Derek Bailey’s Ballads album from a few years back threw many listeners for a loop. There were those who thought it some sort of perverse joke that the doyen of nonidiomatic improv would stoop to embrace a program of jazz standards. But it wasn’t a prank and Bailey appeared- at least on the surface- sincere in his interpretations of the Great American Songbook. In similar fashion the notion of Peter Brötzmann applying his well-muscled horns to “love poems” seems a prospect antipodal to the storied obstinacy and aggression so commonly attached to his style of improvisation. Such a narrow supposition leaves out whole segments of the German reed-splinterer’s art. A wounded lyricism frequently steeps his music. Even his most exorbitant exhortations contain slivers of pathos, as if he were operating a blowtorch fueled by passion-scented butane.
This recent FMP reissue of music recorded in the summer of 84’ points to the longstanding precedence of pathos in Brötzmann’s playing. Taking as his inspiration the love poems of Kenneth Patchen- a source of comfort by way of a tattered paperback he used to pack with him on the road- he cycles through seven horns and a litany of ruminatively-rendered ideas. Some are mere snippets, the shortest only twenty-four seconds in duration. Others unfurl more fully, but none run longer than six minutes. With ten more pieces added the album’s original fourteen running time balloons to just shy of eighty minutes. Given the gravitas of much of the music it becomes a program best digested in parceled morsels. The structural elements of the pieces are often quite simple and unpolished. Brötzmann places the majority of his energies on texture and tonal variation. He employs his various reeds as one might pigments squeezed in oily globs onto a wooden painter's palette. His burlap-lunged breath and mustachioed embouchure become the brushes with bristles both coarse and feathery.
Lest listeners fear Brötzmann’s complete conversion to the Robert Bly School of the sensitive male, there’s still plenty of stubborn atonality and serrated-edge bellicosity shot through many of the pieces. The opening baritone sax rendering of Ornette’s “Lonely Woman” the only cover of the set, is a fortuitous shot across the stereo channels. Starting with a morose suspirating line, he only hints at the familiar theme at first, voicing it slowly and softly. Suddenly his tone fractures and explodes into a barrage of overblowing, exploiting the horn’s lugubrious girth in a spate of blurting fisticuffs. But restraint largely wins out over truculence and there are some deeply-affecting moments peppered across this set. The original album’s closing cut, a keening exercise for verdantly droning tenor, most notably.
In a peculiar way, this sort of solitary self-reflexive style of expression is especially important to an improvisor like Brötzmann. Quite often in the context of a band and especially in concert he’s called upon to adopt his customary role of cathartic purveyor of ragged multiphonics. Space and subtlety of shading crumble in the face of momentum and volume. The quiet isolation of a studio allows freedom to indulge in those facets of his musical psyche that don’t jibe soundly to the preconceived mold.
~ Derek Taylor
Posted by derek on July 19, 2004 8:12 PMHow's this compare to other Brotz solo discs? I only have one (whose name escapes me at the moment--it's the one with the Oscar Wilde track on it).
Actually Bailey recorded plenty of jazz standards before Ballads but people seem to forget this. There's a sardonic "Stella by Starlight" on Domestic & Public Pieces for instance (though it's uncredited).
Actually, that entire disc you mention is filled with Oscar Wilde tracks (two can play the fact-checking game, my dear Watson ;). It’s called NOTHING TO SAY: A SUITE IN BREATHLESS MOTION…
As far as 14 POEMS, I like it better than the above & NO NOTHING (Brian, nice reviews of both over at AMG). More accessible over the long haul. It’s also better than most of RIGHT AS RAIN, but there are a couple of tracks on that one that grab me more. Haven’t heard the lp SOLO from 76’ so I can’t compare. It’s definitely worth the ducats IMO. One thing I didn’t mention in the review, the 10 bonus poems are nearly all on par with the 14 that were originally released.
Thanks for bringing up Bailey’s flirtations with ballads beyond the Tzadik disc. I’m probably mistaken, but didn’t most of his attention to that sort of material predate his decision to play ‘free’? To the best of my knowledge he really hasn’t played standards per se in quite some time (other than the mentioned exception), at least on record. What are some other examples?
Quote from p364 of Ben Watson (talking of Watson) 's Bailey "biography":
"If I'd had my way they wouldn't have printed the titles at all because Ballads is nothing to do with the tunes. That record is about improvisation."
This Brotz thing looks like fun. Are you reviewing it already Nate? If not.. etc etc
I guess I’d tend to disagree w/ Watson (or is that a direct Derek quote?) re: BALLADS. If I recollect correctly, the tunes there are springboards for improv, but there are segments where he definitely states the recognizable heads.
Nate, I’d love to read your take on the Brötz too. Somebody get Helma on the horn, stat. And while we’re on the subject of reviews, how’s Watson’s Bailey book, Dan? Walt, would you want to take a crack at it?
fwiw, Bailey interjects a few bars from "I Didn't Know What Time It Was" during the fine set captured on 'Drop Me Off at 96th'.
Posted by: Brian at July 21, 2004 5:48 AMDerek, that's a direct Bailey quote. I never understood the excitement about that CD, it just sounds like heads followed by watered-down Derek to me, an opinion which that quote seems to back up (not the watered-down part, that's my own read).
