blue lake Posted August 10, 2004 Report Posted August 10, 2004 (edited) SONORE is coming to Kraftbrau on Thursday, September 2, 2004. This group is a reed trio comprised of Peter Brotzmann, Ken Vandermark and Mats Gustafsson. Doors are at 9PM, show is at 10PM. Admission is $10. They will be performing two sets. Please help spread the word in your area. Thanks! Matt Dorbin Kraftbrau Brewery 402 E. Kalamazoo Ave Kalamazoo, MI (269) 384-0288 http://www.kraftbraubrewery.com http://kenvandermark.com/promo/bios/sonore_bio.pdf Edited August 10, 2004 by blue lake Quote
Lazaro Vega Posted September 1, 2004 Report Posted September 1, 2004 Looking forward to recording this for broadcast on Blue Lake Public Radio! Quote
Lazaro Vega Posted September 1, 2004 Report Posted September 1, 2004 SONORE NORTH AMERICAN TOUR (Peter Brötzmann, Mats Gustafsson, Ken Vandermark) WED 9/1/04 Chicago, IL Empty Bottle THU 9/2/04 Kalamazoo, MI Kraftbrau FRI 9/3/04 Toronto, ON Goethe Institute SAT 9/4/04 Ottawa, ON Babylon SUN 9/5/04 Montreal, QC El Salon TUE 9/7/04 Boston, MA Zeitgeist Gallery WED 9/8/04 New York, NY Tonic THU 9/9/04 Philadelphia, PA Slought Foundation FRI 9/10/04 Pittsburgh, PA Modern Formations SAT 9/11/04 Lexington, KY Mecca Gallery SUN 9/12/04 Newport, KY Southgate House Parlour Quote
Werf Posted September 1, 2004 Report Posted September 1, 2004 Can't go, oh Spring Lake Daddy-O. Quote
Lazaro Vega Posted September 3, 2004 Report Posted September 3, 2004 (edited) What a night. Just returned from the Sonore hit in Kalamazoo and this is just astonishing music. Spoke to Peter Brotzmann before the hit, we were on the porch of the Kraftbrau, about music especially -- how the trio, Sonore, fits together outside of the typical instrumentation of a saxophone quartet ("We're not interested in being so academic. We wanted it to be much freer.") About the scene in Europe, especially Berlin ("After 40 years of hard work I'm only playing once a year in my hometown.") About politics (he as a German brought up the issue of racism, talked about the rise of neo-Nazism all across Europe, even Denmark and Sweden). Enjoyed the sight and sound of a train passing in the warm summer night and watched folks come smiling up the stairs to get his autograph. Ken's elaborations on the Sonore trio vs saxophone quartet were worth repeating . When you think of a saxophone quartet they have a certain set way of making music, sort of coming out of a string quartet model, where people have roles within the ensemble (think of the World Saxophone Quartet or Rova) and there might be assigned parts, harmony, unison, riffs, etc. to create a uniform sound from piece to piece. Not this trio of woodwinds players. First because they switch up so much instrumentally between alto, tenor and baritone sax, clarinets, bass clarinet, taragato, steel clarinet and an e-flat clarinet with a bari mouth piece; and second because they're so free in performing material. I'm just blown away by what was heard tonight -- the opener was some of the most over the top agressive sounding music. Featuring all three on tenor saxs rising in fanfare to triple forte intensity, cooling to a low dynamic for a burbling soup of sound, then rising again on insistent downbeats to a hammering figure much like a car alarm, replete with upper register beeps, commented on by barking rhythmic accents as "inner voicings." Then cooling again, taking the dynamic down as the horns burbled and moaned. All fell away for Brotzmann's rampaging solo. The piece ended with a return of the opening fanfare, and the cool point resulted in the ending. One may have sworn it was composed. They followed that up with a singing clarinet ensemble played with lyricism, and gruff, opened throated textures, to soft, gentle chords, and a wide variety of dynamics. There was a moment in the night where Brotzmann swung a course, roughly textued, hoarse sounding line similar to "Doxy" on alto sax, and his wild shaking of that instrument put me in mind of a younger Marshal Allen, though Brotzmann didn't pummel the keys and his sound isn't so sharp or piercing as Allen's was. Sonore plays free music at its best in today's scene, and it is saxophone playing at a level that rivals the high standards set by the masters. After the two sets I asked Mats if in fact his slap tounge stuff came out of Hawk. He quipped, "Or Rudy Wiendof (sp)." No, it was from drummers, and he laughed that if he tried to develop that tricky stuff in the setting of Sonore he'd be shouted