Vinyl album cover 1st & 3rd editions 1973 & 2021

Producer’s note, 3rd edition McLaughlin on Miles Davis’ “Bitches Brew” and
Tony Williams’ Lifetime than an alto trio that, say,
The “Friends” LP is the unique vision of composer Jackie McLean might lead. The fluidity of his har-
and alto saxophist Marc Cohen (now playing pia- monic concepts with the overlay of the electron-
no as Marc Copland). He put the group together, ic distortions, on top of the pulsing of a jazz-like
brought in the first tunes, and was the energy behind rhythm blew my ears out, only in the best way.
eletrifying his saxophone while staying true to the Finally, someone who’d grown up with the same
rhythmic and harmonic jazz that he loved playing. rock’n’roll as my generation,overlaid on the sophis-
tication of the jazz I was discovering.
I first came across Marc as a Columbia University
musical star when I was asked to record a concert Immediately after the midnight session I rushed into
of some his mianstreanm big band arrangements the studio asking Marc if I could release the tracks
on campus in 1971. Later on my new label, Oblivion
that year I caught him down- Records. Our first two releases
town playing in drummer had been country blues (my
Chico Hamilton’s band. But partner, Tom Pomposello, was
we didn’t really know each the bluesman) but I was itch-
other when May 1972 when he ing to get into the jazz I loved.
showed up with a trio at our Which honestly, I thought
college radio station, would be more in the post Or-
WKCR-FM, for a live perfor- nette Coleman/John
mance on David Reitman’s Coltrane/Cecil Taylor
“Journey to the End of the avant-garde styles I was lean-
Night.” ing towards in those days. But,
this Marc Cohen stuff was
The group –Marc’s alto sax- something else –electric jazz!–
ophone, bassist Glen Moore, and I wanted Oblivion in on
and drummer Jeff Williams– the revolution.
seemed like another modern
First Marc Cohen Trio session May 3, 1972
acoustic jazz trio –no chorded Marc was game –he hadn’t yet
instrument– until I got confused when I was asked had a release under his leadership– but for reasons
to put a microphone for an amplifier, and Marc only known to him, he wasn’t happy enough with
started wailing, sounding more like an “acid the performances and asked for a chance to come
rock” guitarist than any alto player I’d ever heard. back another time for an official session.*
Then they hit the first tune.
We gathered again in December 1972 with Clint
What???!!! Houston on bass and electric bass, and now with
John Abercrombie added on electric guitar. I fired
The beautiful howls that came out of this band re- up the not yet road tested new Scully stereo record-
minded me more of what was happening with John ers that had replaced our worn Ampex’s and hit the
Friends OD-3 www.OblivionRecords.co
first take. The quartet was a richer sound –it helped
that the studio had been rebuilt with acoustic
tiling– and Marc and the band had clearly worked
out some of the compositions’ complexities.
The music was amazing, everything I’d
hoped for after the May trios. Intricate, but memo-
rable melodies, soaring improvisations, rhythm that
got to the bottom of the funk, with the rise of jazz
cadences. The world was waiting for Marc Cohen.
We got some amazing reviews: Jazz
Forum called it “the electronic jazz
record of the year!” Crawdaddy thought
it was “a promising indication of
things to come as more and more
young musicians move into the realm
of New Electric Music.” Even the
more of less traditionalist jazz bible
DownBeat gave the record 5 stars and
said “Cohen has transformed the elec-
tric sax from a gimmick to a concept
in instrumentation with its own iden-
tity and horizons.”
Why didn’t the record make more of
a splash? Was it that Marc didn’t want
it to be a leader-ed album, opting for a
generic group title “Friends?” Or that
I made a cover choice that seemed like
a good idea at the time, but probably
put off more potential buyers than it
attracted? Or was it that our label was “the enigma
of enigmas” as DownBeat tried to compliment us?
It was all that and more. Mainly, the Oblivion
Records’ “management” team’s entrepreneurial
inexperience.
“Friends” ended up as one of those cult LPs, the
Friends OD-3
kind of “missing link” in the development of what
should have been the kind of positive musical dis-
ruption that united the ambitious rock listener with
the progressive jazz fan, and instead descended in
the the swamp known as “fusion.” Truly too bad.
Marc Cohen Copland was –and is, since he
switched his allegiance to the piano, along with
his last name, to escape its commonality with a
one hit pop star– a true visionary composer and
improvisor. For his musical reasons he chose not
to pursue the electronic version of his music. But,
I’m more than happy Oblivion Records was there to
catch the seed that’s grown into what DownBeat’s
Bill Milkowski now describes when
he says Marc Copland always seeks
a place in music that takes him some-
where beyond the notes.”
Amen.
The recording
Columbia University’s WKCR-FM
was built as a traditional radio studio,
for recording announcers and inter-
views, not instruments. As the 1970s
began, college graduate, music writ-
er, and DJ David Reitman asked me
to engineer more than the occasional
drop in musical guest until we were
probably recording 45 or 50 perfor-
mances a year. Soon, we convinced
the station’s student Board of Directors to hit up
the University for funds to rebuild one of satellite
rooms into one that was more fitting to music than
just announcers.
As the engineer of more than 90% of KCR’s live
performances I couldn’t have been more thrilled
www.OblivionRecords.co
make Marc’s “Friends” tapes, mastered them on
the maiden voyage of the site, and never mentioned
new studio in December of anything was amiss.
1972. Pristine stereo Scul-
ly stereo machines (there Whew!
was no way we could con-
vince anyone to fund us The Album Cover
four or eight track record-
ers. Damn!), a newly built Sam Steinberg was a leg-
and wired recording con- endary “outsider” artist on
sole with simple left-cen- the Columbia University
ter-right switching and no campus who, in the 1930s,
equaliztion. (I knew noth- started traveling from the
ing about actual electron- Bronx with his mother by
ics, just sound. Thank you three subways to sell candy
Andy Setos, Chuck Weger, bars to students. You can
Don Zimmerman, and the read more about him else-
whole E-school crew.) We where in this
were ready to go. booklet.
Things sounded great. In part, thanks to Marc’s Jof-
frey Ballet day gig buddy, pianist Don Grolnick, Sometime in the 60s Sam was inspired to paint cats
who “consulted.” When I was reviewed the tapes af- and “boids,” eventually branching out to snakes,
terwards, it was quite clear that the new wiring was flowers, even pop culture icons of the day like Elvis
not quite… um, perfect. The left channel was drop- Presley and Richard Nixon. By the 1970s virtually
ping in and out of a few every student on cam-
of the masters. After a pus had at least one
bit of panic, I figured $2.50 “Sam” on their
out a way to remix the wall.
takes so
it wasn’t noticeable. At I had the bright idea
least, that was my most that since Marc Cohen
fervent hope. I didn’t was a Columbia Col-
want to embarrass my- lege graduate, I was a
self in front of those College student, and
older (they were three we were recording at
years my senior), pro- the Columbia radio
fessional musicians. station, what would be
better than a beautifully
Our pressing plant in rendered and colored
The original “Sam” 1973
Phoenix recieved the
Friends OD-3 www.OblivionRecords.co
(by Sam’s sister Pauline) painting by our resident
genius. Marc had no objections that I can recall 40
some odd years later.

