king ubu

Robert Glasper tomorrow night ... not sure if anything to expect, but arriving early and catching up with a friend.

Would love to catch him live one more time! - is he still performing? Happy Birthday, thank you so much for the many hours of listening (and that's living, obviously) pleasure.

caught Oum last night - wonderful concert, a continuous set of almost two hours

first impression is very good indeed re: "Filu 'e Ferru", Alex might still have copies available, too!

And this is no. 36 missing there: Cornbread! Though the Jazz Live Trio discs with more than two sets/guests of course only contain short sets.

There's also a previous thread here: Big fan of the series, me! And great to see it outlive Schmidlin.

Same in Warsaw, early March (some photos here - scroll down for some more). He IS old, after all -- but once he sits down on the piano bench, that's easily forgotten!

That one's terrific!

Yes, these are nice discs indeed! I still only bought the gap fillers (Memories Ad-Lib, String Along, the Eckstine and Bennett ones). Too many other things to buy, and I spent some substantial money not too long ago on the Roulette Studio box -- love this period of Basie.

Also, has anyone heard the Hooker box from NoBusiness? I'm kind of on the fence about it ... And then, I'm quite excited about this one, which is on the way to me: Leaps in Leicester Alexander Hawkins | Evan Parker Evan Parker tenor saxophone | Alexander Hawkins piano Saxophone colossus Evan Parker is no stranger to the duo format with a pianist, and the recordings with the likes of Agustí Fernández, Sylvie Courvoisier, Matthew Shipp, Georg Graewe, Stan Tracey, Borah Bergman and John Tilbury are there to confirm it. His encounter with Alexander Hawkins isn’t just one more experience in that context, however. “Leaps in Leicester” may put him in known territory instrumentally (after all, which contexts hasn’t Parker seen over the course of his illustrious career?); but it’s not the context which provides the route to new directions here, so much as the personality of the individual with whom the dialogue is developed. A self-taught improviser and composer, Alexander Hawkins is one of a kind and the best partner possible for someone as unique as Parker. Although over recent years Hawkins has appeared in various Parker-led formations (ranging from trio through to a 15-piece large ensemble), this album captures the pair’s very first explorations in the duo format. It’s not the first time Clean Feed has released a CD featuring him – Hawkins is a member of The Convergence Quartet, playing with Taylor Ho Bynum, Dominic Lash and Harris Eisenstadt. His background speaks for itself, including collaborations with Louis Moholo-Moholo, Joe McPhee, John Surman, Mulatu Astatke, Wadada Leo Smith, and Anthony Braxton. Additionally, the work he has developed in the collaborative trio Decoy (with John Edwards and Steve Noble) has brought the possibilities provided by a particular instrument, the Hammond organ, to new grounds. Prepare yourself for something special. All music by Alexander Hawkins and Evan Parker Recorded 27th February 2015 at Embrace Arts, Leicester, UK by Chris Trent | Mixed by Chris Trent and Adam Skeaping | Mastered by Adam Skeaping Production by Alexander Hawkins | Executive production by Pedro Costa for Trem Azul | Design by Travassos Special thanks to Roger Gow https://cleanfeed-records.com/product/leaps-in-leicester/

I was aware of these Brazilian discs, but not of a source ... didn't think of discogs - thanks a lot, will put in an order! Have had some orders from Brazil (usually Universal releases, bought via marketplace platforms from some vendor whose name I forgot) and never had any issues there. I was aware of these Brazilian discs, but not of a source ... didn't think of discogs - thanks a lot, will put in an order! Have had some orders from Brazil (usually Universal releases, bought via marketplace platforms from some vendor whose name I forgot) and never had any issues there.

The Coles is a wonderful, wonderful album!

