Peter Brotzmann / Majid Bekkas / Hamid Drake - Catching Ghosts

Label: ACT, 2023

Personnel - Peter Brotzmann: tenor saxophone, clarinet; Majid Bekkas: guembri, voice; Hamid Drake: drums, percussion.

The late German saxophonist Peter Brotzmann, who left us on June 22nd at the age of 82, was at the wheel of numerous free jazz outings over the course of a rich six-decade career. His last recordings - An Eternal Reminder of Not Today (with the experimental rock outfit Oxbow) and Naked Nudes (with cellist Fredrik Lonberg-Holm and pedal steel guitarist Heather Leigh) are worthy musical journeys, as well as this entirely improvised live recording, Catching Ghosts, a culture-blending trio effort with Moroccan guembri player and vocalist Majid Bekkas and American drummer Hamid Drake.

Brotzmann was open to exploring new territories on every session, and the threesome here frame their distinct sounds into an offbeat hybrid fusion of gnawa songs and free jazz. The program, recorded live at Jazzfest Berlin 2022, offers four free-flowing and unrehearsed gnawa traditional pieces that, following consistent textural palettes, are galvanized by the driving force of Brotzmann’s saxophone playing. The opener, “Chalaba”, blazes the trail. The two-stringed, camel-skin-backed guembri can sound like a bass in the lower registers, soon establishing a sextuple time groove while having clean cymbal scintillation by its side. The saxophone clamors find space between phrases, entering this dance arena with either growling intensity or hoarse moaning, yet invariably with class and personality.

The following three pieces were included on Bekkas’ 2002 album African Gnaoua Blues. “Mawama” appears here with strong hi-hat pulsation and snare activity, putting more emphasis on the vocals than the sax; the 14-minute “Hamdouchia” presents a 10-beat cycle groove, having Brotzmann - in all his fiery, subversive and provocative style - responding to Bakkas’ voice; and “Balini”, both propulsive and airy, features Brotzmann’s whining clarinet prayers over rhythmic interlocking patterns generated by Bekkas and Drake.

These musicians take chances, each serving the material with musical passion and care. This is a wonderful goodbye from Brotzmann, a force of nature who will be deeply missed by all free jazzers.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Chalaba ► 03 - Hamdouchia

Peter Brotzmann / Heather Leigh / Fred Lonberg-Holm - Naked Nudes

Label: Trost Records, 2023

Personnel - Peter Brötzmann: alto and tenor saxophone; Heather Leigh: pedal steel guitar; Fred Lonberg-Holm; cello, electronics.

German free jazz saxophonist Peter Brötzmann, a prolific in-the-moment creator, can be heard in the wonderful company of two musicians he knows very well: the Glasgow-based pedal steel guitarist Heather Leigh and the cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm, a stalwart of the improvised jazz scene. The saxophonist released a handful of duo recordings with the former and played in several groups and settings (from duo to tentet) with the latter. The record we have in our hands, Naked Nudes, was recorded in his hometown, Wuppertal, on the occasion of his 80th birthday concerts celebration. 

The music presented here consists of three functionally structured improvisations that, on one side, show that the trio has no interest in playing it safe, but on the other, doesn’t merely follow aleatory trajectories just for the fun of provoking and releasing energy. The outcome of this collaboration manifests the triumph of a levelheaded musical sense over any preconceived idea.

For nearly half an hour, the mighty title track demonstrates their passion, revealing newfound subtleties at every listening. Brötzamnn enters unaccompanied, later having the poignantly chanting vibration of cello and chiming steel guitar as a backdrop. The saxophonist blows his horn forcefully as the tapestry under his feet gradually roughens with noise guitar and electronics. Seven minutes in, and the whirring noise dissipates to make a new form emerge. A quiet lull made of uncanny timbral utterances appears but the chiming guitar puffs are turned into ominous noise in a subsequent phase. Like a distant, confusing dream, Leigh’s pitch-bending guitar waves invite Brötzmann to step into a resigned, supplicant redemption.

The other two tracks are shorter. “Flower Flaps” kicks off rumblingly and pointillistically, making way for the incisive and eloquent saxophone; “Johnny Anaconda” is a brew of sounds entrenched with bowed cello, guitar flaccidity, and keen sax manifestations that faintly blur the picture. Naked Nudes is thrilling and wholly original.

Favorite Track:
01 - Naked Nudes

Oxbow & Peter Brotzmann - An Eternal Reminder of Not Today

Label: Trost Records, 2022

Personnel - Peter Protzmann: tenor saxophone; Eugene Robinson: vocals; Niko Wenner: guitar; Dan Adams: bass guitar; Greg Davis: drums.

Recorded live at Moers Festival 2018, An Eternal Reminder of Not Today marks a singular, incendiary collaboration between the experimental rock deities known as Oxbow and the venturous German saxophonist Peter Brotzmann. The latter provides the front-line along with vocalist Eugene Robinson, whose lyrics are often just as direct in their ideals and quests. The rhythm team is composed of guitarist Niko Wenner, bassist Dan Adams, and drummer Greg Davis.

The welcoming blues rock of the opener, “Angel”, is harmonically launched by Werner, who occasionally pins it with seasonable harmonics. The electric bass solidifies the texture, and then arrives the drummer, completing a recondite sonic blend that foreshadows what comes next. The range and depth of Robinson’s vitriol create a deep impact in the company of Brotzmann’s tearfully penetrating lines, which aim straight at the soul. 

This is a fantastic curtain lifter of an assured performance that proceeds with the abrasive sound of “Cat and Mouse” - another piece taken from the 1992 album King of the Jews (my absolute favorite) - where the avant noise-rock exerted denotes a diffuseness at its center that makes you never know what to expect. The energy cools off just for one moment before exploding again into a cloud of electric particles. This piece goes directly to “Skin”, from the album An Evil Heat (2002). It’s another powerful, if darker, avant-garde excursion, whose head presages another furious improvisation by Brotzmann, constantly defying limits with the force of a hurricane. 

Both “Host” and “The Finished Line” reflect strong melodic moments, whereas “Over” promotes technically precise passages of prog and noise rock with alternation of compression and expansion. The record comes to a conclusion in the form of an encore with “The Valley”, whose first segment has the saxophonist playing perhaps a bit too ‘out’. He returns during the ultimate chordal sequence with a different stability.

Revolutionary and confrontational, this is a live record that you should not pass on by, especially if you like your music filled with vigor, defiant attitude, and freedom. 

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Angel ► 02 - Cat and Mouse ► 03 - Skin