The Squid's Ear Magazine

Brotzmann, Peter Chicago Tentet

Ultraman vs. Alien Metron [SINGLE SIDED VINYL]

Brotzmann, Peter Chicago Tentet: Ultraman vs. Alien Metron [SINGLE SIDED VINYL] (Corbett vs. Dempsey)

Recorded during the 2002 studio sessions that yielded the albums A Short Visit to Nowhere and Broken English, this unreleased recording of a Mars Williams composition is issued as a 1-sided LP with the stellar lineup of Brötzmann with Williams, Ken Vandermark, Jeb Bishop, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Kent Kessler, Michael Zerang, Hamid Drake, Mats Gustafsson and Joe McPhee.
 

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Personnel:



Peter Brotzmann-tenor saxophone

Mars Williams-tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone

Ken Vandermark-baritone saxophone

Mats Gustafsson-alto saxophone

Joe McPhee-valve trombone

Jeb Bishop-trombone

Fred Lonberg-Holm-cello

Kent Kessler-bass

Michael Zerang-drums

Hamid Drake-drums


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Limited edition of 1000 copies. One-sided LP with music on the A-side and the B-side featuring a silkscreen of artwork by Peter Brotzmann.

Label: Corbett vs. Dempsey
Catalog ID: CvsD LP002
Squidco Product Code: 31240

Format: LP
Condition: New
Released: 2022
Country: USA
Packaging: LP
Recorded at Airwave Studios, in Chicago, Illinois, on July 3rd and 4th, 2002.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"In the first years of its existence, starting in 1997, the Peter Brotzmann Chicago Tentet worked as a collective, inviting all and any of its participants to contribute compositions to the band's repertoire. Eventually, the Tentet would jettison scores and pre-planned structures altogether, opting for free improvisation, but on their early tours and initial recordings they played pieces written by the various band members.

A marathon set of summer studio sessions in 2002, just off a U.S. tour, yielded two CDs for Okka Disk, A Short Visit to Nowhere and Broken English. Of two Mars Williams compositions from the session, one was recorded but never issued...until now. Featuring the original lineup of the band, which combined seven stellar Chicagoans - Williams, Ken Vandermark, Jeb Bishop, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Kent Kessler, Michael Zerang, and Hamid Drake - with Mats Gustafsson, Joe McPhee, and the band's namesake, the Peter Brotzmann Chicago Tentet was a sensationally versatile free music ensemble, capable of going into all sorts of unexpected territory. The group sports a four-saxophone frontline, with twin trombones (McPhee is on valve trombone here), two strings, and a ferocious drum section featuring Zerang and Drake, who had already worked together intimately for more than 25 years at this point.

Recently rediscovered in his vaults by Williams, newly mixed by original engineer John McCortney, Ultraman vs. Alien Metron is a lost classic of improvised music by one of the premier improvised music bands of its era. With preposterous juxtapositions of mood, from mostrous lurching heavy rock (underpinning the Japanese Godzilla-esque theme) to hard-swinging freebop and even an incredibly delicate, poignant ballad section, this feature-length track (18+ minutes) is chock full of rock 'em sock 'em goodness.

For the maiden vinyl voyage of Ultraman vs. Alien Metron, Corbett vs. Dempsey has prepared a special package, with artwork and design by Brotzmann. The format is a one-sided LP, with music on the A-side and the B-side featuring a silkscreen of artwork by Brotzmann."-Corbett Vs. Dempsey


Limited edition of 1000 copies. One-sided LP with music on the A-side and the B-side featuring a silkscreen of artwork by Peter Brotzmann.

Artist Biographies

"Born Remscheid, Germany on 6 March 1941; soprano, alto, tenor, baritone and bass saxophones, a-clarinet, e-flat clarinet; bass clarinet, tarogato.

Peter Brötzmann's early interest was in painting and he attended the art academy in Wuppertal. Being very dissatisfied with the gallery/exhibition situation in art he found greater satisfaction playing with semi-professional musicians, though continued to paint (as well as retaining a level of control over his own records, particularly in record sleeve/CD booklet design). In late 2005 he had a major retrospective exhibition jointly with Han Bennink - two separate buildings separated by an inter-connecting glass corridor - in Brötzmann's home town of Remscheid.