Yes indeed - would love to be there!

must be coz you know em all by heart, any other explanation would simply be wrong Myself, I'm good at not passing on music (too good, some think )

upcoming concerts I just bought tickets for: SO 17.04.16 EINGESPIELT 19:30 - ca. 22:00 Uhr, Kleiner Saal Kammermusik-Soiree Isabelle Faust Violine Jean-Guihen Queyras Violoncello Alexander Melnikov Klavier Robert Schumann: Klaviertrio Nr. 1 d-Moll op. 63 Salvatore Sciarrino: Trio Nr. 2 (1987) César Franck: Trio concertant fis-Moll op. 1 Nr. 1 ____________________ MO 09.05.16 19:30 - ca. 22:00 Uhr, Grosser Saal Neue Konzertreihe Zürich Chamber Orchestra of Europe Vladimir Jurowski Leitung Patricia Kopatchinskaja Violine Mieczyslaw Weinberg: Sinfonie Nr. 10 a-Moll op. 98 "Transcendence" für Streicher Sergej Prokofjew: Violinkonzert Nr. 2 g-Moll op. 63 Ludwig van Beethoven: Sinfonie Nr. 7 A-Dur op. 92 ____________________ SO 12.06.16 L'ÊTAT C'EST MOI - FRANKREICH ZUR ZEIT DES SONNENKÖNIGS 11:15 - ca. 13:30 Uhr, Kleiner Saal Kammermusik-Matinee Annette Labusch Sopran Esther Pitschen Amekhchoune Flöte Noémie Rufer Zumstein Violine Cornelia Angerhofer Violine Andreas Sami Violoncello Margarete Kopelent Cembalo Emanuele Forni Laute Michel Pignolet de Montéclair: "La Mort de Didon" François Couperin: "La Françoise" Triosonate aus "Les Nations" Michel Pignolet de Montéclair: "Europe" ____________________ DI 19.04.16 FAZIL SAY 19:30 Uhr, Grosser Saal Fazil Say Klavier Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Klaviersonate Nr. 12 F-Dur KV 332 Klaviersonate Nr. 18 D-Dur KV 576 Frédéric Chopin Nocturne b-Moll op. 9 Nr. 1 Nocturne Es-Dur op. 9 Nr. 2 Nocturne H-Dur op. 9 Nr. 3 Nocturne Nr. 20 cis-Moll op. posthum Nocturne fis-Moll op. 48 Nr. 2 Nocturne g-Moll op. 37 Nr. 1 Nocturne H-Dur op. 32 Nr. 1

Great read, thanks!

Sent an email to Universal Switzerland, using the contact form on the website - and lo and behold, I received an answer yesterday from a guy kind enough to try and look into it. Will keep you posted if there's any news.

Thanks guys! Enjoyed writing, hope the fact that I mostly translated the above from my German report doesn't show all that much I'd go with Reid, but then a Sanchez nonet might be the rare event, so ... No really exciting jazz coming up too soon for me again, but after this Brötzmann week, that's alright ... will be in Ravenna in June for Moholo/MinafricaOrchestra and Tippettses and Moholo's Five Blokes, until then some classical, some world, and maybe Robert Glasper, too. Hopefully some more interesting concerts will pop up that I'm not yet aware of though.

