At the outset of the 1960s, jazz in Europe was still very much based upon the innovations of its American forebears. Jazz was, after all, significantly appreciated in a continent rebuilding itself from war as a way to create artistic assertions as it recovered from cultural and economic leveling. Yet as bebop and hardbop became less relevant following the innovations of Ornette, Coltrane, Albert Ayler and Cecil Taylor, European jazz seemed to find its own unique footing – finally, it began to seriously speak another language. Europe (and Scandinavia in particular) became a haven for expatriate American jazz musicians, and a second home for the free jazz elite, many of whom could not find work or willing record companies in the United States. Copenhagen, Denmark was home not only to tenorman Dexter Gordon, but gave birth to significant concerts and recordings of the Cecil Taylor trio (Live at the Café Montmartre and Nefertiti Debut, 1962), Albert Ayler (My Name is Albert Ayler, Spirits, and Ghosts, Debut, 1963-1964), pianist Paul Bley (Touching, Debut, 1965) and the New York Contemporary Five (Live at Jazzhus Montmartre, Sonet, 1963). The young lions of Denmark were not immune to the happenings at the Café Montmartre, for the Contemporary Jazz Quartet/Quintet – a young aggregation that played bebop and Ornettish freebop in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s – were profoundly influenced by the allover canvases of sound produced by Ayler, Taylor and drummer Sunny Murray.
Trumpeter Hugh Steinmetz was the ersatz leader of TCJQ, and wrote quite a few of the compositions in the group’s repertoire. The group featured altoist Franz Beckerlee (a true Ayler disciple who preferred the braying wide vibrato of Ayler’s ballads over his massive runs), bassist Steffen Andersen and the excellent free-time drummer Bo Thrige Andersen, and in a few incarnations multi-instrumentalist Niels Harrit. Though their first recording, Action (Debut, 1964, reissued by Steeplechase) borrowed Sunny Murray for a set of four quartet pieces that run the Ornette-Ayler bag for all it is worth, subsequent recordings dig into something that Ayler, Cecil and Murray hinted to the European contingent – and that is pure sound. As Ayler opened up that huge tenor tone on a tortured free reading of “Summertime” (My Name is Albert Ayler), there was something else in that raw, preachy, gritty testimony that the Danes heard, and that was a mass of hot, vivid sound unlike anything that had come out of a saxophone in such a way before. On Actions, this saxophone vibrato is somewhat perversely mated with the electric, airy vibrato of Harrit’s bowed saw in constant interplay, an unearthly squall that stokes the coals of alto, trumpet and free rhythm into an overloaded sonic engine. Norwegian guitarist Terje Rypdal accomplished something not dissimilar a few years later in his bowed guitar assaults with the Baden-Baden Free Jazz Orchestra and with Kryzstof Penderecki, but the constancy of the saw here is unsettling, a pure vibrato not produced by breath or given to phrase, a slippery slice of white noise that, on “Action No. 6,” goads Beckerlee into screaming multiphonics almost from the start, the two Andersens swirling non-isometric paint as quickly as possible to keep up the pace. There is barely a break on this session, the occasional bass solo offering a minute’s respite from a constant onslaught of biting metallic tones – a possible indication that this music was too ‘out’ for Debut at the time (though they released a similarly fucked quintet session in 1968 in which the saxophones and bass were contact miked).
In the span of a few short years, the landscape of Scandinavian jazz was changed by the brief visits of some of America’s most controversial young jazzmen. For groups like TCJQ, as well as the massive unholy racket that bubbled up from Sweden several years later (and captured on the Blue Tower compilation Sounds: Contemporary Swedish Improvised Music), that wide tenor vibrato and constant hum of Murray’s cymbals and voice started the gears turning on a sonic freight train that never abated. Actions, though, is a very raw slice of history.
~ Clifford Allen
Posted by clifford on June 5, 2005 10:17 PMMore I hear the Scandinavian jazz of this period, more I like it. Can you recommend any others of similar ilk, Clifford? (And welcome to Bagatellen). One I particularly enjoyed was the Tom Prehn 4tet that UMS put out 4-5 years ago.
Posted by: Dan Warburton at June 6, 2005 9:25 PMDon't know the Prehn, details please... A particularly nice trio was the Per Henrik Wallin group with saxophonist Lars Goran Ulander (who produced a number of Scandoo jazz records) and a drummer named Peter Olsen, who looks like he should be in a metal band. They have a great record on Dragon called "The New Figaro," as well as some material issued by Ayler. Wallin's got a sizeable discog, but this trio is hot. There's also the Steinmetz record "Nu" which is more compositionally-minded (and not _too_ derivative) than TCJQ, which Steeplechase also reissued on CD. And I'm rather fond of the Gunnar Lindquist GL Unit LP, though it's not yet made it to CD (should we collectively do the UMS dance?)... Lindquist was a reedman who also produced a number of EMI's Swedish jazz records. I'm still trying to stitch together some semblance of the various Scandoo scenes myself, though. A lot of it necessarily relates to Don Cherry, as one might guess. Haven't even scratched the surface of Finland!
