Orgasm is an album by jazz hornist Alan Shorter recorded in 1968 and released on the Verve label.[1][2] It was also released under the title Parabolic during the same year in the UK.[3][4]
| Orgasm | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1969 | |||
| Recorded | September 23 & 25 and November 6, 1968 A&R Studios, NYC | |||
| Genre | Jazz | |||
| Length | 48:34 | |||
| Label | Verve V6 8768 | |||
| Producer | Esmond Edwards | |||
| Alan Shorter chronology | ||||
| ||||
Reception
edit| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [5] |
| The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings | [6] |
AllMusic rated the album 4½ stars and its review by Scott Yanow states, "Shorter, although not a virtuoso, comes up with consistently inventive ideas. The style is sometimes slightly reminiscent of Ornette Coleman (partly due to the presence of Haden), but Shorter had apparently not heard Ornette's band before recording this music. Well worth several listens".[5]
David Grundy of Point of Departure called the album Shorter's "definitive statement" of the period, and noted that "the record has an utterly distinctive atmosphere... 'sinister' is the operative word, an atmosphere drawing, perhaps, from Alan's love of the ambiguous spaces of horror and science-fiction movies – spaces of waiting, of threat, of tension and anticipation, or of sorrow."[7]
Amiri Baraka wrote: "It is a music meant to shake, to stir, to arouse. To call for a 'new dispensation,' perhaps, of the whole order of things." He praised the "total sound and conception and burning energy" of the musicians, and remarked: "There is a freshness to this music that makes you listen... till the last eerie passage."[8]
Track listing
editAll compositions by Alan Shorter
- "Parabola"- 13:07
- "Joseph" - 3:07
- "Straits of Blagellan" - 7:27
- "Rapids" - 9:30
- "Outeroids"- 4:15
- "Orgasm" - 11:20
Personnel
edit- Alan Shorter - flugelhorn
- Gato Barbieri - tenor saxophone
- Charlie Haden (tracks 1 & 6) Reggie Johnson (tracks 3 & 4) - bass
- Muhammad Ali (tracks 1 & 6), Rashied Ali (tracks 2-5) - drums
References
edit- ^ Verve Records Catalog: 8700 series accessed December 15, 2015
- ^ Edwards, D. & Callahan, M. Verve Label Discography, accessed November 27, 2015
- ^ "Alan Shorter - Orgasm (aka Parabolic)". Jazz Music Archives. Retrieved March 22, 2023.
- ^ "Alan Shorter Discography". JazzDisco. Retrieved March 22, 2023.
- ^ a b Yanow, Scott. Orgasm – Review at AllMusic. Retrieved December 15, 2015.
- ^ Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 1294. ISBN 978-0-141-03401-0.
- ^ Grundy, David (June 2020). "'Why?': The Parabolic New Music of Alan Shorter". Point of Departure. Retrieved March 22, 2023.
- ^ Baraka, Amiri (2009). Digging: The Afro-American Soul of American Classical Music. University of California Press. p. 353.