Sam was another story. He didn’t understand what

I meant by a record cover, so he painted two cats
inside of record shape, and stuck another off to the
side, he didn’t want to waste an inch of illustration
board. When asked what he wanted to be paid he
said $2.50 as always, and was completely confused
when I gave him a ten, and insisted that I buy him
the new shoes he said he wanted. (Within a week he
was back to his old shoes into which he’d stuffed
newspaper to make them fit properly.)

It’s an understatement to say that the cover was re-

ceived badly. My partner rolled his eyes at me. Peo-
ple snickered directly to my face. Distributors and
retailers often refused to stock the record, even with
glowing reviews we received. I know it didn’t fit the
preconceptions of an album cover. But, it was the
70s, the age of stunning and progressive LP designs.
I honestly thought we had one. I was wrong, but
honestly, I still love it.

Because, I still love Sam Steinberg’s paintings.

–Fred Seibert
Oblivion Records
March 2022

*The key electric tracks from that first May 1972

live radio session are now included as bonus tracks
in the 2021 3rd edition.

Friends OD-3 www.OblivionRecords.co

 1st edition:
Spring 1973
Vinyl album labels

Layout: Fred Seibert

Typesetting:
Columbia University Spectator
New York City
Pressing & printing:
Wakefield Manufacturing
Phoenix, Arizona

