Joe McPhee | Peter Brötzmann | Kent Kessler | Michael Zerang | The Damage Is Done | Not Two Records

Not Two, 2009 | MW 823-2 | Double CD

Joe McPhee – trumpet, alto sax | Peter Brötzmann – alto & tenor saxes, tarogato, B-flat clarinet | Kent Kessler – bass | Michael Zerang – drums

Recorded at ALCHEMIA Krakow, March 16th, 2008 by Michal Rosicki MAQ Studio. Mixed and mastered by Lou Malozzi June 2009. Produced by Marek Winiarski. Designed by Brötzm. All music by Brötzmann/McPhee/Kessler/Zerang

Tracklist: Album 1: 1. The Damage Is Done [30:30] 2. Alchemia Souls [17:46]

Tracklist: Album 2: 1. A Temporary Trip [16:20] 2. With Charon [15:08] 3. On The Acheron [14:08] 4. Into The Hades [08:32]

Joe McPhee | Peter Brötzmann | Kent Kessler | Michael Zerang | The Damage Is Done | nottwo records

Toujours ici : penser à Ayler.

Reconsidérer le spasme et ne plus jamais faire de la convulsion un cri de révolte. Ou alors : pas uniquement. Entendre et étendre le message. Ne jamais l’éteindre. A ceux qui le peuvent encore : écouter et ne plus prendre fuite. Faire en sorte que leur cri ne soit pas cri dans le désert. Douter car à qui cette musique chante-t-elle aujourd’hui ? Qui en est assez sage pour en décrypter l’élan ?

Penser à Ayler donc. Mais fuir les comparaisons. Il serait facile de dire que Peter Brötzmann serait Ayler et que Joe Mc Phee serait Don Cherry et Don Ayler réunis (Je est donc deux autres). Et puis Kent Kessler serait…et puis Michael Zerang serait… Oublier tout cela, oublier l’avoir pensé, écrit.

C’est leur troisième disque. C’est un double CD. Enregistré en public (16 mars 2008. Alchemia. Cracovie). Il n’y a pas de round d’observation. Pas d’indications ou de clin d’œil. Juste un chant gorgé d’amour. Gagné d’amour. Et de hargne, si vous le voulez à tout prix. Mais je ne vous suivrais pas sur cette voie. Ici, je n’entends que quatre musiciens qui cherchent, s’autorisent à se tromper de route, à brouiller le convenu (le deuxième CD malaxe la palette sonique, croise des souffles inquiets). « McPhee est perdu, en retrait, gêné par l’ogre Brötz » brailleront les spécialistes. Laissons-les brailler : qu’il est doux de n’être pas spécialiste. Ici : juste enthousiaste à cette libre et envoutante musique. — Luc Bouquet © le son du grisli

Joe McPhee | Peter Brötzmann | Kent Kessler | Michael Zerang | The Damage Is Done | nottwo records

Recorded live at the Alchemia Club

in Krakow, Poland, The Damage Is Done holds two uncut sets from four heavy-hitting improvisers: trumpeter and reedist Joe McPhee, multi-reedist Peter Brötzmann, bassist Kent Kessler and drummer Michael Zerang. Working as a quartet since 2004, this nameless group grew out of Brötzmann’s Tentet, which consists largely of Chicago-based musicians and sometimes includes Swedes. In either ensemble, McPhee is the single musician from Poughkeepsie, NY; Brötzmann, the only German. The Damage Is Done is the quartet’s third album.

Most of the applause from this two disc issue has been mastered out; only hints of it remain. Each disc has a distinct character. On the first, Brötzmann melts open the thirty-minute title cut; Zerang pumps up the tempo to bring in McPhee on pocket trumpet. Underlying the explosion of energy, detonated by Brötzmann, is the pizzicato of the bass. The lines remain remarkably distinguishable even when they converge into such a large sound that it could be mistaken for cacophonic chaos. But, in fact, the sound describes a true meditation, which requires the galvanized focus of each member of the quartet.

On the second disc, it is easy to hear the character of the music changing as Brötzmann switches from tenor and alto to tarogato and B-flat clarinet, although not exclusively. Given the variations of leading instruments, which could also be the bass or drums, the seductiveness of the music unlocks a denser deeper story. McPhee, Kessler and Zerang often have the sole opportunity to escort the musical journey to another stage, through means no less dramatic, acerbically lyrical or exquisitely beautiful than aspects of the preceding multitudes of overlapping layers might have implied. To listen to this quartet necessitates commitment. Only an open mind can absorb the flow of the music. Interpretation can come later. — Lyn Horton – Jazz Times

Joe McPhee | Peter Brötzmann | Kent Kessler | Michael Zerang | The Damage Is Done | nottwo records

This live date features legendary free jazz

pioneers Peter Brötzmann and Joe McPhee, and Chicago’s leading rhythm section, bassist Kent Kessler and drummer Michael Zerang. The four also make up 4/10 of Brötzmann’s Chicago Tentet, maybe the most successful large new music jazz ensemble ever assembled. As they have in the past while touring with the Tentet, they step away and perform in this more intimate lineup. This quartet has released two previous recordings, Tales Out Of Time (hatOLOGY, 2004) and Guts (Okka, 2007), with The Damage Is Done’s two discs recorded live at Alchemia in Krakow, Poland in March of 2008. While the players can (and do) perform volatile energy jazz here, their preference is for music that’s dissectible enough for the players to be distinguished in parts and direction.

The obvious reference point here is the legend of Albert Ayler and his brother Donald. Brötzmann has never shied away from his admiration for free jazz’s holy ghost. With Brötzmann on tenor and McPhee sporting the trumpet role, the attention to Ayler can be heard on “With Charon” and the title track (all 30-plus minutes). Brotzmann and McPhee’s stamina, both nearing 70, is impressive. The pair delivers an onslaught of energy with a relentless attack, the only pause being for Zerang and Kessler’s solos. With that, the pace slows, allowing Brötzmann to paint from a different palette. This gentler approach acts as a collection point before the music again spreads its energy patterns outward.

Kessler and Zerang open “Alchemia Souls,” with itchy bowed bass and sound effect brushes on drums. Brötzmann enters, playing a persistent tarogato before McPhee’s twitchy alto joins. The rhythm section maintains the energy through constant motion. The more affable music making here comes at the urging of the rhythm section. Slowing down the pulse or playing with mallets coaxes the horn players to decelerate and clarify the sound. The breadth and power of these four players comes through with an exhaustive clarity in this crisp and vigorous live recording. — Mark Corroto – All About Jazz

DAMAGECD

 

Double CD version (incl. shipment cost world-wide)

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