Alan Braufman

APPEARING: BROOKLYN MARATHON @ Loove Labs Annex

Saturday, January 11, 2025

Alto saxophonist and flutist Alan Braufman (b. Brooklyn, 1951) and pianist/multi-instrumentalist Cooper-Moore (b. Loudoun County, Virginia, 1946) began working together in Boston around 1969 while Braufman was studying at Berklee. By 1973, along with saxophonist David S. Ware, bassist Chris Amberger, and drummer Marc Edwards, they had relocated to New York and minus Edwards, all were occupying a TriBeCa walk-up at 501 Canal Street. A solid two years of living around one another and playing in the loft’s storefront performance and rehearsal space resulted in Braufman’s 1975 LP Valley of Search (India Navigation 1024, reissued in 2018 as Valley of Search 001). Until recently, Valley of Search was an out-of-print rarity documenting serious loft-era improvised music, but within its stark black and white cover art and heavyweight vinyl grooves was a discographical marker of friendship. After all, music is a sharing of information, beliefs, emotions, and spiritual connection developed from camaraderie, and ideally it results in lasting sonic and personal relationships.