"FREQUENCY EQUILIBRIUM KOAN", by Michael Gregory Jackson (2024)

"These guys are all heroes of mine. I’ve learned so much (still learning) from all of them. To hear them all together like this is a real gift. What a combo! I can’t believe this happened more than 40 years ago. It sounds like the future. I’m so thankful the tape was running to document this extraordinary moment.” - Bill Frisell 2021

"FREQUENCY EQUILIBRIUM KOAN"

Frequency • the rate at which a vibration occurs that constitutes a wave, either in a material (as in sound waves), or in an electromagnetic field (as in radio waves and light).

Equilibrium • a state in which opposing forces or influences are balanced: a calm state of mind.

Koan • a paradoxical anecdote or riddle, used in Zen Buddhism to demonstrate the inadequacy of logical reasoning and to provoke enlightenment.

Many, many, years ago in a once enchanted place they called The Big Apple, New York City, on the Lower East Side, a scene congealed, a significant cultural revolution/renaissance was happening…it was later to be labeled “The Loft Jazz Scene”.

This period was a magical time in my young impressionable life, I was 23 years old, I dove straight into the deepness. This scene was vibrant, encompassing, ebullient, original and incendiary. We all did our own thing, separately and together, contained and motivated, fully immersed in the richly encompassing comfort of our ancestral connections.

Musicians, artists, poets, playwrights, actors, investors, galleries, clubs, museums and institutions of higher learning were mostly in cooperation…to showcase and revel at the torrents of music created and played on the Lower East Side, and beyond…reaching out to impact a vast world, to appreciative audiences of adventurous listeners.

I was playing and collaborating with musicians that could only be described as autonomous islands of individuality, with whom l connected on potent, spiritual frequencies, and deep aura communing. We shared our ideas, experimentations, and voyages in the most personal of ways.

I don’t recall the exact moment that I met Julius, but I do remember being immediately struck by his keenly intelligent, deliberate manner, by the low warm leisurely cadence of his voice, and by his wide, knowing, infectious and mischievous smile. Julius was one my favorite people, a master musician, a pioneer of sound, an innovator and magisterial composer. I was honored to have him play my music…to share ethereal air with him. His contributions were always blazing, heartfelt and breath taking. Rest In Peace Sir Julius.

I met Cellist Abdul Wadud around the same period, I didn’t get to know him very well personally, but our connection in the music was strong. Simply put, Abdul is a genius, a man and musician of deep intensity, integrity, fire, knowledge, experience and wisdom. His incredible playing knocked me out, it brought me great joy every time we played together.

I met drummer Pheeroan aKLaff at the La Mama Theatre in Alphabet City, not sure what year. Pheeroan was always there, a constant presence at our shows. I was playing a lot with the great master, saxophonist and composer Oliver Lake. Once we heard Pheeroan play it was clear, we knew, aKLaff would be the perfect drummer for our music.

“Frequency Equilibrium Koan” is one of my personal documentations of that scene. These pieces were some of the many long form compositions that I was writing and performing at that time. F.E.K. was recorded live at the late great singer Joe Lee Wilson’s venue The Ladies Fort in 1977 on my trusty Sony field recording cassette machine. This recording is not without some sound issues, it’s a little bright here and there, there’s some breaking up, and a bit of gritty dirt/old tape saturation...a stamp of time passed, in music that is wholly present.
- Michael Gregory Jackson 2021

released February 5, 2021

"FREQUENCY EQUILIBRIUM KOAN"
Live! The Ladies Fort, 2 Bond Street, NYC 1977

1. Frequency Equilibrium Koan (09:17)
2. Heart & Center (09:47)
3. Clarity 3 (11:21)
4. A Meditation (09:10)

PRODUCED BY MICHAEL GREGORY JACKSON

Michael Gregory Jackson - Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar
Body Percussion, Chimes, Bamboo Flutes, Recording,
Post Production, Digital Editing & Compositions

Julius Hemphill - Alto Saxophone

Abdul Wadud - Cello

Pheeroan aKLaff - Drums

David Greenberger - Bonus Photos