Peter Brotzmann & Hamid Drake - Chicago & Milwaukee

[Frisco]

Peter Brotzmann came in for a short visit to help mix some Tentet material recorded last year in Chicago. He and Hamid Drake (Friday Dec. 19), joined by Kent Kessler (Saturday Dec. 20), took advantage of the opportunity presented, to make some wonderful music.

Friday's concert was presented by the folks at 3030, a small old church in the middle of a Northwest Chicago neighborhood. With just four rows of pews, furnished with large pillows, the venue provided an intimate setting for Peter and Hamid to fill the air with joyous sounds. Brotzmann came equipped with tenor and alto saxes, clarinet, and soprano sax! No Taragato this time. And soprano sax? I'd never heard him play one before. Unfortunately as the night progressed, the opportunity never came, and the soprano sat shining in the dim light of the stage. Peter, however, made excellent use of the other three horns during two very lengthy sets of music. There was plenty of the high energy excursions but also a lot of very soulful lines and quiet exchanges that provided a beautiful contrast. By now, Peter and Hamid know each other so well that the music just seems to happen effortlessly and so naturally. Nothing forced, nothing contrived, just pure musical enjoyment and interaction.

Speaking of beuatiful contrasts, the next night Peter and Hamid, along with Kent Kessler and dozens of Chicagoans, traveled to Milwaukee for round two. In contrast to the dark, intimate, carpeted, dry sounding room at 3030, the concert was presented at Onopa Brewing Co. A bright, lively, loud hangout with plenty of beer to keep the hangers out at the bar alive and shouting words of encouragement for the band. I thought it was great that in addition to some fine home brews on tap, the bar still featured the classic tastes of Pabst, Carling Black Label, Blatz, and Schlitz.

Tonight, Peter decided not to tease us with the soprano and came to the stage with just the tenor sax and clarinet. The trio with Kessler went through three fine tunes with Peter playing the first and third on tenor, the middle piece being an exquisite piece for the clarinet and the bowing talents of Kessler. But it was the happenings of the second set that left the audience and band with huge smiles on their faces. The trio was joined by Ken Vandermark, equipped with tenor and baritone saxes and bass clarinet. The first of three pieces featured one of those ecstatic moments where you want to jump out of your seat in pure joy. With Ken and Peter on tenors they exchanged solo and duo passages before they hooked up in a heated exchange with Hamid raising the energy level to that moment that I mentioned. The second piece featured Peter on clarinet and Ken on bass clarinet, another one of those beautiful contrasts. The final piece featured Ken on baritone and Peter on tenor. Vandermark played a very spirited solo but also provided some soulful riffing along woth Hamid's rocking rhythms as Peter played some his most soulful and gritty playing of the weekend. During the piece, Peter was left to play alone and continued his exploration of some of the most incredible sounds from way deep down into his own soul. Screaming overtones, spiritual sounds, pretty much beyond decription, before the band reentered and brought the set to a rousing climax.

Proof here (as he and others like William Parker always seem to do) that this music can be vital and fresh when played by brilliant and visionary artists.

[Pete C]

By the way, the video of the Tentet performance at last year's North Sea Festival is still available online:

http://www.omroep.nl/nps/jazz/arties...navigatie.html

There are dial-up (smalband) and broadband (breedband) streams. The back of my head makes a short cameo appearance, as does Hermann's.

[gnhrtg]

Thanks for the review, Frisco. I wish so much that I could have attended these - especially the set with Vandermark. Just so far away (not to mention the fact that I've been denied a visa).

