Third time lucky

As readers of this blog know, I had two unsuccessful approaches to Brötzmann's music recently. It wouldn't be fair to this great artist if I kept silent about the most recent - and very successful - approach. Today I received an email from Classics Online, notifying me that my customer review of Be Music, Night by the Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet that I left on their website has been rewarded with some bonus points. Here's what I wrote there some days ago:

A positive surprise
I've seen Peter Brötzmann's Chicago Tentet at this year's Moers Festival and was very much disappointed. They mostly delivered an impenetrable wall of sound, without development, without dynamics, and seemingly without purpose. Nevertheless when I saw that Jazzwerkstatt albums are now offered here at ClassicsOnline, I had the impulse to give this group a second try. And what a difference this recording is when compared to my negative concert impression.

This music here is carefully and thoughtfully developing, it's a grand-scale sound-painting, coupled with Kenneth Patchen's poetry, which is recited during this one-hour, three-act large-form piece. The recording is pristine and clear, every musician's individual voice can be heard (well, Fred Lonberg-Holm's cello is maybe not always there, unfortunately). I used the metaphor "sound-painting" quite consciously and it's quite literally true: While the two arts of music and literature are combined here, the effect is quite visually evoking a great landscape picture.

Wonderful, recommendable sound poetry for everyone who's got an open mind for contemporary, modern/post-modern art - not just for jazz/free-jazz fans. I think this should appeal to friends of the modern classical / contemporary / composed avant-garde as well.

Now by putting this review here I am certainly bringing myself into some kind of trouble, as my words are not necessarily less esoteric than the words of the Allaboutjazz reviewer whom I criticized three months ago. I don't know if it would get better if I add more words, but at least I couldn't make it worse, so here's a try:
The exposition starts slowly and dissonantly. Interestingly in spite of the dissonance there is a sense of togetherness, a constructive togetherness in a reflective mood. After a minute or so the sax and drums start a dialogue, changing the mood from reflective to something more discursive. When the brass join in, the scene becomes more agitated and a light sense of struggle appears, though it's still far from being hot. This whole exposition tells me that this is music about the world and its people. Though we somehow all know how mankind is like, we cannot help to see the characteristics of mankind - as exemplified in individuals or with a large-scale view at the crowds - be reiterated and brought to our attention in the arts.
The main movement of this work then begins with a poetry recital (the album's subtitle A Homage to Kenneth Patchen has already prepared the listener for that). There are lines from "The Love Poems", very beautiful ones, and there are some very conventionally melodic lines of music supporting the words tenderly. Later come eruptions, noises, and beautiful melodies again. Several times some of the introductory lines to Goethe's Faust come to my mind:

So, in this narrow wooden house's bound,
Stride through the whole creation's round,
And with considerate swiftness wander
From heaven, through this world, to the world down yonder.

It's not so fitting at second thought, because in Brötzmann's case it's not a one-way. It's there and back again, and again, and again. It's an exploration informed by the hermeneutic circle. Your pre-knowledge shapes your understanding and your understanding becomes then part of your pre-knowledge, so you can have another glance at the thing from a new point of view.
These last words probably show, that my way of understanding Brötzmann's work is still quite rationalistic. Nevertheless, I cannot say that it's anti- or non-spiritual either. When we deal with the big words like "mankind" or "understanding" or "togetherness", I think there's a way to bridge the gap between ratio and spirituality. I have to admit that I can't fully, rationally describe words like these. They could be narrow, but open lanes to my own spirituality.

Richard Youngstein

Richard Youngstein (cb): [Carla Bley & Paul Haines: Escalator over the Hill] [Paul Bley & An­net­te Pea­cock: The Paul Bley Syn­the­si­zer Show tracks #2,6,7]

Richard Youngstein was the bass-player in the "Original Hotel Amateur Band" on Carla Bley's recording of her jazz opera Escalator over the Hill and collaborated with the Bley/Peacock Synthesizer Show. Despite that he seems not have recorded too much with internationally acclaimed groups: He's only credited on a few albums at Discogs or AMG. In the early 70's however, he's also been leading his own group (Richard Youngstein Ensemble), with notable musicians as Perry Robinson or James Fulkerson. Later he changed his name and became a psychotherapist, which he reveals in an Amazon review of Paul Bley's biography:

