Peter Brotzmann and the Chicago Tentet

[Lazaro Vega]

Howard Reich's review of the Tentet's 12/1/07 concert:

No wonder they call him "Machine Gun."

Firing off phenomenally fleet bursts of sound on alto saxophone,

articulating piercing high notes fueled by explosive rhythms on

clarinet, the German reedist Peter Brotzmann over the weekend easily

lived up to his sobriquet (which also happens to be the title of his

landmark recording of 1968).

But, remarkably, he was far from the most incendiary of musicians who

shared the stage Saturday night at the Museum of Contemporary Art.

Serving as eminence grise for an ensemble of largely younger artists,

Brotzmann set the tone for the night but saw his followers play

harder, faster and more furiously than he.

Yet that always has been part of the charm of the decidedly

unconventional Peter Brotzmann Chicago Tentet, which celebrated its

10th anniversary with this sold-out show. By convening acolytes to

build upon the "free jazz" vocabulary Brotzmann long has championed,

he magnified the power of his aesthetic several fold.

The Chicago Tentet, and its various offshoots, has played often here

and across Europe since its inception, and the experience shows.

Subtler, more controlled and less frenetic than in 1997, when it

practically blew the fixtures off the ceiling at the Empty Bottle in

Wicker Park, the tentet today segues almost seamlessly from

shattering climaxes to softly stated chorales.

If the personnel for this version of the Chicago Tentet weren't

precisely the same as when the band first appeared (for starters,

this version was staffed by 11 artists), most of the key players were

present.

Perhaps that explains why these musicians could improvise as a unit

without benefit of score, tunes, chord changes, rhythmic beats or you-

name-it. The Chicago Tentet long since dispatched with practically

all the conventions that define most jazz performances these days.

Yet the group proved seductive from the outset, each of the players

spinning out long lines at a slow tempo, evoking the spirit of an old

New Orleans dirge (though one steeped in 21st Century dissonance).

Before long, saxophonist Brotzmann was producing the tough and

leathery tone that is his signature, his lines dovetailing elegantly

with bowed phrases from cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm and bassist Kent

Kessler.

Some of the best music of the night emerged when particular members

of the band played off of one another. The serene duets between muted

trombones, the sharp give-and-take between brass and rhythm players,

the fugal counterpoint among several players (with lyric poetry from

Joe McPhee's valve trombone and Ken Vandermark's bass clarinet)

reminded listeners that free jazz is not necessarily about noise.

Not that there wasn't plenty of that -- a slight excess, in fact.

But better these artists celebrate their anniversary with too much

excitement, rather than too little.

[Lazaro Vega]

Don't know what you're talking about.

The realm for "improvement" with this ensemble was their collective, ensemble oriented playing, rather than a string of solos. Not that they were that black and white about it when I heard them several years ago in Kalamazoo -- interludes and transitional instrumental groupings occured through arrangement, it seemed, but the organic collective ecstacies of spontaneous ensemble improvisation wasn't as operative as one might have hoped. Otherwise, as Plankton would say, "Bringth it on knave!"

Listening to Brotzmann in full throat is like laying down a bike and relating to the pavement in your leathers for a few hundred meters. The sound turns corn to maze.

[Rob C]

One of the few positives about the apparently imminent closing of this board is that we (or at any rate, the royal "we") won't have to read any more of your tiresome rants, clem--not even the more comprehensible ones.

I only regret that I'll never learn if there's anything or anybody you DO like. Ah, well: nobody ever said I wouldn't have to carry any burdens.

[couw]

all these moves are codified & telegraphed

[AndrewHill]

I'm lost...what? Anyway thanks for the article. And what's this about the board closing soon?

[clifford_thornton]

I like the Tentet just fine - some recordings better than others, but hey.

Even I have my tropes...

[couw]

it's the same hokum as yr local hardbop combo or the Tuesday night bluegrass jam at Three Jolly Pigeons.

...or another post by clem...

[couw]

QED

[rockefeller center]

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<drama>X LIVES!</drama>

Edited December 5, 2007 by rockefeller center

[Lazaro Vega]

Decode with Sound Grammar.

Playing on changes, playing free: there's oceans of room in the pool for personalized sound identity when playing at the highest level of either approach. Tentet is striving for that as a working ensemble. Their "time" is yet to come, in that sense -- the journey is underway and not, Tiger Rag, over before it began. The "cracks" aren't closed up in improvised music. Still canyon spaces to fill.

The point that there are repertory jazz ensembles is not lost, however I'm not hearing the Tentet or the Territory band in that light. Maybe they are.

Some of the most beautiful, compelling, WHOLE music heard recently in these parts was by Muhal, Roscoe and Lewis. The level of music they achieved in their improvised performances in Ann Arbor is unmatched in my experience. Time, long working relationships, and active touring all came together for that night. When dealing with a large group, however, there are fewer examples of how to move forward. That realm is not exactly over populated. So it's not "The Magic City" but what is or ever will be again?