Pete C - will check that as soon as I get to my fast connection computer. Thanks again for your help with the North Sea Jazz Festival - five months to go but I'm already very excited and eager, this being my first major festival. So tell me how to spot you in the video, I'd like to get to know my benefactor

[Captain Hate]

Rather than start a new thread I'll just add to this one. I don't know what it is about Herr Brotz that brought the music listeners out for this one. When I saw the Ori Kaplan Trio about two years ago at the same location (Beachland Tavern) the band almost outnumbered the crowd. But tonight was standing room only; fortunately I was one of the first to get there since I brought a contractor from work who likes music and is pretty adventurous and I overestimated how long it would take to get to the Beachland from Downtown. When we got there Drake and Brotz had just set up and were warming up; it wasn't really a sound check since everything is off mike there. Jim Hemingway of Eremite was setting up some mikes to record so we just sat back and waited for people to arrive; which they did in droves. Lots of young people which I think is really good; hard to say why this happened because I didn't notice any major publicity blurb about it. But believe me, I'm not complaining.

Brotz and Drake started off at about 9:20 (no warm-up act; there is a God) with Peter on alto and Drake responding on the traps. Things got lively fast as Brotz gradually built to a frenzy (I hate to steal other people's descriptions but the one about "waiting for a vein on his forehead to spray us all with blood" really works for me. But after reaching a peak he played some nice melodic alto figures while gathering his strength for the next storm. The crowd was rivetted, not making any sounds during the quiet sections in which you could hear every brush that Hamid did against the cymbal. After regrouping Brotz went through some motifs of lessening fury before the song came to an end. The next song was on clarinet and was more of the same in nature, but it was a very different "song". There were points in this, as well as the first, where Brotzmann would play staccatto figures on his horn while Hamid was given license to venture out on his own, freed from strictly rhythmic constraints. Drake is truly a wonder; this is at least the fourth time I've seen him and he continues to amaze me both in the economy of his motion and his continual variance of the lines he's playing. If you hear him play something real catchy, grab it quick because he'll be elsewhere very shortly. The final song of the set had Peter back on alto for more of the same. I say more of the same in terms of the quality of the music, because the songs are very difficult to explain. But all of you that've heard him know that.

During the break, at least one person got Brotz to autograph a Last Exit disc, which he seemed pretty amused about. The second set, with most of the crowd still present, began with Peter on taragato and Hamid on the frame drum for a very nice change of pace. Again, Drake's facility on this is well-known to anybody who's seen him. I've grown pretty fond of Brotz's taragato playing on the Never to Late But Always Too Early disc, so this piece was really nice. For the next song he picked up his trusty tenor and started blowing the walls down; unfortunately, it is still a work-a-day world for me so I had to leave before the piece was done. Seeing him this weekend in Buffalo made the exit less bothersome.

[Captain Hate]

After a very pleasant 3 hour drive I met up with Nate in Buffalo and we chatted away the afternoon; pretty much relentlessly bashing other JCers. Then we met up with Pat Frisco and a few others for dinner and then back to Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center (it's an old factory that has been sliced up into lofts; actually a great place for the event) for the concert. Nate had told me that McPhee had barely drawn flies the night before but there must be something about Brotzmann that brings out the fans in droves.

The first set was a duet between Brotzmann and McPhee; I believe McPhee started off on cornet and Brotz on alto. As the set moved along Brotz alternated between clarinet, tenor and baritone sax (although I don't think he played that until the second set; ditto for the taragato) while McPhee moved between the soprano and tenor saxes and a clarinet (alto clarinet??) with a curved neck and bell but not as large as a bass clarinet. The soloing and interplay between these two was very inspired, running through a range of tempos and moving from ethereal introspection to wall-shattering bursts of Ayleresque vibrato-laden tenor madness.

Hamid Drake joined the fray for the second set, which began with a dual tenor onslaught which concluded with the pulsing unison blasts that begin Machine Gun. With the blood flowing rapidly from that one Brotz began spewing out plasma bolts from his baritone, which McPhee joined after a while on soprano. The evening ended with a song that's a tribute to Fred Hopkins from an upcoming release. As much as I enjoyed the telepathic communications between Brotzmann and Drake in Cleveland, adding McPhee to the mix upped the ante even more.

