MCPHEE, JOE - Alone Together

2015 release. "In his upstate New York secret laboratory, home-based in Poughkeepsie, Joe McPhee diligently documented his activities throughout the 70s, with the help of Craig Johnson, the producer who started CjRecord Productions as an outlet for McPhees music. Among the unreleased tapes waxed in that span, Alone Together is unique and especially beautiful. Like Sound On Sound (CVSD 005CD, 2010), these recordings make use of multitrack recording, overdubbing McPhee upon McPhee, however where those earlier recordings had an experimental tendency, the Alone Together tracks were more compositional in nature, allowing the multi-instrumentalist to build and sculpt each piece, creating complete wind ensembles one track at a time. In 1974 and then again in a longer session in 1979, McPhee recorded in concise solo, duo, and trio contexts, and in more extensive brass and reed quartets -- all McPhee, all the time. Going head-to-head with the best of the saxophone foursomes of the era, McPhee is a one-man-World Saxophone Quartet, his probing investigations and lyrical statements as incisive and insightful as those of his best-known recordings. McPhees own enthusiasm for these never-before-heard recordings betrays their significance in his large and ever-mounting discography. Corbett Vs. finally make them available. Recorded by Craig Johnson in Poughkeepsie, New York, from 1974-1979. Cover photograph by Christina Ramberg, Remastered at Experimental Sound Studio, Chicago, in 2014. c. 1974, courtesy of the Estate of Christina Ramberg and Corbett vs. Dempsey; Produced by John Corbett." - Corbett Vs. Dempsey.