Survival Ensemble:
Billy Bang – violin, percussion, poetry, recitation
Bilal Abdur Rahman – tenor saxophone, percussion, poetry, recitation
William Parker – bass, percussion
Rashid Bakr – drums
Recorded 29th May 1977 at A Day in Solidarity with Soweto: A Fund Raiser, Harlem Fight-Back, 1 East 125th St., New York
This session has never been issued before.

NoBusiness Records NBLP38, 2011, limited edition of 500 records

Design by Oskaras Anosovas
Producer – Danas Mikailionis
Co-producer – Valerij Anosov

Violinist Billy Bang made his recording debut as a leader with the Survival Ensemble, the first working band he ever led, on New York Collage in 1979. Bang, saxophonists Bilal Abdur Rahman and Henry Warner, bassist William Parker, and percussionists Rashid Bakr and Khuwana John Fuller played incendiary free jazz more clearly indebted to the New York avant-garde of the preceding decade than any album Bang would record again. The music’s urgency and passion arose from the exhilaration of artistic self-discovery shared by everyone in the group, and the intensity of their need to express their feelings.
This album really is a loft era classic. Proudly flaunting its New York roots, it insists that music based on the innovations of Coltrane, Ayler, Taylor, could grow in new directions, absorb new influences, and engage contemporary political realities – Ed Hazel.

The late, great violinist\’s first two albums — the first so obscure I missed it when I assembled a discography for my 2005 Voice piece on Bang. A quartet for the first record, with Bilal Abdur Rahman on tenor and soprano sax, William Parker on bass, and Rashid Bakr on drums. Rahman, an old friend of Bang\’s, picked up Islam in prison and recorded reluctantly but more often than not his cutting and slashing is terrific here. Both albums are hit and miss, with bits of spoken word spouting political critique — \”when the poor steal, it\’s called looting; when the rich steal, it\’s called profit\” is one turn of phrase. Second album adds Henry Warner on alto sax and Khuwana Fuller on congas — Warner\’s another player who shows up on rare occasions but always makes a big impression. Way back when I would probably have hedged my grade, seeing each album as promising but half-baked, but now they\’re indisputable pieces of history — and not just because Bang and Parker went on to have brilliant careers. Also note that the label in Lithuania that rescued them cared enough to provide a 36-page booklet on the era and this remarkable music.
Tom Hull