StLJN Audio Archive: Oliver Lake - Ntu: The Point From Which Creation Begins

As Black History Month winds down for this year, it seems an appropriate time to revisit an historic session involving musicians from St. Louis' original Black Artists Group of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Recorded in 1971 here in St. Louis, saxophonist Oliver Lake's album Ntu: The Point From Which Creation Begins was issued in 1976 on the Arista Freedom label, which was putting out a lot of avant-garde and "loft" jazz around that time. It's been out of print for years, but fortunately Ntu has been preserved online and can be downloaded, thanks in this case to the (seemingly now dormant) music sharing blog Botched Surgery.

Though delayed in reaching the public, Ntu actually is one of the earliest recordings involving the BAG crew, and shares some personnel and sensibility with another early session, Solidarity Unit, Inc's Red, Black & Green (which recently got a limited edition reissue on vinyl from the small label Eremite Records.)

In addition to Lake on alto sax, soprano sax, flute and "small instruments," Ntu features a number of musicians who were important parts of the Black Artists Group, most of whom went on to have substantial careers. (Interestingly, the LP's title also wound up serving as inspiration for author Benjamin Looker's 2004 history of BAG.)

The personnel on Ntu includes Baikida E.J. Carroll (trumpet, small instruments); Floyd LeFlore (trumpet, small instruments); Joseph Bowie (trombone, small instruments); Richard Martin (guitar); John Hicks (piano); Clovis Bordeaux, Jr., misspelled on the original cover as "Bordeux" (electric piano); Don Officer (electric bass); Charles "Bobo" Shaw (drums); and the Art Ensemble of Chicago's Don Moye (conga).

There are five tracks in all: "Africa," "Tse'lane," "Electric Freedom Colors," "Eriee," and "Zip." As you might expect given the parallel development of BAG and Chicago's AACM, the alternating sparse and dense textures and free-form improvisations of Ntu suggest some kinship with the Art Ensemble, but there also are passing resemblances to Sun Ra's Arkestra, the various "New Thing" recordings by Coltrane, Shepp and others on the Impulse! label, and some of the music Miles Davis was doing around the same time. If you have any interest in this period or style, it's certainly worth hearing for both aesthetic and historic reasons.

To download a free copy of Oliver Lake's Ntu: The Point From Which Creation Begins, go here, scroll down about a third of the way through the post until you see the text "Ntu: The Point From Which The Creation of Botched Surgery Begins," which links to a Rapidshare page containing the actual download.

The StLJN Audio Archive links only to recordings that are out-of-print or that never have been commercially available. The purpose of the Audio Archive is to encourage discussion, appreciation and knowledge of St. Louis jazz artists, and we urge you to support them (or their estates) by purchasing authorized recordings and merchandise and, whenever possible, attending live performances.

In search of Richard Martin

From a comment by reader "godoggo" on the post below about the St. Louis Creative Ensemble:

"A while back, I got a little bit obsessed with the late guitarist Richard Martin, whose playing on Oliver Lake's 1st album I've always really liked, but about whom I otherwise knew zilch. I pulled together everything I could google about him in this comment at DO. Anyway, it seems to me that from the little I've heard, he's a musician who should be better remembered. Do you know happen to know anything more about him?"

I didn't know him personally, but I did see Martin play a number of times. The first was probably in 1974 or so, at the Moose Lounge (a North Side corner bar that featured live jazz) as part of a band that also included Kenny Gooch on drums, John Mixon (father of Darrell Mixon) on bass, Willie Akins on saxophones and Rich Tokatz on percussion.

After that, I also saw him play at the Upstream Lounge (a yesteryear St. Louis club that occupied two different spaces downtown on Pine St.) and, in the early 1980s, a couple of short-lived places on Laclede's Landing, the names of which I've forgotten. One of those times, he was playing with organist Terry Williams; another time, he was doing a blues gig with the late Johnnie Johnson on piano, Gus Thornton on bass, probably Kenny Rice on drums and one or more singers I can't recall.

Regarding equipment, I remember early on seeing him playing a black Les Paul through a Fender Twin reverb - a very "rock and roll" setup - through I'm pretty sure that later I also saw him play a more conventional jazz guitar, like an ES 335 or something similar.

Martin seemingly could play just about any style, from bebop to blues to Wes Montgomery-type octaves to scratchy R&B rhythm, and even some screaming rock stuff, and his abilities were held in high regard by other local guitarists and musicians in general. For some reason, I also remember him as a sharp dresser, at least in the beginning of his career - the first time I saw him play, he had on a black leather jacket and turtleneck that gave him kind of a Richard-Roundtree-as-Shaft look.

I don't know any specifics about the cause or manner of his death, but I do remember that it was considered a significant loss in the St. Louis music community.

Dennis Owsley's book City of Gabriels mentions Martin a few times and includes a photo of him on page 180 (which I couldn't scan successfully) as well as this one-graf bio:

St. Louisan Richard Martin (1948 - 1984) was a guitarist of uncommon talent. He began taking lessons at age nine, apparently becoming obsessed with the instrument. By sixteen, he was a guitar instructor in the Ludwig Musc Store. Martin worked in a variety of contexts with such musicians as Buddy Rich, Gene Ammons, Jimmy Smith, Jimmy McGriff and others. He played on two BAG recordings in 1970. In 1977, he recorded with Freddie Washington, the Kennedy Brothers and Nat Adderly in a concert at SIU-Edwardsville. He and drummer Kenny Rice worked around St. Louis for several years. In 1983, he toured 32 countries and performed before Queen Elizabeth II in London. Martin was better known in Europe than in the United States.

Now, perhaps some of StLJN's readers will contribute some of their memories of Richard Martin via the comments. There must be a least a few other "old heads" out there who remember this fine musician, and if you're one of them, please share some of what you recall with the rest of us. The floor is open....