There's a new article on All About Jazz about Brötzmann's Chicago tentet, where Lloyd Peterson writes things like this:
Importantly, Peter Brotzmann has a phenomenal capacity to express astounding complex emotions through sound, and being able to understand music at this level is fundamentally about listening. He plays each note and each sound as if it is the last time it is to be performed. And though it is impossible to hear all things as there are always more ways to listen and more areas of sound to discover, it ultimately depends on your attitude and how much you think you understand at every instant you stop and listen.Why can't people be a bit more specific? The article is spotted with rather abstract words signifying big concepts: "beauty", "harmony", "genius", "phenomenal", "energy". Some sentences sound certainly interesting and beautiful in themselves: "The creativity and character of the members of the Tentet mirror the global potentialities in music and life." But then it often goes right into the esoteric: "However, it is my sincere hope that he understands that every note and every emotion that he gives life, is a mirror of the human soul that creates a bridge to the spiritual universe." - Or: "Every note and every sound is unique in its own way at the moment of its inception but those of Brotzmann live on the edge between the known and the unknown and are able to elevate us to another realm of creativity."
Well then maybe that was my problem with the Brötzmann Tentet in Moers? Is it because I'm a non-spiritual person? Is it because even though I've been searching a bit, I couldn't find God? Well then, it cannot be helped. (Though I absolutely feel a sense of elevation when listening to Albert Ayler and "A Love Supreme", so maybe my soul isn't entirely lost yet.)
Can anybody be a bit more specific please? Can anybody describe the beauty, the depth and the spirituality of this music in a more detailed way? I'm aware of the renaissance of secret societies especially in jazz music (tonight there'll be a "Secret Society of Internet Jazzers" be playing in Berkeley), yet is it really necessary for me to become a kind of Rosicrucean or Free Mason to understand it?
Articles like that of Lloyd Peterson don't say anything at all.
