The
Glenn Spearman
Sessionography
(February 14, 1947 - October 8, 1998)
A work in progress
by Rick Lopez.
Document begun September 26, 2000
UPDATES
May 27, 2008©Photo by Michael Wilderman / JazzVisionsPhotos.com.
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We did a nice, numbered reprint of it to sell at the Amherst Memorial Concert in March '99, and I still have some copies. All moneys (not just 'profits') go to Spearman's people." —Michael Ehlers / Eremite |
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A brief list posted many years ago during the documents beginnings. Subsequent credits are listed in individual session entries. |
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• Kevin Whitehead's bio of Glenn from the Mystery Project CD. • Dave Rubien's obituary for Glenn, from the San Francisco Chronicle. • Tribute Concert announcement, Saturday, November 21, 1998. • 99 Hooker's Remembrance of Glenn. |
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Glenn Spearman info at Matthew Goodheart's site. |
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• Bay Area Artists of the Diaspora, dedicated to the memory of composer / performer / educator Glenn Spearman. • Obituary from The Mills College Weekly, October 16, 1998, by Sharon Caya. • Glen Spearman article ON MUSIC. • And more, including a very nice photo protrait; an uncredited bio; and review excerpts. |
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Missing Items, Eye-crossing Mysteries, Confusing Tidbits; Items "Not in my collection." A list of out-of-print and difficult to find recordings I'm searching for, along with new releases not yet included in this document. |
Subscribe to Musaphysics, The Glenn Spearman Research Group |
"...it's one continuous push to bring beauty into a world of madness and frustration." —Glenn Spearman |
| Two unissued sessions and an image, with notation by Igor Danilishen. |
92.01.11 • Glenn Spearman Double Trio [Audience Recording]January 11, 1992 / The Heinz Afterworld Lounge, Oakland, CA
Glenn Spearman (tenor sax) Larry Ochs (tenor and sopranino sax) Donald Robinson (percussion) Ben Lindgren (double bass) Chris Brown (keyboards) William Winant (percussion) {Primary Source: CD-R; Eleanor Lindgren 08.05.13 / Ben Lindgren Recording Archive} |
92.01.14 • Glenn Spearman Quintet [Broadcast Recording]
January 14, 1992 / KPFA-FM Studio, Berkeley, CA
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The performances on these disks have been culled from a tape that came to my possession in February, 1992, when I was Greyhounding coast to coast all the way from New York to Seattle and then up to Vancouver, where I visited with my friends at the Coastal Jazz & Blues Society. After having stayed there for a month or so enjoying the local jazz scene (will never forget the Glass Slipper!), I felt that the gravitational pull of the Golden-Gate Bridge was not only especially strong but actually irresistible there. Its image, inseparable from that of the Beautiful City of San Francisco, had haunted me all through the years of my life behind the Potato Curtain. I was in Vancouver when I first heard the name of Glenn Spearman from John Orysik, my Ukrainian friend who was at the time the PR man with Coastal Jazz & Blues. "You go crash on Glenn Spearman. He's our man and he's played DuMaurier. He's an incredibly decent cat and will harbor this undocumented alien." Glenn lived at that time in Oakland, within walking distance from Berkeley. It wasn't exactly a wealthy man's house, but a hip place actually owned (or rented) by Don Robinson, Glenn's drummer, who lived there with his son. I called them from the Greyhound station. Don gave me instructions on how to get there. I got there. I brought them a bottle of Ukrainian vodka with a red pepper on the bottom. I told them my story. I told them how much I wanted to see THE BRIDGE. Glenn's voice is still in my ears: "Just listen to what this Ukrainian gentleman has to say..." With Don's blessing, I stayed. Don had just bought a computer and was glued to it day and night. Glenn was getting ready for a gig in San Francisco and was pretty busy with his horn. I had the privilege of hearing him practicing. His sound was big and warm. He had an old cassette tape recorder, without a lid, and a bunch of tapes. I remember he was playing them loud, putting treble to the max and cutting most of the bass... This is the way I like it, man... He would slam a tape in, check this out, this is Frank Wright, he's my main man... Now check this one out, this pianist's name is Cecil Taylor. Ever heard of Cecil? I have played with him... I answered that I've heard of Cecil Taylor. I said I loved Conquistador and Dark to Themselves and added that Cecil was playing beautiful music. THANK YOU VERY MUCH, SIR!! He almost embraced me. That was as analytical as we got discussing the music of Cecil Taylor. On the next morning, we took a long walk along Telegraph, all the way into Berkeley. Glenn showed me where the "Amoeba" and "Rasputin" stores were. He also pointed me to a spot from which one could see THE BRIDGE in the distance. My first glimpse of the craved civil engineering wonder... We had a pizza. We met some of his friends, including his bassist with the double trio Ben Lindgren, who also is an accomplished artist. Ben was extremely friendly and invited me over to his place on Deakin Street in Berkeley, where I later spent a few days enjoying his hospitality. Ben had a reel tape machine in his home and hundreds of tapes of live and radio performances. So he put one of them on a TDK IEC Type IV and gave it to me to take back to Ukraine. I had a friend in Kiev who had produced, among others, ROVA's performances during their tour of Russia back in 1983. The intention was to give the tape to him so that he could check it out and possibly help arrange Glenn's trip to Ukraine some time in the future. Alas, that never came to be, because my dear friend Alexander Filatov was already sick and was living on borrowed time... He died of cancer in 1994. So I kept the tape you are listening to now. Neither of these performances have been released. This humble home production is my expression of love for Glenn Spearman and is a limited edition of 1 (one) 2CD set made for solely informational purposes, to be used by his discographers. Glenn also gave me his self-produced LP Night After Night (MusaPhysics) - duets with Don Robinson - and a tape of Utterance which I believe came out on Cadence recently... "We load our emissary and send him back to Ukraine..." On the last night of my stay with Glenn and Don, I was already in bed when Glenn came home late. "How is it going, Igor? Have you seen the Golden Gate Bridge?" - "I walked all the way to Marin County and back." - "Good man!" The photo on the cover was taken in February, 1992, during the Glenn Spearman Trio's gig in a downtown club (the name escapes me) in San Francisco. Ben Lindgren can be seen on the right, and Don Robinson is hiding behind Glenn. It was power play all through, like there was no tomorrow. Actually, there wasn't much of it left for our friend Glenn... --Igor Danilishen, from Ukraine with Love |
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Photo by Eleanor Lindgren. |