Send "Commitment " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Popmatters |
 Musical movements from rare groove to lo-fi have made a criterion of sorts out of obscurity. Record collectors foster the impulse, and most music lovers, regardless of their “brow” (high-brow, low-brow, no-brow) can understand the allure of a rare or forgotten gem. The new two-disc set Commitment: the Complete Recordings will have to prevail on such a viewpoint to catch most buyers’ eyes. The band in question, Commitment, was active for under a decade and made only three recordings: an LP recorded in 1981, an unreleased LP recorded in 1984, and a live set played in Germany at the Moers Jazz Festival in 1983, released for the first time on this compilation. These recordings do not play like pivotal keys to the understanding of an epoch, or long-lost masterpieces that reveal a new and startling dimension of the jazz tradition. Rather, this compilation is a pleasure to be pursued for its own sake, a mere snapshot, however vivid, of talented men pursuing their specific musical vision.Commitment was a quartet, based in the Lower East Side of New York, unique for its mix of Asian, Asian American and African American members. They played an intercultural brand of the free jazz that was at that time coming of age under the sure guidance of men like Cecil Taylor in the the open, collaborative atmosphere of the loft era. The band was founded when William Parker, a reed player, met the young violinist Jason Hao Kwang. Parker soon became a kind of mentor, nurturing in the younger man a desire for self-expression and self-exploration precipitated by his involvement with the Basement Workshop, an Asian American arts organization. Commitment was born out of a community preoccupied with social identity and cooperative growth, and what little remains of their meager legacy bears the marks of those circumstances. On the back of the Commitment LP, there was a poem which included the lines: “When we, as a family of musicians, play / and you, who listen openly, meet / we will explore the face of soul—it’s the tradition.” The group’s trademark sound was a seamless if chaotic form of group improvisation dominated by Kwang’s expressive, skittering strings and Zen Matsuura’s methodical, ambient drums. There is a spiritual, pictorial aspect to Commitment’s songs which is magnified quite a bit by titles like “Mountain Song”, “Grassy Hills, the Sun” and “Ocean”. One of the most impressive tracks on the album is “Famine” (from the LP), an eerie, beautiful piece which opens with an interchange between Kwang’s wavering violin and Will Connell’s sure-footed sawed bass. The percussion starts hesitantly but gathers momentum until all four musicians are contributing, each playing with the same simple figures in separate but responsive ways. They slowly diverge with more and more urgency until a nearly frantic alarm sounds out, not unlike the music that accompanies each encounter with the monolith in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Finally, nothing is left but a plaintively plucked violin and the song ends....full text |
| Elbo |
| Commitment: the Complete Recordings may not exactly be a forgotten gem or an earth-shattering epiphany, but it's a precious gift at the very least, a reminder that music can come from anyone, anywhere, and probably should. Musical movements from rare groove to lo-fi have made a criterion of sorts out of obscurity. Record collectors foster the impulse, and most music lovers, regardless of their "brow" (high-brow, low-brow, no-brow) can understand the allure of a rare or forgotten gem. The new two-disc set Commitment: the Complete Recordings will have to prevail on such a viewpoint to catch most buyers...full text |
| Jazzdimensions |
| Ein Briefmarkensammler würde dies als "abgeschlossenes Sammelgebiet" bezeichnen – wunderbar geeignet zur retrospektiven Betrachtung. Warum aber sollte sich jemand mit einer obskuren Free Jazz Band beschäftigen, die nur für kurze Zeit, Anfang der 80er Jahre, am Rande des New Yorker Underground existierte und es zu "Lebzeiten" auf gerade ein offizielles Album brachte? Betrachten wir anstelle einer Antwort einfach die Besetzung... Commitment - "The Complete Recordings" Und die ist wirklich etwas Besonderes – zum ersten Mal in der Jazzgeschichte formierten sich afro- und asiatisch-amerikanische Musiker zu einer gemeinsamen Band und brachten ihre jeweiligen Kulturkreise in die Musik ein. Von Jason Kao Hwang (violin), Will Connell Jr. (sax, b-cl), William Parker (b) und Takeshi Zen Matsuura (dr) brachten es Parker als Mitglied der Band von David S. Ware und Autor des Buchs "Who owns music?" (Buddies Knife) und Hwang als Mitinitiator der Asian American Jazz Movement zu einiger dauerhafter Bekanntheit, während die anderen beiden in der Obskurität versanken. Auch der Band Commitment selbst war kein langes Leben beschieden. Abseits der damals hippen Loft-Szene zeichnete sich die Gruppe weniger durch Kollektivimprovisation als mit durchdachten, komplex arrangierten Kompositionen aus. Subtil und mit viel Raum für komplex geführte Stimmen sind es größtenteils balladeske Stücke, gelegentlich auch dicht-drängend nach vorn stürmende Songs, die man zu hören bekommt. "Web Of Forces" erinnert in letzterem an den Mingus der mittleren Phase. "Grassy Hills, the Sun" bietet als zehnminütiger Vertreter der Balladen die schönste Draufsicht auf die musikalische Bandbreite der Gruppe. Dass "The Complete Works" eine Doppel-CD ist, verdankt sich der Hinzunahme eines Livemitschnitts von einzigen Europaaufenthalts der Band. Die Stücke 1 bis 5 der ersten CD entsprechen der, nur rund 35 Minuten kurzen, offiziellen LP "Commitment" von 1980, der Rest der ersten und die gesamte zweite CD entstanden am 20. Mai 1983 während des Moers-Festivals (weitere, rund 85 Minuten)....full text |
Commitment lyrics
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