Silver Pyramid

Eddie Prévost & Music Now Ensemble

Digital
1 Silver Pyramid Part 1 16:19
2 Silver Pyramid Part II 15:48
3 Silver Pyramid Part III 12:41
4 Silver Pyramid Part IV 18:42
5 Silver Pyramid Part V 10:14

Pre-Scratch Orchestra Ensemble formed by / for the occasion of the four day 'Music Now' event at the Roundhouse, 1969. The motley crew perform Eddie Prévost's 'composition' 'Silver Pyramid'. Ensemble definitely features the AMM usual suspects, Cornelius Cardew, Howard Skempton, Hugh Davies and many others, but as for who is responsible for what is conceivably the sound of a door being ripped off its hinges and a fire engine, nobody knows. Is that LaMonte Young doing some sort of drone? Is that Cardew on a penny whistle? Why is the Roundhouse no longer a psychedelic engine room?  

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Music Now Ensemble / a lot of sound producing objects

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Recorded at The Roundhouse, London as part of a Music Now Festival on 4 May 1969. Front cover by Keith Rowe.

Eddie Prévost

A founder-member of AMM (1965-2022)

[Eddie Prévost’s] is one of the greatest metallurgists that music has produced. […] sparks delicately arcing through the air, of slow lava ingesting its surroundings, of the shifting grind of tectonic plates across each other, of the rustle and glint of a firebird darting between shadows, and of ore smashing into the surface of the earth; but perhaps this language is overwrought: all that needs to be remarked upon is Prévost's industry, his diligence.”
Nathan Moore — liner note to AMM’s ‘Indúsria’
Matchless Recordings mrcd105.

But beyond this work Prévost has also maintained a relationship with the jazz drum-kit.

“His free drumming flows superbly making perfect use of his formidable technique, but his most startling feature is his stylelessness. It’s as though there has never been an Elvin Jones or a Max Roach.” - review of a set with saxophonist Lou Gare, Melody Maker (27.03.1975)

“Prévost, meanwhile, was simply miraculous; it was fascinating to watch him and to compare his approach with that of a Kern or a Nilssen-Love. I can only say that he was possessed of an uncanny, burning intentness that navigated the ensemble through passages of stark, sculpted beauty, grave concentration and full-on, bristling energy.”
Blue Tomato, Vienna 2012. In concert with Marilyn Crispell and Harrison Smith. Richard Rees-Jones

“An excellent release from one of the finest percussionists around, jazz or otherwise.” review of Prévost’s solo CD ‘Collider’
Matchless Recordings mrcd106 – Brian Olewnic, Squidsear (2022).

“Relentlessly innovative yet full of swing and fire.” – Morning Star