Sonore - No One Ever Works Alone

Okkadisk 12053

Witnessing the Brötzmann Tentet- made in a matter of minutes a nonet by the sudden departure of saxophonist Mars Williams- at the ACME Fest this year, the impetus of this new Okkadisk emerges as elementary. Minus Mars that particular frontline had Joe McPhee’s tenor in the ranks, but the core reed phalanx still consisted of Herr Brötzmann, Gustafson and Vandermark. Hearing them blast full bore from the stage the natural inclination to wonder what they would sound like sans band seems a natural by-product.

Reeds-only ensembles aren’t the rare birds they once were with bands like ROVA and the WSQ still active. But Sonore doesn’t take their shared directive from any one page or precedence; the strong personalities of each member virtually mandate that. Given the caliber of the ordinance on hand the danger of blowing apart the gunwales and sinking the ship in a churning sea of histrionics weighs heavy. Brötzmann unsheathes most of the members of his horn arsenal including alto, tenor, a-clarinet, tarogato and the hulking bass sax. Gustafson and Vandermark stick to tenor and baritone with the latter also hoisting b-flat clarinet. The three wisely abstain from the temptation raze and roar uninterrupted without respite.

Seven collectively-devised pieces contain welcome compositional focus and relative restraint starting with the overlapping overtones opus “Elements of Refusal.” Vandermark bleats out a striated baritone vamp through bellowing honks while his partners spool and spindle atop with dueling tenors. The piece soon plummets into freeform polyphony, only to break again into a string of duets that move from lyrical to belligerent with Brötzmann’s tenor as the fulcrum. Gustafson’s gnarled reed pops preface the bleak fugue-like tapestry that is “Trees After A Fire” soon joined by the tandem droning of funereal clarinets. “Broken Hymn” shapes out of a ripping dialogue between Brötzmann and Gustafson and ruminative bass clarinet venture by Vandermark. Along with “Blessed Assurance, Uninsured” it contains some of Brötzmann’s most nakedly emotive playing as he traces a frayed thematic thread with a vacillating tone that is at once leathery and tender. These moments have become more frequent in his graybeard years and their presence here is most welcome.

Picking out who’s voicing what isn’t that difficult though there are times when the tangle of multiphonics becomes so dense that it feels as if there are far more than three souls conjuring the sounds. Stunningly layered harmonies regularly surface amongst the din. Wielding his bass sax like broadsword on “Death Can Only Kill Me Once” (how’s that for an archetypal Brötz title?) the German engages bass clarinet and then baritones in a note-splintering paean to the bottom register. The program’s closing pieces are shorter and less magisterial in scope concluding with the title track, an ornery fragment that leaves the sound floor wide open for more. Tapes from a tour by these three lie in the can. With luck the wait won’t be long for another slab of glorious noise to drop.

~ Derek Taylor