Dimensions & Extensions

by Sam Rivers

Dimensions & Extensions cover art
  • Type: Compilation
  • Released: 1986
  • Label: Blue Note
  • Country: United States
  • Length: 35:28
  • Community rating: 4.37/5 from 6 ratings

Album Notes & Community Reviews

Recorded in 1967 but inexplicably shelved by Blue Note for nearly two decades, 'Dimensions & Extensions' captures a brilliant septet session teetering on the edge of free improvisation. Sam Rivers's complex, angular compositions are bolstered by a remarkable ensemble that includes Donald Byrd and Julian Priester, resulting in a dense, polyphonic approach to post-bop. The delayed release finally unveiled one of the most adventurous and technically demanding studio dates of Rivers's mid-career.

Genres

Descriptors: complex, dissonant, avant-garde, instrumental, improvisation, acoustic

Tracklist

  1. Precis (5:18)
  2. Paean (5:20)
  3. Effusive Melange (5:45)
  4. Involution (7:10)
  5. Afflatus (6:25)
  6. Helix (5:30)

Credits

  • Sam Rivers - primary artist, tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, flute
  • James Spaulding - alto saxophone, flute
  • Cecil McBee - bass
  • Steve Ellington - drums
  • Julian Priester - trombone
  • Donald Byrd - trumpet

More from Sam Rivers: full discography