[mke]

Originally posted by Captain Hate
After a very pleasant 3 hour drive I met up with Nate in Buffalo and we chatted away the afternoon; pretty much relentlessly bashing other JCers.

Isn't that what all IRL inter-JCer conversations consist of?

[Uli]

Originally posted by Captain Hate
After a very pleasant 3 hour drive I met up with Nate in Buffalo and we chatted away the afternoon; pretty much relentlessly bashing other JCers.

I fiercely imagin the serious pounding the aebly/ollie axis garnered.

[Frisco]

A repeat performance last night (Wed. 1/12/05). Same setup as the Milwaukee gig. The trio of Peter, Kent, and Hamid in the first set, joined by Vandermark for the second set. Peter on tenor and alto saxes and clarinet. Once again, no taragato. All four were at the top of their art, obviously enjoying every moment. The music sang and danced, screamed and shouted, shuffled and rocked. Tremendous energy. The Empty Bottle exploded with joy and celebration. The crowd, standing shoulder to shoulder, went into the warm, rainy night, smiling and knowing that this is still the "best of all possible worlds".

[frankiepop]

By the way, the video of the Tentet performance at last year's North Sea Festival is still available online:

http://www.omroep.nl/nps/jazz/artie..._navigatie.html

There are dial-up (smalband) and broadband (breedband) streams. The back of my head makes a short cameo appearance, as does Hermann's.

i dunno why...but dialups get top rate success on that stream...one of the few watchable video streams for dialups that i ever encountered....i received a long good stream without hardly and interruption of that performance...

[Rob C]

Originally Posted by Frisco

A repeat performance last night (Wed. 1/12/05). Same setup as the Milwaukee gig. The trio of Peter, Kent, and Hamid in the first set, joined by Vandermark for the second set. Peter on tenor and alto saxes and clarinet. Once again, no taragato. All four were at the top of their art, obviously enjoying every moment. The music sang and danced, screamed and shouted, shuffled and rocked. Tremendous energy. The Empty Bottle exploded with joy and celebration. The crowd, standing shoulder to shoulder, went into the warm, rainy night, smiling and knowing that this is still the "best of all possible worlds".

Indeed. The second set, when KV joined in, was incredible.

[SilentKnowledge]

Thank you for supplying the URL Pete C. I enjoyed both the performance & interview audio/visuals!

[D.D.]

Originally Posted by Frisco

A repeat performance last night (Wed. 1/12/05). Same setup as the Milwaukee gig. The trio of Peter, Kent, and Hamid in the first set, joined by Vandermark for the second set. Peter on tenor and alto saxes and clarinet. Once again, no taragato. All four were at the top of their art, obviously enjoying every moment. The music sang and danced, screamed and shouted, shuffled and rocked. Tremendous energy. The Empty Bottle exploded with joy and celebration. The crowd, standing shoulder to shoulder, went into the warm, rainy night, smiling and knowing that this is still the "best of all possible worlds".

Was it recorded, by chance?

[Rob C]

Originally Posted by D.D.

Was it recorded, by chance?

I don't think so. I was at a show a couple of years ago there, though, that was recorded and I patiently await release by somebody, sometime: Brotzmann and Robert Barry in a duo. Whew! Wonderful stuff. There was a bad snowstorm out, so there were probably only about 25 people in the audience, or less.

[Nick]

Originally Posted by Rob C

I don't think so. I was at a show a couple of years ago there, though, that was recorded and I patiently await release by somebody, sometime: Brotzmann and Robert Barry in a duo. Whew! Wonderful stuff. There was a bad snowstorm out, so there were probably only about 25 people in the audience, or less.

Yeah I remember that. I think it was in March of 03. I had planned to go but the snow was too much for me to make the trip.

[Rob C]

Originally Posted by Nick

Yeah I remember that. I think it was in March of 03. I had planned to go but the snow was too much for me to make the trip.

You and everybody else. My friend who was supposed to go couldn't make it in from the 'burbs, but I only live about a mile away, so I braved it. And glad I did.