From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Giuseppi Logan
Giuseppi Logan
played all of my concerts, and occasionally I would
let him have some of his things played in the group.
He had a great deal of difficulty with getting people
to play his music. I think at the time I was the
only trumpet player who could play his music, and
I loved playing it. "No one sounded in an ensemble
like Giuseppi. He held his head back all the way,
explaining once, ’This way my throat is completely
open,’ so he could have more air coming through
his windpipe. He used to pride himself on playing
up to the fourth octave on alto. The things that
made him different as an improvisor were the way
he placed his notes, that sound he got, and then
what the others in his group played behind him.
His pieces were very attractive for those reasons.
Giuseppi Logan in 2009 Giuseppi had his own points of view about music,
which is what this music is supposed to be about.
Giuseppi Logan (born May 22, 1935) is a jazz musician We got along."[3]
originally from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania who taught
himself to play piano and drums before switching to ESP Disk’s Bernard Stollman on Logan:
reeds at age 12. At the age of 15 he began playing with
"Giuseppi was doing an awful lot of drugs—he
Earl Bostic and later studied at the New England Conser-
burned out, well, actually, he flipped out and never
vatory. In 1964 he relocated to New York and became em-
came back. I think that helps explain what hap-
broiled in the free jazz scene.
pened to Giuseppi. Also, he was mentally ill to some
Logan played alto and tenor saxophone, bass clarinet,
degree and he attacked me once, just randomly. He
flute, piano and Pakistani oboe. He collaborated with
would assault people without any warning; I loved
Archie Shepp, Pharoah Sanders and Bill Dixon before
his music, however, and when he did his first ses-
forming his own quartet made up of pianist Don Pullen,
sion, resulting from the October Revolution [ESP
bassist Eddie Gomez and percussionist Milford Graves.
1007, Giuseppi Logan Quartet], Milford Graves and
After Pullen’s departure, pianist Dave Burrell joined the
he filed through the studio and as they walked in
group. Logan was a member of Byard Lancaster’s band
to record, Giuseppi turned to me and said “if you
and toured with and appeared on records by Patty
rob me, I’ll kill you.” Milford was mortified—he had
Waters. He recorded two albums for the ESP Disk record
asked me to record Giuseppi—I’d given him a
label and later appeared on an album by Roswell Rudd
record date and he threatened me with death. At
on the Impulse! label. A 1965 press release from ESP-Disk
one point, I was standing with the engineer in the
indicates that a third album was planned, but never re-
control room, and I thought the piece they were
leased, possibly due to Logan’s increasingly erratic be-
playing was stunningly beautiful. It sounded to-
havior. This title was supposed to have been ESP-1018,
tally spontaneous, as if they were ad-libbing and
"The Giuseppi Logan Chamber Ensemble In Concert",[1]
commenting like a gorgeous conversation. Sudden-
but this catalogue number was eventually assigned to an
ly, I heard a ‘thwuuunk,’ and I realized that the
album by The Fugs.
tape had run out. The engineer and I were so ab-
Vintage footage of Logan comprises a short film by
sorbed, we hadn’t been paying attention. I thought
Edward English.[2] Anecdotes about the man are scarce,
“oh God, this remarkable thing is lost. It was inter-
but those that exist illustrate his influence over those he
rupted in the middle, and it’s gone.” Richard Alder-
worked with. Several of these are below.
son was the engineer, and he got on the intercom
Bill Dixon on Logan:
and said “Giuseppi, the tape ran out.” Without a
"[In the summer of 1964], Giuseppi Logan was pause, Giuseppi said “take it back to before where it
’studying’ with me, meaning: he wanted to know stopped and we’ll take it from there.” So he did, he
certain things, and I needed an alto player, so he wound it back and played some bars of it and took
1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Giuseppi Logan
down the record button, and they resumed exactly series. Later that year he appeared in the short docu-
what they were doing—there was no way of telling mentary film Water in the Boat by David Gutierrez Camps,
where one or the other ended. It was unreal."[4] where his music improvisations formed the soundtrack
of the film.[8]
Milford Graves on Logan:
"The reports that I’ve received is that he is still Discography
alive. He was spotted up in Harlem, New York.
That’s what people say. I don’t know. I was ap- As leader
proached to go up to Harlem to seek him out. Some- • The Giuseppi Logan Quartet (1964)
body spotted him in a hotel on 125th Street and I • More (1965)
haven’t had the opportunity to do that. Someone • The Giuseppi Logan Quintet (2009)
said they saw him, but I don’t know. I wouldn’t say
that he is still alive. That was the latest on him. As sideman
I last saw Giuseppi Logan in the Seventies and he
With Roswell Rudd
wasn’t in good shape. He was in the streets. He is
• Everywhere (Impulse!, 1966) (also released as part of
a question mark whether he is still alive. Hopeful-
Mixed in 1998)
ly, he is. I was the one who told Bernard Stollman
(founder of ESP) about Giuseppi Logan. I met
Bernard Stollman through the New York Art Quar- References
tet. He wanted to record me and in turn, I told [1] Moodymen
Giuseppi that I have some time because I’m a young [2] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSb-JgMIeuA
guy and instead of me taking this record date and Giuseppi Logan by Edward English
being the leader, I gave him the record date and so [3] Dixonia: a Bio-Discography of Bill Dixon by Ben
he took the record date. It was 1965 when we did Young, p. 72
that together."[5] [4] Bernard Stollman: The ESP-Disk Story
[5] A Fireside Chat with Milford Graves
Beset with personal problems,Logan vanished from the
[6] www.sermonaudio.com/nygm
music scene in the early ’70s and for over three decades
[7] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqhPezx3fgk
his whereabouts were unknown; however, in 2008 he was
[8] http://davidgutierrezcamps.com/water-in-the-
filmed by a Christian mission group just after he’d re-
boa/
turned to New York after years in and out of institutions
in the Carolinas.[6]. Around this same time filmmaker Persondata
Suzannah Troy made the first of many short films of Name Logan, Giuseppi
Logan practicing in his preferred hangout, Tompkins Alternative names
Square Park. Subsequently Logan was the subject of a ma-
Short description
jor piece by Pete Gershon in the spring 2009 edition of
Signal to Noise Magazine, which detailed the events sur- Date of birth May 22, 1935
rounding his ’comeback’ gig at the Bowery Poetry Club in Place of birth
February 2009.[7] Date of death
On April 6, 2009 Giuseppi performed, with a group,
Place of death
at Local 269 in NYC as part of the RUCMA performance
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Giuseppi_Logan&oldid=424606792"
Categories:
• 1935 births
• Living people
• ESP-Disk artists
• Avant-garde jazz musicians
• American jazz multi-instrumentalists
This page was last modified on 18 April 2011 at 00:17. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-
ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. See Terms of use for details. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of
the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.Contact us
Privacy policy About Wikipedia Disclaimers Mobile view
2