Saxophonist Joe McPhee launching new memoir Straight Up, Without Wings

Joe McPhee will discuss his new memoir Straight Up Without Wings at Chicago's Corbett vs. Dempsey Gallery on Friday.

Here's the scoop... 

On Friday (October 18), Chicago's Corbett vs. Dempsey Gallery (2156 West Fulton St) is proud to host a  launch for the new Joe McPhee memoir Straight Up, Without Wings: The Musical Flight of Joe McPhee, published by CvsD. The book, written together with Mike Faloon, will be available for the first time at the event, as will the equally new CD Nineteen Sixty-Six by The Jazzmen, featuring a young McPhee in a band led by bassist Tyrone Crabb.  This is the earliest McPhee recording yet heard, from a period when he played trumpet exclusively.

In this special convening part of our programming for the exhibition Hubcap Diamond Star Halo: Corbett vs. Dempsey at Twenty. McPhee and Faloon will be in dialogue with gallerist John Corbett, who has worked with McPhee for nearly 40 years, discussing the genesis of the book and touching on McPhee's brilliant legacy and his seasoned approach to improvisation. After the conversation, saxophonist and clarinetist Ken Vandermark will perform a set of solo works dedicated to and inspired by McPhee.

Books will be on hand, as will the new CD. For more info about the event and the Corbett vs. Dempsey Gallery go here.

In Straight Up, Without Wings, Joe McPhee surveys sixty years in creative music. Starting with his trumpeter-father's influence and formative years in the U.S. Army, McPhee recounts experiences as a Black-hippy-cum-budding-musician based in upstate New York, perched at an ideal distance from Manhattan’s free jazz demimonde of the 1960s and its loft scene of the 1970s. A natural storyteller, revealing never-told tales and reveling in the joys of noise, McPhee puts the influence of – and encounters with – Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane and Albert Ayler into the context of an independently-minded young player, ravenous for experience, dealing with the crucible of racism, seeking to break out beyond the bounds of a regional Hudson Valley scene that he knows like the back of his hand. The memoir draws forward through thrilling passages in Europe and across the United States, as McPhee gains momentum, as his music becomes the impetus for multiple record labels, as he collaborates with figures from Peter Brötzmann to Pauline Oliveros, and as he eventually goes on to inspire musicians far and wide. Written as an oral history, deftly conducted by Mike Faloon to preserve McPhee’s unique narrative voice, Straight Up, Without Wings includes “reflections” by eight musicians from across the protagonist’s rich history.

Saxophonist Ken Vandermark will be previewing his tribute to longtime pal Joe McPhee.

Adds Ken Vandermark...

This Friday at 7pm there will be a free event at the Corbett vs. Dempsey gallery to celebrate their publishing of Joe McPhee’s memoir, “Straight Up, Without Wings: The Musical Flight of Joe McPhee”. Joe and Mike Faloon, who wrote the book with Joe, will have a discussion with John Corbett about the memoir and Joe’s work. Afterward I’ll present six new compositions I’m writing for Joe, a collection of music I’m calling “October Flowers”, an homage to Joe in sound and an attempt to celebrate his profound impact on me, which began in 1981 when I first heard Joe’s solo album, “Tenor”.