day four and final part: Thursday, March 10 Last day started with a visit to the Chopin museum (he didn’t enjoy himself much in Marseille, as seen by Maurice Sand). I went to some of the record stores once again, had to take picture of that funny door shared by AA and the Polish Jazz Society … then, as it was just around the corner, I returned to Familijny Bar Mleczny, this time tasting a vegetarian type of pierogi, looking for the remnants of the ghetto wall (photo above) and then having a lengthy stroll around the neighbourhood of our hotel. Opening the last night was another duo: Alexander von Schlippenbach/Han Bennink They played an amazing set consisting of – as far as I could tell – Monk tunes entirely, with Schlippenbach joining them together to a set with no break, playing some free but most fitting interludes. Bennink was playing snare exclusively, sitting on that step stool again. Schlippenbach’s playing climbed to really amazing heights this time. He sat there, playing in his usual, almost stoic manner, laying down Monk’s complex lines, adding even more angularity to them with his own improvisations, accompanied by Bennink perfect to a tee. The way these two treated the beloved Monk tunes was wonderful indeed, at the same time they made them theirs, yet stood true (maybe *because* they took their own approach and their liberties) to the originals. As you can see on the pics, Bennink eventually sat down on the edge of stage and started playing on that step stool, which he insisted on using as his seat when performing ... The pre-announced set of the night was an octet of all eight musicians. This didn’t take place, but we got to see an octet indeed, scheduled to be a septet initially. There was a second double bass on stage, and a young guy nervously sneaking around before and between the first set turned out to be Mateusz Rybicki (cl, bcl), joining in the big wrap-up (or so we thought), just as did bass player Zbigniew Kozera. The piano micorophones (recordings mics, it seems, so let’s cross fingers for a CD box!) were moved over to the vibes, but a few minutes into the set, Schlippenbach climbed back up on stage, and they had to quickly install one more microphone. So we got to hear: Peter Brötzmann/Mateusz Rybicki/Toshinori Kondo/Jason Adasiewicz/ Alexander von Schlippenbach/John Edwards/Zbigniew Kozera/Steve Noble Not surprisingly, this turned into yet another high-energy affair, sometimes so loud that I did hold my ears for a moment … yet again it proved most rich in sonic colours, full of shifts of musical textures and variants of combinations (similar to what the Chicago Tentet used to offer, which was also blazingly loud yet enormously colourful and highly sophisticated). Rybicki, so said one of my older German friends who has heard an amazing amount of great live concerts since the seventies, sounded similar to John Carter. The music was so dense I had trouble pinning down all the details and paying attention to individual voices, but the changing combinations with the two basses, the piano and the vibes, the two reeds players and the trumpet (again with all those effects) had so much to offer, it was amazing indeed! Regarding Schlippenbach joining, I thought first that this was a vain attempt, but then toward the end he and Adasiewicz had this part where they played together wonderfully. Rybicki was playing very good (might have been his bass clarinet that Brötzmann had been playing the nights before?). Again, as with the quintet on the opening night, this was music that opened all flood gates, music to end all music. Yet surprisingly, this hadn’t quite been it yet – there was a third set again, with the two so far absent ones joining Brötzmann and Kondo for another quartet: Peter Brötzmann/Toshinori Kondo/Heather Leigh/Han Bennink Leigh played like the night before, still not quite fulfilling the promise of that sound check, but more agitated than on the first nights. It was great witnessing again the affinity between Brötzmann and Kondo – and either way, hearing Kondo on four successive nights, to me, was certainly one of the best parts of these great four nights! Friday, March 11 Near our hotel, there’s all the large cemeteries of Warsaw. I had around two hours before I had to check out my room and leave for the airport, so I took a tram once again and went out to the Powązki cemetery (the big catholic one). Near the entrance, there’s boards listing many names of famous persons buried there and the sections where their graves are located. Komeda, Wieniawski, Lutosławski or Rowicki didn’t make it to the “Avenue of Notables” (the graves of Lutosławski and Rowicki are next to each other), but Wieniawski is located prominently with a large monument. I went to look for Krzysztof Komeda’s grave first, of course. While ambulating around there, I listened to Chopin’s Ballads as played by Witold Małcużyński, whose grave is in the aforementioned Avenue of Notables indeed, as is singer Jan Kiepura’s (when I visited Poland for the first time, 15 years ago, I went by night train, and it was called “Jan Kiepura”, and of course my Swiss army knife made sure I got some souvenirs from then – still have them, in fact). After that, I took a quick stroll through the adjacent Jewish cemetery (two stops by tram – these are huge cemeteries indeed), found the graves of Ludwik Lejzer Zamenhof (during my first visit in Warsaw, we also walked through ul. Esperanto which runs parallel to the cemetery walls, block or two back) and right next to it of Adam Cerniaków, but looked in vain for Marek Edelman’s – ran out of time, alas. At the airport, later, I suddenly saw Kondo walk in front of me, and when he stopped to sit down in one of those dreary airport cafés, Steve Noble was sitting there – so I had one more chance to offer my thanks and utter some words of appreciation.