[clifford_thornton]

Herr Brotzmann has a truly boisterous sense of humor. tell me Fr. UnCouwth, what line from Kenneth Patchen i'm thinking of here? thanks in advance for your avuncular unguardedness.

Ah shit, I know this one... it's in the mental recesses SOMEWHERE.

That disc with Mike Pearson is pretty hot, after all.

[JSngry]

all these moves are codified & telegraphed

indeed, couw, which is my greater point about avant-schlock-- it's fine to enjoy, like a hot dog, like a hemline, like a handjob-- but the degree it's granted exceptionalism is sort of ludicrous. it's the same hokum as yr local hardbop combo or the Tuesday night bluegrass jam at Three Jolly Pigeons. it might be better too but it ain't "special." not to say there's no place for "collective improv" or "spontaneous composition" but these Tentet yokels time is up-- waaaaaaaaaaaaaay up. edc calls next!

Clem, persona-imbued as his point may be, is correct.

One of the big reasons why I decided to back off the playing, get off the Artisitic High Horse and become a Regular Guy for a little while (if not longer, we'll see..) is that I woke up one night and realized just how premeditated and programmed my music was becoming, and how the handful of people who were really digging it were digging it based on what they thought it represented and what they thought they were hearing as a result, which may or may not have been the reality of what it was that was getting played.

The final straw that broke the drink's back was when one night, early on, I realized that I was simply playing shit by reflex and for effect. There was no real "inspiration" or "spontaneity" or anything else that the "free improv" crowd (fans and musicians alike) love to think is the raisin detter of this stuff, and will go to any lenght to hear (unless they got a grude to bring, in which case, they won't hear it no matter what). So I intentionally palyed nothing but the old "bag o'tricks", conspicuously so, I thought, in a way that was all about self-depreciating self-mimickry, a way to say, hey, this is ALL I got, whatcha'll think NOW?

Folks loved it. The band REALLY loved it. Thought it was some of the best playing I'd ever done.

Made me kinda sick, to tell the truth...

But hey - no biggie, same as any other music, same as any other life. If everybody concerned would/could be honest about it, hey, fine. We could all get on with the business of entertaining and being entertained, and life would be so much easier. But no - we are not entertainers of a pretty damn high calibre looking to share some feelings and hopefully elevate your spirits or otehrwise connect on a real level, we are CREATIVE ARTISTS CHANNELLING THE ALMIGHTY MUSE, BOW DOWN BEFORE US, and no, we are not an audience out for a night's worth of fun, we are LOVERS OF THE GREAT ARTS, A BREED APART FROM THE MASSES.

Well hell, does it really gotta be all that? Really?

Hey - genius is real. Art is real. Inspiration is real. Real-er than a mutthafukker.

But they're as rare as one too. If you "need" that shit in your life, you're gonna make it up all the time rather take it as it comes, and then whatcha' got if not a self-created illusion of constant "art"? Anything real about that?

It's not enough to have turned me into a full-blown navel-gazing self-denying Tristanoite, but...

[Joe G]

I hear you on the larger point.

The final straw that broke the drink's back was when one night, early on, I realized that I was simply playing shit by reflex and for effect. There was no real "inspiration" or "spontaneity" or anything else that the "free improv" crowd (fans and musicians alike) love to think is the raisin detter of this stuff, and will go to any lenght to hear (unless they got a grude to bring, in which case, they won't hear it no matter what). So I intentionally palyed nothing but the old "bag o'tricks", conspicuously so, I thought, in a way that was all about self-depreciating self-mimickry, a way to say, hey, this is ALL I got, whatcha'll think NOW?

Folks loved it. The band REALLY loved it. Thought it was some of the best playing I'd ever done.

Made me kinda sick, to tell the truth...

That's interesting.

[JSngry]

Well, yeah. Threw me for a loop, that's for sure...

But it's ultimately personal. I only bring it up to advance the point that maybe we all oughta be more objevctive about what so much of this music "is", which is quite often a simple (or not so simple) plying of craft for the pleasure of the practitoners and those who enjoy the results of the craft. Real "art" (or inspiration, or spontanaety, or whatever) comes far less often than (almost) any of us are willing to admit.

That was, I think, Clem's broader point, and I wanted to highlight that aspect rather than the specific "finger pointing" of his post, which although a primary weapon in his persona's arsenal, sometimes obsures rahter than illuminates that point.

Edited December 5, 2007 by JSngry

[Lazaro Vega]

Expectations and playing outside of them -- the audience, any audience, likes to hear what it knows. The pure improvisatory musical life is full of such ups and downs musically -- Sonny Rollins, Lee Kontiz -- that few choose the path.

Clem -- Barry Guy's music is a bitch, no doubt an "influence" on Tentet.

[Joe G]

It just makes me think of the times when I heard someone play and thought, "is this guy for real?" Then there's your example of the opposite; you weren't "for real" in your head, but everyone else thought it was the shit.

It would make you take things a little less seriously in that sense.

[Aggie87]

... the handful of people who were really digging it were digging it based on what they thought it represented and what they thought they were hearing as a result...