Posted by: jon abbey at July 21, 2004 8:05 AMYes to confirm Jon above, the quote I mentioned is from DB. And I agree with him about "Ballads" too.. a tad overrated in my opinion (not as interesting as the Early Pieces) but nowhere near as horrible & mismatched as the things DB did with Ruins and Tacuma.
FYI, I'll be reviewing Watson's book for Signal To Noise but won't be in time for the autumn edition; meantime, the extended full-length review will be one of two lead pieces for September's Paris Transatlantic. And if you thought the AMPLIFY box review and Wayne's piece were near the bone, just you wait.
>horrible & mismatched
Those are my favorite Bailey records! (Particularly the Ruins disc on Paratactile.)
Posted by: phil at July 21, 2004 8:27 AMOh man, how about a taste, Dan? Watson’s probably long overdue for a good drubbing :)
Fwiw I like BALLADS and MIRAKLE (the one w/ Tacuma & Weston), though have to be in the right frame of mood for the latter. I’d agree that PIECES FOR GUITAR is the most interesting of the Tzadiks. Curious what you guys think of ARCANA and/or GUITAR, DRUMS ‘N BASS?
I saw Derek play a really good show with the Ruins, don't feel too strongly either way about the CDs.
Dan, looking forward to that piece, I have the book here but feel compelled to first struggle through the full Prevost book, roughly akin to swimming the English Channel if it was filled with molasses.
Posted by: jon abbey at July 21, 2004 9:34 AMI dont mind Mirakle and agree with Derek that "have to be in the right frame of mood".
i also wonder what the Drum and bass thing sounds like.
I didnt know there was a 'big' biography about derek bailey. also about the Prévost book i didnt really understood what was going on in the thread about the Hands Of C 'affair'. What exactly this book is about?
bye
Posted by: Alexandre at July 21, 2004 10:40 AMAlexandre you may want to see my review of the book at onefinalnote.com (also coming to Paristransatlantic) in August. Eddie's response and my (very brief) rejoinder will, I understand, also be up at onefinalnote soon.
Posted by: walto at July 21, 2004 10:51 AMSorry about the misplaced end paren. above. The review is at ofn now.
Posted by: walto at July 21, 2004 10:54 AMI like Mirakle quite a bit. I have one of the Ruins discs (the Tzadik) & it's kind of eeehhhh.
No, the Brotz solo disc I had in mind was No Nothing which has a track titled "All Art Is Completely Usless (O. Wilde)". It's a good disc though I don't think I've ever listened to it from beginning to end (it's 70 minutes long). It's mostly melancholic rather than scary, I recall, despite a few outbursts. What IS a Brotzophone?
I'd be happy to do a piece on 14 Love Poems if Atavistic ever coughed up a review copy but so far they've never deigned to answer an email from me.... c'est la vie.
In addition to "I Didn't Know What Time It Was" Drop Me Off... also has an extended passage of swingstyle guitar on the "Bunn Fights" track (tribute to Teddy Bunn, the 1930s guitarist).
Posted by: nd at July 21, 2004 11:18 PMHello!
I am just reading Watson's book on Bailey and his take on free improv. What is interesting for a debate of Bailey's Zorn run projects debate is Bailey's insistance on free improv as a process more than finished product. As i see it this is rarther interesting for anybody who writes about this kind of music. In my opinion it splits aesthetic and value (maybe not a good term for Watson strickly marxist thought) judgements on two parts- on ''finshed product- the overall music effect represented on the record and on the process that sparkled the music. What that means is that Ballads, Mirakle, Arcana, etc ... can be judged positivly on the means of process and this must be equally absorbed also in the overall result. Maybe some of you find that take of Watson as apologetical but i find it quite interesting ...
all best
Posted by: lukaz at July 22, 2004 4:33 AM“No, the Brotz solo disc I had in mind was NO NOTHING…”
Touché. Though 14 LOVE POEMS is a direct fmp reissue & has nothing to do w/ Atavistic so it’s best to go direct through Helma (accessible through the fmp website) for a review copy. Get crackin’, son.
I think that weird anemic looking horn on the cover of NO NOTHING is a ringer for the Brötzophone (looks like a crippled soprano with an alto bell surgically grafted).
Sounds like I need to procure me a copy of DROP ME OFF ON 96TH…
I don't judge Mirakle in terms of process, I judge it in terms of results!
Posted by: nd at July 22, 2004 7:56 AMI have not heard 14 Love Poems, but I am anticipating to hear it! I do own Atavistic's latest Brotzmann release: Medicina. That one is a wonderful free jazz album! One of the best new releases for 2004!
In the subject of Bailey: I have enjoyed all the Tzadik releases under Bailey's name. Some more than others.
Regards,
Alexander
Posted by: Alexander at October 28, 2004 1:37 PMAll of them? Even that crappy thing with Tacuma & Weston? I find the Bailey Tzadiks, with the exception of Early Pieces to be a bit hit and miss (Ruins..) or overrated (Ballads). The best one was Drum'n'Bass, but that was on Avant.
Posted by: Dan Warburton at October 28, 2004 9:57 PM"All of them? Even that crappy thing with Tacuma & Weston?"
Sure! I enjoy it.
Guitar, Drums "N" Bass was pretty cool as well.
Regards,
Alexander
Posted by: Alexander at October 29, 2004 3:40 PM.................................................. © 2003 - 2006 bagatellen ..................................................