Friends OD-3 www.OblivionRecords.co


From the original liner, 1st edition, Spring 1973
MARC COHEN is from
Philadelphia home of all good saxo-
phonists. He has played with Chico
Hamilton and was with Dreams for
a short time. His alto saxophone is
modified by an octave divider, two
wah-wah pedals, a fuzz-tone, and a
tape echo box. His tenor sax is quite
ordinary.
Friends OD-3
From Wikipedia, 2016
Marc Copland (born May 27, 1948, as Marc Cohen)
is an American jazz pianist and composer.
Copland became part of the jazz scene in Phila-
delphia in the early 1960s as a saxophonist, and
later moved to New York City, where he experi-
mented with electric alto saxophone. In the early
1970s, while pursuing his own harmon-ic concept,
he grew dissatisfied with what he felt were inher-
ent limitations in the saxophone and moved to the
Balti-more-Washington D.C. area, where he re-
mained for a decade to retrain as a jazz pianist.
He returned to New York in the mid-1980s, his own
keyboard style firmly in place. Since that time Co-
pland has enjoyed considerable success, both as a
solo performer and a group leader.
Early years
Copland was born in Philadelphia, Penn-sylvania.
He began taking piano lessons at age seven, but
stopped abruptly at the age of ten when his public
school offered the option of saxophone training.
Be-ginning his career on alto sax, Copland became
part of a vibrant music scene in his hometown in
the early 1960s, learn-ing and playing with Mi-
chael Brecker, a close friend and fellow high school
student. In 1965 he briefly studied harmony with
Romeo Cascarino in Philadelphia and also began
training in composition with Meyer Kupferman and
studied saxophone with Joseph Allard, both in New
York.
In 1966, Copland moved to New York City, where
he attended Columbia Uni-versity. He became part
of a late 1960s and early 1970s New York jazz
scene that expanded from the traditional clubs into
lofts around the city. During this period, Copland
was, along with John Abercrombie and Glen Moore,
a mem-ber of the Chico Hamilton Quartet. He ex-
www.OblivionRecords.co
perimented by adding electronic pro-cessors to his
alto, culminating in the recording of Friends, an
electric jazz album produced by a small New York
City start-up label, Oblivion Records. This album,
with Abercrombie, Clint Hous-ton, and Jeff Wil-
liams, achieved a kind of cult status, earning a five-
star review in DownBeat magazine.
Increasingly, however, Copland was writing music
with more complex chords that suggested to him an
approach to music very different from his acoustic
and electronic saxophone work. He came to feel that
as an instrument, the saxo-phone was not a suitable
vehicle to ful-ly express his musical imagination.
By 1973, he had decided to switch to piano.
For the next decade, Copland labored in Washing-
ton, D.C. and Baltimore in rel-ative obscurity while
mastering his new instrument. During this period he
un-derwent a kind of apprenticeship, play-ing with
well-known musicians passing through the area who
asked for him as an accompanist. Backing up dif-
ferent mu-sicians one week to the next, he worked
with artists such as Randy Brecker, Bob Berg, Hank
Crawford, Art Farmer, Cur-tis Fuller, Tom Harrell,
Eddie Harris, Harold Land and Blue Mitchell, Dave
Liebman, Bob Mintzer, Gary Peacock, and Sonny
Stitt. During this time he also led his own bands
in local clubs, playing with many of the musicians
who lived and worked in the area. One of these,
bassist Drew Gress, later moved to New York and
over the years has become one of Copland’s chief
musical collaborators.
Mid 80s/Early 90s
In the early 1980s, Copland returned to New York.
For a time he returned week-ly to Washington to
continue private teaching and a steady trio engage-
ment, but after a couple of years these regular vis-
its tapered off in favor of more exten-sive work in
New York City. During this period he worked with
Friends OD-3
Bob Belden, Jane Ira Bloom, Joe Lovano, Herbie
Mann, James Moody (with whom he toured for
three years), John Scofield, Jim Snide-ro, and Dave
Stryker. A busy sideman, he began to appear with
his own bands in local clubs, but remained unre-
cord-ed as a leader. Acting on a tip that the Japanese
label Jazz City was searching for ten American pia-
nists, Copland sent an audition tape to guitarist/pro-
ducer Yoshiake Masuo. After listening, the pro-du-
cer called Copland to decline, saying that the label
had already reached agree-ment with ten pianists.
A few weeks later Masuo called back to say one
pianist had dropped out, and offered Copland his
first record deal. My Foolish Heart, Cop-land’s de-
but disc as leader, was recorded at “The Studio” in
Soho, and Copland went on to record two other CDs
with the label:
• My Foolish Heart/Jazz City, 1988
(John Abercrombie, Gary Peacock, Jeff Hirshfield)
• All Blues At Night/Jazz City, 1992
(Tim Hagans, Peacock, Bill Stewart)
• Songs Without End/Jazz City Spirit,
1994 (duets with Ralph Towner)
Copland apparently liked the sound at “The Studio”
because he recorded several albums there in the fol-
lowing years.
His local trio and quartet gigs and were now more
frequent, and as word of his trio spread, he began
to play regularly at everal venues around the United
States, first with Peacock and drummer Bill Stew-
art, and later, when Stewart was no longer with the
original trio, with Billy Hart. This last trio made two
albums:
• At Night/Sunnyside, 1992 (Gary Peacock
and Billy Hart)
• Paradiso/Soul Note, 1995 (Gary Peacock
and Billy Hart)
www.OblivionRecords.co
Mid-1990s to 2000
In the 1990s, on the recommendation of Peter Er-
skine and John Abercrombie, Copland recorded
with Vince Mendoza, in the process making the
acquaintance of Japanese producer Takao Ogawa.
A few years later Ogawa and Copland bumped into
each other in a New York studio, agreeing to meet
to discuss re-cording possibilities. Ogawa subse-
quent-ly organized and produced Stompin’ with Sa-
voy (Savoy), featuring an all-star quintet including
fellow Philadelphian Randy Brecker and Bob Berg.
Because of the limited distribution in the U.S. of his
previous CDs, this release effective-ly became Co-
pland’s American debut. It garnered high praise in
the American press, which cited his unique way of
re-interpreting the standard repertoire, an approach
which was widely copied by younger musicians
later in the decade. The release led to three years of
touring with the quintet in major clubs around the
country. Savoy recorded three other albums, as well
as a fourth CD that was never released.
• Stompin’ with Savoy/Savoy, 1995
(Randy Brecker, Bob Berg, James Genus, Dennis
Chambers)
• Second Look/Savoy, 1996 (John Aber-
crombie, Drew Gress, Billy Hart)
• Softly/Savoy, 1998 (Michael Brecker, Tim
Hagans, Joe Lovano, Gary Peacock, Bill Stewart)
• Untitled/Savoy, unreleased (Drew Gress,
Bill Stewart, Jochen Rueckert)
Softly, like the other Savoy albums, was praised for
its originality and sophistication, but also received
special attention for its presentation of a unified al-
bum concept.
The early 2000s
The Savoy jazz catalog was largely in-active in the
late 1990s, and for a couple of years Copland went
unrecorded. But In the mid-nineties Copland had
Friends OD-3
begun touring Europe with his own groups, first in
duo with John Abercrombie, and later in trios and
quartets. As a result, at the beginning of the millen-
nium several European labels took an interest and
be-gan to document his work. These record-ings so-
lidified his position as a leading and original voice
on his instrument in various contexts; each disc was
greeted enthusiastically by the press. His work from
2000 to 2006 can be divided into solo piano work,
duos, trios, and quartets:
Solo piano
In 2001, French producer Philippe Ghielmetti heard
Copland with his trio in Paris, and invited him to
record his debut solo piano album. The album fea-
tured almost all Copland originals. Three years lat-
er, Swiss producer Werner Uehlinger followed suit.
The two albums helped further establish Copland’s
unique approach to music:
• Poetic Motion/Sketch, 2001
(Solo piano)
• Time Within Time/Hatology, 2005
(Solo piano)
In Poetic Motion, cross references with-in Bill Za-
vatsky’s poem of the same title and between the
poem and the music are everywhere, increasing the
complexity and richness of the artistic experience.
In Time Within Time Copland wrote his own verse,
which helped unify the theme of “time” that is pres-
ent in the CD title, the cover photograph, and the
musical titles and content.
Duos
For years, the duo in jazz was a rarely seen ensem-
ble. Copland concentrated on this somewhat ne-
glected format in many of his recordings between
2000 and 2005. His partners on the various projects
played diverse instruments, including alto sax, so-
prano and tenor sax, guitar, bass, and trumpet:
www.OblivionRecords.co
• Between the Lines/Steeplechase,
2000 (with Tim Hagans)
• Double Play/Steeplechase, 2001
(with Vic Juris)
• Bookends/Hatology, 2002
(with David Liebman)
• Round and Round/Nagel Heyer,
2003 (with Greg Osby)
• Night Call/Nagel Heyer, 2004
(with Greg Osby )
• What it Says/Sketch, 2004
(with Gary Peacock)
A final duo release from this period fea-tured Cop-
land in duets with another pia-nist with a harmoni-
cally advanced bent, the American Bill Carrothers:
• No Choice/Minium, 2005 (duets with
Bill Carrothers)
Trio
Perhaps the album most responsible for opening the
door to wider public ac-ceptance for Copland during
the new millennium was his return to the trio format
with his regular working band of the period, with
Drew Gress on bass and Jochen Rueckert on drums.
The album was an application of the pianist’s lyri-
cal bent to the interpretation of ballads, a song form
that lends itself naturally to his style. The trio de-
veloped the rapport evident on the album through
several years of steady gigs in New York, and USA
and European tours. Another and very different trio,
with Kenny Wheeler and John Abercrombie, was a
meeting of three individualist instrumentalists and
composers. This latter trio recorded twice, and also
toured Europe frequently:
• Haunted Heart and Other
Ballads/Hatology, 2001 (Drew Gress, Jochen
Rueckert)
• That’s for Sure/Challenge, 2000 (John
Abercrombie, Kenny Wheeler)
Friends OD-3
• Brand New/Challenge, 2003
(John Abercrombie, Kenny Wheeler)
Quartets
In the nineties, Copland wrote and ar-ranged exten-
sively for his quintet and quartet; he returned to this
format with four CDs in the 2000s. Each featured a
fourth instrumentalist familiar with Copland’s way
of reworking standards, and his sense of original
composition:
• Lunar/Hatology, 2001 (Dave Lieb-man,
Mike McGuirk, Tony Martucci)
• And…/Hatology, 2003 (Michael Brecker,
John Abercrombie, Drew Gress, Jochen Rueckert)
• Both/And/Nagel Heyer, 2006 (Randy
Brecker, Ed Howard, Victor Lewis)
2006 to 2012
During this period Copland recorded ex-clusively
with the Pirouet label. His out-put during this period
included mostly trios, but also duos, quartets, and
a quin-tet CD. Some Love Songs recalls his earli-
er ballad disc Haunted Heart, with the same trio of
Gress and Rueckert. Beginning with Modinha, the
pianist embarked on the three-volume “NY Trio
Series”; he later returned to the trio of Gress and
Rueckert for “Some More Love Songs.”
• Some Love Songs/Pirouet, 2005
(Drew Gress, Jochen Rueckert)
• Modinha–NY Trios Vol. 1/Pirouet,
2006 (Gary Peacock, Bill Stewart)
• Voices–NY Trios Vol. 2/Pirouet,
2007 (Gary Peacock, Paul Motian)
• Night Whispers-NY Trios Vol. 3/
Pirouet, 2008 (Drew Gress, Bill Stewart)
• Another Place/Pirouet, 2008 (John
Abercrombie, Drew Gress, Billy Hart) å, 2009 (duo
with Gary Peacock) Alone/Pirouet, 2009 (solo piano)
• Contact/Pirouet, 2010 (Dave Liebman,
John Abercrombie, Gress, Billy Hart)
www.OblivionRecords.co
• Crosstalk/Pirouet, 2011 (Greg Osby,
Doug Weiss, Victor Lewis)
• Speak to Me/Pirouet, 2011 (duo with
John Abercrombie)
• Some More Love Songs/Pirouet,
2012 (Drew Gress, Jochen Rueckert)