day three: Wednesday, March 9 On the third day, I spent over three hours in the Muzeum Historii Żydów Polskich, the Museum of the History of Polish Jews. It’s located inside (rather: in the huge cellar of) a modern building somewhat further out than our hotel, all of it part of the – large – where the ghetto was located. On top, a picture of some remnants of the ghetto walls, close to the Cultural Palace (on top of the first post), and near today’s financial centre of Warsaw (around Rondo ONZ). From the museum I went over to Nowe Miasto (“new town”), which was built in 15c, just outside the town walls of the old town, and was mostly rebuilt after WWII as well. I had started with one of my German friends in the museum in the morning but lost him (he left earlier than me, but that museum is so fascinating, I could have spent even more time in there, but just got too tired eventually. By chance, I met the other guy in the restaurant I had looked up for lunch. Ate the roasted duck, and sitting there, looking out at the market square of Nowe Miasto, I had some kind of déjà-vu: I’m quite sure I sat there during my first visit, 15 years back, when I had my very first duck (back then, no ghetto markers, no museum on the history of Polish Jews, and only very few skysrapers existed). Then I went down to Vistula (not a pretty area, there’s a freeway down there), looking at the old parts of the city from outside and from below, then had another walk following the former ghetto, passing by [url= https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keret_House]Dom Kerata, which is located around the corner from where the wooden passage way connecting the “small ghetto” with the “large ghetto” was located (it is commemorated by metal pillars two storeys high, just as the bridge was, over which tens of thousands of people passed every day). It crossed a main traffic road which the Germans wouldn’t want to close down. Third night brought less music, wo found out the night before that we’d get to hear two quartets. Each ended up playing for around three quarters of an hour, which was perfectly alright of course. We stood outside during the sound check and heard Leigh producing some extremely loud and most interesting sounds on her pedal steel, and I was hoping she’d play with more verve that night, attacking the audience with walls of sound. First quartet was: Jason Adasiewicz/Heather Leigh/John Edwards/Steve Noble There were three sonic cells there: Adasiewicz on the left, Edwards/Noble in the centre, and Leigh on the right. They fought each other, played with and against each other, layered on top of each other … I was reminded again of a bit in Sempel’s movie where Noble said something like: he wasn’t at all interested in Edwards joining his groove – that would end up in a mere jam session … he wants to hear what ideas his playing prompts with Edwards, and how he’ll react, and in turn, he, Noble will react to Edwards again. And that tightly-knit yet totally unforeseeable manner of playing together is what fascinates me so much with these two guys! Adasiewicz again gave his everything … and actually it was good to know the vibes is mostly build of metal, or else you’d be afraid he’ll smash it to pieces right there and tehn! Leigh was alas less loud and less aggressive than during the sound check, but after last night’s amazing duo set of Brötzmann’s and hers, I was quite reconciled with her playing by now. Pre-announced for this night was a trio of Brötzmann, Schlippenabach and Bennink – a reunion of three old comrades. But it got even better as Kondo joined the proceedings, and this was a more powerful and wonderful set, topping the first of the night clearly (yet, over the course of the four days, there was no misfire at all). Peter Brötzmann/Toshinori Kondo/Alexander von Schlippenbach/Han Bennink The four really delivered, almost reaching the burning intensity of the quintet with Drake on night one. Kondo and Brötzmann were often turning in musical dialogue, Kondo getting up from his chair (as always right in front of my seat) and turning towards Brötzmann (as always standing at the right end of the stage). There were moments when musical ideas were flying around the room as fast as bullets. Schlippenbach sat behind his baby grand, to the far left of the stage (and is missing from my pics as there was too bright a light pointed at him that night), but that didn’t keep him from joining the musical proceedings. Again, he made an impression both fresh and his playing was full of surprising turns. Kondo again got plenty of fascinating sounds from his equipment, from wah-wah in the style of electric Miles to spheric tones, at times biting, at others sharply cutting through, sometimes with a lout scream. As I sat right in front of him, I could often hear the natural tone coming out of the bell of his trumpet at a much lower volume. This offered some fascinating insights in the nature of his use of the amplification and effects and of course added to my astonishment in no small way.