down. (lol). As Brotzmann said he is the last of his generation of European players to tour rigerously, so, if you have the $10 and the time they may be coming to a city near you. Highly, highly recommended. Kalamazoo is fortunate to have been a stop on the tour. The Detroiters who were there, Pat Frisco and company, commented that this was better than Athens, Georgia, earlier in the year. I'll take their word for it -- they go to EVERYTHING (including Ornette at Hill Auditorium recently, which we all dug). Toronto, are you listening? You're next! SONORE NORTH AMERICAN TOUR (Peter Brötzmann, Mats Gustafsson, Ken Vandermark) / WED 9/1/04 Chicago, IL Empty Bottle / THU 9/2/04 Kalamazoo, MI Kraftbrau / FRI 9/3/04 Toronto, ON Goethe Institute / SAT 9/4/04 Ottawa, ON Babylon / SUN 9/5/04 Montreal, QC El Salon / TUE 9/7/04 Boston, MA Zeitgeist Gallery / WED 9/8/04 New York, NY Tonic / THU 9/9/04 Philadelphia, PA Slought Foundation / FRI 9/10/04 Pittsburgh, PA Modern Formations / SAT 9/11/04 Lexington, KY Mecca Gallery / SUN 9/12/04 Newport, KY Southgate House Parlour/ Edited September 3, 2004 by Lazaro Vega Quote
Werf Posted September 3, 2004 Report Posted September 3, 2004 Sounds extremely cool, Laz. Thanks for such a quick review. Quote
blue lake Posted September 4, 2004 Author Report Posted September 4, 2004 (edited) You bet Werf. Sorry you couldn't make it. Hope folks in the other cities go to hear this band. They did well on Wednesday at the Empty Bottle, around 250, and Kalamazoo's audience was great, just under 200, but there to LISTEN and respond. Sonore played around 8 or 9 pieces through the night. Encountering this music leaves one searching for ways to articulate the experiance. At the start of their run as a band they were asked to bring their horns to a radio station in Montreal to play "a little something" on the air, which they liked, so they put together a few concert appearances in Europe, including Verona, and liked that enough to record an album (which is coming with them on the tour, it is that new). "No One Every Works Alone" takes its name from a Kenneth Patchen poem. These guys have played together in the sax section of Brotzmann's Chicago Tentet (which was suprisingly theme/solos/theme based music until they'd been together a while) but as "Sonore" they have evolved and stabilized a concept of group improvisation which this type of music wholly rests on because there are no pre-set patterns. And that concept of group improvisation is sonically varied in the extreme. Hearing a band that has stayed together long enough to grow into a real ensemble as they improvise a concert is as exciting as music gets. Isn't that what jazz is all about? Edited September 4, 2004 by blue lake Quote
Guest Chaney Posted September 4, 2004 Report Posted September 4, 2004 Thanks guys for the well written comments on what sounds to have been an amazing show. Quote
Lazaro Vega Posted September 5, 2004 Report Posted September 5, 2004 (edited) p.s. the Okka Cd is called "No One Ever Works Alone." Edited September 6, 2004 by Lazaro Vega Quote
blue lake Posted September 7, 2004 Author Report Posted September 7, 2004 This from Chicago Improv. I managed to hear the first set of Sonore in Toronto on Friday and it was just as good as the reviewer here described. The blend that they achieve is magnificent, and by using different horns they create many different textures. I was also struck by how they had rejected the traditional sax quartet roles, although Vandermark sometimes tried to resurrect them. It was also good to hear Gustafsson on bari again; the last few times I heard him he stuck to tenor and alto, no doubt hindered by the airlines. His contributions on the flutophone were amazing--I have no idea how he can control the pitch so well. The energy was overwhelming! Piotr -- ------------------------------------------------------------ Piotr Michalowski Dept. of Near Eastern Studies 2068 Frieze Building University of Michigan Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1285 Office phone: 734-764-0314 www-personal.umich.edu/~piotrm/HOME%20PAGE.htm Quote
Upright Bill Posted September 7, 2004 Report Posted September 7, 2004 When are you going to play the recording on Blue Lake Radio? Quote
blue lake Posted September 8, 2004 Author Report Posted September 8, 2004 The Okka Disk will be on this Wednesday at midnight. The concert recording will take a little longer. Thanks for asking! Quote
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