In late 1977, Arthur Doyle brought his quintet to New York to play at the Brook, a loft space on West 17th Street managed by Charles Tyler, with whom Doyle formed the label Dra that same year. The saxophonist/flutist/vocalist was joined by old friends from his hometown of Birmingham, AL, Charles Stephens on trombone and Rashied Sinan on drums (whose only other memorable appearance was on Frank Lowe's 1973 ESP album Black Beings). Sinan turned up with a student of his, Bruce Moore, "to give it more rhythmic feel," and Richard Williams was brought in on Fender Bass to take on both drummers. From the opening splendidly titled "November 8th or 9th -- I Can't Remember When," Alabama Feeling pounds the listener into the ground with thrilling energy, playing easily on a par with classic albums on labels such as ESP and BYG Actuel. Doyle released this recording of the concert, whose dreadful sound quality was perfectly in keeping with the prevailing no wave ethos of the period (Doyle was, incidentally, one of the first jazz musicians to play Max's Kansas City in 1978, with Rudolph Grey and Beaver Harris as the Blue Humans), on Dra in an edition of 1,000, and the first CD reissue 20 years later in 1998 (also limited to 1,000 copies) was transferred by Glenn Branca's house percussionist, Wharton Tiers, direct from vinyl, complete with surface noise and dodgy editing. Connoisseurs of Sun Ra (with whom Arthur Doyle also played but, alas, never recorded) have long been prepared to forego quality sound in the name of great music, and any listener prepared to do the same will not be disappointed. It's worth it for Doyle's snarling entry on "Ancestor" alone.By Dan Warburton in All Music
Styles:
Free Jazz
Avant-Garde
Tracks:
01 - November 8th or 9th – I Can’t Remember When (04:04)
02 - Something for Caserlo, Larry, & Irma (03:36)
03 - A Little Linda, Debra, Omita, Barry & Maria (09:01)
04 - Ancestor (07:22)
05 - Mother Image, Father Image (06:02)
06 - Development/ BaBi Music for Milford & Huge/ Alabama Soul for Arthur/ Ramie & Master Charles of the Trombone (07:52)
Line-up:
Arthur Doyle - tenor sax, bass clarinet, flute
Richard Williams - Fender bass
Rashied Sinan - drums
Bruce Moore - drums
Charles Stephens - trombone
