The African Game
Live album by
George Russell & The Living Time Orchestra
Released1984
RecordedJune 18, 1983
GenreJazz
Length45:20
LabelBlue Note
ProducerGeorge Russell
George Russell chronology
Live in an American Time Spiral
(1983) 		The African Game
(1984) 		So What
(1987)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]

The African Game is a live album by George Russell released on the Blue Note label in 1984, featuring performances by Russell with his Living Time Orchestra recorded in 1983 in Boston.[2] The Allmusic review by Richard S. Ginell awarded the album 3 stars and states "The African Game is a major statement, a highly eclectic, nine-part, 45-minute suite for augmented big band that attempts to depict no less than the evolution of the species from the beginning of time to the present from an African perspective. Well, yes, this theme has been taken on by many an ambitious artist in every field, but Russell's work is remarkably successful because it tries to embrace a massive world of sound in open, colorful, young-thinking terms, with degrees of timbral unity and emotion to keep the idioms from flying out of control".[3]

Track listing

All compositions by George Russell
  1. "Event I: Organic Life on Earth Begins" - 6:38
  2. "Event II: The Paleolithic Game" - 4:32
  3. "Event III: Consciousness" - 2:22
  4. "Event IV: The Survival Game" - 7:45
  5. "Event V: The Human Sensing of Unity with Nature" - 0:50
  6. "Event VI: African Empires" - 8:23
  7. "Event VII: Cartesian Man" - 3:28
  8. "Event VIII: The Mega-Minimalist Age" - 4:04
  9. "Event IX: The Future?" - 7:18
  • Recorded live at Emmanuel Church, Boston, Massachusetts, June 18, 1983.

Personnel

References

  1. ^ Allmusic Review
  2. ^ George Russell discography accessed 12 November 2009.
  3. ^ Ginell, R. S. Allmusic Review accessed 12 November 2009.
Categories