Gerry Olds Trio – here goes

No date on this one, but my assumption is that Gerry released this in the early seventies. This is a double lp, most of this record is really nice standard jazz trio stuff. They do a really dark version of Gershwin’s “summertime” that’s just begging for Rza from the Wu Tang to work wonders with. The two stand out cuts for me though are the tracks featuring the San Francisco Tape Music Center.

From the liner notes: “None of us had heard any “free jazz” before, but we all agreed that we wanted to alter the strict time and other stylized conventions and format of the typical jazz trio. By changing the solo-followed-by-solo-etc. pre-arranged plan and allowing fluctuations in time and mood, we were developing a musical and emotional rapport. It allowed us to constantly contribute our individual personalities to the overall piece. In other words, a new and more organic ensemble style was emerging from these afternoons. As I became interested in electronic music, I got the idea of using a pre-composed electronic tape instead of the harmonic structure of a tune as the underpinning for a piece. The Tape Music Center concert came out of this.”

I’ve been told by Dante Carfagna that there were only 500 copies pressed of this title. I attempted to track down Gerry and see if he put out anything else and I learned that he passed away a few years ago. Anyways, here’s a soundclip to the track entitled “4/3 + 1”