Friday, May 24, 2013

I'm Gonna Be Free - Rare Jim Pepper - The Free Spirits Live - on KBOO 90.7FM



Tune into KBOO 90.7FM this Saturday May 25 2:00-3:30pm PST for an hour and a half of rare Jim Pepper audio tracks, Jim PepperFest 2013 updates and more on The Motif’s show.




The Free Spirits

We will start the show with tracks from the recently-released cd The Free Spirits Live at The Scene, NYC, 1967…. Pioneering jazz/rock mayhem…I’m Gonna Be Free, for the rest of my days….

What Larry Coryell, Rakalam Bob Moses, Chris Hills, Columbus Chip Baker and the late Jim Pepper were up to on February 22, 1967….

And what we are planning for August 7-10, 2013 at the Parkrose HS Performing Arts Center in Portland, Oregon…. Mark your calendars….


The Motif: Re-Imagine a Jazz Sensibility
Post modern representations of improvisation, across dramatic modes, and re-imagined spaces of diverse music genre, hosted by The Motif, aka Yugen Kelsaw.

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Jim Pepper: Re-imagining a Jazz Sensibility on KBOO 90.7FM




The Free Spirits


Tune into KBOO 90.7FM this Saturday May 25 2:00-3:30pm PST for an hour and a half of rare Jim Pepper audio tracks, Jim PepperFest 2013 updates and sparkling, witty and erudite conversation on The Motif’s show.


The Motif: Re-Imagine a Jazz Sensibility
Post modern representations of improvisation, across dramatic modes, and re-imagined spaces of diverse music genre, hosted by The Motif, aka Yugen Kelsaw.
Live streaming here: http://kboo.fm/themotif


One of the great things about KBOO (Full Strength Community Radio) is that the station’s programmers have such wide latitude with their time, with time itself, in that they can play tracks that most stations won’t touch because of their length.

Jim Pepper never recorded for pop radio. Probably 95% of his recorded tracks are longer than five minutes. You need a long attention span to really hear and understand his music.

We will start the show with tracks from the recently-released The Free Spirits Live at The Scene, 1967….


Sunday, May 19, 2013

City of Portland proclamation of Jim Pepper Day, May 20


Portland Mayor Tom Potter declared May 20 was/is Jim Pepper Day in the City of Portland. Here's what the Mayor had to say:

City of Portland proclamation of Jim Pepper Day, May 20, 2005

Whereas, Jim Pepper, a resident of Portland and a Native American of the Kaw and Creek nations, was recognized best for his eclectic playing style as a jazz musician and collaborated with many world-renowned musicians including several from the State of Oregon; and

Whereas, Jim Pepper, who began playing at jazz clubs in Portland, was an unforgettable tenor and soprano saxophone player, singer, composer, dancer and bandleader; and

Whereas, Jim Pepper has become one of the most important musicians and composers in jazz history—his unique style and blend of traditional Native American rhythms with African and Latin American jazz created a whole new style of music; and

Whereas, in the 1960s, Jim Pepper and his band, The Free Spirits, were one of the first to fuse Native American song with the harmonic structures of jazz and rock to define a new genre of music that remains important worldwide; and

Whereas, Jim Pepper has been the recipient of numerous awards and recognitions both during his lifetime and posthumously including the Lifetime Music Achievement Award by the First Americans in the Arts, and has been inducted into the Indian Hall of Fame and the Native American Music Awards Hall of Fame; and

Whereas, an award-winning documentary on the life of Jim Pepper titled “Pepper’s Powwow” was produced by Sandra Osawa and will be shown at this year’s 2005 Portland Jazz Festival; and,

Whereas, the 2005 Portland Jazz Festival will include a tribute to the “remembrance” of Jim Pepper, where many of his songs will be performed; and

Whereas, although Jim Pepper has passed on, his innovative genre of music serves as an inspiration to all indigenous peoples around the world;

Now, therefore, I, Tom Potter, Mayor of the City of Portland, Oregon, the “City of Roses”, do hereby proclaim May 20, 2005 as Jim Pepper Day in Portland and encourage all citizens to observe this day.