Self-taught on clarinets, he soon moved to saxophones and began playing swing/bebop, before meeting Peter Kowald. During 1962/63 Brötzmann, Kowald and various drummers played regularly - Mingus, Ornette Coleman, etc. - while experiencing freedoms from a different perspective via Stockhausen, Nam June Paik, David Tudor and John Cage. In the mid 1960s, he played with American musicians such as Don Cherry and Steve Lacy and, following a sojourn in Paris with Don Cherry, returned to Germany for his unorthodox approach to be accepted by local musicians like Alex von Schlippenbach and Manfred Schoof.

The trio of Peter Brötzmann, Peter Kowald and Sven-Ake Johansson began playing in 1965/66 and it was a combination of this and the Schoof/Schlippenbach Quintet that gave rise to the first Globe Unity Orchestra. Following the self-production of his first two LPs, For Adolphe Sax and Machine gun for his private label, BRÖ, a recording for Manfred Eicher's 'Jazz by Post' (JAPO) [Nipples], and a number of concert recordings with different sized groups, Brötzmann worked with Jost Gebers and started the FMP label. He also began to work more regularly with Dutch musicians, forming a trio briefly with Willem Breuker and Han Bennink before the long-lasting group with Han Bennink and Fred Van Hove. As a trio, and augmented with other musicians who could stand the pace (e.g. Albert Mangelsdorff on, for example, The Berlin concert), this lasted until the mid-1970s though Brötzmann and Bennink continued to play and record as a duo, and in other combinations, after this time. A group with Harry Miller and Louis Moholo continued the trio format though was cut short by Miller's early death.

The thirty-plus years of playing and recording free jazz and improvised music have produced, even on just recorded evidence, a list of associates and one-off combinations that include just about all the major figures in this genre: Derek Bailey (including performances with Company (e.g. Incus 51), Cecil Taylor, Fred Hopkins, Rashied Ali, Evan Parker, Keiji Haino, Misha Mengelberg, Anthony Braxton, Marilyn Crispell, Andrew Cyrille, Phil Minton, Alfred 23 Harth, Tony Oxley. Always characterised as an energy player - and the power-rock setting of Last Exit with Ronald Shannon Jackson, Sonny Sharock and Bill Laswell, or his duo performances with his son, Casper, did little to disperse this conviction - his sound is one of the most distinctive, life-affirming and joyous in all music. But the variety of Brötzmann's playing and projects is less recognised: his range of solo performances; his medium-to-large groups and, in spite of much ad hoc work, a stability brought about from a corpus of like- minded musicians: the group Ruf der Heimat; pianist Borah Bergman; percussionist Hamid Drake; and Die like a dog, his continuing tribute to Albert Ayler, with Drake, William Parker and Toshinori Kondo. Peter Brötzmann continues a heavy touring schedule which, since 1996 has seen annual visits to Japan and semi-annual visits to the thriving Chicago scene where he has played in various combinations from solo through duo (including one, in 1997, with Mats Gustafsson) to large groups such as the Chicago Octet/Tentet, described below. He has also released a number of CDs on the Chicago-based Okka Disk label, including the excellent trio with Hamid Drake and the Moroccan Mahmoud Gania, at times sounding like some distant muezzin calling the faithful to become lost in the rhythm and power of the music.

The "Chicago Tentet" was first organized by Brötzmann with the assistance of writer/presenter John Corbett in January 1997 as an idea for a one-time octet performance that included Hamid Drake and Michael Zerang (drums), Kent Kessler (bass) and Fred Lomberg-Holm (cello), Ken Vandermark and Mars Williams (reeds), and Jeb Bishop (trombone). The first meeting was extremely strong and warranted making the group an ongoing concern and in September of that same year the band was expanded to include Mats Gustafsson (reeds) and Joe McPhee (brass) as permanent members (with guest appearances by William Parker (bass), Toshinori Kondo (trumpet/electronics), and Roy Campbell (trumpet) during its tenure) - all in all a veritable who's who of the contemporary improvising scene's cutting edge. Though the Tentet is clearly led by Brötzmann and guided by his aesthetics, he has been committed to utilizing the compositions of other members in the ensemble since the beginning. This has allowed the band to explore an large range of structural and improvising tactics: from the conductions of Mats Gustafsson and Fred Lonberg-Holm, to the vamp pieces of Michael Zerang and Hamid Drake, to compositions using conventional notation by Ken Vandermark and Mars Williams, to Brötzmann's graphic scores - the group employs almost every contemporary approach to composing for an improvising unit. This diversity in compositional style, plus the variety in individualistic approaches to improvisation, allows the Tentet to play extremely multifaceted music. As the band moves from piece to piece, it explores intensities that range from spare introspection to all out walls of sound, and rhythms that are open or free from a steady pulse to those of a heavy hitting groove. It is clear that the difficult economics of running a large band hasn't prevented the group from continuing to work together since its first meeting. Through their effort they've been able to develop an ensemble sound and depth of communication hard to find in a band of any size or style currently playing on the contemporary music scene."

