| In Paris, Aries 1973 | |
| Type: | live |
| Artist: | Black Artists Group |
| Cover: | BAG_In_Paris_Aries_1973.jpg |
| Released: | 1973 |
| Recorded: | 1973 |
| Venue: | Paris |
| Genre: | Free jazz |
| Label: | Aguirre Records |
In Paris, Aries 1973 is a live album by the Black Artists Group, featuring saxophonist Oliver Lake, trumpeters Baikida Carroll and Floyd LeFlore, trombonist Joseph Bowie, and drummer Charles "Bobo" Shaw.[1] The album was recorded in 1973 in Paris, and was initially self-released in very limited quantities.[2] It was reissued in 2011 in a limited edition of 500 LPs by Rank and File Records,[3] and was remastered and reissued on LP by Aguirre Records in 2018, with extensive liner notes by Julian Cowley, again in a limited edition of 500 copies.
In Paris, Aries 1973 is the only album ever issued under the BAG name.[4] The group had traveled to Paris at the recommendation of Lester Bowie, and used the Art Ensemble of Chicago's agent upon arrival.[5] The zodiac reference in the album title is a tribute to bassist and group member Kada Kayan, to whom the album is dedicated, and who fell ill and died before the group left for Paris.[6]
Elliott Sharp included the album in a Village Voice article titled "Ten Free Jazz Albums to Hear Before You Die," describing it as a "gem."[7]
Writer Greg Tate stated that, while listening to the album, he found himself "returned to a state of analogue innocence and freedom jazz paradise regained," and wrote that he treasured "the audible intimacy of the setting."[8] He praised "the spirited generosity and affability that can be heard going on between the members... how conversational, elated, and relaxed the group sounds unleashing all that artillery." He concluded: "In Paris is a welcome addition to a small and brilliant canon of mature, atmospheric album-length freedom jazz works... by a pan-idiomatic and boundary-free hive mind of spiritually connected virtuosi."
In an article for Fact Magazine, Jon Dale wrote: "it's a scorching set, moving from relatively denuded passages for multiple percussion and snake-charming sax, through to more reflective, intimate improvisations."[9]
Regarding "Something to Play On," author Max Brzezinski commented that it "creates a cacophony of rhythm out of pieces of metal and found percussion–it, like the best of the free jazz, is more spirited, even aggressively so, than the 'spiritual' tag might suggest."[10]
Bill Shoemaker, writing for Point of Departure, noted that, even during "flat out" sections, the musicians "avoid trampling over each other or creating a muddy mass of sound." Regarding their visit to Paris, he commented: "Given the quality of In Paris, Aries 1973, it is clear they arrived ready."[11]
Thurston Moore included the recording in his "Top Ten from the Free Jazz Underground" list (first published in 1995 in the second issue of the defunct Grand Royal Magazine), writing: "This is squeaky, spindly stuff and very OPEN and a good indication of what was happening in the early 70's."[12]
Track timings not provided.