Proverbs for Sam (2008)
About
"Proverbs For Sam", the sixth album release by the Untempered Ensemble, is tribute to Bill Cole's longtime musical partner Sam Furnace. Sam Furnace blew a mighty and brave--but warm--alto saxophone aside Cole until his untimely death from cancer in 2003. These live performances from the Vision Festival in New York City and at the Burlington, VT based Flynn Center in 2001 feature Bill Cole (Chinese suona, Korean hojok, Korean piri, nadaswaram, shehnai, Tibetan trumpet, didgeridoo and Ghanaian flute), Cooper-Moore (percussion & self-made instruments), Warren Smith (percussion & glockenspiel), Joe Daley (euphonium & tuba), William Parker (acoustic bass) and Sam Furnace (tenor saxophone).
Reviews
“A bracing merger of East-West traditions recorded in the presence of an appreciative audience, Proverbs for Sam is a vibrant investigation of pan-global musical possibilities and a celebratory ode to a beloved artist.”
— Troy Collins, All About Jazz
“Bill Cole has been one of the true iconoclasts, albeit underrecognized, in the creative improvised music field...These live performances...feature Cole's stellar Untempered Ensemble, a perfect moniker for this freewheeling, no-holds-barred group that raises the bar on counterpointed lines, world music infusions, and an intrepid approach to pure harmonic invention...[T]his recording will appeal to the challenged listener only, but it has a depth, spirit, and soul transcending many other similar projects, while standing proudly alongside music from the Art Ensemble, other A.A.C.M. groups, and the modernists of the African-American root-strata diaspora self-determining tradition.”
— Michael G. Nastos, All Music
“ Proverbs for Sam is a fitting tribute and carries a spiritual weight not found in most run-of-the-mill world music projects.”
— Jeff Stockton, All About Jazz