-EFI (European Free Improvisation Pages) (http://www.efi.group.shef.ac.uk/mbrotzm.html)
3/27/2024

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"Mars Williams is an open-minded musician, composer and educator who commutes easily between free jazz, funk, hip-hop and rock, Mars has played and recorded with The Psychedelic Furs, Billy Idol, Massacre, Fred Frith, Bill Laswell, Ministry, Power Station, Die Warzau, The Waitresses, Kiki Dee, Pete Cosey, Billy Squier, DJ Logic, Wayne Kramer, John Scoffield, Charlie Hunter, Kurt Elling, Swollen Monkeys, Mike Clark, Jerry Garcia, Naked Raygun, Friendly Fires, The Untouchables, Blow Monkeys and virtually every leading figure of Chicago's and New York City's "downtown" scene.

John Zorn credits Mars as "one of the true saxophone players--someone who takes pleasure in the sheer act of blowing the horn. This tremendous enthusiasm is an essential part of his sound, and it comes through each note every time he plays. Whatever the situation, Mars plays exciting music. In many ways he has succeeded in redefining what versatility means to the modern saxophone player."

In 2001 Mars received a Grammy Nomination for Best Contemporary Jazz Record with his group Liquid Soul.

Despite his busy touring schedule with Liquid Soul and The Psychedelic Furs, Mars manages to stay active on the Chicago underground improvising scene. In recent years he has toured and recorded with the Peter Brötzmann Tentet, Switchback, Full Blast, Scorch Trio, the Vandermark 5, Boneshaker, Chicago Reed Quartet and Cinghiale, teaming him with such musicians as Ken Vandermark, Hamid Drake, Michael Zerang, William Parker, Ikue Mori, Kent Kessler, Fredric Lonberg Holm, Peter Brotzmann, Joe McPhee, Paal Nilssen-Love, Ab Baars, Mike Reed, Jeb Bishop, Harrison Bankhead, Dave Rempis, Kidd Jordan and Matts Gustafson.

He performs weekly in Chicago along with Jim Baker, Steve Hunt, and Brian Sandstrom in the improvising quartet "Extraordinary Popular Delusions". As a bandleader, he continues to perform and record CDs with his own free-jazz groups, the NRG Ensemble, Witches & Devils, Slam, XmarsX, Mars Trio, Boneshaker and The Soul Sonic Sirkus which features improvising musicians and aerial circus performers. Along with Die Warsau's Van Christie, Mars has started Ratking Music, a production company focusing on music for film and television.

In addition to performing and creating music, Mars has been an educator in the field of woodwinds and jazz improvisation for over thirty years. Mars held the position of Woodwind Instructor at Bard College for two years. In the last few years Mars has presented Master classes and clinics to a number of private and public institutions including, the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, the University of Chicago, Roosevelt University (Chicago, IL), and June Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art (Auburn, AL)."

-Mars Williams Website (http://www.marswilliams.com/about/)
3/27/2024

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"Born in Warwick, Rhode Island on September 22nd, 1964, Ken Vandermark began studying the tenor saxophone at the age of 16. Since graduating with a degree in Film and Communications from McGill University during the spring of 1986, his primary creative emphasis has been the exploration of contemporary music that deals directly with advanced methods of improvisation. In 1989, he moved to Chicago from Boston, and has worked continuously from the early 1990's onward, both as a performer and organizer in North America and Europe, recording in a large array of contexts, with many internationally renowned musicians (such as Fred Anderson, Ab Baars, Peter Brötzmann, Tim Daisy, Hamid Drake, Terrie Ex, Mats Gustafsson, Devin Hoff, Christof Kurzmann, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Joe McPhee, Paal Nilssen-Love, Paul Lytton, Andy Moor, Joe Morris, and Nate Wooley). His current activity includes work with Made To Break, The Resonance Ensemble, Side A, Lean Left, Fire Room, the DKV Trio, and duos with Paal Nilssen-Love and Tim Daisy; in addition, he is the music director of the experimental Pop band, The Margots. More than half of each year is spent touring in Europe, North America, and Japan, and his concerts and numerous recordings have been critically acclaimed both at home and abroad. In addition to the tenor sax, he also plays the bass and Bb clarinet, and baritone saxophone. In 1999 he was awarded the MacArthur prize for music."

