Crystals (Sam Rivers album)

Jazz critic Thom Jurek wrote: “Musically, this is the mature Sam Rivers speaking from the wide base of his knowledge as a composer, improviser and conceptualist.”[3]

It had been over a decade since Ornette Coleman had worked with his Free Jazz Double Quartet, nine years since John Coltrane assembled his Ascension band, and six since the first Jazz Composers' Orchestra Association was formed and whose first records were issued (a couple of members of that band also performing with Rivers on this record) and the compositions for what eventually became Crystals were written between 1959 and 1972. They were finished as new elements came to him to fit them together conceptually.[4]

The album was released by Impulse! in September 1974, and was out of print after a few years. It was re-released in CD form in 2002 (with Rivers' original liner notes), and available for three years through Universal Distribution.[5]

The compositions were recorded over a period of five or six hours[6] by an ensemble sometimes reported as 14 musicians: 3 trumpets, 2 trombones, tuba, 5 reeds, bass, and 2 drummers. Other musicians listed in the vinyl liner notes were present in rehearsals (and their contributions incorporated in the final results) but not the recording.

1. "Exultation" – 8:25
2. "Tranquility" – 8:58
3. "Postlude" – 2:31
4. "Bursts" – 6:51
5. "Orb" – 9:36
6. "Earth Song" – 4:09

Including Rivers, this big band numbers 'sixty-four' musicians,[7] including:

• Sam Rivers – saxophones, conductor
• Sinclair Acey – trumpet
• Ted Daniel – trumpet
• Richard Williams – trumpet
• Charles Greenlee – trombone
• Charles Stephens – trombone
• Joe Daley – trombone, tuba
• Roland Alexander – soprano and tenor saxophone, flute
• Fred Kelly – soprano and baritone saxophone, flute
• Joe Ferguson – alto, tenor & soprano saxophones, flute
• Paul Jeffrey – tenor saxophone, flute, clarinet, oboe, bassett horn, bassoon
• Gregory Maker – acoustic & electric bass violin
• Ronnie Boykins – bass guitar
• Harold Smith – drums, percussion
• Warren Smith – drums, percussion

Credits from AllMusic include 62 musicians (not including Maker):[8]

Production

• Ken Druker – executive producer
• Bryan Koniarz – producer
• Ed Michel – producer
• Kevin Reeves – mastering