On the Destination-Out website, “Live in Berlin” is described “This live date finds his big band gleefully incorporating everything from pop standards, light opera, funeral marches, and shoo bop into their freewheeling brand of free jazz. The Kollektief offers both drama and inspired moments of humor, making for sheerly enjoyable music that’s joyful and fun!” The mix of free jazz, bebop, street music, tango, vaudeville and European musical hall fare with more than a few hints of Kurt Weill has long been a favorite of these ears since seeing this band at the original Tralfamadore Cafe in Buffalo in 1976 or 1977 and obtaining the original vinyl album at that time.
The members of the Kollektief at the time of this recording were Willem Breuker himself on saxophones & clarinets; Bob Driessen on alto saxophone; Maarten van Norden: tenor saxophone; Ronald Snijders: flute; Boy Raaijmakers: trumpet; Willem van Manen: trombone; Bernhard Hunnekink: trombone; Jan Wolff: French horn; Leo Cuypers: piano; Arjen Gorter: double bass; and Rob Verdurmen: drums and if one checked the personnel on various Breuker recordings throughout the years, many of these names would be present or on their own efforts on the BVHasst label Breuker established.
Substantial portions of this are taken from two of Breuker’s extended compositions, “La Plagiata” and “Anthology.” The former piece is ‘plagiarized’ from a variety of sources, both from serious music and street sources as the Snijders’ flute does a funeral march before a frantic sounding march-like tango segment with some blistering tenor set against a hot riff then Cuypers’ trance-like piano as the tenor squeals, honks and twists and turns with another tenor sax adds its own serpentine lines and honks before the full band leads a transition into the Music Hall. It is only the beginning of a whirlwind of musical scenarios and moods that continues throughout.
There is the fiery tango beginning of “Jan De Wit” that sets the tone for some inspired, and soaring, sax as Verdurmen underpins it with a hot march rhythm with Cuypers adding a trance-like piano backing before the horns add a quote “I’m an old cowhand” before the Kollektief restates the main theme and Cuypers takes the spotlight, at times enthralling with his use of repetition before a more linear and melodic approach that quotes japanese folksongs that leads into “Jalousie-Song” that opens like it was from a Gilbert & Sullivan operetta before the trombones add some gruff commentary. This magical musical circus continues until the closing, “Our Day Will Come,” which opens as if channelling Archie Shepp’s tribute to James Brown (“Mama Too Tight).” They play with similar reckless abandon with a rocking repeated riff until the rousing tango treatment of the melody of the Ruby and Romantics recording and then exuberantly singing it in Dutch.
I recall that the Breuker Kollektief performed “Our Day Will Come,” that night thirty four odd years ago in Buffalo, and the performance that evening was very similar to the overall character of “Live in berlin.” Breuker, of course had many other recordings with the Kollektief as well as other projects. One recording of Breuker, apart from those of the Kollektief, that I am particularly fond of his was “The Compositions Of Eric Dolphy” on BVHaast that was issued in 2006. Bill Shoemaker’s cogent, contemporaneous review of that recording can be found at the Point of Departure music journal, http://www.pointofdeparture.org/PoD5MomentsNotice.html.
For more information on this digital download, http://destination-out.com along with a download of a marvelous solo Sam Rivers album, “Portrait.”
The late alto saxophonist, Noah Howard passed away in early September leaving behind a considerable musical legacy. Born in New Orleans, he emerged in the 1960s among the first wave of ‘free jazz’ artists. He recorded a couple albums for ESP and then recorded “The Black Ark,” but finding the reception for free jazz cool at best in the United States, he relocated to Paris and spent much of the ensuing years of his life abroad, living in Brussels at the time of his death.
Growing up in New Orleans where he played first in church, his first instrument was the trumpet which he played in the military and it wasn’t until later he started playing the alto saxophone. His recordings for ESP were among the 28 or so albums he recorded over the years. Recently, Destination Out (http://destination-out.com/), a web site devoted to free jazz, has started issuing downloads from out-of-print FMP vinyl albums that have never been made available on compact disc. Among the recent albums they have made available is a couple by Howard from the seventies.
“Schizophrenic Blues” reissues a live 1977 performance from the Quartier Latin in Berlin where Howard is joined by Itaru Ok on trumpet; Jean-Jacques Avenel on double bass and Oliver Johnson on drums. The title track is a blues that displays his bluesy tone as he and Ok play variations on the blues theme. His tone has a bit of vibrato, but not overdone, and would indicate that both Ornette Coleman and Albert Ayler were influences on a composition would not be out of place on a Coleman disc. Ok’s trumpet riffs provides a vinegary contrast to Howard, and the rhythm ably anchor the performance. “Birds of Beauty” is a slow ballad with trumpet more prominent at the lyrical opening and the two complement and interact off the other.
“Fire March,” a tribute to Albert Ayler, opens with Johnson taking a drum solo before the tempo changes to a march like groove as Howard enters in an Ayler-esque mode as Ok evokes Donald Ayler’s trumpet with his playing while Howard exploits the upper registers of his alto and overblows producing shrieks and cries. Ok’s trumpet sounds like a swarm of very unhappy bees here. Bassist Avenel opens up “Creole Girl,” the lengthiest performance of this album, with a lengthy solo. After Johnson sets the tempo, Howard and Ok join in tstating the theme and take solid solos that do not sound to these ears as very out.
“Solo Sax,” is a slice of saxophone exploration (but not a solo saxophone performance) with Howard employing a bit more vibrato here, as Avenel playing some buzz saw arco bass, Johnson laying an atemporal groove with brushes and Ok’s trumpet buzzes around the sax. The album concludes with a reading of “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” with Howard and Ok embellishing the melody in an Ayler-esque fashion.
The performances on “Schizophrenic Blues” hold up over thirty years later. Certainly anyone familiar with the music of Ornette Coleman, Don Cherry, and Old Dreams and New Dreams should find this quite accessible and even at its most Ayler-esque moments “Fire March,” there is a lyricism as well as a blues foundation that makes this release engaging. Recommended, and again this can be downloaded at http://destination-out.com. Just go to the store tab and look for this release.
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