The release of Modinha gained considerable atten-

tion for its quality, and the trio was frequently cited
as having attained a level that placed it in the first
rank of the very best jazz piano trios of the last sev-
eral decades. DownBeat mag-azine included Night
Whispers on its list of the best CDs of the decade.

2013 to the present

In 2013, Copland became pianist in both John Aber-
crombie’s quartet and Gary Peacock’s “Now This”
trio. These bands both recorded for ECM:
• 39 Steps/ECM, 2013 (John Abercrom-bie,
Copland, Drew Gress, Joey Baron)
• Now This/ECM, 2014 (Gary Peacock,
Copland, Joey Baron)
In 2015 Copland recorded the initial release on his
own new label, Innervoice Jazz:
• Zenith/Innervoice Jazz, 2015 (Cop-land,
Ralph Alessi Drew Gress, Joey Baron)
Copland continues to be an exemplar of the lyrical
school of jazz pianism. His music, often noted for
its innovative har-monic language, nevertheless is
widely regarded as easily accessible to the lis-ten-
er. Many reviewers credit this blend to the pianist’s
use of dynamics and touch, and his distinctive pedal
work. His thirty-five releases make him per-haps the
most prolific jazz pianist of the new millennium.
Friends OD-3
From the original liner, 1st edition, Spring 1973
CLINT HOUSTON has
been the bassist for numerous groups
including those of Roy Ayers,
Woody Shaw, Herbie Mann, Son-
ny Greenwich, Charles Tolliver,
and Art Blakey (whew) and is now
playing with Jack DeJohnette’s new
group.
From JazzHouse.org
Clint Houston was probably best known for his long
association with pianist Jo-anne Brackeen, which
began in the Stan Getz Quartet in the mid-1970s,
and con tinued through numerous recordings and
live performances until 1986. It was a fruitful peri-
od in Houston’s career, and encompassed the release
of both his re-cordings under his own name, but
he will be remembered chiefly as a supportive and
always stimulating bassist for a suc-cession of emi-
nent leaders.
www.OblivionRecords.co

