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NOTES
FROM THE FIELD: DECEMBER 2004
Pt. 1
London. Days off - reading, walking, writing, checking
out the Tate. Trying to remember all that's happened since
the end of October FME sessions... The fall has been an
amazing recording period. In September SONORE live on
tour, and the newest version of the TERRITORY BAND documented
in Chicago. In October the last three concerts by Paul
Lytton, Philipp Waschmann, and myself during our European
tour were recorded - hoping the tapes sound good enough
for a release, the music was incredible. Then Oslo for
the FME "cave sessions," new material for a
new album.
I left Oslo early in the morning of the 30th and flew
back home. On the 1st of November the CHICAGO TENTET began
work on a project called, "Be Music, Night,"
involving the poems of Kenneth Patchen. Peter Brötzmann
developed a beautiful system for organizing the music
around Mike Pearson's reading of the texts by integrating
an adapted version of Fred Lonberg-Holm's "Lightbox,"
three featured instrumentalists (Jeb Bishop, Mats Gustafsson,
Joe McPhee) and four composed themes ranging from a blues,
a jumping mid tempo melody, a kinetic riff piece, and
a hymn-like ballad. We finished the Chicago session (with
Bob Weston at Wall To Wall again) and concerts (Chicago
and Milwaukee), and a few days later I flew back to Oslo
to begin work on the new FREE FALL material for a short
tour (Oslo, Strasbourg, Weikersheim, Amsterdam [see November
Notes pt. 2]) before recording in Osnabruck with the engineer
Hrolfour Vagnsson at Fattoria Musica.
All of the sessions scheduled for specific release TERRITORY
BAND-4 (Okka Disk, fall 2005), FME (Okka Disk, summer
2005), BROTZMANN CHICAGO TENTET (spring, 2005), FREE FALL
(smalltownsuperjazz, summer 2005)], and for possible production
[SONORE and Lytton/Vandermark/Waschmann], are documents
that I am particularly proud of. Working with all of these
musicians and developing the material, whether completely
improvised (SONORE, LVW) or based on compositional frameworks,
performing the music, recording with these superior engineers
(Weston, Stryppe, Vagnsson), has made this fall one of
the most productive and gratifying in my life. So where
do I go from here?
November ends with a "third stream" concert
put together by composer Andrew Morgan in London. Then
I head back to the States for a Northwest tour organized
by Torsten Muller involving Paul Rutherford, Dylan van
der Schyff, and myself. After that is finished full work
begins with a new quartet: Tim Daisy, Nate McBride, Jason
Stein, me. Weekly concerts with the group at the Bottle
in Chicago until mid January to find out if the cooperative
approach will work (all members composing, all members
developing the group aesthetics with an equal hand). A
couple of one-off performances with SPACEWAYS INC. and
a quartet with Brötzmann, Kessler, Drake (also at
the Empty Bottle). Mixing the VANDERMARK 5 and TENTET
studio sessions. And then a month break from performing-
time to practice, compose, consider, and do some sessions
with Joe Morris and Luther Gray out East...
Pt. 2/The EX Anniversary
The EX Anniversary (25 years of music and counting) at
the Paradiso in Amsterdam was a celebration of what's
right with music now, a 21st century festival the way
it should be- no limits or boundaries on style/volume/sound
- everything from John Butcher solo to the Ethiopean trio
with Mohammed Jimmy Mohammed to ZU. I arrived with Ingebrigt
Haker Flaten and Haavard Wiik on Friday the 19th after
five days of travel and performances with FREE FALL in
preparation for our next album. I think we averaged about
4 1/2 hours of sleep a night during the trip and were
quite exhausted when Roze and Kat of the EX picked us
up at the train station that afternoon.
