Untitled Gift

Untitled Gift is an album by violinist Billy Bang. It was recorded on February 7, 1982, at OAO Studio in Brooklyn, New York, and was released on vinyl later that year by Anima Productions. On the album, Bang is joined by trumpeter Don Cherry, double bassist Wilber Morris, and drummer Dennis Charles. The recording features three Bang originals plus one composition by Cherry and two by Ornette Coleman. In 2004, the 8th Harmonic Breakdown label reissued the album on CD along with Bang's 1979 release Sweet Space on the compilation Sweet Space/Untitled Gift.[1][2][3][4]

Untitled Gift
Studio album by
Billy Bang
Released1982
RecordedFebruary 7, 1982
StudioOAO Studio, Brooklyn, New York
GenreFree jazz
LabelAnima Productions
3BG9
ProducerBilly Bang
Billy Bang chronology
Rainbow Gladiator
(1981)		 Untitled Gift
(1982)		 Invitation
(1982)

Reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
All About Jazz (reissue)[5]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz (reissue)[6]
Tom Hull – on the Web (reissue)A–[7]
The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz[8]

In a review for All About Jazz, Rex Butters wrote: "Charles spins a strong web of invisible rhythms as Morris drops chewy subharmonic power. Cherry bristles with brilliance in a quartet apparently electrified by their interplay."[5] Regarding the 2004 reissue, AAJ's Terrell Kent Holmes stated that it "will enhance Bang's stature as one of the most vital and original voices on the scene today."[9]

Critic Tom Hull awarded the reissue a grade of "A–", calling it "exhilarating," and commenting: "Bang squares off with Don Cherry on an Ornette-centered song list, one of the most exciting encounters of either's career."[7][10]

One Final Note's Derek Taylor described the music as "affirming and accomplished," and remarked: "Cherry's voice-like inflection on pocket trumpet proves an ideal match for the sliding speech-like glisses of Bang's bow... The concord shared by Morris and Charles makes the meeting all that sweeter and the drummer in particular shines through a permeable lattice of muscular tom-driven rhythms."[11]

Track listing
  1. "Echovamp 1678" (Billy Bang) – 12:15
  2. "Night Sequence" (Ornette Coleman) – 5:50
  3. "The Kora Song" (Don Cherry) – 5:48
  4. "Maat" (Billy Bang) – 11:40
  5. "Levitation for Santana" (Billy Bang) – 4:10
  6. "Focus on Sanity" (Ornette Coleman) – 4:20

Personnel

References
  1. "Billy Bang - Untitled Gift". Jazz Music Archives. Retrieved October 16, 2023.
  2. "Billy Bang - Sweet Space/Untitled Gift". Jazz Music Archives. Retrieved October 16, 2023.
  3. "8th Harmonic Breakdown discography". JazzLists. Retrieved October 16, 2023.
  4. Untitled Gift (liner notes). Billy Bang. Anima Productions. 1982. 3BG9.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  5. Butters, Rex (January 20, 2005). "Billy Bang: Untitled Gift". All About Jazz. Retrieved October 16, 2023.
  6. Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz. Penguin Books. p. 74.
  7. Hull, Tom. "Billy Bang Is in the House". Tom Hull – on the Web. Retrieved October 16, 2023.
  8. Larkin, Colin, ed. (2004). The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz. Virgin Books. p. 53.
  9. Holmes, Terrell Kent (February 25, 2006). "Billy Bang: Sweet Space / Untitled Gift". All About Jazz. Retrieved October 16, 2023.
  10. Hull, Tom (September 27, 2005). "Billy Bang Is in the House". The Village Voice. Retrieved October 16, 2023.
  11. Taylor, Derek (January 3, 2005). "Billy Bang - Sweet Space/Untitled Gift (8th Harmonic Breakdown)". One Final Note. Retrieved October 16, 2023.
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