The Record That Tore Us Apart: Places We've Never Been

Places we’ve never been (1979) by Bunky Green


According to allmusic this is “the strongest of Bunky Green's three Vanguard LPs of the mid 1970s”, but I never trust this Mr. Scott Yanow from Allmusic and I think he even doesn’t bother himself to listen to the records. Anyway here his tone is energetic and Intense and his songwriting, sophisticated.

The opening track is “East and West”, maybe the result of his trip to Algiers, a colorful encounter of cultures with deep understanding of the tempo of life in an eastern country. Rhythm section provide a texture like mid 1960s Coltrane quartet. But the outstanding contributor of this piece is Eddie Gomez with his counterpoint bass playing. While Bunky is so attached to the new landscapes of the song, his pianist Albert Daily with his alienation shows the strangeness of the scenery.

Tension

You'll hear one of the most beautiful modern pieces for Alto in “April Green”. Once again Gomez and his vigorous bass lines open the song. Here Bunky is like a bird in an open landscape. He emphasizes the pastoral aspect of song with the most delicate choruses possible. But despite the mood of outness and presence of nature (which is available in master of all altoists, Bird) he also has a urban intelligent and sophistication, most evident in clean phrasings of Randy Becker trumpet that remind me of Freddie Hubbard works with Herbie Hancock, a decade earlier. Bunky’s sound is seductiveness and sorrowful, a quality I’ve always liked about alto (think about Sonny Criss and Art Pepper in his latter days).

With “command module” album switches to a hard bop tune, and the only one in the album written with another musician, Roland Kubelik.

...and release

Side B of the LP opens with a piano introduction by Bunky himself; a tune called "Only in seasons". Then he switches to another mesmerizing alto part for the “places we've never been”. At first it looks like a ballad but suddenly goes beyond the limitations of playing a straight love song. He has a confessing side in every song and that’s the moving part.

“Tension and release” is simply one of the greatest songs ever executed with alto. An absolute poetry, a combination of Bird and John Coltrane in the most thrilling way. Bunky, like Jackson Polack, creates abstract sceneries from the elemental materials of his medium. His work is consisting of pure emotions. He creates colorful sheets with his sound, the sheets you never get tired of looking at or listen to. Here one also feels the influence of Sonny Stitt, another master altoist that Bunky has worked with in the 1960s.
Set closes with “Little Girl, I'll miss you”. A strong ballad with so much power in tone that is much closer to tenor than alto.

--Ehsan Khoshbakht

Details:
Recorded in New York City, February 21st and 22nd, 1979
Label: Vanguard (free style series - VSD 79425)
Total time 41:32

Tracks:
1-EAST AND WEST (BUNKY GREEN)(8:30)
2-APRIL GREEN (BUNKY GREEN)(7:20)
3-COMMAND MODULE (BUNKY GREEN-RONALD KUBELIK)(5:57)
4-MEDLEY: a) ONLY IN SEASONS(BUNKY GREEN) b) PLACES WE’VE NEVER BEEN(BUNKY GREEN)(7:25)
5-TENSION AND RELEASE (BUNKY GREEN)(7:55)
6-LITTLE GIRL, I’LL MISS YOU (BUNKY GREEN)(4:03)

Musicians:
Bunky Green (Alto Saxophone and Piano)
Randy Brecker (tp, flh)
Albert Dailey (p)
Ronald Kubelik (p, track: 5)
Eddie Gomez (b)
Freddie Waits (d)

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