Posted by: clifford at June 8, 2005 10:26 PMDon't know the Prehn, details please...
http://www.paristransatlantic.com/magazine/monthly2001/11nov_text.html#6
Yep Wallin's a monster! The Ayler album is very good too! So many records, so little time!
Posted by: Dan Warburton at June 9, 2005 9:41 AMHey Clifford,
Finally picked this one up. A fine session. You'll like the Prehn, too. I know you have Kees Hazevoet's "Pleasure" -- and that's one that fits this general bag too ... for anyone wanting to hear more of this (usually Corbett reissued) "free" music. "Pleasure" has some great Louis Moholo on it.
Where can a guy find TCJQ's Debut stuff? It came out on Steeplechase ... is it still in print?
(Hi Al. Don't know your latest e-mail.)
Late
Posted by: Laton Carter at September 3, 2005 10:15 PMHi Late,
Best conduits for the TCJQ Steeplechase set are probably either Pete Crawford @ Stateside Distributors (773-862-8573), or The Jazz Loft (http://www.jazzloft.com) which has it listed as available for $21.99.
Posted by: derek at September 4, 2005 6:33 AMIs the TCJQ Steeplechase album really worth seeking ? Why ?
Posted by: hammer, mike at September 4, 2005 2:22 PMM. Hammer,
In response to your question, I'd say yes — especially if your ears tend to gravitate toward the "free music" sound of the 60s. After posting last week, I tracked down a copy of the Debut/Steeplechase 2-disc set through Amazon, and have been spinning it a fair amount.
Steinmetz and Beckerlee show their affection for Cherry and Ayler openly, and sincerely, in their playing, but they also manage to produce a sound that (at least in my opinion) isn't overtly derivative. In fact, if these horn players were American — or had recorded in America — and these recordings had been issued on, say, ESP, I think they'd be name-checked with much greater frequency. Certainly, Beckerlee's playing is of equal competence to contemporaries (both European and American) such as John Tchicai and Marion Brown. At times, his improvising is even more convincing than the latter's of the period.
These recordings are not wildly original given the strong influence they were made under, but they nevertheless find ways to communicate that avoid mere imitation. The quartet session from 1964 almost sounds like something Ornette and Don Cherry would have made, had they stayed together, from the same time, albeit with Gary Peacock and Sunny Murray. (Sunny Murray, of course, is actually the drummer on that session.) The quintet session from 1968, where Harkit plays tenor (and organ on one track) instead of saw, is, to my ears, even more ... not necessarily daring, but at least searching for a new way to communicate. If an American parallel is useful (though I think the music here stands on its own terms), one might think of some kind of approximation where Ayler and Cherry teamed up with Miles' rhythm section from around 1969, though with much less of a "funk" element, at least rhythmically speaking.
Clifford mentioned that the 1968 date is "contact miked," and I have to confess that I don't exactly know what that means. The liners simply say "electric" saxophones and "amplified" bass — but this effect seems more for the point of (relative) distortion than to create any Varitone or electric bass semblance. Andersen's bass doesn't fare so well in this amplified state, often sounding somewhat humorously dated, but the two "electric" saxophones don't sound as affected to my ears. (Andersen, the drummer, is still playing out of a strong Murray bag.) According to the liners, Steinmetz was unhappy with the session, but upon hearing the tapes for reissue reconsidered his stance. Maybe he was just being easier on himself, or maybe he was surprised that the music had actually held up over the years.
Posted by: Laton Carter at September 9, 2005 2:47 PMThe 2nd of the Steeplechase reissues, TCJQ, is off the hook - Harrit and Beckerlee had "bugs," or small microphones, placed inside the bells of their saxophones. When I wrote the review, I had mistakenly equated these with contact mikes, but now I believe they operate differently. Someone more technically adept than I should offer details here. Either way, the mikes are not just "electrifying" or "amplifying" the instrument, but also the more subtle overtones that a regular room or even close mike would be able to do. Hence, Harrit and Beckerlee sound like a cascade of metallic tones and colors, coming in from all sides. Bo Thrige Andersen and Steffen Andersen thrash about with a controlled ill-ness throughout, Steinmetz cutting across the top of the whole thing. It's really something to behold, albeit not easy to get through by any stretch of the imagination.
It's too bad Steinmetz & Co. aren't more recognized outside of Denmark; after all, "Afrodisiaca" is one of the heaviest pieces of music to come out of European new jazz.
By the way, those Danish Debut LPs are about as rare as they come... way out of my league, for sure!
Cheers,
C
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