Recorded in 1964 immediately after leaving the
Miles Davis Quintet,
Sam Rivers'
Fuchsia Swing Song is one of the more auspicious debuts the label released in the mid-'60s.
Rivers was a seasoned session player (his excellent work on
Larry Young's
Into Somethin' is a case in point), and a former member of
Herb Pomeroy's Big Band before he went out with
Davis. By the time of his debut,
Rivers had been deep under the influence of
Coltrane and
Coleman, but wasn't willing to give up the blues. Hence the sound on
Fuchsia Swing Song is that of an artist at once self-assured and in transition. Using a rhythm section that included
Tony Williams (whose
Life Time he had guested on), pianist
Jaki Byard, and bassist
Ron Carter,
Rivers took the hard bop and blues of his roots and poured them through the avant-garde collander. The title, opening track is a case in point.
Rivers opens with an angular figure that is quickly translated by the band into sweeping, bopping blues.
Rivers legato is lightning quick and his phrasing touches upon
Coleman Hawkins,
Sonny Rollins,
Coleman, and
Coltrane, but his embouchure is his own. He strikes the balance and then takes off on both sides of the aisle.
Byard's builds in minor key, rhythmic figures just behind the tenor. "Downstairs Blues Upstairs" sounds, initially anyway, like it might have come out of the
Davis book so deep is its blue root. But courtesy of
Byard and
Williams,
Rivers goes to the left after only four choruses, moving onto the ledge a bit at a time, running knotty arpeggios through the center of the melody and increasingly bending his notes into succeeding intervals while shifting keys and times signatures, but he never goes completely over the ledge. The most difficult cut on the date is "Luminous Monolith," showcases a swing-like figure introducing the melody. Eight bars in, the syncopation of the rhythm sections begins to stutter step around the time, as
Byard makes harmonic adjustments with dense chords for
Rivers to play off. This is a highly recommended date. Other than on 1965's
Contours,
Rivers never played quite like this again. [
Fuchsia Swing Song was re-released on LP in 2016.] ~ Thom Jurek