In 1979, I was making the underground punk scene In San Francisco. I saw the Dead Kennedy’s, Negative Trend, the Dills, Flipper and – from LA – The Germs, the Bags and the Screamers.
I also caught some early British bands like the Fall, Gang of Four, Public Image, and the Clash. As I was digesting the evolution of punk into post-punk, out of nowhere comes Eno’s ground- breaking compilation of New York’s premiere No Wave artists, No New York. I was stunned by this conceptual re-invention of the punk aesthetic.
I made a quick visit to the Big Apple and caught one of the best club-shows I have ever seen: Suicide and Teenage Jesus and The Jerks at Max’s Kansas City. Within a few months my band had packed up our belongings and headed to the Lower East Side of Manhattan.
A couple of years later Live Skull reared its swollen head. And though I had previously, played in a No Wave influenced band called Body, Live Skull’s dark racket leaned more on the drama and cinematic atmosphere of post-punk. Like No Wave bands we played short, highly charged sets geared to provoke the audience; but we explored noise mainly as a harmonic element to contrast and toughen our melodic and rhythmic content.
Recently I had begun to feel, at least as far as official recordings, I had maybe missed my chance to dig deeper into the noisy abstraction central to No Wave, while it was still fresh in my mind. Then – right on cue – SoSaLa, who lived at that time still in Tokyo, Japan, and calling himself Sadato, appears with tracks from an improvised recording session from 1993 that I and another Live Skull-er, James Lo, had participated in.
Along with SoSaLa (on soprano sax, vocals, organ and flute) the intriguing line up included myself (on electric guitar / Live Skull / o13 / Spoiler / Int’l Shades / Body), James Lo (on drums / Live Skull / Chavez / Slash Orchestra), Peter Gordon (on tenor sax and Jews harp / Love of Life Orchestra), David Motamed (on electric bass / Das Daman, Cell, The Royal Arctic Institute), Toshimaru Nakamura (on guitar / SADATO / DATAI 99), who joined Sadato from Tokyo. To top it off the sessions were recorded and mixed by my good friend Martin Bisi at BC Studio in Brooklyn – where Live Skull had worked extensively in the 1980’s.
Hearing the eight tracks for the first time since ’93, knocked me out! I was struck by how much the core sound is indebted to the abstract and chaotic aggression of No Wave – albeit re-interpreted fifteen or so years after the birth of the original movement. I was excited by how energized and focused the improvised playing is; that No Wave is the common thread we each, individually latched onto, as a meeting ground for our diverse musical tastes and backgrounds. As ringmaster, SoSaLa’s minimal but inventive directions got us going, but the color, texture and the mood of the riffs came from some dark corner in each of our psyches’ where we had stored away the big lessons of No Wave.
Unfortunately, due to his busy life in Tokyo SoSaLa wasn’t able to continue this music project until now, by arranging the release of the CD.
Sit back and… hmmm, no – get up and stomp around to these free form noise romps, as we endeavor to spark up the post No Wave demons in 1993.
Saxophonist SoSaLa—born Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi to Iranian parents in Switzerland, brought up in Germany, martial arts student in Japan, and a New York City resident since 2008—is the sort of wild card we need more of in jazz. Not necessarily because of the actual music he makes, which has limited appeal, but because of the energy he brings to its creation and the free-thinking attitude out of which it erupts. And also, actually, because it does have limited appeal. Jazz likes minorities.
SoSaLa’s message to the media announcing the release of this 1993 recording starts with the headline: “A Noisy Voice Again With Powerful Messages” and ends with the observation: “Doing nothing and staying passive are unacceptable.” You can say that again in 2023, as much of jazz, like much of the rest of liberal, educated America, appears—at least as viewed from London—to have rolled over and given in to the seemingly inexorable march of domestic neo-fascism, which will hit the fan with the 2024 elections. Where is the tidal wave of opposition? Why is rap and rock left to do the heavy lifting? What happened to jazz’s rebellious nature?
1993 is loud, aggressive, primal, confrontational, as nuanced as a honey badger and what else have you got? It is a ferocious blend of late-period no-wave and free jazz. It lasts barely twenty-five minutes but seems shorter. Imagine Albert Ayler and Ornette Coleman jamming with James Chance and the Contortions and a side order of Glenn Branca. Marc Ribot, Arturo O’Farrill and Dave Liebman are three musicians who have lined up to rave about it. Liebman says it is “honest and fierce and takes no prisoners” and “should be mandatory in school and club situations.” O’Farrill says it is “Fuckin’ Brilliant.”