He was born Clinton Joseph Houston in New Or-
leans, but the family moved north to Washington,
DC, when he was three, and then to New York City
in 1953. His father played classical piano and his
sis-ter guitar, but his own inclinations led him to the
acoustic bass. He studied with Ron Carter, then the
bassist in Miles Davis’s legendary quintet, in 1964-
66, and also studied piano and harmony at Queen’s
College in New York, a founda-tion he put to good
use in his playing. He studied graphic art for a time
as well, but eventually settled on music.
In the late 1960s he was part of the house band with
pianist George Cables and drummer Lenny White,
both boyhood friends of his, at the infamous Slugs,
a saloon which was friendly to the developing free
jazz scene as well as more conventional styles. He
gained a valuable grounding there, and had the
chance to work with a diverse range of players and
styles.
His playing began to attract notice, and he worked
with Nina Simone in 1969, and with drummer Roy
Haynes in 1969-70, before linking up with a group
of musicians, including saxophonist Dave Liebman,
to form Free Life Communications, a collective de-
voted to promulgating free jazz.
maintain that kind of momentum), Houston contin-
ued to work with prominent names in jazz,
including a spell with Woody Shaw in 1977-79,
during which the trumpeter recorded some of Hous-
ton’s compositions.
He played in a variety of settings in the 1980s and
1990s, ranging from duo to large ensembles, with
musicians like trombonist Slide Hampton, saxo-
phonists Pepper Adams, Frank Foster, Hamiet
Bluiett and John Stubblefield, and pianists Roland
Hanna and John Hicks, among many others. He
joined drummer Louis Hayes as bassist and musical
director in 1989, and worked with him into the
mid-1990s, recording several discs in the process.
Houston’s name on a record sleeve was always a
guarantee of supple and imaginative bass playing,
whether laying down impeccable time in a conven-
tional setting, or pursuing a more adventurous form
of creative interplay. The illness which led to his
premature death had curtailed his activities in recent
times.

He worked in a variety of styles, including spells

with vibraphonist Roy Ayers (1971-73), trumpeter
Charles Tolliver (1973-75), and trombonist Kai
Winding (1975), before joining the Stan Getz Quar-
tet (1975-77). He met Joanne Brackeen in that band,
and recorded several albums with her, as well as
featuring the pianist on both of his own records,
Watership Down (Storyville, 1978) and Inside the
Plain of The Elliptic (Timeless, 1979).
Although he did not really build on that impetus as
a leader (few bass players have the opportunity to
Friends OD-3 www.OblivionRecords.co

