Frank Lowe - The Flam (1976 Italian Black Saint BSR 0005 Vinyl LP)

Frank Lowe - The Flam | Vinyl LP - Italian Black Saint (BSR 0005, Harmony S.R.L. distribution)

Lowe had an unusual entry into the music. He grew up in Memphis singing in church and hearing blues on Beale Street, picked up the tenor at twelve, and moved to San Francisco, where a chance meeting with Ornette Coleman led to Coleman suggesting he try New York. There was no long apprenticeship. He went from amateur to playing with Sun Ra, and by 1971 he was recording with Alice Coltrane on World Galaxy, working alongside the surviving members of John Coltrane's rhythm section. His leader debut Black Beings came out on ESP-Disk' in 1973 with Joseph Jarman of the Art Ensemble of Chicago in the front line and William Parker making his recording debut on bass. By 1975 Val Wilmer was describing him as impossible to avoid on the New York scene, turning up at every session, rehearsal and sit-in across the city. He had also just spent time as a sideman with Don Cherry. The Flam catches him at exactly that point.

The band is drawn from two of the most important Black musicians' collectives of the era. Bowie and Shaw were both founding-generation members of the Black Artists Group in St. Louis, and Leo Smith came out of the AACM in Chicago. That gives the session its character: three horns operating as equals rather than as a leader plus support, with Blake moving between abstract bowed lines and slapped electric funk and Shaw keeping the whole thing upright without ever pulling focus. "Sun Voyage," Bowie's piece, opens the record. "Flam" is Lowe's and the longest thing here at fourteen minutes. "Be-Bo-Bo-Be" is Shaw's. "Third St. Stomp" is credited to all five. "U.B.P.," Smith's contribution, is under a minute and closes the album. Scott Yanow's assessment for AllMusic was that the performances are better heard than described, which is a reasonable thing to say about a record this physical.

This is the Italian pressing on Black Saint BSR 0005, distributed by Harmony S.R.L., with lacquers cut at Phonoster.