day two (well, day one was actually two days, but music-wise, only the second really counted): Tuesday, March 8 Next morning we crossed the Vistula river to visit the part of Warsaw called Praga. Feels like a different city – and looks a lot more like I remembered Warsaw from my first trip there, about 15 years back. We had a lengthy walk there, out to the Soho Factory area, a former factory ground where they build natty residence buildings, there are shops offering furniture, a restaurant and more – the glory and ugliness of hipness and gentrification with all its misery … we went back to the other side then, visiting a milk bar (used to be – still are actually – places for poor folks, subsidized by state, no alcohol, originally no meat either) to have some pierogi. The place is called Familijny Bar Mleczny and is located on the posh Nowy Świat. If you really want to make use of the offerings there, learn some Polish before visiting Around 6:30 p.m. on we went to Pardon To Tu, first set of the night was again Kondo, this time with rhythm: Toshinori Kondo/John Edwards/Han Bennink Pushed by Bennink, Kondo shifted up a few gears, and it was great to hear Edwards with someone other than Noble (to me, those two are currently one of the best rhythm sections around) – Bennink did his usual berserk thing that’s still always very musical. (Drake had already left, alas, as I found out later.) Second set was the pre-announced one again, this time as they had stated: Peter Brötzmann/Heather Leigh It became even more obvious than the night before with Kondo that Brötzmann was listening to Leigh, picking up clues and using her playing to kick into the next part of his amazing performance. He played all four instruments this time. Leigh sounded somewhat better to me by now (or maybe just more familiar), but again the sonic array she offered was pretty limited. Yet the result worked perfectly well, Brötzmann really put in an amazing performance – and if that’s what Leigh propels him to, her presence is more than just alright, of course! His playing ranged from a whisper to a scream, from a singsong to the snort of a steam train on his hefty tenor. While playing, he moved in what seemed to be a mix of Albert Ayler and a shokeling rabbi – everything was perfectly alright, the music glorious! Capping the proceedings was Schlippenbach’s first appearance: Alexander von Schlippenbach/John Edwards/Steve Noble And that, too, was powerful indeed! I was afraid the power play of Edwards/Noble might tackle the frail old master a bit too roughly, but once he managed to climb up on stage (Bennink had luckily returned the step stool), all that was forgotten and he played with vim and vigour. Again, things got very loud (though nowhere near as the quintet the night before – where front row sitting me was somewhat afraid of his ears indeed). The piano player had me thinking of Herbie Nichols, moreso than of Monk (more of that later!), yet he kept inserting wildly hammered parts, dense changes, intersecting those with tiny motifs, and he seemed to have a ball letting Edwards/Noble drive him on. A fine finish to a great second night that was – contrary to what I was afraid after the fireworks of the first night – indeed almost on the same elevated level again. In between the sets, I chatted some with Edwards, and with Schlippenbach as well. Bought a pair of CDs, too: the Trost reissue of Brötzmann/Hopkins/Ali "Songlines" and Parker/Schlippenbach/Lytton "america 2003" (on pi – it’s from a tour where Schlippenbach jumped in for Guy on short notice) – haven’t yet listened to either though.

