Out of Sight and Sound - The Free Spirits Reunion

Jim PepperFest 2013 Aug 7 - 10 schedule published

Master drummer Ra-Kalam Bob Moses to hold master class

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.

“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

Bob will arrive in Portland in time to conduct a master class in doing what he does (time and place and other details TBA) before taking the stage Friday and Saturday evenings August 9 & 10 for the historic reunion concert of The Free Spirits. And then he’s off to tour Australia and New Zealand.

This will give you a sense of what you don’t want to miss:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgQo4ADFGx0

Photo by Andrew Hurlbut

“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

–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

Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JimPepperNativeArtsFestival

Website: www.jimpepperfest.net

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.

Live streaming here: http://kboo.fm/content/themotifreimagineajazzsensibilityon052513

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.

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

http://youtu.be/Zb1K0VVrwYs

–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

RACC Opportunity Grant kicks off Jim PepperFest 2013 fundraising

The Regional Arts & Culture Commission (RACC) has awarded a $10,000 Opportunity Grant to the Oregon Cultural Heritage Commission (OCHC) in support of Jim PepperFest 2013: The Jim Pepper Native Arts Festival.

A message from OCHC President David Milholland just arrived, announcing:

“Today we opened a letter that stated: “Congratulations! It is my pleasure to inform you that the Regional Arts & Culture Council is awarding funds for your Special Opportunity Grant proposal. Your award amount for this cycle in 2012-13 is $10,000 based on the review panel scoring as approved by the RACC Board of Directors.” These are the first funds formally committed for our Jim Pepper Native Arts Festival this August 7-10 at Parkrose High School, an exciting project led by Sean Aaron Cruz.

“More news in the near future on this groundbreaking cultural event.

“Please visit our website – www.ochcom.org/events.html – which details six April, 2013 events in celebration of OCHC’s 25^th birthday this spring. All are free and each reflects our longstanding Mission Statement:

The Oregon Cultural Heritage Commission discovers,

celebrates, and commemorates contributions to

Oregon’s diverse literary and cultural legacy,

raising awareness through publications and

other media, memorials, and public events.

“May your own spring be fruitful. Thanks for your support and interest these many years.”

            Cordially, David Milholland – OCHC President

The Regional Arts and Culture Council serves Multnomah, Clackamas and Washington counties.

RACC Vision, Mission and Core Values statements:

Vision

To enrich community life by working with partners to create an environment in which the arts and culture of the region flourish and prosper.

Mission

Through vision, leadership and service the Regional Arts & Culture Council works to integrate arts and culture in all aspects of community life.

Core Values

We value freedom of artistic and cultural expression as a fundamental human right.
We value a diversity of artistic and cultural experiences.

We value a community in which everyone can participate in arts and culture.
We value a community that celebrates and supports its artists, and its arts and cultural organizations.

We value arts and culture as key elements in creating desirable places to live, work and visit

http://racc.org/about/about-racc

Rakalam Bob Moses on Jim Pepper and The Free Spirits

By Sean Aaron Cruz

The Free Spirits were the first jazz-rock fusion band in the history of music, the cutting edge of jazz groups experimenting in rock music and rock bands experimenting in jazz in 1966-67. Their LP, “Out of Sight and Sound”, pre-dated Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew, and the formation of Blood, Sweat and Tears, the Mahavishnu Orchestra and other similar fusion bands by several years.

The quintet consisted of:

Larry Coryell, guitar and vocals

Jim Pepper, tenor saxophone, flute and vocals

Columbus Chip Baker, guitar and vocals

Chris Hills, bass and vocals

Bob Moses, drums

Primarily jazz musicians, The Free Spirits formed in New York City with a commitment to take the music in new directions and performed on bills with Jimi Hendrix, Cream, the Doors and Andy Warhol’s Velvet Underground.

Rakalam Bob Moses recently had this to say about Jim Pepper:

“Jim Pepper (Flying Eagle) was the heart and soul of The Free Spirits. For me, in terms of being touched, moved and healed by his soaring, majestic, instantly recognizable sound, he is in the top four saxophonists of all time.

He was an absolutely unique, soulful, visionary musician who had a way of playing on changes that was all his own and borrowed nothing from Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins or anyone else.

He was also a great composer, who was able to draw on his Native American roots in a most original way, his best known piece of many being WitchiTai-To, which is still played by people all over the world. To my ears, he excelled at all styles, particularly jazz ballads, R&B/fund and free playing. He had the most beautiful scream I’ve ever heard on the saxophone.

We often started our sets with a 10-minute unaccompanied free saxophone solo, which was quite radical for rock clubs. I remember people like Ornette Coleman, Don Cherry and Jack deJohnette coming to our gigs, mostly to hear Jim Pepper.

He was also a great dancer, a consummate ladies’ man and a proud, defiant and profoundly hilarious individual…To this day, he is one of the few musicians who can bring me to tears with the heart-piercing beauty of his sound.” Bob Moses, liner notes, The Free Spirits Live at The Scene, February 22, 1967

The Free Spirits Live at The Scene, February 22, 1967, has been recently released. Two tracks include Dave Liebman, Randy Brecker and the late Joe Beck sitting in on the band’s second set. 

For those of you who read down this far, we are working on a historic reunion concert of The Free Spirits to kick off the first annual Jim Pepper Native Arts Festival in late summer 2013.