Idrissa's Dream by The Collective

Strut continues their work from the archives of Idris Ackamoor & The Pyramids with a first ever vinyl release of Ackamoor’s debut avant-garde / Afro-jazz recordings from 1971 with The Collective, based out of Yellow Springs, Ohio.

The group was formed after Ackamoor had returned to Antioch from a spell in L.A. under the wing of influential saxophonist Charles Tyler. Pianist Lester Knibbs had been appointed to the Antioch college music department as an assistant professor and had followed a similar path to avant-garde pioneer, Cecil Taylor. “They both came from the classical tradition,” explains Ackamoor, “but also understood jazz and avant-garde improvisation.” Ackamoor and Knibbs started as a duet before Ackamoor met three musicians from Wright-Patterson Air Force base near Dayton. Ackamoor continues, “They would come to Yellow Springs because they could find marijuana there. They were called ‘the three Steves’: Steve Maniscoso, an Italian, Steve Rumboat, a white American and Oakland Steve, a black musician playing flute. Oakland Steve left the air force and then Margaux Simmons arrived – that is the quintet featured on these recordings. You also hear a vocalist called Peggy Pettitt, another Antioch student who became quite famous in movies; she starred in the film Black Girl soon afterwards in 1972.

This concert is the only professional recording of The Collective from a performance at Kelly Hall in August 1971. “After this, I think the Steves went back to Wright-Patterson,” continues Ackamoor, “and The Collective just naturally evolved and transitioned into the Pyramids. I felt like The Collective was my birth as a composer; we created such a tapestry of sound because Lester had the talent to play enormous arpeggios and colours on the piano, both classically and as improvisation. Our music was just a natural expression, coming from our souls, our hearts and our minds. A channel from above... But it was not pre-designed in any way.

‘Idrissa’s Dream’ is fully remastered from the original tapes by The Carvery and the package features an interview with Idris Ackamoor alongside previously unseen photos.

IDRIS ACKAMOOR is an alto and tenor saxophonist, and composer. He is the Founder, Artistic Director of the legendary jazz and world music ensemble Idris Ackamoor ☥ The Pyramids.

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