From the original liner, 1st edition, Spring 1973
JEFF WILLIAMS comes
from (now don’t all swoon girls)
Oberlin, Ohio. He played for a time
with Stan Getz and is currently the
drummer with tenor saxophonist
Dave Liebman.
From willfulmusic.com, 2016
Jeff Williams was raised in Oberlin, Ohio where he
began playing drums at age eight. Self-taught, with
the aid of his parents’ collection of jazz recordings
as a guide, he started playing gigs with local pro-
Friends OD-3
fessionals at age fourteen. Jeff’s mother, a guide, he
started playing gigs with local professionals at age
fourteen. Jeff’s mother, Ann Williams, moved to
New York to pursue a jazz singing career when he
was nine, introducing him to a number of musicians
who would be his early mentors, including drum-
mers Jo Jones, Herb Lovelle, Elvin Jones, and Oli-
ver Jackson. In 1967 Jeff made his recording debut
with the psychedelic group Ant Trip Ceremony (Ci-
cadelic).
In 1968 Jeff entered the Berklee Collegeof Music
and studied drumming with Alan Dawson. In 1971
he moved to New York and soon became acquainted
with Dave Liebman and Richie Beirach, with whom
he would form the group Lookout Farm. In 1972
Jeff joined Stan Getz for a two-year stay in groups
that included Dave Holland on bass and pianists Hal
Galper, Beirach, and Albert Daily. He appeared at
the Half Note with Lee Konitz the same year, begin-
ning an association that would continue for several
decades. Jeff also recorded Friends (Oblivion) in
1972 with Marc Cohen (now Copland), John Aber-
crombie, and Clint Houston.
Following the recording of Lookout Farm (ECM)
in 1973 Jeff toured Europe, Asia, and the US while
also participating in multiple subsequent recordings
until the group disbanded in 1976. For the remain-
der of the ‘70s Jeff freelanced in and around New
York, accompanying such artists as Joe Farrell,
Frank Foster, Nick Brignola, Billy Mitchell, and
George Coleman, while also performing in groups
led by Arnie Lawrence (Treasure Island), Ted Cur-
son, Richard Sussman, and Albert Daily, as well as
leadinga band that included John Scofield.
After a one-year hiatus in Maine, Jeff moved to
Boston in 1981. While resuming study with Alan
Dawson, Jeff took part in the formation of a jazz
www.OblivionRecords.co
series at Harvard University’s Hasty Pudding Club.
There he accompanied Cedar Walton, Lee Konitz,
Milt Hinton, (saxophonist) Bill Evans, John Sco-
field, and Miroslav Vitous. From ‘83 to ‘86 Jeff per-
formed and recorded with Jerry Bergonzi’s quartet
Con Brio. Following a return to New York in 1983
Jeff formed the trio Interplay with Peter Madsen
and Anthony Cox, toured Japan with pianist Sakura-
ko Ogyu and Marc Johnson, while also performing
with Michel Petrucciani, Art Farmer/Clifford Jor-
dan, Randy Brecker/John Abercrombie, and Cecil
McBee’s quartet. For the majority of 1988 Jeff
played with Stan Getz, joined by the Interplay
rhythm section, with Kenny Barron later replacing
Madsen. In 1990 Jeff initiated a music policy at Bar
Room 432, located in the meatpacking district of
New York, where he led a trio with Ben Monder and
Scott Colley and also performed with Dave Lieb-
man and Joe Lovano.
The first release of a Jeff Williams’ composition
appeared on Frank Kimbrough’s Lonely Woman
(Mapleshade) in 1989. The composition, Northwest,
also appears on the Larry Willis recording How Do
You Keep The Music Playing? (SteepleChase).
Jeff began writing for his own ensembles in the
mid-eighties, recording Quartet (unreleased) in ‘89
with Patrick Zimmerli, Kevin Hays, and Scott Col-
ley. Enlarged to a quintet in 1999, with the addition
of Tim Ries, and the replacement of Colley with
Doug Weiss, the ensemble released two recordings,
both comprised entirely of original compositions:
Coalescence (SteepleChase) in 1992 and Jazzblues
(Cathexis) in 1999. Jeff’s other activities during the
nineties included appearances in the US, Europe,
Brazil, and Argentina, as well as various recordings,
with Lee Konitz; a tour of Europe with Joe Lovano,
Tom Harrell, and Anthony Cox; and several tours of
Europe and the US with Lovano’s Universal Lan-
guage sextet. In addition toperformances with
Friends OD-3
Circadian Rhythms, featuring Tony Malaby and Mi-
chael Formanek, Jeff also began playing with Bill
McHenry, Ethan Iverson, and Reid Anderson, sub-
sequently recording Live At Smalls (Fresh Sound/
New Talent) in 2000, and McHenry’s Sonic Pres-
sure (Fresh Sound/New Talent) in 2005. Jeff toured
Europe with Paul Bley in 2001.
For the last decade Jeff has been dividing his timeb-
etween New York and London. He has toured the
UK with Bill McHenry (2005), Lee Konitz (2006),
and Dave Liebman (in a quartet coled by British
guitarist Phil Robson--2008-09). During 2006-09
Jeff performed throughout Britain with saxophonist
Martin Speake and pianist Bobo Stenson in support
of Speake’s Change of Heart (ECM). He has also
appeared in the UK with Nikki Iles, Hans Koller’s
ensemble (with guest soloists Kenny Wheeler, Bob
Brookmeyer, and Evan Parker), Christine Tobin,
Bobby Wellins, Julian Arguelles, Ingrid Laubrock,
Barry Green, Julian Siegel, Norma Winstone, Kit
Downes, Olie Brice, Alex Merritt, Mike Fletcher
and Alex Bonney. Recent activities have included a
50+ date tour with Martin Speake and Mike Out-
ram in support of the CD Always a First Time,
additional touring with John O’Gallagher, Francois
Théberge, Sam Lasserson, and a reunion
tour with Tony Malaby organized by
bassist Olie Brice.
Jeff’s recent recordings include Richard Sussman’s
Continuum, featuring Randy Brecker and Jerry
Bergonzi (Origin), Hans Koller with Bill Frisell’s
Cry Want (psi), Martin Speake’s Live At Riv-
erhouse (Pumpkin) and Always a First Time
(Pumpkin), UK with Bill McHenry (2005), Lee
Konitz (2006), and Dave Liebman (in a quartet
coled by British guitarist Phil Robson--2008-09).
During 2006-09 Jeff performed throughout Britain
with saxophonist Martin Speake and pianist Bobo
www.OblivionRecords.co
Stenson in support of Speake’s Change of Heart one-to-one drum instruction at The New School,
(ECM). He has also appeared in the UK with Nik- Long Island University, the University of Connecti-
ki Iles, Hans Koller’s ensemble (with guest solo- cut, and Maine Jazz Camp. In the UK he currently
ists Kenny Wheeler, Bob Brookmeyer, and Evan teaches at the Royal Academy Of Music and a Bir-
Parker), Christine Tobin, Bobby Wellins, Julian Ar- mingham Conservatoire.
guelles, Ingrid Laubrock, Barry Green, Julian Sie-
gel, Norma Winstone, Kit Downes, Olie Brice, Alex “I’ve known Jeff Williams since the early 1970s,
Merritt, Mike Fletcher and Alex Bonney. Recent both as a musician and friend. His wealth of experi-
activities have included a 50+ date tour with Mar- ence is staggering and very deep. His unique spirit
tin Speake and Mike Outram in support of the CD is something all jazz students should be exposed
Always a First Time, additional touring with John to.”
O’Gallagher, Francois Th berge, Sam Lasserson,
and a reunion tour with Tony Malaby organized by -Dave Liebman
bassist Olie Brice.
Jeff Williams is a Zildjian artist.
Jeff’s UK Quintet (Finn Peters-alto saxophone and
flute, Josh Arcoleo-tenor saxophone, Phil Rob-
son-guitar, Sam Lasserson-bass) has appeared for
three years in a row at the London Jazz Festival and
recorded live at the Amazonas Jazz Festival in July
2013. The limited release CD, Concert In The Am-
azon, is available from this site and at live perfor-
mances only. The second release on Williams’ Will-
ful Archives label is called Valence and features the
trio of Jeff, John O’Gallagher and Sam Lasserson
from a live performance in Switzerland.

2015 and 16 have seen the Jeff Williams’ British

based group touring the UK before and after the
band recorded Outlier, Jeff’s third release on the
Whirlwind label. The album features Josh Arocoleo,
Phil Robson, Kit Downes and Sam Lasserson, while
John O’Gallager has recently been added in live
performances. Other on-going projects include
Jeff’s partcipation in bands led by Alex Merritt,
Mike Fletcher, Olie Brice, Martin Speake and Hans
Koller.

