#bobby previte

06.30.24 20th annual performance in Terry Riley's In C, performed by NYC In C.

William S. BURROUGHS

"Breakthrough in the grey Room / Dead City Radio / The Masque of red Death & The Priest they called him"

(3 cassettes. Organic Anagram Industries. 2014) [US]

Bobby Previte, Jamie Saft, Nels Cline - Music From The Early 21st Century (RareNoise Records)

When future generations listen back to the sounds of this still young millennium, what music will remain to define the era? Master improvisers Bobby Previte, Jamie Saft and Nels Cline make their bid for immortality with Music From the Early 21st Century, their venturesome new album. While hardly representative of the hits streaming through the Bluetooth ether these days, Music From the Early 21st Century is nonetheless aptly titled, colliding as its does entire threads of musical history leading up to the very moment of its explosive creation. The album, captured live during a brief tour of the Northeastern U.S. in early 2019, is essentially a freely improvised organ trio set. But filtered through the lens of these three encyclopedically eclectic masters, it morphs continually from one prismatic hybrid of styles to another throughout its ten carefully curated pieces.

Track to track, it soon becomes clear that there’s no limit to the terrain that this band can explore. “Paywall” bridges hard rock and dub, while Saft’s brisk walking bassline on “Parkour” spurs Cline to channel his best Sonny Sharrock skronk. “The Extreme Present” offers a mutant take on 60s soul, while “Totes” immerses the listener in a psychedelic haze. “Occession” is 14 minutes of grinding, spiraling noise abstraction, “The New Weird” ten minutes of hypnotic spiritual jazz. The cyborg churn of “Machine Learning” is followed by the transcendent ecstasy of “Woke.”

Introduction: When discussing influential drummers in modern jazz, the name Bobby Previte often emerges as a pioneer who has continuously pushed the boundaries of what rhythm can achieve. With a career spanning several decades, Previte has not only established himself as a master percussionist but also as a composer and bandleader whose work transcends conventional jazz frameworks. This blog…

It was 35 years ago today: Wayne Horvitz's sextet The President's Bring Yr Camera was released. The album features Horvitz on keyboards, harmonica, and drum programming; Bobby Previte on drums; Elliott Sharp on guitars; Dave Hofstra on electric bass and tuba; Doug Wieselman on tenor sax; and Dave Tronzo on slide and national steel guitars. You can hear it here.