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The last day of April is allegedly "International Jazz Day," so let's start the party early with the first of two straight birthday celebrations.
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First up is the 86th birthday of this guy, who's been gone a minute but no one who knows has forgotten.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid4jzSZj_BdSkIcsYphb-pLTRx9ctEu4b8eBesa8OPjDOG_IpUVm1TZQe4r26U-puhF8SldrVeGs5-Z8k5Mwu2pwev-9qB-aR6CF95f40dMRvAQn_s9LxpA561JZzP0q1b5kKdmN0nNoWH-M1FK4m89p1WLGdRnxXFQh7u5V3bnVRbbB3addBcXNEc/s1600/jt4.jpg)
Most people probably know him, if they do, from Coltrane's pivotal Ascension recording, but he's got a whole universe of his own in the music beyond that touchstone of the Free thing.
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I guess, like his frequent collaborator Don Cherry, John Tchicai was a kind of World Music before there was such a label. Not that I like or value that term, but that's one way to describe what he did.
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There's way more to it, of course. Really he's one of the most unique sax voices ever, and a lot of his output is unclassifiably eclectic in its scope.
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This 53 minutes of fun is one of the few recordings of him from the early 1970s, when he took a sort of sabbatical from playing to teach.
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John Tchicai Quartet
"Nachtmusik"
WDR Studios
Köln, Germany
5.6.1972
01 Nachtmusik I
02 Nachtmusik II
03 Nachtmusik III
04 Nachtmusik IV
05 Frühlingsrauschen
Total time: 53:00
John Tchicai - alto and soprano saxophones, percussion & vocals
Ole Thilo - piano & organ
Peter Warren - bass
Pierre Favre - drums & percussion
pre-FM reels from the WDR archives
it's unclear, but Tracks 01-04 appear to be improvisations incorporating pre-composed themes for which the titles are unidentified;
these have been designated "Nachtmusik I-IV" for the purposes of this edition
volume increased +1.4 dB throughout -- with dead air slightly edited -- by EN, April 2022
266 MB FLAC/April 2022 archive link
266 MB FLAC/April 2022 archive link
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In terms of quality, this one sounds just like a pre-broadcast, WDR thing always does: that is, indistinguishable -- often cleaner! -- than many official live albums.