A l’occasion de la sortie de l’album Live at Bing Theatre, retour en musique sur la carrière de Roberto Miranda, contrebassiste méconnu. [...]
Actualité / News
Trumpet/cornet master Bobby Bradford, who turns 87 this month, is an American treasure. This has been true since the early ‘60s, when he first entered the public consciousness because of his association with Ornette Coleman. It was Bradford who initially won the trumpet seat in Coleman’s early L.A. quartet, but a lack of work forced him into other means of support and he was subsequently replaced by Don Cherry. [...]
This 1985 gig at the University of Southern California (USC) brought together a one-off combination of notable 1980s West Coast jazz originals in pianist Horace Tapscott, early-Ornette trumpet partner Bobby Bradford, and clarinet innovator John Carter – plus LA-born flute virtuoso James Newton, by this time on his way to an international reputation. [...]
Bassist Roberto Miranda has been active in the Los Angeles jazz scene since the 1960s, playing with musicians like Charles Lloyd, Bobby Bradford, John Carter, Vinny Golia, Horace Tapscott, and Tim Berne. In the mid-1980s, Miranda was earning his master’s degree at University of Southern California’s Jazz Studies Department and had received a jazz fellowship grant from the NEA. [...]
• Anders Griffen // The New York City Jazz Record (juin 2021)
Dark Tree (Page Bandcamp) sort peu d’albums, mais ces derniers sont chaque fois salués. Ce label s’est spécialisé dans les musiques improvisées. Depuis 2015 cependant, sont publiés des enregistrements inédits du passé, dans la collection Roots Serie : voir en particulier le premier de la série : « No U Turn » de Bobby Bradford et John Carter 5tet, enregistré en 1975, avec déjà un certain Roberto Miranda à la basse. [...]
One of my regular musical thrills of the 1980s and ‘90s was seeing pianist Horace Tapscott and bassist Roberto Miranda (often with drummer Donald Dean and later Fritz Wise) performing as a trio in L.A. area clubs. Tapscott was one of the true originals on piano and Miranda (who was always very inventive) was his perfect musical partner. It was always a shame that they did not have many opportunities to record together. [...]
• Alex Dutilh // Open Jazz (27 avril 2021)
Auspicious and affirmational, Live at Bing Theatre – Los Angeles, 1985 documents a particularly momentous occasion in bassist/conguero Roberto Miranda’s life. The concert constituted the culmination of his academic studies at the University of Southern California and served as the public performance of his Master’s Recital. [...]
The latest edition from Dark Tree’s Roots Series is an especially deep dive into Los Angeles’s late 1970s creative music scene. Bassist Roberto Miranda is a reliable sideman who got his break accompanying Charles Lloyd in 1972, and remains active today, but you have to look back to some Nimbus releases from the early 80s and one album from 2002 to find anything else released under his name. [...]
Bassisten Roberto Miranda ble født i New York med foreldre fra Puerto Rico. Faren hans, Louis, var sanger, perkusjonist, elektriker og var ogsåunge Robertos første musikklærer. Moren, Mary, var hjemmeværende, sekretær og senere sykepleier. En av Robertos beste minner fra oppveksten var å se foreldrene danse, og de var et ganske attraktivt par, ifølge historien. [...]
Il faut vraiment louer le remarquable est scrupuleux travail d’édition du label Dark Tree autour de la scène « free-jazz » sud californienne. Bobby Bradford et John Carter, Horace Tapscott, Vinny Golia, dans des enregistrements soignés et quasi incontournables. Roberto Miranda est un contrebassiste qu’on a découvert il y a longtemps au sein des premiers groupes de Vinny Golia (label Nine Winds en vinyle) et qui joue aussi dans ce magnifique chef d’œuvre de Bradford et Carter publié par Dark Street : NO U TURN, un album incontournable. [...]
D’un contrebassiste à l’autre avec ce document inédit et passionnant. En 1985, Roberto Miranda a 38 ans et déjà une solide réputation sur la scène de LA où il a frayé avec Charles Lloyd mais surtout le pianiste Horace Tapscott au sein de son Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra ainsi que les petites formations de John Carter et Bobby Bradford. [...]
[Mais qui est donc Roberto Miranda ? Un dangereux narcotrafiquant portoricain ? Un héros de la Révolution Cubaine ?]
Que nenni mes amis ! Roberto Miranda est un contrebassiste ayant à son actif plus d’une centaine d’enregistrements. Ce fut aussi le partenaire privilégié d’Horace Tapscott. [...]
Talvez o nome de Roberto Miranda não diga muito aos ouvintes portugueses. Trata-se, no entanto, de uma figura histórica da cena do free jazz que se desenvolveu nas décadas de 1970 e 80 na parte Sul de Los Angeles, uma cena em que a música era um acto comunitário e emancipatório em íntima comunhão com as populações afro-americana e latina daquela cidade, a mesma das revoltas de 1992, e que se exponenciou em redor de projectos como a Pan African Peoples Arkestra ou a Union of God’s Musicians and Artists Ascension. [...]
What an utter delight this recording is – wow. Major kudos to David Menestres for turning me onto this live session featuring bassist Roberto Miranda, members of his family (his father, brother, and cousin), Horace Tapscott, John Carter, James Newton, and Bobby Bradford among others. It’s one hell of a line-up (and doubly so since it’s apparently the first and only time Bradford, Carter, Newton, and Tapscott were ever on stage together). [...]
Roberto Miranda has appeared on almost one-hundred albums but has been lightly recorded as a leader, and inexplicably struggled to generate interest among labels. Dark Tree Records has released some great Horace Tapscott performances from the ’70s and ’80s. The label resurrected a Miranda-led session on Live at the Bing Theater; Los Angeles, 1985. Recorded at the USC campus auditorium, the sound is pristine, and the ambiance, eclectic and dynamic. [...]
Horace Tapscott faisait partie d’une véritable famille musicale basée sur la côte Ouest qui comprenait des musiciens comme le trompettiste Bobby Bradford, son partenaire habituel le grand clarinettiste John Carter et le flûtiste James Newton. Ils se retrouvent tous les quatre pour la première fois sur une même scène en 1985 au sein du Ricardo Miranda’s Home Music Ensemble. [...]