Subscribe
now to receive all the new
music
577 Records releases,
including this album
and 219 back-catalog items,
delivered instantly to you via the Bandcamp app for iOS and Android.
You’ll also get access to
subscriber-only
exclusives.
Learn more.
577 Records is proud to present the new album TEST and Roy Campbell, a live recording from April 16, 1999. This is the only known performance of Roy Campbell joining TEST: a collective band of Tom Bruno, Sabir Mateen, Daniel Carter, and Matt Heyner.
Following are edited notes from New York City musician Matt Mottel, who recorded the event:
“This performance was a benefit gig to repair the No Neck Blues Band’s van. John Fahey, Lee Ranaldo, and No Neck Blues Band joined the stacked lineup at No Neck Blues Band’s loft The Hint House and raised the ‘bread’ to fix the van. Spirits were lit with a listening and enthusiastic audience. The cathartic energy rising.
TEST occupied the public space of New York City. TEST’s typical audience was a passerby on a subway platform, a curious security guard on a smoke break in midtown, or the most ‘in the know’ subset of gig-goers. TEST, distinctly honed their working band approach, by actively gigging multiple times a week across the NYC subway map. When they performed at a ‘booked venue’, the listener witnessed the bullseye acumen of a working band. This ethos of the band choosing to ‘play anywhere/all the time’, separated TEST from other groups.
Roy, one of the hardest working musicians on the scene, had a bear hug that would ensconce its recipient with camaraderie and love. Roy lived at the north end of the Bronx, but nightly, was downtown, uptown, or somewhere in the middle playing weekly at venues such as Lenox Lounge, The Pink Pony, Brecht Forum, Tonic, Knitting Factory and CBGB’s Gallery.
Roy and TEST were ungrounded. They broke the glass ceiling on every hit, enriching the creative music community with manifest forward motion. On this album, we hear what the spirit of ‘the music’ is, was, and forever will be.”
credits
released September 4, 2020
Roy Campbell - Trumpet
Daniel Carter: Alto & Tenor Sax, Trumpet, Flute
Sabir Mateen - Alto & Tenor Sax, Flute, Clarinet
Matthew Heyner - Bass
Tom Bruno - Drums
Album/CD length 47:08
Recorded live in concert on April 16, 1999 at Hinthouse, Harlem NYC by Matt Mottell
Mastered by Jeremy Loucas at Sear Sound, New York City
Drawing by Sacha Bruno
Graphic design by Sergio Vezzali
All music by Roy Campbell (Camroy Music, ASCAP)
and TEST (New York City Artists Cooperative Music, BMI)
Sabir Mateen is a musician and composer from Philadelphia who plays primarily in the avant-garde jazz idiom. He
plays tenor and alto saxophone, B♭ and alto clarinet, and flute.
He has performed or recorded with many legendary musicians including Cecil Taylor. He is a member of the band TEST, with Daniel Carter....more