-Ken Vandermark Website (http://kenvandermark.com/2013/10/made-to-break-biography/)
3/27/2024

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"Born 1964 in Umeå, Northern Sweden.Saxplayer, improviser and composer. Solo artist and international tours and projects with a.o. Sonic Youth, Merzbow, Jim O´Rourke, Barry Guy, Otomo Yoshihide, Yoshimi, Ken Vandermark and in working groups The Thing, FIRE!, Gush, Boots Brown, Swedish Azz and Fake (the facts). Large ensemble work with Barry Guy New Orchestra,FIRE! Orchestra and the NU - ensemble.over 1800 concerts and over 200 record productions in Europe, Australia, Africa, North & South America and Asia.Collaborations with contemporary dance, theater, art, poetry as well as projects with noise, electronica, contemporary rock and free jazz.Discaholic - running the discaholic corner website.Producer of international festivals and concert tours as well as work with own record labels Slottet, OlofBright Editions and Blue Tower Records."-Mats Gustafsson Website (http://matsgus.com/archives/category/bio)
3/27/2024

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"Joe McPhee, born November 3,1939 in Miami, Florida, USA, is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, improviser, conceptualist and theoretician. He began playing the trumpet at age eight, taught by his father, himself a trumpet player. He continued on that instrument through his formative school years and later in a U.S. Army band stationed in Germany, at which time he was introduced to performing traditional jazz. Clifford Thornton's Freedom and Unity, released in 1969 on the Third World label, is the first recording on which he appears as a side man. In 1968, inspired by the music of Albert Ayler, he took up the saxophone and began an active involvement in both acoustic and electronic music.

His first recordings as leader appeared on the CJ Records label, founded in 1969 by painter Craig Johnson. These include Underground Railroad by the Joe McPhee Quartet (1969), Nation Time (1970), Trinity (1971) and Pieces of Light (1974). In 1975, Swiss entrepreneur Werner X. Uehlinger release Black Magic Man by McPhee, on what was to become Hat Hut Records.

In 1981, he met composer, accordionist, performer, and educator Pauline Oliveros, whose theories of "deep listening" strengthened his interests in extended instrumental and electronic techniques. he also discovered Edward de Bono's book Lateral Thinking: A Textbook of Creativity, which presents concepts for solving problems by "disrupting an apparent sequence and arriving at the solution from another angle." de Bono's theories inspired McPhee to apply this "sideways thinking" to his own work in creative improvisation, resulting in the concept of "Po Music." McPhee describes "Po Music" as a "process of provocation" (Po is a language indicator to show that provocation is being used) to "move from one fixed set of ideas in an attempt to discover new ones." He concludes, "It is a Positive, Possible, Poetic Hypothesis." The results of this application of Po principles to creative improvisation can be heard on several Hat Art recordings, including Topology, Linear B, and Oleo & a Future Retrospective.

In 1997, McPhee discovered two like-minded improvisers in bassist Dominic Duval and drummer Jay Rosen. The trio premiered at the Vision Jazz Festival in 1998 but the concert went unnoticed by the press. McPhee, Duval, and Rosen therefore decided that an apt title for the group would be Trio X. In 2004 he created Survival Unit III with Fred Lonberg-Holm and Michael Zerang to expand his musical horizons and with a career spanning nearly 50 years and over 100 recordings, he continues to tour internationally, forge new connections while reaching for music's outer limits."

-Joe McPhee Website (http://joemcphee.com/bio.html)
3/27/2024

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"Jeb Bishop was born in Raleigh, North Carolina during the Cuban missile crisis. He began playing the trombone at the age of 10, under the tutelage of Cora Grasser. Other influential teachers during junior high and high school included Jeanne Nelson, Eric Carlson, Richard Fecteau, Greg Cox, and James Cozart.

He majored in classical trombone performance at Northwestern University from 1980-82, studying with Frank Crisafulli. Deciding he did not want to pursue a career as an orchestral musician, he returned to Raleigh in 1982 and took up engineering studies at NC State University. Raleigh's developing underground rock scene attracted him, and from 1982-84 he played bass guitar in rock bands in the Raleigh area.

At the same time, he developed an interest in philosophy, eventually majoring in the subject, and spent 1984-85 studying philosophy at the Higher Institute of Philosophy of the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium.

Returing to Raleigh in 1985, he spent the next few years working at menial jobs and playing guitar, bass, cheap keyboards, drums, etc., in rock bands including and/or, the Angels of Epistemology, Egg, and Metal Pitcher.

