Joe McPhee


Joe McPhee is an American jazz multi-instrumentalist who plays the tenor, alto, and soprano saxophone, the trumpet, the flugelhorn and the valve trombone. Although born in Miami, Florida, McPhee grew up in Poughkeepsie, New York. He is most notable for his free jazz work done from the late 1960s to the present day.

Life and career

McPhee was born in Miami, Florida, on November 3, 1939. He began playing trumpet when he was eight, before learning other instruments. He played in various high school and then military bands before starting his recording career. His first recording came in 1967, when he appeared on the Clifford Thornton album entitled Freedom and Unity. McPhee taught himself saxophone at the age of 32 after experiencing the music of John Coltrane, Albert Ayler, and Ornette Coleman. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, McPhee lectured on jazz music at Vassar College.
In 1975, Werner Uehlinger started the Swiss label Hathut Records with the specific intent of showcasing McPhee's music. In the 1980s, McPhee met Pauline Oliveros, began studying her musical theories, and worked with her Deep Listening Band. He has not yet signed with any major label in his native United States, and was possibly better known throughout Europe than his native country until the 1990s. His 1996 album As Serious As Your Life, which takes its title from the jazz book by Val Wilmer, is "arguably the finest of his solo recordings", according to the AllMusic review.
Jazz musicians with whom McPhee has recorded or performed include Ken Vandermark, Peter Brötzmann, Evan Parker, Mats Gustafsson, Jeb Bishop, The Thing, Clifton Hyde, Jérôme Bourdellon, Raymond Boni, and Joe Giardullo. Since 1998, McPhee, Dominic Duval, and Jay Rosen have performed and recorded as Trio X. In the 1990s Dominique Eade and McPhee had a jazz ensemble called Naima.
McPhee has written reviews and commentary for Cadence.
In 2005, McPhee was awarded the Resounding Vision Award by Nameless Sound.
In 2015, McPhee played a series of 50th anniversary concerts with Canadian noise pioneers Nihilist Spasm Band in three Canadian cities.

Discography

  • Underground Railroad
  • Nation Time
  • Black Magic Man
  • At WBAI's Free Music Store, 1971
  • Trinity with Harold E. Smith and Mike Kull
  • Pieces of Light with John Snyder
  • The Willisau Concert featuring John Snyder and Makaya Ntshoko
  • Tenor – rereleased as Tenor & Fallen Angels in 2000
  • Rotation
  • Graphics
  • Variations on a Blue Line
  • Glasses
  • MFG in Minnesota with Milo Fine and Steve Gnitka
  • Old Eyes – rereleased as Old Eyes and Mysteries in 1992
  • Tales and Prophecies with André Jaume
  • Topology
  • Oleo – rereleased as Oleo & A Future Retrospective in 1993
  • Visitation with the Bill Smith Ensemble
  • Songs and Dances with André Jaume and Raymond Boni
  • Linear B
  • Élan • Impulse with Daunik Lazro
  • Impressions of Jimmy Giuffre
  • The October Revolution with Rashied Ali, Borah Bergman, and Wilber Morris
  • Sweet Freedom - Now What? with Lisle Ellis and Paul Plimley
  • McPhee/Parker/Lazro with Evan Parker and Daunik Lazro
  • Common Threads
  • A Meeting in Chicago with Ken Vandermark and Kent Kessler
  • As Serious As Your Life
  • Legend Street One
  • Legend Street Two
  • Inside Out with David Prentice
  • Finger Wrigglers with Michael Bisio
  • Specific Gravity with Joe Giardullo
  • The Brass City with Jeb Bishop
  • Chicago Tenor Duets with Evan Parker
  • Zebulon with Michael Bisio
  • The Dream Book with Dominic Duval
  • Soprano
  • In the Spirit
  • No Greater Love
  • Emancipation Proclamation: A Real Statement of Freedom with Hamid Drake
  • Grand Marquis with Johnny McLellan
  • Manhattan Tango with Jérôme Bourdellon
  • Port of Saints with Michael Bisio, Raymond Boni and Dominic Duval
  • Voices & Dreams with Raymond Boni
  • Angels, Devils & Haints with Michael Bisio, Dominic Duval, Claude Tchamitian and Paul Rogers
  • Mister Peabody Goes to Baltimore
  • Remembrance with Michael Bisio, Raymond Boni and Paul Harding
  • Tales Out of Time with Peter Brötzmann
  • A Parallax View with Paul Hession
  • Between with Sato Makoto
  • Everything Happens for a Reason
  • In Finland with Matthew Shipp and Dominic Duval
  • Next To You with Raymond Boni, Daunik Lazro and Claude Tchamitchian
  • Guts with Peter Brötzmann, Kent Kessler and Michael Zerang
  • The Open Door with Dominic Duval
  • Voices: 10 Improvisations with John Heward
  • Red Morocco
  • Tomorrow Came Today with Paal Nilssen-Love
  • Two Bands and a Legend, with Cato Salsa Experience and The Thing
  • Alto
  • Magic with Mikołaj Trzaska, Dominic Duval and Jay Rosen
  • The Damage Is Done with Peter Brötzmann, Kent Kessler and Michael Zerang
  • Blue Chicago Blues with Ingebrigt Håker Flaten
  • Creole Gardens with Michael Zerang
  • Brooklyn DNA with Ingebrigt Håker Flaten
  • What/If/They Both Could Fly with Evan Parker
  • Ithaca with Eli Keszler
  • Red Sky with Paal Nilssen-Love
  • Sonic Elements
  • Tree Dancing with Chris Corsano, Lol Coxhill and Evan Parker
  • Echoes with Fire! Orchestra
  • ''I'm Just Say'n''

    With Trio X

  • Rapture
  • The Watermelon Suite
  • On Tour
  • In Black and White
  • Journey
  • The Sugar Hill Suite
  • Moods: Playing with the Elements
  • Roulette at Location One
  • Air: Above and Beyond
  • 2006 U.S. Tour
  • Live in Vilnius
  • Live On Tour 2008
  • '' Live On Tour 2010''

    With Survival Unit III

  • Don’t Postpone Joy!
  • Syncronicity]
  • Game Theory
  • Barrow Street Blues
  • Straylight
  • ''Straylight ''

    Compilations

  • A Future Retospective – compiles Old Eyes and Oleo
  • Nation Time: The Complete Recordings – Compiles Nation Times and Black Magic Man with 2 CDs of unreleased live recordings
  • The CjR Years – 4LP Box Set compiles Underground Railroad, Nation Time, Trinity and ''Pieces of Light''

    As sideman

With Peter Brötzmann
  • The Chicago Octet/Tentet
  • American Landscapes 1
  • American Landscapes 2
  • 3 Nights in Oslo
With Roy Campbell, William Parker & Warren Smith
With the C. T. String Quartet
  • Reqiphoenix Nexus
With Dominic Duval
With Joe Fonda
  • Heat Suite
With Joe Giardullo
  • Shadow & Light
With Jimmy Giuffre and André Jaume
  • River Station
With Raphe Malik
  • Sympathy with Donald Robinson
With Mat Maneri
  • Sustain
With the Nihilist Spasm Band
  • No Borders
With Evan Parker
  • The Redwood Session
With Jamie Saft
  • Ticonderoga
With Clifford Thornton
  • Freedom & Unity
With The Thing
  • ''She Knows...''