Monumental free jazz, still blinding.
With Willem Breuker and Evan Parker also on saxophones, Fred Van Hove on piano, Peter Kowald and Buschi Niebergall on double basses, Han Bennink and Sven-Ake Johansson both playing drums.
The CD is on FMP, with two extra takes.
Peter Brotzmann (sax), Toshinori Kondo (trumpet), Frank Wright (sax), Willem Breuker (sax), Hannes Bauer (sax), Alan Tomlinson (trombone), Alexander Von Schlippenbach (piano), Harry Miller (bass), Louis Moholo (drums).
LP from Cien Fuegos.
Our favourite of all his records.
From 1984, inspired by a Kenneth Patchen chapbook, it favours tenderness, lyricism and expressivity, but without foregoing Brötzmann’s characteristic squalling ferocity and angst. It never drags: he plays baritone, tenor and alto saxes, different clarinets including bass clarinet, and tarogato, bringing every trick and technique to bear on a whirl of feelings and emotions, in pieces nearly all less than five minutes. Bar the gorgeous opening reading of Lonely Woman, it’s all improvised, but utterly compelling, reflective, melodious, ravishing and rawly personal.
Beautiful music; hotly recommended.
Saxophone, clarinet, tarogato, frame drum, vocals.
Peter Brötzmann, Milford Graves, and William Parker, live and direct form the front room of CBGBs in 2002, with the drummer’s hand-painted, Orisha-adorned double-bass-drum kit, captured in its full thunderous glory on this recording, occupying most of the available space.
First in a series of records presenting previously unreleased works featuring Milford Graves.
From 1969, the complete works of this collaboration between members of the mythical Babs Robert Quartet (Belgian spiritual jazz pioneers) and the jazz/rock/funk unit COS, closely affiliated with Marc Moulin, Kiosk and Placebo during the 1970s.
A holy grail of a jazz 45, musically bifocalising another two masterpieces in this format: Krzysztof Komeda’s Cul-De-Sac soundtrack and François Tusques’ Le Corbusier souvenir, with Don Cherry.
A quintet, with DJ Harrison from Stones Throw on keyboards, drummer Corey Fonville (Christian Scott, Nicholas Payton), bassist Andrew Randazzo, Marcus Tenney on trumpet and Morgan Burr on guitar. Freaking, hiphop-inflected jazz-funk, with its roots in Weather Report, Return To Forever and early Earth Wind And Fire.
Dazzling, foundational jazz-funk from 1973, with Larry Mizell back at the desk (after Black Byrd), featuring killers like Lansana’s Priestess — as sampled by Theo Parrish on his Baby Steps EP — and the title track, with hot flute by Roger Glenn, and a smack of Curtis to its vocal chorus. Superior pressing; gatefold sleeve.