1.The Vibrational Crypt: Sonny Simmons-Staying On The Watch

Hello, good morning and evening everyone. Here’s a new series/blog idea I’ve had for a while and I finally found the direction to go with it. As many of you may know my name is Travis John and I have been in love with improvised music for 3 years now. While it seems like a short amount of time i have managed to listen to a huge amount and have caught up with a lot of older and newer releases but of course there is still more to hear. I want to dedicate this blog “The Vibrational Crypt” to this music that i love so dearly and I’ll basically daily speak on albums of this field of work and all music that I enjoy it will mostly be improvised music though. For the first record I’d like to speak on one I just recently revisited Staying On The Watch by Sonny Simmons. His first record as a leader recorded for ESP Disk. Mr. Simmons to me is one of the most underrated saxophonists in this entire field of music. This was the first record I heard from him previously i had heard him on “Smiley” Winters “ That N***er Music which is also an underrated record itself but his playing on that had me sold. I then found SOTW while browsing ESP Disk’s Bandcamp and was attracted by the cover ( which still gives off an aura of power to me ). I heard it and that’s what it was, absolute power. The Husband Wife horn Duo Sonny on Alto and Barbara Donald on Trumpet just come wailing in a powerful chant that turn to soothing and chaotic waves with the help of John Hicks on piano, Teddy Smith on bass and Marvin Pattilo on percussion . This Quintet comes together to create what are some of the most powerfully personal and rewarding tracks of this entire style of music to me. Simmons and Barbara together were incredible you feel that deep connection and the other players add onto their notions perfectly. My favorite track is definiely City Of David because of the story it paints in my head every time. I always imagine an ancient village and a man just travelling absorbing is atmosphere. Suddenly it all comes crashing down he must travel through air to find a few home a lot of insight is revealed and he loses himself but he then returns to the only place he knew as home. Incredible track from a masterwork of improvised art. Highly recommended see ya’ll tomorrow for the next one