From that moment on, and for the next 36 hours, we were
thrown head first into (if not chaos) a slice of the EX's
world. Our first stop was to pick up the chef and food
for the musicians - enough for 100 people. After that
we were dropped off at the Paradiso, me for a soundcheck
with a sextet - Terrie and Andy from the EX on guitars,
Paul Lovens and Tony Buck on drums, Mats Gustafsson and
myself on reeds; Ingebrigt and Haavard to find their rooms
for the weekend. The plan was for me to borrow the baritone
sax of Luca from ZU, but the band got stranded in Rome
due to a massive car accident in the city. No one from
the group was hurt, but no baritone. Since I was on tour
with FREE FALL I only had my clarinets with me. The only
possible option at this point was to play the bass clarinet.
Facing two drummers, two guitarists, and Mats' baritone
on the main stage of the Paradiso with a bass clarinet
felt a bit hopeless, however. That is until the soundtech
put the instrument through the P.A., then the damn thing
sounded about fourty feet tall. Tony Buck couldn't make
the check so the whole thing ended up being a near guess.
I grabbed some coffee with Mats and Lotta Melin, then
back to the club where more and more musicians and friends
of the EX were piling in for dinner - a who's who of the
indie rock and improvised music scenes, plus some of the
greatest presenters of this music in Europe.
After listening to the ICP Orchestra perform with 80 year
old Ethiopean tenor sax legend, Getatchew Mekurya, I collapsed
in one of the dressing rooms to try and catch some sleep-
not easy with Han Bennink, Cor Fuhler, Paul Lovens, Toby
Delius, etc. in there with me, but I was completely wiped
out. Woke up after a half hour, drank 3 cups of espresso,
and set up for the sextet, excited to play with these
musicians again and with Tony Buck for the first time.
Mats and I sat on the side of the stage while the strings
and drums started.
- "Give me a look when you want us to come out Terrie."
- "Yeah Ken, sure. Ha, ha, aha ha!"
The last time I was in a situation like this was when
I sat in with Terrie, Andy, Han Bennink and Hamid Drake
at the Wels festival a couple of years ago. Terrie gave
me "the look" while he and Andy were kicking
a metal milk crate around the stage like a football...
The starting four hit the stage in an explosion- not noise,
but sound and music. The volume was huge. I sat on the
side of the stage looking at my bass clarinet, laughing.
After some time, music moving, Terrie looked over and
I shook my head - "No way." He laughed as Mats
and I walked out, Terrie bucking and weaving, drums grooving
hard as we made our way towards Andy and the mics. Surprisingly,
I could hear myself as Mats and I layered heavy reed lines
on top of the rhythmic barrage laid down by the drums
and guitars. But the music moved, not as just a wall of
sound- a wall of details, to details in islolation, turning
sideways and forwards. The music was charged and the audience
put the energy back to us.
After leaving the stage I went to catch the EX (Andy and
Terrie running to make the start in time) playing highlights
from their back catalog, Roze on electric bass and kicking
ass. No nostalgia trip, a quick look back before turning
forward again. More coffee and John Butcher solo and ELECTRELANE
- both striking and fitting side by side - before spinning
funk cuts until 3:30am; cut off for an early stop (supposed
to go to 5am with help from Andy) by the club manager
and the dancers were pissed. Can't blame them, who wants
James Brown, et al shut down? Got to bed around 6am, first
a beer with Tony Buck and the Subterranean folks (Mara
and Mark) who were graciously putting us up for the weekend.
Slept until 2pm, the most direct rest in more than a week.
Some great homemade pasta for lunch and back to the club
for the FREE FALL soundcheck - so much for visiting Amsterdam.
This trio always tires to play acoustic, not even a bass
amp on stage, but there was no way the upright piano would
carry in the upstairs space at the Paradiso. So we went
with as little P.A. as we could. I grabbed dinner with
friends and got back too late to see the quartet set by
Roze, Tony Buck, John Butcher, and dancer Hisako Horikawa.
FREE FALL set up and the volume from the main stage pounded
through the doors and floor. This was going to be tough
- low volume and introspective at times, the group's music
and the crowd were now faced with a John Cage experience.
