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CD
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RNF 8004CD
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"In the spring of 1983, a newly conceived version of the James Newton Quartet appeared on the European jazz scene. After four decades, producer Stephan Meyner contacted James Newton. They realized that, unfortunately, the quartet had never released a recording. This changed when he unearthed a 1983 recording of the quartet from Willisau in Switzerland. A few months before the tour, James Newton had heard about a fantastic young pianist, composer and scholar from Detroit who was completing her master's degree in ethnomusicology at the University of Pittsburgh - Geri Allen. The members of the James Newton Quartet for this European tour included Geri Allen on piano, Anthony Cox on bass and Andrew Cyrille on drums. The recording from Willisau is one of the first recordings in Geri Allen's long, historic and outstanding career. Bassist, composer and bandleader Anthony Cox has immense, highly virtuosic mastery of his instrument, plays with great sensitivity, contributes to every nuance of the ensemble with incredible technical skill and responds to it with confidence, switching skillfully and fluently between different styles. Andrew Cyrille is one of the most respected drummers jazz has ever produced. His ensembles and compositions have contributed greatly to the tradition he embodies. He is known for his enthusiastic collaborations with modernists such as David Murray, Muhal Richard Abrams, Mal Waldron, Horace Tapscott, Peter Brötzmann and Oliver Lake. The recording's repertoire includes Charles Mingus' loving tribute to Charles Christopher Parker, 'Reincarnation of a Lovebirds,' Geri Allen's masterpiece 'The Printmakers,' and two originals by James Newton: " Forever Charles,' dedicated to Mingus, and 'Pinkie Below," the nickname given to my then young son James III by one of his uncles because he was the youngest grandson in the family and was born with light skin."
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