(signed)

Tom Potter

Sunday, May 05, 2013

Rakalam Bob Moses -- When Elephants Dream of Music


On Rakalam Bob Moses of The Free Spirits
By Sean Aaron Cruz

Portland, Oregon—

“Drummer, composer, artist, poet, dancer, visionary, nature mystic (Rakalam) Bob Moses's life has been a continuous quest for vision, spirit, compassion, growth, and mastery in a multiplicity of art forms.”—New England Conservatory

Among the four members of the legendary, pioneering jazz-fusion band The Free Spirits coming to Portland in August to celebrate their friend and bandmate Jim Pepper is world-renowned master drummer and educator Rakalam Bob Moses.


Photo by Andrew Hurlbut


Born in New York City, Bob Moses began his career as a teenager performing with the great Rahsaan Roland Kirk. In 1965, Bob Moses, guitarist Larry Coryell, bassist Chris Hills, guitarist Columbus Chip Baker and Jim Pepper formed The Free Spirits.

The Free Spirits jazz-rocked New York City in 1965-67, releasing just one LP, Out of Sight and Sound, before parting, each taking his own path, and now more than four decades later reuniting in the neighborhood where Jim Pepper first picked up his saxophone.

Jim PepperFest 2013: Rise of the Free Spirits
The Jim Pepper Native Arts Festival
Parkrose HS Performing Arts Center, Portland, Oregon
August 7-10, 2013


“I can see two major traditions or trains of thought colliding and merging in my music.

“One is the path of the nature visionary; one who can travel without moving, to and through various dimensions and planes of reality. In my life I have seen through the veils, kissed butterflies, envisioned animated three-dimensional scenes and stepped into those scenes, talked to and played with spirits of other worlds, past, present and future. I have been a flower, a mountain, a raging river, a stone….

“The other tradition or stream that I swim in is the Great River of African Music in all its manifestations: the importance of clave’, groove, swing, rhythm, dance, hip-shaking, rhythm and rhyme sublime, shadows and light by day, by night, Jazz, Funk, Rhythm and Blues, Hip Hop, Rap, Reggae, Calypso, Zouk, Soukous, Samba, Afro-Cuban, Salsa are all psychically if not geographically emanating from Africa….

“So the streams merge and become one vast, deep, infinite music:

“Music with groove but no walls
Music with soul but no boundaries
Music with roots but no ceilings
Music of hope and love and humor”

                                  --Rakalam Bob Moses, from When Elephants Dream of Music


Trevor, from When Elephants Dream of Music




–on Bob Moses’ When Elephants Dream of Music:


"Bob Moses has now emerged as the possessor of one of the grander imaginations in America's true classical music. No orchestral composer of this scope, mellow wit, and freshly distinctive range of colors has come along since Gil Evans."-Nat Hentoff, Modern Recording and Music

“Bob Moses, composer, drummer, poet, artist, conceptualizer, inspirer of people, has created a musical environment that is balanced, between discipline and freedom, compositional design and spontaneous inspiration. A party with a purpose. This album is original, soulful, funny…and very special. I hope a lot of people get as much enjoyment from it as I have”. –Gil Evans

–on On Time Stood Still
"Leave it to Moses, a multi-directional shamanistic groovilator, to put all the pieces together. On Time Stood Still, another sprawling production of DeMille-ian scale. He seamlessly blends Monk, funk, tap, hip hop, bebop, big band, blues, Bahia, Tanzania, and the avant garde into one organic package while paying homage to the spirits of Gil Evans, Charles Mingus, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, and Jaco Pastorius."-Bill Milkowski, Down Beat

~~~~~~~~~

This article was written while the author was listening to and under the influence of When Elephants Dream of Music.

The Jim Pepper Native Arts Festival is a project of the Oregon Cultural Heritage Commission and its partners:

The Regional Arts & Culture Council
Parkrose Neighborhood Association
Parkrose School District
Russellville Grange
Travel Portland
KBOO 90.7 FM Community Radio





Save the dates: The Jim Pepper Native Arts Festival Aug 7-10, 2013



Save the dates:

Jim PepperFest 2013: Rise of the Free Spirits
The Jim Pepper Native Arts Festival
Parkrose HS Performing Arts Center, Portland, Oregon
August 7-10, 2013
A project of the Oregon Cultural Heritage Commission and its partners