Basically, 1993 puts the art in cathartic. The video below does not come close to evoking its intensity but seems to be the most up-to-date SoSaLa footage out there at the time of writing.” – By Chris May,
“SoSaLa with MARK C. / JAMES LO / TOSHIMARU NAKAMURA / PETER GORDON / DAVID MOTAMED – 1993 (DooBeeDoo Records 003; USA). Featuring SoSaLa (a/k/a Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi) on soprano sax, organ & vocals, Mark C. & Toshi Nakamura on guitars, Peter Gordon on tenor sax, David Motamed on bass and James Lo on drums.
Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi is originally from Iran, has lived in Germany & Japan and is currently living here. I’ve been admiring the work of saxist SoSaLa for the past decade, with two fine self-produced discs which are in between categories. This disc actually predates the other two and was recorded in January of 1993, more than thirty years ago. Backing SoSaLa here is an eclectic cast with Mark C. & James Lo from Live Skull, Peter Gordon (Downtown composer & leader of the Love of Life Orchestra) and Toshimaru Nakamura who is well known for his lower case/onkyo more minimal approach to the guitar as well as no-input mixing board.
“In Front of a Closed Door” opens with some strong, no wave-like pounding drums, squealing sax, twisted vocals, and wailing guitars along with SoSaLa’s organ. The original Live Skull band was one of the most intense post-punk bands to emerge from NYC in the mid-1980s. Two of their members are on this disc, guitarist Mark C and drummer James Lo. Mr. Lo’s pounding drums are central to the sound of these pieces.
On “I’m Blind,” SoSaLa speaks & screams out with his brutal voice while the guitars swarm like deadly beings. Peter Gordon’s tenor sax is featured on “Dadada Dadada Daaa” which features more pounding drums and brutal guitars. SoSaLa’s brooding, dark organ is at the center of “In Front of Your Door,” with more throttling drums, screaming sax (from Peter Gordon), and throbbing bass. On “Omar Khayyam in New York,” SoSaLa does some powerful shouting over the top of those churning guitars.
Had this disc been released closer to the time it was recorded it would’ve been seen as an extension of the No Wave/post-punk scene. Twenty years later, it still sounds daunting, brutal and in-your-face. At 25 minutes, it feels long enough to catch us off-guard and we can still relate to the anger or frustration at the center.” – Bruce Lee Gallanter / Downtown Music Gallery, (8/25/2023)
Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi & Jean-Marie Collatin Faye @ Love Not Money, 10-21-23 from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m.
In the wake of the devastation to the livelihoods of professional freelance musicians wrought by the digital paradigm shift, it is encouraging to see small record stores cropping up like shoots in a forest after a fire. Love Not Money, located @ 42 Eldridge Street in NYC’s Chinatown district, is one such shop. Specializing in analogue musical recordings like vinyl and cassette tapes, as well as related merch like vintage tee-shirts and posters, it is a prime example of this welcomed resurgence in “physical” music consumption and the venues that support it.
Another promising trend such stores represent is a return of live musical performance in situ. There was a time when such live performances in record stores were regular occurrences. The old, now defunct, J&R Music World regularly hosted such events to promote new releases … especially for jazz and classical artists. WBGO even broadcast the live jazz performances. But with the demise of brick-and-mortar stores, these live in-store performances ended.
So, when my friend and colleague Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi invited me to one such performance he and Jean-Marie Collatin Faye were giving on Saturday October 21, 2023, @ Love Not Money, I was intrigued.
I’ve known Sohrab for about a decade now… mostly through his artist rights activism and leadership of Musicians For Musicians and his participation in other groups fighting for justice for musicians.
I’ve heard his thought-provoking recordings, but this is the first time I’ve heard him live, despite us both playing on the same bill for some fund and awareness raising events.
I’ve always liked the duo format, because it lives or dies on the conversational aspect at the heart of the best jazz. I’ve found this to be true regardless of instrumentation. The masterful interplay between Sohrab and Jean-Marie confirmed this once again, but not in any way I would have predicted.
Their performance on Saturday afternoon was a revelation. Jean-Marie’s mastery of the arsenal of percussion instruments at his disposal functioned very musically as both the foundation and embellishment for Sohrab’s improvisational flights of fancy. Jean-Marie’s playing really engaged the audience of many passersby, despite his limited mobility (after all, his instruments were stationary). Sohrab, on the other hand, strolled back and forth, reminding this listener of Sonny Rollins, as he playfully interacted with listeners of all ages and nationalities.