day one: 5 Nights with Peter Brötzmann - 75th Birthday Anniversary Pardon To Tu, Plac Grzybowski 12/16, Warschau Sunday, March 6 Okay, first thing I hate flying … but hey, if it's for Mr. Brötzmann! Once in Warsaw, I took the train to town, stopped at the Stalin's luvly Palace of Culture and Science (there's a tourist info counter there, and guess what, they actually had posters for the Brötzmann concerts up on the wall!). Arriving in the afternoon, I had enough time for a stroll in the dark to Umschlagplatz, from where in 1942/43 around 300'000 Jews were sent to the gas chambers, mostly in Treblinka (not sure it's been translated, but if you can, do read Jarosław Marek Rymkiewicz's novel "Umschlagplatz"). On to the club then where Brötzmann would appear. Turned out to be pretty small and cozy, six or seven rows of chairs, some of them fragments of plush chairs from some old movie theatre. Figured out quickly which of the dark beers available would be the one of my choice (the draft one). The name of the club, Pardon To Tu, means "sorry we're here". We got a bit of an impression about the political situation too, some angry comments about the new government, but some guys I chatted with also were strangely indifferent, i.e. the government wasn't really evil … well, let's see). The audience was pretty mixed, some guys in suits, some of your typical semi-autistic jazz nerds and lots of young people. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHi3cqFLdkY#t=14 On the first night, the programme consisted of the screen of Peter Sempel's movie Rohschnitt Peter Brötzmann (Germany, 2014), the director brought it in himself. The film is a bit nervous and not interested in presenting a cohesive picture of Brötzmann, his life, his career, his importance. But it was pretty attractive and sort of succeeded in telling a story nonetheless, doing so in pictures, as a kind of collage, the director being present almost continuously, asking (sometimes silly) questions and shaking his small handheld camera. There are plenty of concert excerpts to be seen, from various places including the US, UK, Germany, China and also Pardon itself, where Brötzmann has appeared multiple times. Several musician colleagues and sidemen are interviewed as well, including the guys from Full Blast, the current quartet (Adasiewicz, Edwards, Noble), Steve Swell, Paal Nilssen-Love etc. You get to see Brötzmann's home and studio in Wuppertal as well, but still, it's more like a steady (yet shaky) flow of images and glimpses, than a real statement. I chatted some with Steve Noble later on, and whilst outside had a lengthy conversation with Brötzmann too – about the problem that musicians don't have enough places where to perform, the fact that many great musicians would play for hardly any money (and that he, luckily, is in a position where he doesn't need to do that). On the other hand, he stressed the importance of places to play, in order for to music to develop further – which only works in front of an audience. At that point, I had no clue yet as to how warmly his music was to be welcomed there, and how enthusiastically the young folks in the audience would react to the intense waves of sound breaking over their heads. It felt as if the music had some sort of existential meaning, rather than the nice to have quality it has for us saturated and indifferent folks in western Europe. Later on – two friends from Germany taking the trip as well had joined by then, they missed the film due to a later flight – we all got a piece of the birthday cake as well. Monday, March 7 Next morning I started exploring the city on my own, took the tram to the old town (Stare Miasto), took a lengthy walk to Ogród Saski, along the Royal Route (Trakt Królewski) down to the beginning of Nowy Świat, from where my little tour of record stores started (I had looked up four places, all close to each other, and happened over a fifth by chance). I acquired various recent releases from the [url= http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php?/topic/74444-polish-radio-jazz-archives-reissue-series/]Polish Jazz Radio Archives series and some more good stuff. Also, right next to one of the shops I found the door above and had a good laugh about this … it's a short way from the Jazz Society to AA As I had spent virtually all my cash by then, I looked for an ATM … and it wouldn't work! I started getting nervous, had less than 20$ left (enough for a bite and some beers at the club that night, but that was it) and had to figure out how to change that. Returned to the hotel eventually and realized my bank by default does not allow any transaction in most countries in Eastern Europe, but luckily, I could change the settings for Poland myself – and five minutes later, the ATM next to the hotel would work. Phew! Call me naïve, but who is travelling with large amounts of cash these days when he