - Tiny Lights, CBGB's 313 Gallery, NYC 12/18/1993
BARN102 - Tiny Lights, The Lion's Den, NYC 2/18/1994
BARN103 - Tiny Lights, Club Sine', NYC 2/3/1994
BARN104 - Ha Ha The Moose (moe. side project), BB Kings, NYC 11/23/2001
BARN105 - Medeski Martin & Wood, Hilton Hotel Ballroom, NYC, 4/29/2005 - on bt.etree.org
BARN106 - Tiny Lights, The Court Tavern, New Brunswick, NJ 11/24/1993
BARN107 - Tiny Lights, Knitting Factory, NYC 10/26/1994
BARN108 - Tiny Lights, Mercury Lounge, NYC 7/13/1994
BARN109 - All God's Children, The Lion's Den, NYC 2/18/1994
BARN110 - Dan Bern, Bottom Line, NYC 1/2/1999 (w/Moxy Fruvous guesting in the late show)
BARN111 - Moxy Fruvous, Bottom Line, NYC 1/2/1999 (w/Dan Bern guesting in encore)
BARN112 - Peter Rownan's Reggaebilly!, High Sierra Music Festival, Quincy, CA 7/6/2002 (on The Trader's Den)
BARN113 - Conehead Buddha, Wetlands, NYC 10/2/1998
BARN114 - Conehead Buddha, Tramps, NYC, 2/12/1998
BARN115 - Conehead Buddha, The Lion's Den, NYC 7/2/1998
BARN116 - Frogwings (w/special guest Warren Haynes), Wetlands, NYC, 2/9/1999 on bt.etree.org
BARN117 - All God's Children, Jack's House Party, Long Valley, NJ 9/4/1994
BARN118 - God Street Wine, Irving Plaza, NYC 10/9/1993
BARN119 - David Bromberg, Tarrytown Music Hall, 10/15/1999 (on bt.etree.org / www.dimeadozen.org)
BARN120 - The Concept w/George Porter, ?uestlove, Ivan Neville, Eric Krasno, Bill Summers, Casey Benjamin, BB King's, NYC 9/26/02 (on bt.etree.org)
BARN121 - Percy Hill, The Lion's Den, NYC 7/13/1996
BARN122 - Spin Doctors, The Wetlands, 9/27/1995
BARN123 - Aquarium Rescue Unit, The Wetlands, NYC, 3/4/1994
BARN124 - Allman Brothers Band, Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Morrison, CO 8/3/1996 (not publicly posted due to ABB trading policy)
BARN125 - Spin Doctors, Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Morrison, CO 8/3/1996
BARN126 - Col. Bruce Hampton and the Fiji mariners, Wetlands, NYC 9/2/1994
BARN127 - Phil Lesh and Friends, Irving Plaza, New York, NY 5/21/2002
BARN128 - Merl Saunders and Friends, The Wetlands, New York, NY 5/10/1990 (on bt.etree.org)
BARN129 - God Street Wine, Wetlands, NYC 12/31/1993
BARN130 - Bernie Worrell And The Woo Warriors, Wetlands, NYC 12/28/2000
BARN131 - Bernie Worrell And The Woo Warriors, Knitting Factory, NYC 2/16/2002
BARN132 - Spin Doctors, Wetlands, NYC 2/2/1991
BARN133 - Bela Fleck And The Flecktones, Wetlands, NYC 11/10/1992
BARN134 - Indigo Girls, Central Park Summerstage, NYC 10/10/2003 (on bt.etree.org)
BARN135 - John Popper & Chan Kinchela acoustic, Irving Plaza, NYC 5/27/2008
BARN136 - Moonalice, Irving Plaza, NYC 5/27/2008
BARN137 - Spin Doctors, Irving Plaza, NYC 5/27/2008
BARN138 - Cowboy Junkies, Supper Club, NYC 3/2/1994 (early show only)
BARN139 - Wayne Horvitz & Zony Mash, High Sierra Music Hall, High Sierra Music Fest, Quincy, CA 7/5/2002
BARN140 - Bruce Hornsby & The Noisemakers, High Sierra Music Festival, Quincy, CA 7/5/2002 (on bt.etree.org)
BARN141 - Rickie Lee Jones, Town Hall, NYC 3/29/1994 (on dimeadozen)
BARN142 - Minor Swing (John Patton / John Zorn / Ed Cherry / Kenny Wollesen), CBGB 313 Gallery, NYC 11/22/1995 - "pure jazz" series
BARN143 - Minor Swing (John Patton / John Zorn / Ed Cherry / Kenny Wollesen), CBGB 313 Gallery, NYC 11/23/1995 - "pure jazz" series
BARN144 - Merl Saunders and the Rainforest Band with special guests Buddy Miles, Odetta, Oteil Burbridge, and Larry Hunter, Manny's Carwash, 10/22/1996 (on bt.etree.org)
BARN145 - Melvin Sparks, The Lion's Den, NYC 11/15/1997
BARN146 - Melvin Sparks, Wetlands Preserve, NYC 6/14/1998
BARN147 - Melvin Sparks, Wetlands Preserve, NYC 10/17/1998
BARN148 - Railroad Earth, High Sierra Music Hall late night, 7/6/2002
BARN149 - Joan Osborne, Roseland, NYC 9/14/1995 (on bt.etree.org)
BARN150 - Joan Osborne, The Beacon Theatre, NYC 10/20/1995 (on bt.etree.org)
BARN151 - (Done but not yet released)
BARN152 - Phish, Garden State Arts Center, Holmdel, NJ 7/19/1992 (on bt.etree.org)
BARN153 - The Replacements, LATE SHOW, Rutgers University, Cook Campus Center, New Brunswick, NJ 4/8/1989
BARN154 - God Street Wine, Irving Plaza, NYC, 4/30/1994
BARN155 - God Street Wine, City Gardens, Trenton, NJ 6/11/1994
BARN156 - Karl Denson's Tiny Universe, Wetlands, NYC 6/14/1998
BARN157 - Dan Bern, High Sierra Music Fest solo tent show 7/6/2002
BARN158 - Dirty Dozen Brass Band (w/guest Chris Robinson), Irving Plaza, New York, NY 8/24/1996
BARN159 - TJ Kirk (Charlie Hunter/Will Bernard/John Schott/Scott Amendola), Knitting Factory, NYC 11/6/1996 - "pure jazz" series
BARN160 - Ryan Adams And The Pinkhearts - Battery Park, NYC 7/4/2003
BARN161 - The Headhunters w/George Porter - Knitting Factory, NYC 1/24/2006
BARN162 - Neil Young, Bonnaroo, Manchester, TN 6/13/2003 - on bt.etree.org
BARN163 - Tom Waits, The Beacon Theatre, NYC 9/25/1999 - on dimeadozen
BARN164 - Branford Marsalis Trio, Knitting Factory, NYC 3/22/1997 - on dimeadozen - "pure jazz" series
BARN165 - David Murray Octet, Knitting Factory, NYC 2/16/1997 - on bt.etree.org - "pure jazz" series