peter brötzmann | fred van hove | han bennink
Peter Brötzmann - Fred Van Hove - Han Bennink
ELEMENTS (FMP 0030)
Tunes: “Florence Nightingale” / “Elements”
COUSCOUS (FMP 0040)
Tunes: “Couscous” / “Wenn mein Schätzlein auf die Pauke haut”
THE END (FMP 0050)
Tunes: “The Bad” / “Antwarreppe”, “Albert’s”
Peter Brötzmann / tenor sax, Fred Van Hove / piano, Han Bennink drums and various instruments; plus Albert Mangelsdorff / trombone.
Recorded: August 27, 28, 1971 at the Berlin “Free Music Market.”
OUTSPAN NO. 2 (FMP 0200)
Peter Brötzmann / clarinet, alto and tenor sax, brotzophon, Fred Van Hove / piano, Han Bennink / drums, clarinet, homemade junk, everything, anything.
Recorded: May 4, 1974, Nurnberg Festival.
The “Free Music Market” recordings present music that is remarkably successful considering it is almost entirely of a non-linear nature. These LPs might appropriately be referred to as studies in texture and tone color. While the language used is similar to that of the black free musicians of the Sixties, the similarity is of language only; because the purpose to which this organization of sounds is put is almost totally different. There are no real themes presented and there is no development in the sense that a thematic idea might be developed. Development is implied by the changing episodes and the withdrawal and addition of new sounds (textures). But the music does not so much develop (linearly) as it simply changes shape or direction. There is a churning forward movement (a real urgency about it) but it is more expanding (like circles in a pond) than it is actually going any place. Its linear aspects, such as they are (short, probing motifs or melodic fragments), are nearly all deceptive, rather quickly turning into something else.
Brötzmann’s playing personifies this approach. He’s strongly influenced by early Pharoah Sanders and by Albert Ayler of the “Greenwich Village” period. Yet he would not be thought of as an eloquent player in the sense that either Sanders or Ayler might be thought of as eloquent. Brötzmann largely moves you by the sheer strength of what he does, and his playing is almost entirely concerned with pitch and timbre, all the while working his way toward the tenor’s threshold of sound.
In a certain sense, it’s all catharsis, but that is more its point of departure (its medium) than its ultimate purpose. (In point of fact, there are only a few real cathartic culminations.) Brötzmann seems fully aware that he is only one force among several, and so he does not dominate matters in the way that energy players sometimes dominate everything. As he is playing, the shape of the music - underneath/above - is almost always changing, preparing for something else.
Peter Brötzmann and Fred Van Hove. Photo: Gérard Rouy
Van Hove, a strong and (I think) deliberately eclectic piano stylist, is quite important in this regard, generally laying out of the more frenetic ensembles and then providing needed shifts in tone color and dramatic emphasis. But the real backbone of this music is the great Dutch drummer Han Bennink, who has devised one of the most truly original approaches to the art of percussion and who must be near his best form on these recordings. Bennink seems to play just about everything he can get his hands on, and he often seems to have about three or four pairs of hands. His expansive range of sound and color (and, one might add, theatrics) is in turn combined with his unique sense of form and musical structure. Bennink almost single handedly fashions this music as it goes along.
Albert Mangelsdorff
Yet if Bennink is the music’s most essential part, Mangelsdorff is probably its most expendable. It’s not that Mangelsdorff does not frequently play well, which he does. It’s simply obvious that, however well he fits into these performances, Brötzmann, Van Hove, and Bennink are fully capable of getting along without him.
The best pieces overall are Van Hove’s “Florence Nightingale” and Brötzmann’s “Couscous.” “The End,” which begins with an absolutely scorching solo by Brötzmann, also has much to recommend it, but it’s not near as varied as the other two pieces. “Elements,” which is extremely varied, seems almost a success, but not quite; in retrospect, the piece seems to have been left dangling and a bit unfinished. The shorter pieces, “Antwarreppe” and “Albert’s,” suffer similarly; they are more fragments than finished works and neither adds much musically that has not already been presented in more interesting contexts. “Wenn Mein…’s” problems are Mangelsdorff’s occasional flights of romanticism and Van Hove’s rather dire classicism; but there’s some fine playing from Han Bennink and some good ensemble work midway into the piece.
Han Bennink Photo: Gérard Rouy
By the time we get to Outspan 2, three years later, we see that the intention of the music of Brötzmann, Van Hove, and Bennink has changed more than anything else. This is music that is absolutely full of humor, but without a compromise in the level of musicianship. In fact, the humor - the musicians’ utter refusal to take what they are doing too seriously - is the most refreshing aspect of the recording. Han Bennink is not quite so overwhelming as on the earlier LPs, but in the interim he’s built himself a homemade clarinet and he uses it to produce some funny tongue-in-cheek accompaniments. Brötzman has added a clarinet to his sound arsenal - along with alto sax and “brotzophon” (!) - and proves to be quite good on it. The music has a bright carnival atmosphere about it (it’s a very live recording), and it features everything from Van Hove chasing after villains in top hats to the band’s brief irreverent homage to the German polka. This is a true performer’s art, almost vaudevillian in character and probably only partially able to be appreciated on record. Yet it’s thoroughly enjoyable and perhaps fully as important in its own way (and certainly every bit as ambitious) as the group’s earlier releases. Recommended along with at least one or two of the “Free Music Market” recordings.
Henry Kuntz, 1975
LIVE IN BERLIN ‘71FMP CD 34/35
Brötzmann / Van Hove / Bennink plus Albert Mangelsdorff Peter Brötzmann-tenor saxophone; Albert Mangelsdorff-trombone, voice; Fred Van Hove-upright piano; Han Bennink-drums, khene, vibraphone, kaffir-piano, dhung, dung-dkar, gachi, oe-oe, elong, home-made junk, voice, tins. Recorded live by Eberhard Sengpiel on August 28th, 1971 (Disc 1) and August 29th, 1971 (Disc 2) during the Free Music Market at the Quartier Latin in Berlin. Tape revision: Jost Gebers. Mastered by Jonas Bergler. Produced by Jost Gebers. Liner notes: Wolfgang Burde. Translation: Cristina Crawley.
Disc 1
1 Florence Nightingale (Van Hove) - 19:57
2 Elements (Brötzmann) - 15:36
3 Antwarrepe (Van Hove) - 8:42
4 Alberts (Mangelsdorff) - 10:54
Disc 2
1 Couscouss de la mauresque (Brötzmann) - 20:54
2 Wenn mein Schätzlein auf die Pauke haut (Bennink) - 18:42
3 The end (Brötzmann) - 22:55
BOOKLET: Design/Layout: Peter Brötzmann. Photos: Dagmar Gebers. REMARK: Free Music Production first released the music on this double CD on three records in 1971 (FMP 0030, FMP 0040, FMP 0050). The altered compilation presented here is equivalent to the two concerts given in Berlin on August 28th and 29th, 1971and based on the original recording tapes. These concerts were the first given by the Brötzmann / Van Hove / Bennink Trio with Albert Mangelsdorff - except for a session which took place during the Total Music Meeting in 1970 at the Quartier Latin.
selected Han Bennink recordings:
selected Peter Brötzmann recordings:
Posted:
Monday, May 14th, 2007, 17:57.
Filed under: bells.
| 392 Views.
RSS feed for comments on this post.
Leave a comment | Trackback.
