Search - Freddie Hubbard :: Sing Me a Song of Songmy / Echoes

SIX SIX SIXTIES (A Neglected Masterpiece of the Avant-Garde)

Ferrara Brain Pan | San Francisco CA | 12/08/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"After having been out of print for nearly thirty years, this classic mindblower from 1971 has at last been reissued on CD. This is much more than a 'jazz' recording by Freddie Hubbard. Quoting the original album cover, what we have here is SING ME A SONG OF SONGMY, "A Fantasy for Electromagnetic Tape, featuring Freddie Hubbard and his Quintet, with Reciters, Chorus, String Orchestra, Hammond Organ, Synthesized & Processed Sounds,Composed & Realized by ILHAN MIMAROGLU on Poems by Fazil Husnu Daglarca & Other Texts". What the CD reissue liner notes fail to emphasize is that this is really an Ilhan Mimaroglu album. Not to devaluate the first-rate performances by Hubbard & his group, but calling this a Freddie Hubbard album is somewhat misleading. For those unfamiliar with the name of Ilhan Mimaroglu, he was one of the second-generation musique-concrete composers, composing electronic music by the manipulation of recording tape and early analog synthesizers, in addition to writing music for piano, voice, string quartet, etc. And this is undeniably his masterwork. A collage of scored/improvised electro-acoustic music and spoken word, it is a frightening evocation of all the political & sociocultural turmoil that was the 1960s: the Vietnam War, civil rights, student insurrections, murder, mass cultural oppression & indoctrination. The music ranges from elegiac strings and choral arrangements to free jazz (Hubbard and his group deliver some topnotch and harmonically dissonant playing) to searing electronic vortices. The texts range from Soren Kierkegaard to Che Guevara to Susan Atkins (whose grand jury testimony from the Manson Family trials is excerpted in the chilling 'Threnody for Sharon Tate'). I originally bought this record as a cut-out back around 1973, and having worn out two vinyl copies, it is a revelation to hear it now on CD. Caveat emptor for 'jazz' fans: This is 'difficult' listening, to say the least, and unless you are hip to post-Trane modal extemporizations and the more outward-reaching efforts by the likes of Eric Dolphy, Archie Shepp, and the AACM artists, you will likely be dismayed by this production. However, if you are into 'straightahead' jazz sounds, BUY IT ANYWAY: you get two CDs for the price of one, and the other disc is a solid 1976 set of originals by Hubbard and accompanists in a more mainstream vein."

Worth a listen for discriminating ears

Jesse A Levy | Burbank, CA United States | 08/31/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

""Sing Me a Song of Songmy" is tough listening. I once played it for a friend of mine who thought the Grateful Dead was "acid music." After hearing this disc for a few minutes, he asked me to take it off. This record is not easy, but if you are looking for a unique, almost transcendent listening experience, this is it. Hubbard is smooth as well as tough. The poetry adds a great, sometimes scary element. The doppler effects are best heard through headphones, but give it a try through your speakers too if you're in a good position in the room. I'm glad to see this record out on CD."