HANNIBAL Marvin Peterson -Children of the Fire- Spiritual Jazz Sunrise Promo LP

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'HANNIBAL' Marvin Peterson & The Sunrise Orchestra (conducted by David Amram) performing 'Children of the Fire'
Original Promo LP (Sunrise) 

Condition (play-test/Goldmine)  -
Record: NM, review copy - pristine vinyl; plays clean with great presence  Cover: VG+. Overall signs of wear / age + creasing on edges. Inserts in excellent shape 

From 1974 comes one of the most beautiful, most sophisticated, and most fully-realized sessions from trumpeter Hannibal Marvin Peterson -- and a record that features some incredible larger backings from composer/conductor David Amram. Peterson composed all of the music on Children of the Fire, including the poetry on the spiritual hymn "Song of Life," sung by Waheeda Massey. 

Trumpet and koto player Marvin "Hannibal" Peterson has led a reclusive career in jazz since the early '70s, when he first started making albums. He is best known as a free jazz player in the style of Don Cherry with a more traditional bright trumpet sound incorporating high pitched power notes in his solos. At the time of this recording, Peterson was not widely known even among the most diehard jazz fans. His low profile was strange given that he played with popular artists like Pharoah Sanders and Elvin Jones and was a regular member of Gil Evans' big band from '72 to '81.

“Children  of the Fire” is a haunting suite dedicated to the children of Vietnam -- one that starts out in a darkly brooding mode, but which opens up with some extremely redemptive moments as the set moves on -- done in a very spiritual approach to soul jazz that's strongly in the Alice Coltrane tradition. The suite has a lot of variance in tempo, mood and structure, with a strong spiritual feel similar to that of some of the more ambitious Strata East recordings from the seventies. The suite encompasses five movements that take Peterson’s Sunrise Orchestra deep into jazz-classical territory, making his music sound like the Third Stream work of Charles Mingus and Gil Evans. Titles include "Forest Sunrise", a magical segment of bird-sounding whistles and string arrangements in front of a percussion backdrop which transitions to "Rhythm Ritual" led by the orchestra conducted by David Amram which then breaks into a straight-ahead but funky rhythm by drummer Billy Hart, bassist Richard Davis and pianist Michael Cochrane, “The Bombing" ends “Demension 1” (side one), “Demention 2” (Side Two) leads with "Prayer","Aftermath" and the “Finale”. The highlight of the album is the fourth movement, "The Aftermath," which has a rapid and colorful drum solo by Billy Hart and a long free bop solo by Peterson that is encouraged by the spontaneous trio of Hart, Davis, and Cochrane.

Personnel: "Hannibal" M. Peterson: trumpet, koto; Richard Davis: bass; Lawrence Killian: conga, bell tree; Billy Hart (Jabali): drums; Michael Cochrane: piano; Waheeda Massey: vocal (1); Barbara Burton: tympani, percussion, drums, bombs, piano (3); Marvin Tuten: percussion, sitar, bombs; Alpha Johnson: vocals; Teule Hart: percussion (3); ArtWebb: piccolo, flute; John Blake: violin; Stanley Hunte, Myung Hi Kim, Rynae Rocha: violins and harp; Julius Miller,Judith Graves: viola; with David Amram: conducting.

Children of the Fire is an excellent snapshot of where fusion was headed during the early '70s. Electric jazz-rock, injected with heavy doses of classicism, was made popular by the Mahavishnu Orchestra during this time... But the underground Sunrise Orchestra delivers the goods, mixing hard bop and abstract jazz with a Far Eastern spirituality.

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