Somehow, it worked. The band went forward with the set
as planned and by midway the audience was cheering, a
packed room yelling for a "chamber improvisation"
group - incredible and true. Afterwards I bumped into
Ab Baars, who said he really enjoyed the pieces - one
of the highest compliments I could hope for.
After packing up I heard Mohammed Jimmy Mohammed, Asnake
Gebreyes, and Messele Asmamaw from Ethiopia, beautiful
music and dancing. Three musicians sounding like an orchestra.
Then ZU with Mats sitting in. They arrived minutes before
FREE FALL hit the stage ("I have the baritone!"),
a 40 hour journey that should have taken four. Couldn't
believe that it had been a year and a half since I'd seen
these guys last. How can one week on the road feel like
a month and a year apart from a friend seem like a day?
ZU played on the same stage as FREE FALL, and as I watched
the soundtech put mics up for Jacapo's drums I knew this
was going to make yesterday's sextet gig sound acoustic
by comparison. When the bomb went off it was a sonic machine,
the tightness of the band has moved to the point where
everything breathes- at 800 decibels. Somehow Mats stepped
in to further up the ante. After the gig there is immediate
talk of THREE baritones with massimo and Jacapo as rhythm
- I will be bringing my own.
Some quick Ethiopean food at the cafe and then the EX.
I just saw these guys in September when they played at
the Empty Bottle in Chicago, and somehow they sounded
even greater. As I watched and listened I kept thinking,
"25 years." All that passion for music, undiminished.
The sound of something to do next, undiminished. All the
people in that room, from all over the world, people pulled
together by the EX and their music - listening.
When the night was over I tried to thank all of the members
of the band, telling them how much it meant to me to be
invited and to be there to perform, how great they sounded
and how amazing their achievement was - all of them just
laughed and shrugged. Except Terrie. He laughed and shrugged
and said, "What Ken, you want to fight? You're so
serious - I'd rather fight." Instead, I helped him
and a bunch of the other musicians load the EX van with
equipment. Somehow they were going to get it and all the
people staying at Terrie's house (the musicians from Ethiopia,
France, etc., about 18 all told) back home.
After trying all night, Roze was eventually able to organize
a cab to pick up the members of FREE FALL at 6am, in time
for our train to the studio in Osnabruck, Germany - glorious.
It was now 3:30am, Tony Buck was finally able to collect
his scattered drum set (the Paradiso shifted quickly to
a dance club as soon as the EX's set was done- elevators
off, backstage doors locked). Now the problem was getting
a taxi for his equipment. Having hailed cabs around North
America and Europe for many years, I was quite impressed
by the difficulty in getting a taxi on a Saturday night
in Amsterdam. Fed up with the random "system"
used between passengers and drivers at the cab stand near
the venue, Mark and I walked to his apartment, getting
there at exactly the same moment as Tony and Roze pulled
up in a vehicle she was able to organize from the club.
Roze waved and set off. We lugged the drums down the small
street and up the stairs, Mara still awake spinning albums
- 4:30am. I packed my things and tried to sleep for an
hour. When I got up to leave, Tony and Mark were still
in the living room listening to records. I said goodbye
and the sounds of an electric guitar freakout from the
first CHICAGO album (?!) followed me down the stairs.
On the corner the cab miraculously arrived, I got in and
went off to pick up Ingebrigt and Haavard. The three of
us were subjected to classic rock Dutch style at full
volume all the way to the train station. The final minutes
of the trip featured a brutally over the top performance
of "Summertime," vocals bordering on yodels.
We tried to guess what band was responsible ("Suuuuummmmertiiiiiiiiiiiiimmmme...")
and decided that it was the Gershwin brothers original
demo. Out of the cab, off to the train, in three hours
we'd be in Osnabruck ready to record.
-Ken Vandermark London, November 27, 2004
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