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Sam Rivers's tenor saxophone solo opens the improvisation on "Luminous Monolith," the most freely structured piece on his 1964 album Fuchsia Swing Song. Playing at approximately 290 BPM in D, Rivers dispenses with conventional chorus structures in favor of open-ended, through-composed improvisation. His tenor playing is exploratory and intense, pushing beyond the hard bop framework that anchors the album's other tracks into more abstract territory. He is the first of three soloists, followed by Jaki Byard on piano and Tony Williams on drums. If you know the form of this tune and how many bars it is, please tell us in the comments below!
Sam Rivers was 40 to 41 years old at the time.
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