Obviously I'm not a musician, but taken from the listener's point of view - isn't this normal for listeners of all music?

10 listeners will have 10 different experiences listening to an artist play something. It's all about their past experiences, likes/dislikes, baggage, etc. No?

[JSngry]

Expectations and playing outside of them -- the audience, any audience, likes to hear what it knows. The pure improvisatory musical life is full of such ups and downs musically -- Sonny Rollins, Lee Kontiz -- that few choose the path.

And that's the built-in contradiction that too often leads to everybody concerned fooling themselves - the need for what the "product" represents and the product's ability to actually deliver it on anything even vaguely resembling a semi-consistent basis are fundamentally at odds.

The result? A lot of the self-justifying vocabulary that Clem references, and a lot of the self-justifying ideolgy that goes along with it.

Because not only does nobody want to admit that if you're talking true "moutaintop" level inspiration that it only comes every once in a while, nobody wants to neither put forth nor sit through the abject, foundering, frightening....emptiness that comes with trying to get there and not making it, at least not on a regular basis.

It's real as hell, it is, but it ain't for the faint of heart, and it sure ain't something to sell for public consumption.

[JSngry]

It just makes me think of the times when I heard someone play and thought, "is this guy for real?" Then there's your example of the opposite; you weren't "for real" in your head, but everyone else thought it was the shit.

It would make you take things a little less seriously in that sense.

Well, the kicker was the band. The folks I thought I was really "spiritually alligned" with, had every reason to believe that, they didn't even have a clue.

So much for that illusion...

[JSngry]

... the handful of people who were really digging it were digging it based on what they thought it represented and what they thought they were hearing as a result...

Obviously I'm not a musician, but taken from the listener's point of view - isn't this normal for listeners of all music?

10 listeners will have 10 different experiences listening to an artist play something. It's all about their past experiences, likes/dislikes, baggage, etc. No?

Sure, but can you see why that would engender cynicism (or cynicisms) and other "losses of fiath" in somebody trying to be "honest" in their music?

[Aggie87]

... the handful of people who were really digging it were digging it based on what they thought it represented and what they thought they were hearing as a result...

Obviously I'm not a musician, but taken from the listener's point of view - isn't this normal for listeners of all music?

10 listeners will have 10 different experiences listening to an artist play something. It's all about their past experiences, likes/dislikes, baggage, etc. No?

Sure, but can you see why that would engender cynicism (or cynicisms) and other "losses of fiath" in somebody trying to be "honest" in their music?

I guess it would depend on who you are playing for (and why you're playing) in the first place (?).

For a listener, what they get out of the music is what they get. That IS the music to them. It may align with what your intent is, or it may not. How can you as a musician control that? Why should you?

Don't you just have to play what is honest to you, what works for you? Others get out of it what they get.

I haven't put alot of thought into this, so maybe I'm missing some key point or three.

Edited December 5, 2007 by Aggie87

[JSngry]

Don't you just have to play what is honest to you, what works for you?

Oh HELL no!

People do all kinds of insincere shit at all kinds of levels jsut to get a gig, keep a gig, get an audience, keep an audience, whatever.

And people go to great lengths to cover that up, often to themself...

Ask yourself this - have you, or has anybody you've ever know, been insincere to score with a chick? You know how easy that comes to a lot of guys? Andeven if it don't come eas naturally, how easier it becomes after you've done it once or twice?

Never mind how "business ethics" operate. You know, "nothing personal, this is just business", like hey - no shit.

Well, it ain't no different in music. Not even the "serious" type.

Another illusion shattered?

[Aggie87]

Another illusion shattered?

Yep!

I'll just continue to bring my musical baggage along with me - in particular the bag where I think you guys are committed to what you're playing, which allows me to appreciate it. Or at least the bag that allows me to differentiate what I hear as dedicated musicians versus ones who are coasting or whatever.

[JSngry]

Oh, it's really not all that "dramatic", unless and until we get into the realm of "art" and such, where peoples intent seems wuite often to be to distinguish themselves from their peers rather than just having fun being who they are - and that latter image is an also-easily expoited "type" as well, so it's best to assume that NOTHING is real, that it's all conceived with the intent of picking your pocket, and just give your money to the whores who make your dick the hardest in the name of love.

Well, maybe that's not the best thing to do, but it sure might be the safest...

[AllenLowe]

I've always said, people like good music - but they also like bad music - and I've been at many a mediocre performance of all genres at which I marveled at the emperor's lack of clothing -

it's funny, but I often think with regret that neither my musical career or academic career ever went anywhere in particular - but once in a while I think that, in practical terms, if either of those had happened, my work might have been about half as good, both in terms of performance and research. The academic world is so proscribed and conformist and generally full of it; the music world would have been fun but probably would have splintered my family and likely, through the need of night-to-night performance, have led to certain shortcuts or certain lack of development. So, I never work and I make little money off any aspect of the music, but I feel I compose/perform and write/research as well as anyone in the world - doesn't mean much to a lot of people, and it was not really a decision I made, but rather had imposed on me - still, it worked out ok in certain (non-financial) respects -