Muirlands Jazz/Rock Ensemble - 1973
Posted on June 4, 2006 by Kris Holmes
I picked this 7″ up mainly because it has a Frank Zappa cover on it, but it actually turned out to be a solid record all the way through. I have no idea what the Muirlands Jazz/Rock Ensemble was (probably a High School Stage Band I am guessing) and from what the label tells me, they were from the San Diego area.
This 7″ plays at 33rpms and has three songs. The tracks on side one are Free and Chunga's Revenge (Zappa) and on side two the track is Flat Land. Some guy named Don Artimez is the "director" and it is on a label called United Sound (USR 549), I don't think it is "the" United label that has BB King etc. It says it was recorded at Bassett Custom Recording 6741 Springfield St, San Diego.
Musically it's pretty cool Jazz/Rock with funky undertones. There is good playing by the soloists, of which the guitarist Tom Bevan (Maynard Ferguson/Jeff Kashiwa) is one and some of the passages get a bit avant-gardey in places. Some pretty forward thinking stuff. A neat little 7″ that you probably don't see all that often.
Filed under: 45's and 7's, Jazz
10 Comments to “Muirlands Jazz/Rock Ensemble - 1973”
Yeah, not UA, that’s for sure. I listened to it after I wrote the article & the track on side 2 “Flat Land” is a monster, fast break beat drums, cool bass line, pumping horns, wah wah guitar solo, experimental breakdown with drum solo. Killer. What’s the easiest way to link an mp3 to the article? Post a Yousendit link? I should definitely try to get one up.
In 1973 Muirlands was a junior high school in La Jolla, grades 7-9. The musicians on this record were all 12-15 years old when it was recorded. Pretty neat, huh? I was in the Muirlands class of ‘73, which became the La Jolla High class of ‘76. We just had our 30th high school reunion, and several of the musicians who were in that Muirlands band, including guitarist Tom Bevan, trombonist Michael Sakakeeny, drummer Peter Woods, and sax Peter Arcidiacano gave us a show. They’re still hot!
i just picked up a copy of this at an estate sale here in san diego… what a great disc! definitely one for the archives. btw, “free” is by chicago, not zappa. anyone know if “flat land” is an original, or if it’s a cover? i assume it’s a cover, but can’t find any info on google…
Wow! Just stumbled across this thread. I was one of the musicians (bass trombone) on this recording. The tune called Flat Land is an original written specifically for this band. I believe it was written by Clark Gault, a local San Diego jazz musician. It featured the talents of the band’s exceptional rythm section, Tom Bevan (guitar), Pete Woods (drums) who both went on to have great careers, especially Tom. We all still get together now and then to play as mentioned in one of the posts above. Pretty fun. I would be interested to know what estate sale you found this record at? I believe I still have a couple copies of this in a storage. Guess I need to find a turntable somewhere…
I’m Clark Gault. I just happened to see this thread. Yes I wrote the piece for the middle school band of Don Artimez.I still occasionally play with Pete and Mick. It’s interesting how these things show up in such interesting places.
So cool to see people involved in the making of this record found this review.
Hey Clark Gault. Where can i get copies of your theme’s that were used for Major League Baseball on NBC in the 80’s?
Kris — I’m Tom Bevan’s nephew. Is there any way I could get a copy of this somehow - maybe send the mp3’s or something. This would be a wonderful surprise for the next time I see him! Thanks. David dpbevan@gmail.com
Hi David, I think the mp3s are still embedded in the review, just click on the song titles & they should download.
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awesome - would love to hear this.
Definitely not the big United Artists label - looks like a custom label.