"From the years 1968-1976, I was working, playing acoustic bass, under the name of Richard Youngstein. In Paul's very hip, very open book, he refers to playing a cool gig in Boston at the (long defunct) Jazz Workshop for one week with his long time drummer, Barry Altschul (whom I went to high school with in the Bronx) and "some bass player." Obviously Paul didn't remember my name, even though I recorded half an album with him on Polydor, called "The Paul Bley Synthesizer Show," produced by Orin Keepnews, and another album with his ex-wife, Annette Peacock, for French Polydor, that I heard had two titles, "Blood," and "Revenge." If anyone has a copy of either LP PLEASE let me know - I never got one & never heard it! Anyway, I also recorded under that name with Carla Bley & JCOA on "Escalator Over The Hill." I was very active in those years, playing w/Ros Rudd, Bill Dixon, Robin Kenyetta, Karl Berger, etc. I moved to LA late in 1976 and switched careers kind of, and names. I got my doctorate and license in psychology (like my late mentor, the great bassist David Izenzon) and have been in the healing field ever since. I had a trio/quartet "Erotic Zone," for some years and played periodically. Anyway, I am the same person, whether the old Richard Youngstein or the more recent Dr. Noah Young. Just thought I'd give a name to "some bass player" on the Jazz Workshop gig with mssrs. Bley and Altschul. And....Paul's book is awesome. Truly one of the giants of jazz and a priviledge to have made music with. (Write me at: Noazarc22@aol.com)"


P.S.: Isn't it interesting to find some traces of such drop-outs of the musical world? And to see what different way their life took after they left the professional music business?

John Zorn: Works, Collaborations, Appearances 5

John Zorn (as) [Eu­ge­ne Chad­bour­ne: 2000 Sta­tues and The Eng­lish Chan­nel] [Ma­sa­da: Vav] [Bla­de­run­ner: Vic­to­ria­vil­le (Bootleg)] [Cy­ro Bap­tis­ta: Vi­ra Lou­cos] [Son­ny Clark Me­mo­rial Quar­tet: Voo­doo] [Oto­mo Yo­shi­hi­de: We Insist? tracks #9,14] [Weird Litt­le Boy: s/t] [Ma­sa­da: Za­yin]

Kevin Zubek

Kevin Zubek (dr):

Sat­lah: “Ne­va­lah>”
see also: Daniel Zamir

Le­mon Jui­ce Quar­tet: “Pe­li­yot”

Kevin Zubek attended the Berkley College of Music, when Eyal Maoz and Ezra Shanir Blumenkranz relocated the Lemon Juice Quartet from Israel to New York. They met and Zubir joined this band. Zubek also plays with Daniel Zamir in the group Satlah and collaborated with Jürg Wickihalder and Daniel Carter.

Heavy Metal Quartet: Live at Jazz Fest Berlin 1994

The trombonists Ray Anderson, George Lewis, Craig Harris and Gary Valente have cooperated continuously in various ensembles. There is, for instance, a record published by Hat Art, called Slide Ride. An earlier form of cooperation was the Heavy Metal Quartet, which unfortunately did not leave any traces in form of official recordings to posterity. George Lewis, who was occupied with teaching activities during the time of Jazz Festival Berlin in 1994, was replaced by tuba player Bob Stewart for this occasion. I recorded two pieces from this concert when they were broadcast on a German analog FM radio station in 1994 or 1995. The conditions of the tape storing and the ripping equipment I used were far from ideal, but the result is audible and the musicians are simply stunning! The two long pieces are both starting out from some structured, obviously composed riffs and then delve into free passages. Here a brief overview over the data:

Ray Anderson (tb), Craig Harris (tb), Bob Stewart (tu), Gary Valente (tb)
Recorded Jazz fest Berlin 1994
1. Radio speaker's announcement
2. Black Out and the Square Root of Soul (Craig Harris)
3. Ravening (Ray Anderson)
The entire recording is about 23 minutes long, saved as mp3 in 320 kb/s. There's an excerpt from Ravening - a rather free passage - in the jukebox at the side of this blog, the bitrate in this jukebox is only 192 kb/s.

Download (mediafire)

As so many things on this blog site, this post is inspired by and indebted to Lucky from Psychic Hut again. I need to thank him for being aware of the historical importance of a Heavy Metal Quartet recording and for his encouragement in making a rip of this.