Track Listing

1. Fuchsia Swing Song
2. Downstairs Blues Upstairs
3. Cyclic Episode
4. Luminous Monolith
5. Beatrice
6. Ellipsis
7. Luminous Monolith [Alternate Take][*]
8. Downstairs Blues Upstairs [1st Alt TK][*]
9. Downstairs Blues Upstairs [2nd Alt TK][*]
10. Downstairs Blues Upstairs [3rd Alt TK][*]

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #51204 in Music
• Brand: SAM
• Released on: 2003-10-07
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Extra tracks, Limited Edition, Original recording remastered

Customer Reviews

A landmark of post-bop reissued!
Let's celebrate this landmark recording finally reissued affordably! Until now only available in the over-priced Japanese edition, 'Fuchsia Swing Song' is Sam Rivers' first and best album: no flute or soprano but all tenor, skillfully hugging the outskirts of the harmony with a tone that has both lyrical softness and, at times, an invigorating edge. Here, Rivers' tone is not as hard as it would become; his musical ideas are more accessible and patiently developed than in the later days of testy avant garde exploration.

The rhythm section is always inventive. Jackie Byard's jagged off-beat chords make it impossible for the soloist to settle into riff or repetition. Tony Williams, who had used Rivers for his own premier name-session, sizzles behind the horn but never over-shadows the solo, as he often did later. The incomparable Ron Carter tosses out bass notes like stones in outer space, solid yet weightless. This is a meaty hour-long session, with some alternate takes so inventive that all they have in common is their title! All first rate cuts.

I place this session among the great tenor sax quartets of the 60's. Creatively,it's the equivalent of Henderson's 'Inner Urge,' Shorter's 'Adam's Apple,' Booker's 'Space' and 'Freedom' sessions, yes, even Coltrane's 'Love Supreme.'A landmark of post-bop, 'Fuchsia Swing Song' I recommend without hesitation for your collection.

Heaven on a Blue Note
Beyond just being one of my favorite Blue Note albums, this is one of my favorite albums, period.

I can see where one of the previous reviewers is coming from with respect to Jaki Byard's playing. He indeed was a guy who had the entire history of jazz piano at his fingertips and could play it at any time. Like anything else, I guess that will work for some listeners and not work for some listeners. I love it. I think it works perfectly on this album, and I can't help but think that the other guys in the band loved it as well. Tony Williams' playing here, for instance, often hinges right on what Jaki is playing. There are a couple times on here where Jaki changes the entire rhythm and tone of the jam, and Tony is instantly on top of it. Taking it back right there with Jaki, as if they were sharing one soul in that moment. It's just fantastic and moving to hear, in my opinion.

Sam's own playing and tone are as gorgeous as ever. Sometimes he is firey and intense, and other times he does that hypnotic, drifting, dreamy repetitive thing he does that I love so much. I can't help but thinking that Sam's playing here, and some of Eric Dolphy's more relaxed, spacial stuff are probably the two main players (at least of saxophones) who influenced and guided Evan Parker's later explorations and subsequent utter reinvention of the capabilities of the soprano saxophone.

This is one of those bands that makes me regret that era of jazz, where bands so often came together and split apart after just a couple recording sessions. The three alternate takes are the source of my lament. The last 2 are so completely different (and great!) in mood and attack that I just know this band could have had a 100-song repertoire and played 200 nights a year and killed people everywhere they went, without ever repeating themselves.

I just can't help wondering what other jewels would have been forged had this quartet been together for even just three years and two or three albums. This would have been one of the all-time legendary bands.

I can't do anything but wholeheartedly recommend this release.

A Classic Album Back In Print
Years ago I bought the Sam Rivers Complete Blue Note Recordings on Mosaic for several reasons, one of which being that I knew "Fuschia Swing Song" would never get released as a single disc. Well, somewhere there is a pig flying! Sam Rivers' classic debut recording as a leader for Blue Note makes an improbable return to the catalog in the latest batch of limited edition Connoisseur Series titles. Recorded on December 11, 1964 by Rudy Van Gelder at his Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey studio (the day after Coltrane's "A Love Supreme" sessions -- what a week!), the tenor-saxophonist is joined by Jaki Byard on piano, Ron Carter on bass and Tony Williams on drums. Williams had used Rivers on his own "Life Time" months earlier, and "Fuschia" will similarly please fans of that album. As was the case with the Mosaic set, this CD features three alternate takes of "Downstairs Blues Upstairs" and one of "Luminous Monolith." As amazing as this album is, it isn't even Rivers best for the label in my opinion. That would be his next effort, "Contours," which would be equally incredible to see as a single disc reissue. But it could happen, and then that pig would have some company....