In addition to private instruction, Jeff has given

master classes, directed ensembles and undertaken
Friends OD-3 www.OblivionRecords.co

From the original liner, 1st edition, Spring 1973
JOHN ABERCROMBIE has
played and recorded with Dreams,
Chico Hamilton, Barry Miles, Gil
Evans and is along with Clint in
Jack DeJohnette’s band. On side one
his guitar sounds from the left
channel. He is on the right
channel for “Nursery Rhyme” and
on “Loose Tune” he isn’t.
Friends OD-3
From JohnAbercrombie.com, 2016
Over a career spanning more than 40 years and
nearly 50 albums, John Abercrombie has established
himself as one the masters of jazz guitar. Favoring
unusual sounds (he played electronic mandolin on
McCoy Tyner’s 1993 album 4x4) and nontraditional
ensembles (recent quartet recordings have included
violinist Mark Feldman), Abercrombie is a restless
experimenter, working firmly in the jazz tradition
while pushing the boundaries of meter and harmony.”
Born on December 16, 1944 in Port Chester, New
York, Abercrombie grew up in Greenwich, Con-
necticut, where he began playing the guitar at age
14. Like many teenagers at the time, he started out
imitating Chuck Berry licks. But it was the bluesy
music of Barney Kessel that attracted him to jazz.
Abercrombie enrolled at Boston’s Berklee College
of Music and teamed up with other students to play
local clubs and bars. One of those clubs, Paul’s
Mall, was connected to a larger club next door,
the Jazz Workshop, where Abercrombie ducked in
duringhis free time to watch John Coltrane and
Thelonious Monk.
Abercrombie’s appearances at Paul’s Mall led to
several fortuitous meetings. Organist Johnny Ham-
mond Smith spotted the young Abercrombie and
invited him to go on tour while he was still a stu-
dent. During the same period, Abercrombie also met
the Brecker Brothers, who invited him to become a
new part of their group Dreams, which would be-
come one the prominent jazzrock bands of the late
1960s and early 1970s. Abercrombie appears on the
group’s eponymous debut album.
After graduating from Berklee, Abercrombie headed
to New York, where he quickly became one of New
York’s most in-demand session players. He record-
www.OblivionRecords.co
ed with Gil Evans, Gato Barbieri, and Barry Miles,
to name a few. He was also a regular with Chico
Hamilton’s group.
But it was in Billy Cobham’s band, which also fea-
tured the Brecker brothers, that Abercrombie first
started to build a following. He was featured on
several of Cobham’s albums, including Crosswinds,
Total Eclipse and Shabazz, all of which staked new
ground in fusion jazz. The group was booked into
large concert halls and arenas, appearing on bills
with such top rock attractions as the Doobie Brothers.
It was not, however, the direction Abercrombie had
hoped his career would go. “One night we appeared
at the Spectrum in Phildelphia and I thought, what
am I doing here?” he said. “It just didn’t compute.”
In the early 1970s, Abercrombie ran into Manfred
Eicher, who invited him to record for ECM. The re-
sult was Abercrombie’s first solo album, Timeless,
in which he was backed by Jan Hammer and Jack
DeJohnette. Abercrombie’s second album, Gateway,
was released in November 1975 with DeJohnette
and bassist Dave Holland; a second Gateway
recording was released in June 1978.
He then moved on to a traditional quartet format, re-
cording three albums on ECM--Arcade, Abercrom-
bie Quartet, and M--with pianist Richie Beirach,
bassist George Mraz and drummer Peter Donald.
“It was extremely important to have that group for
many reasons,” Abercrombie told AAJ in 2004. “It
was, of course, a good band, but it was also my first
opportunity to really be a leader and to write consis-
tently for the same group of musicians.”
His second group, a trio with bassist Marc Johnson
and drummer Peter Erskine, marked the first time he
experimented with the guitar synthesizer. This gave
him the opportunity to play what he called “louder,
Friends OD-3
more open music” with a propulsive beat, demon-
strated in the group’s three releases, Getting There
(featuring Michael Brecker) in 1987, Current
Events in 1988, and John Abercrombie, Marc
Johnson & Peter Erskine in 1989.
From there, he moved to partnerships that he would
shuffle and reshuffle for the next 20 years. He re-
united with his “Gateway” bandmembers in 1995
for an album appropriately titled Homecoming, but
not before forming yet a third ensemble that would
make several recordings together. Abercrombie had
long been enamored with the sound of jazz organ,
so he teamed with organist Dan Wall and drummer
Adam Nussbaum in While We Were Young and
Speak of the Devil (both 1993) and, in 1997 Tactics.
Another album, titled Open Land, added violinist
Mark Feldman and saxophonist Joe Lovano to the
mix.
His affiliation with Feldman, in a quartet that in-
cluded Marc Johnson and drummer Joey Barron,
ushered in a period of looser, freer, almost improvi-
satory playing. “I like free playing that has some
relationship to a melody; very much the way Or-
nette Coleman used to write all those wonderful
songs and then they would play without chords on
a lot of them,” he told AAJ. In fact, Abercrombie’s
work from this period has been compared to cham-
ber music, with its delicacy of sound and telepathic
communication between musicians.
Throughout the 1990s and into 2000 and beyond,
Abercrombie has continued to pluck from the ranks
of jazz royalty--and be plucked for guest appearances
on other artists’ recordings. One propitious relation-
ship was with guitarist, pianist, and composer Ralph
Towner, with whom Abercrombie has worked in a
duet setting. (Abercrombie has also worked in gui-
tar duos with John Scofield, for 1993’s Solar and
www.OblivionRecords.co
with Joe Beck in Coincidence, released in 2007).
Abercrombie has also recorded with saxophonist
Jan Garbarek and bassist Eddie Gomez.