stays within semi-civilised territory? Back to relaxed state of mind then, and back to the club. We arrived around 7 p.m. (concerts were scheduled for 8:30), the music started around 9, three sets per night had been announced, they pre-announced one set per night and stated that the others would be by various combinations of the musicians present (Steve Noble said on Sunday that this was just for the public, that they had to give out some information. Two of those fixed sets worked out as planned, the other two didn't – and the first night held a great surprise indeed! Opening set was: Toshinori Kondo/Heather Leigh Leigh is an American living in Scotland, playing pedal steel – she was the one unknown to me participant in the proceedings, Kondo on the other hand was whom I looked forward to hearing most, seems he rarely can be heard outside of Japan these days. All of the others I'd already heard live: Brötzmann, Schlippenbach, Bennink, Adasiewicz, Edwards, and Noble. Kondo played an electrically amplified trumpet, its bell covered in dark varnish, plenty of pedals on the floor (just in front of me, I sat front row every night, of course!), and a box with lots of stuff built in, with which he treated his sound. Sitting so closely, I could often hear the unamplified trumpet tone in addition as well – quite fascinating indeed. Leigh I found rather boring, more a sounding board than an active participant. She played some sort of drone effects all the time, not once picking a line or anything, so the sounds she produced proved rather limited in scope – yet she did help her partners to climb to quite some heights indeed. Kondo was the first and it got clear that he was constantly listening and using her playing as a starting point for new ideas. So this first set was quite elegiac and moody – and a good opener for the festivities indeed! The pre-announced set for this first night was the current quartet: Peter Brötzmann/Jason Adasiewicz/John Edwards/Steve Noble – yet earlier that night there was a surprise guest sneeking around: Hamid Drake! Drake had been invited without Brötzmann being in the know, and it was unclear if he could really make it (they booked a flight for him that could be annulled again in case). So we got a unique and probably singular quintet with two drummers in the middle of the stage, Adasiewicz on the left of the stage, Edwards to the right of the drums, and far right, at the end of the stage (as usual) Brötzmann, who had his axes on a table. He didn’t just play his usual tenor but a silver clarinet and surprisingly, he played a bass clarinet as well (his tárogáto stood in front of him but he’d only play it the second night, actually). This set was considerably longer and the drummers obviously had a great time playing together. There was a great moment early on when Drake and Adasiewicz – Noble, Edwards and Brötzmann were already playing – looked at each other, coordinating their attack on the others. Adasiewicz used the regular mallets (often four, when one flew away three, sometimes just two), bows as strings players use them, and some kind of prepared stick he would horizontally crash down on his instrument. His playing changed from fierce sonic attacks to single-note runs, he added a lot to the proceedings, at times colouring or shading others, at other times playing more in a soloist manner (and that was the broad palette that Leigh was lacking, I found). No need to say much about John Edwards, he’s simply one of the best. And the ol’ man on the saxophone held his own effortlessly (or so it sempt) – with enormous power and his huge sound. Sometime on this or the night before I overheard him answering someone’s question: “well, Coleman Hawkins of course” – so there’s that, and of course to all with open ears, that is pretty obvious, but it bears repeating nonetheless. One night for warming up, he played the opening lick of Hawk’s solo from “Driva Man” – and the night after he kept using that motif in an altered way for several seconds in one of his improvisations. This was music to end all music – I could have taken a plane right after and would have been deeply satisfied and full of joy. Yet that wasn’t all the night had to offer. Han Bennink got up onto the stage, lanky as ever, pants too short, grabbed the step stool actually allowing the guys to get onto the stage, sat behind one of the drum kits and started – we thought – with a quick sound check … but he wouldn’t stop no more and eventually, Jason Adasiewicz climbed on the stage again as well and they did a short duo set. Jason Adasiewicz/Han Bennink Props to them! Adasiewicz must have been powered out after that quintet set, but Bennink was totally undisturbed as ever … so we got to hear all the musicians save for Schlippenbach, who would only arrive the next day.

I've got a CD-R of the CD-R ... never trust bought CD-Rs, do your own - and keep FLAC, too!