Although considered avant garde, the music on these important records....

 Although considered avant garde, the music on these important records evinced a thoughtful classicism that was a refreshing departure from the hedonistic hollering that was increasingly dominating the free jazz movement. He would later work in Cecil Taylors Unit with Jimmy Lyons and Andrew Cyrille, describing the encounter "as one of the exhilarating experiences of my career."

Similarly exciting was Rivers' intuitive and inventive trio, featuring Dave Holland on bass and Barry Altschul on drums, which would spontaneously create inspired music for hours on end as the leader moved from tenor to soprano saxophone, to flute, to piano and back, punctuating the music with his patented whooping exclamations of joy.

Just as important as his creativity as a musician, was Rivers' role as the patriarch of the New York City downtown loft jazz scene in the 70s. He was the proprietor (with his wife Bea) of the world famous Studio Rivbea on Bond Street, in what is now called Noho.

"I was just there at the right time," he humbly opines, "because it just so happens there was an influx of musicians they all decided to come to New York at the same time. I had a performance space where I was just rehearsing, but then I started giving concerts and we were known all around the world."

Wildflowers, a five record set, recorded during a single week of performances, is a Who's Who of the free jazz movement of the day, documenting the importance of the venue.

The musicians performing on the discs included, among others, Ahmed Abdullah, Hamiet Bluiett, Anthony Braxton, Marion Brown, Dave Burrell, Jerome Cooper, Andrew Cyrille, Olu Dara, Julius Hemphill, Oliver Lake, Jimmy Lyons, Ken McIntyre, Roscoe Mitchell, David Murray, Sunny Murray, Leo Smith, and Henry Threadgill, many of whom were barely known in the U.S. at the time.

Not long after the release of the records, Rivers closed the Rivbea and moved to New Jersey. He remembers, "I stopped doing it in New York because once the guys got known, the clubs started hiring them.

I couldn't pay the kind of money the clubs were because I wasn't really charging. I would ask for a donation. I wasn't selling all this whiskey. If you wanted a beer you'd bring it yourself."

During the 80's, Rivers lead several progressive electric quartets featuring guitarists Kevin Eubanks, Darryl Thompson and Ed Cherry. It was the latter's membership in his quartet that led Rivers to a somewhat surprising stint with Dizzy Gillespie.

"Ed Cherry was in my band and Dizzy called him, so I just called because Ed Cherry said that Dizzy was making up a new band," Rivers recalls. "I just called up Dizzy. I said, Merry Christmas, Dizzy, [it was Christmas], if you ever need a tenor player give me a call. He said, 'What's your name. What's your number?' And the next week he called me.

It was the start of a new thing. Ignacio Berroa on drums. John Lee on bass. Ed Cherry, myself and Dizzy. Very good group, an excellent group, I loved playing with them. I was also with the United Nations Band, Dizzy's orchestra. I stayed with Dizzy for four years."

It was during his tenure with Gillespie that Rivers relocated to Orlando, Florida. "We were traveling all around, and I could have gone anywhere," he remembers. "We were planning to leave New York, so I could have gone to New Mexico or Arizona or California, you know, or Seattle. I had offers from all of those places to teach.

But I didn't want to teach, and the musicians down here they said we have enough musicians, if you want to come down here, there's a big band waiting for you with your music. And that's why I came here; the musicians were so good. All the musicians in my orchestra, my jazz orchestra, are all professors of music. They all teach here. It's quite an organization. I mean, I'm very fortunate because I can bring in all my music, anything I write, and these musicians are able to play it the first time down. So, I mean it's a very, very, very great experience for me."

Rivers more traditional orchestral jazz is documented on two Grammy nominated RCA compact discs, Inspiration and Culmination , by his Rivbea All-Star Orchestra. Aurora, by the Orlando orchestra, is more representative of his current work.

The nucleus of both ensembles is Rivers' trio of the past 12 years, with Doug Mathews and Anthony Cole; a group he proudly describes as "unique" in the history of jazz. The union of the three multi-instrumentalists is the most versatile, small group, making music today, sometimes replicating the style of the leader's earlier trios and resembling the World Saxophone Quartet or Cecil Taylors Unit. Rivers explains, "Doug is a classical musician.

 He reads on bass clarinet, on double bass violin, also on bass guitar and drums. Anthony plays drums; he also plays tenor saxophone and sometimes we have compositions for two pianos with Anthony and myself. And then sometimes, Anthony can play the electric bass guitar and Doug plays drums. So we have it all covered. It's never been done before. And when were finished, they know its unique. They'll never hear anything like it again their lifetime. Unless they hear me again."

In a recent concert in San Diego, trombonist George Lewis and pianist Anthony Davis joined the group. An all star cast will play at an upcoming engagement at the Iridium. The saxophonist, who appeared on Reggie Workman's Summit Conference and Cerebral Caverns discs, and with Jason Moran on his Black Stars date, would have preferred to perform with his own group, but is nonetheless excited about the appearance.

"You don't need compositions for the trio," he says. "You really don't need any music at all, but we do have some themes. We have some melodies we will improvise on and some free things, also. There's no real set program. We like to surprise ourselves, too. I haven't the faintest idea whats going to happen - I like it that way. I look forward to it because I dont know what's going to happen. It's far more challenging than if I knew what was going to happen, then it might even get boring."

There's little chance of boredom happening with Rivers on the bandstand. Although he has already changed the course of jazz, he continues to look to the future.

"One day I'm going to get a grant and I'm going to show everybody," he says. "They give these grants to people and they get these grants and you never hear from them again. I feel that they probably know that I would do something with it. I would create a scene like I did in New York on my own money, like Studio Rivbea. I would like to get a grant so I could change the course of the music, preserve some of the music that creative musicians are doing... because I know how to do it."

Sam Rivers / Rivbea Music Productions
PLEASE CONTACT MONIQUE RIVERS WILLIAMS
803 Park Lake Place, Maitland, FL. 32751

some moments during the rehearsal of the Rivbea All-Star Orchestra with many famous New York jazz musicians, led by Sam Rivers; September 1998; shot by filmmaker Alan Roth; also check out the Sam Rivers festival at: www.wkcr.org
Also: www.insideoutintheopen.net