Abercrombie keeps up a heavy touring schedule and

continues to record with ECM, a relationship that
has spanned more than 30 years. As he told
one interviewer, “I’d like people to perceive me
as having a direct connection to the history of jazz
guitar, while expanding some musical boundaries.”
That, no doubt, will be his legacy.

From the original liner, 1st edition,

Spring 1973

About the cover artist,

by Peter Frank

Sam Steinberg is the unofficial art-

ist-in-residence at Columbia Uni-
versity and the Brox’s contribution
to the Art Brut quasi-movement of
Jean Dubuffet. The 70 year old for-
Friends OD-3 www.OblivionRecords.co
mer ice cream vendor (he still sells
candy bars) work prolifically in
magic-marker-on-cardboard, with
occasional forays into magic-mark-
er-oncloth, and is popular with the
Columbia community for his boids,
snakes, moimaids and low prices.
His sister Pauline colors them in.
From Wikipedia, 2016
Sam Steinberg (1896–1982) was an American out-
sider art painter from The Bronx, New York, called
the “unofficial artist-in-residence” at Columbia
University by Peter Frank (art critic). His work was
“shown” (and sold) exclusively on the Columbia
campus, and his style was one of the first identified
as “outsider,” an approach coined by art critic Roger
Cardinal c. 1972, after Jean Dubuffet’s art brut.
Suffering from a debilitating hairlessness disease,
atrichia with papular lesions, Steinberg was classi-
fied 4F in both world wars. In the late 1930s, he and
his mother started visiting Columbia daily to sell
chocolate bars. Signed with his distinctive cursive
signature, “Sam S.,” Steinberg spontaneously began
showing and selling original paintings in 1967. He
purchased illustration boards and paints from local
stationery stores; eventually shifting to permanent
magic marker pens. His subjects ranged from an-
imals to popular culture figures like Santa Claus
and Elvis Presley, but Steinberg’s favorite muses
were most certainly his interpretations of cats and
“boids.” After riding three New York City Subway
trains to arrive at Columbia, he was usually carrying
three or four fresh paintings (often as many as 20
per week), which, during the 1970s sold for $2.50
(rising to $3.50 by 1980). A campus art institution,
Friends OD-3
it was a rare Columbia College dormitory room that
didn’t have at least one “Sam” hanging up. His one
known example of a commercial use of his paint-
ings was in 1973, for a jazz fusion album recorded by
a former Columbia student, Marc Copland (known
in his student days as ‘Marc Cohen’) on
a label, Oblivion Records co-founded by another,
Fred Seibert. He is known to have painted at least
one large oil, “Judy in the sky with kitties.” Judy
Garland and Kitties were favorite themes. He also
produced a series of “miniatures,” priced cheaper
than his larger paintings. A hallmark of a Steinberg
painting was the “almond” shaped eyes of the sub-
jects, placed on a 45% angle on each face.
Through his last decades, Steinberg shared an apart-
ment and his art with his younger sister, colorist
Pauline Steinberg.
In its Summer 1996 edition, Folk Art Magazine car-
ried a feature-length article entitled “Sam Steinberg,
House of Cardboard or Marble Palace,” presenting
the first in-depth treatment of the artist, this appear-
ing fourteen years after Steinberg’s death.
The Fall 2014 issue of Columbia College Today, the
alumni magazine of Columbia College, announced
the first major retrospective covering Steinberg’s
work since the late 1970s. The Exhibition, spon-
sored by the Columbia College Class of 1975, is
currently in its planning phase but is expected to
premiere in late May 2015 on the Columbia University
campus before moving to other venues across the
country.
www.OblivionRecords.co
 The
distributor
flyer for
Friends
Spring 1973

Friends OD-3 www.OblivionRecords.co

 A radio
flyer for
Friends and
Joe Lee Wilson’s
Livin’ High
Off Nickels
and Dimes
(Oblivion OD-5).

Sent under the

aupices of the
New Music
Distribution Service
and
Jazz Composer’s
Orchestra
1974

Friends OD-3 www.OblivionRecords.co

 Notes of the
release of
Friends

Friends OD-3 www.OblivionRecords.co

 Notes on the
release of
Friends

Friends OD-3 www.OblivionRecords.co

 Notes on the release of
Friends

Friends OD-3 www.OblivionRecords.co

 Notes on the release of
Friends

Friends OD-3 www.OblivionRecords.co

CREDITS Oblivion Records OD-3

Marc Cohen (Copland): 1st edition 1973

electric alto sax and tenor sax Pressing & printing:
Wakefield Manufacturing
John Abercrombie (1944 -2017): Phoenix, Arizona
electric 6 & 12 string guitar
Clint Houston (1946 -2000): 2nd edition 2021
fretted electric bass & acoustic bass Available on all digital music services
Distributed by Tunecore.com
Jeff Williams:
drums
Produced by Marc Cohen & Fred Seibert
Engineering: Fred Seibert
Brains behind the engineering: Don Zimmerman
Microphones behind the brains: Mark Seiden
Pal: David Reitman

Recorded December 1972 by successful

exploitation of Columbia University’s
WKCR. To everyone who’s ever been there,
thanks folks.

Graphics:
The Oblivionettes co-starring Susan DeLaney
Photography:
Trebor Trepla, Fred Seibert, Robert Alpert
Advice:
Don Grolnick, Michael Altshuler, Lisa Lenovitz

This record was made possible with assistance

from the Dick Pennington Electric Saxophone
Foundation.
Tubby wisdom given by Tom Pomposello.

©2021, Oblivion Records 2021, Inc. All rights reserved.

Friends OD-3 www.OblivionRecords.co

 FRIENDS INDEPENDENT
AMERICAN
MUSIC

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©2022, Oblivion Records 2021, Inc. All rights reserved. www.OblivionRecords.co