Thursday, October 25, 2007

Franklin Kiermyer: In the House of My Fathers

Tracks

1. For the Time Being
2. In the House of My Fathers
3. Kairos
4. Black Jack
5. For the Kindness of Strangers
6. The Julia Set
7. Peace on Earth
8. Shoes for People

Personnel

Franklin Kiermyer - drums
Dave Douglas - trumpet
John Stubblefield - tenor & soprano sax
John Esposito - piano
Anthony Cox - bass
Drew Gress - bass
Chris Gekker - trumpet
John Rojak - trombone
Dan Grabois - horn
Dave Braynard - tuba
Tom Chess - guitar
Eric St. Laurent -guitar

Released 1993 on Konnex (cat. # 5052)

As I understand it, the title track comes from the invocation sung before reading from the Torah. This recording contains early versions of "Peace on Earth" (which would later appear on Solomon's Daughter - released on Evidence, 1994) and "Kairos" (from the album Kairos - released on Evidence, 1996). The vibe I get from the liner notes to his other albums, as well as from hearing the music itself, is that Kiermyer is very influenced by John Coltrane's Impulse!-era recordings. On Kiermyer's later albums, he works as part of a quartet that definitely touches on Trane's classic quartet. Of course the degrees of separation between Kiermyer and Trane are minimal to begin with - former Trane band mate, Pharoah Sanders, appears extensively on the album Solomon's Daughter.

As for the recordings on this album, the best reference point would be Trane's Africa/Brass sessions and A Love Supreme filtered through Hebrew and Tibetan Buddhist spirituality. It's a beautiful recording that deserves more recognition than it appears to have received. It also appears that Kiermyer has ceased recording jazz albums following his 1999 CD, Sanctification (released on his own Sunship label). Recordings on the Evidence and Sunship labels are still in print and worth picking up if you dig on classic quartet era Coltrane. Check out his website Mobility Music to see what he's been up to.

Download In the House of My Fathers