Ralph Simon
Time Being
Gramavision (US) 1980
GR 8002 (LP)
sleeve : EX-(CC, SRW, some slightly dirts.)
media : EX/EX(some slightly surface noises.)
This is the only analog release of American saxophonist Ralph Simon's 1980 leader album. This album was released on Gramavision, a label founded in Manhattan, New York, which has a large collection of jazz/fusion and new age/meditation works. The overall image is of contemporary jazz as an extension of bebop/modal, and also free-form improvisation of the songs is good, but it is the B1, which has an austere, sleepy, urban atmosphere, and the mystic air of the ECM group that is so familiar to the audience. The best track is B1, which has a sleepy urban atmosphere, and B2, the final track, a long piece that develops an atmospheric soundscape with a mystic atmosphere similar to ECM's. The band's performance is convincing and their free-form improvisation is good. Especially, Paul Bley's electric piano on B2 is wondefull.
B1: Julie and Julius
B2: Regina Gabriella