However, the real pleasant surprise was how Sohrab held things together with no chords to shape the form of his improvisations. He strung together cogent thematic statements that unfolded with the force of narrative. He did this, by the way, while interacting with the percussionist and somehow managing to make verbal chant-like statements about the power of art and music…. all done in such a natural flow and engaging manner that many of those passing by stopped to listen and stayed for a while.
Like me, they enjoyed what they heard.
While the content was very different, Jean-Marie’s and Sohrab’s interactions come out of the tradition established and developed by Elvin Jones and John Coltrane, though Sohrab and Jean-Marie delved into more world music vocabularies. This amalgam seemed so natural coming from these cats that I have to conclude that it is their “happy-place”… musically speaking. It also produced much joy and happiness for the audience.
When the joy of the musicians is so infectious that it moves the audience, you are witnessing the reason live music is the most real manifestation of the power of music we have in this world of ours!
Bravo, Sohrab and Jean-Marie!
Review byKen Hatfield(musician, composer, recording artist, author, educator and musician rights activist) – 10/22/2023
Quotes
“Yeah, I listened to it. It rocks! Punk, jazz, not dead!” – guitarist, band leader and musician rights activist Marc Ribot(9/2/2023)
“Hi Sohrab, I did have a chance to listen before we left for Croatia yesterday.. I want to congratulate you on expressing exactly who you are as a musician and a man the way you did at 40.. I heard and felt it all, your attitude was loud and clear.. your frustration, anger, despair, aggressive attacking tone was disturbing to my sensibilities.. Your message was an obviously honest expression of your life’s experiences at that time but with this reissue 30 years later you are still living in that world and telling the same sad story.. I would hope you would have a more compassionate world view of the humanity that surrounds us every day.. I would suggest following this reissue up with a message of love in your next recorded project at 70.. ” – CD jazz sax maestro Joe Lovano texted me this comment (August 30th, 2023).
“Hello Sohrab, thanks for the Sosala’link, it’s a powerfull performance.” – French Lo’Jo band leader, composer and performer Denis Péan(8/30/2023)
“Listening now!! BLOWN AWAY!!!! Fuckin’ Brilliant. a” – multiple Latin Jazz Grammy Award winner Arturo O’Farrill(8/20/2023)
“The music of Sohrab/SoSaLa is truly one of a kind. There are no boundaries to his creativity- he takes his art (or his art takes HIM) in whatever direction it wants to go. The results are always something you’ve never quite heard before – and always unique and inspiring.” – guitarist and guitar repeairman Joe Belle (8/8/2023)
“Sohrab’s music is honest and fierce taking no prisoners. It should be mandatory in school and club situations.” – legendary jazz man David Liebman(7/31/2323)
“yes sohrab, i am listening closely to it, most of the way through. it is wonderful – strong energy, original, and constantly changing sounds, a delight to listen to. being 30. years since it was recorded, it still sounds fresh and totally original! congratulations and great work!” – royal hartigan (drummer, percussionist and educator), 7/22/2023
“1993 is SoSaLa at his rawest and most earnest. 30 years later, he proves to be a sonic prophet.” – Philo/Illegal Arts Records, 7/9/2023
“(SoSaLa) stands at the forefront, leading the music in a way few could. His saxophone work is masterful in every respect. While it’s obvious he comes from a free jazz tradition and sensibility, he has his own unique approach that stands apart from others. [As] a producer and bandleader, he clearly knows how to bring out the best in those he works with. This collection is essential for any admirer of SoSaLa. It conveys and embodies a perfect balance between the wisdom of age and the restless energy and idealism of youth. The music is as fresh and innovative now as it was when it was recorded 30 years ago.” – Dawoud Kringle / God’s Unruly Friends / Dawoud the Renegade Sufi, June 30th, 2023
“Ich habe jetzt Mal durchgehört.
Was ich gut finde:
30 Jahre alte Platte die immer noch frisch klingt – das ist beeindruckend.
Die Performance
Das alles Biss hat
Das ganz oft eine interessante und wilde Idee kommt die wunderbar auf den Teil davor passt.
Was mich stört:
Es gibt zu dem “art house” / wilden / nervösen kaum Auflösung / Entspannung / Gegenpol.”
English translation:
I've listened now.
What I like:
30 year old record that still sounds fresh - that's impressive.
the performance
Everything has bite
That often comes up with an interesting and wild idea that fits perfectly with the part before it.
What bothers me:
There is hardly any resolution / relaxation / antithesis to the "art house" / wild / nervous."
– Lars Deutsch (German composer and producer), 6/22/2023)
