Jacques Coursil 'Black Suite' Paris 1969 vinyl free-jazz LP with Anthony Braxton
£
37
$
49
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Description
“Ah, non, non, non! Absolument pas!” That was Jacques Coursil’s modest reply when asked by Cornell University for an interview on his life and achievements, after he gave a lecture in 2018 to their Institute for Comparative Modernities. And maybe that’s because his life sounds like a slightly unbelievable film script. Coursil, born in Montmartre just before the second World War, became in later life a respected professor and lecturer and author of learnéd books and articles (including “a brilliantly heterodox study of Saussurean linguistics”), with doctorates in Mathematics and another in Linguistics.
But, in spite of being dismissed from violin lessons for having no talent, and in spite of only taking up the trumpet because his music teacher had no clarinets left, he was recently described as “technically one of the finest brass players to create avant-garde jazz in the ‘60s and ‘70s, including two brilliant albums as a leader ....” And, yes, this is one of those two brilliant albums.
Black Suite was recorded in Paris in June 1969, with Coursil’s trumpet supported by Arthur Jones on alto sax, Anthony Braxton on contra-bass clarinet, Burton Greene on piano, Beb Guerin on bass and Claude Delcloo on drums. The LP has been described as “spacious and contemplative, and includes a Braxton solo on the otherworldly contra-bass clarinet which another reviewer raved about 35 years after the recording: “for an even more mind-melting c-bcl [contra-bass clarinet] solo, dig Braxton on Jacques Coursil’s ‘69 Black Suite”. Sadly, Coursil died in 2020, and you can find glowing tributes to this amazing character all over the internet - did you know he gave French lessons to John Zorn at the United Nations International School?
The LP is in at least VG+ condition and the cover has survived very well too: gentle wear on the edges, a few tiny areas on the front where the gloss is obscured, and a small label on the back which reads “L P 4”, presumably the fourth entry in a small record collection? You can find this rare BYG LP on specialist sites for 60 Euros, so I am listing this for £37.
Postage within the UK includes special stiffened LP packaging and signed-for delivery. If you want a price for me to send it abroad, please contact me before bidding - and please note that if you go through the Ebay Global Shipping Programme, then it's Ebay (not me!) who sets the price of delivery.
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