In 1989 he left Raleigh to pursue graduate studies in philosophy, first at the University of Arizona, then at Loyola University of Chicago (where he was awarded the Crown Fellowship in the Humanities). During 1991-92 he returned to Europe, spending the summer of 1991 studying German at the Goethe-Institut Iserlohn (now closed), and then pursuing independent studies in philosophy at the French-language division of the University of Louvain.

Returning to Chicago in 1992, he completed his M.A. at Loyola in 1993. By this time he had already begun to make connections with improvising musicians in Chicago, having joined the Flying Luttenbachers as bassist (later adding trombone) in late 1992, and playing guitar occasionally in a quartet with Weasel Walter, Ken Vandermark, and Kevin Drumm. Other bands during this period included the Unheard Music Quartet (with Vandermark, Mike Hagedorn on trombone, and Otto Huber on drums) and the Rev Trio (with Walter and saxophonist Joe Vajarsky). Bishop played electric bass in both these bands.

In late 1995, Bishop joined the Vandermark 5 as one of its founding members, and remained with the band through the end of 2004. During this period he also became associated with many other groups, including the Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet, School Days, Ken Vandermark's Territory Band, and his own Jeb Bishop Trio, and became a very frequent participant in ad hoc and free-improvised concerts in Chicago. Bishop performed in the inaugural concerts of two of the longest-running free-music concert series in Chicago: the Myopic Books weekly concerts (originally at Czar Bar; with Rev Trio) and the Empty Bottle Wednesday night concert series (with a quartet of Terri Kapsalis, Kevin Drumm, and Jim O'Rourke). He curated the monthly Chicago Improvisers Group concerts at the Green Mill from 1999-2002, and co-curated the weekly Eight Million Heroes concert series at Sylvie's in 2005-6.

Bishop has made dozens of recordings with many different groups, has toured North America and Europe many times, and maintains a busy performing schedule."

-Jeb Bishop Website (http://www.jebbishop.com/jebbio.html)
3/27/2024

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"Fred Lonberg-Holm (born 1962) is an American cellist based in Chicago. He relocated from New York City to Chicago in 1995. Lonberg-Holm is most identified with playing free improvisation and free jazz. He is also a composer of concert works. As a session musician and arranger, he is credited on many rock, pop, and country records. Lonberg-Holm currently leads the Valentine Trio, with Jason Roebke (bass) and Frank Rosaly (drums). This jazz trio performs original compositions as well as tunes by both jazz composers (e.g. Sun Ra) and pop songwriters (e.g. Jeff Tweedy, Syd Barrett). The group released its first album Terminal Valentine, in 2007, which was reviewed by AllAboutJazz critic Nils Jacobson.

He coordinates and directs performances of his Lightbox Orchestra, an improvising ensemble with a flexible, ever-changing membership. Lonberg-Holm does not play an instrument in this group, but rather conducts its non-idiomatic improvisations via the "lightbox" and by holding up handwritten signs. The lightbox contains a light bulb for each musician which Lonberg-Holm switches on or off to suggest when they should play. Collective groups of which Lonberg-Holm is a member include Terminal 4 who released an album, in 2003, called When I'm Falling that received four and a half stars, and AMG Album Pick by Allmusic, and it was reviewed by Allmusic's Joslyn Layne, The Boxhead Ensemble, Pillow, the Lonberg-Holm/Kessler/Zerang trio (with Kent Kessler and Michael Zerang), and the Dörner/Lonberg-Holm duo (with Axel Dörner).

Among groups led by other people, he is a member of the Vandermark 5, the Joe McPhee Trio, the Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet, Keefe Jackson's Fast Citizens, and Ken Vandermark's Territory Band. When he lived in New York, Lonberg-Holm frequently collaborated with the rock group God Is My Co-Pilot pianist and composer Anthony Coleman as well as multi-instrumentalist Paul Duncan of Warm Ghost. In Chicago, he has worked with Jim O'Rourke, Bobby Conn (on "Llovessonngs" [1999] and "The Golden Age" [2001]), The Flying Luttenbachers, Lake Of Dracula, Wilco, Rivulets, Mats Gustafsson, Sten Sandell, Jaap Blonk, John Butcher, and a great many others.

Lonberg-Holm's concert works have been premiered by William Winant, Carrie Biolo, the Austin New Music Co-Op, Subtropics Ensemble, Duo Atypica, the Schanzer/Speach Duo, New Winds, Paul Hoskin, Kevin Norton, the E.S.P. Ensemble, and others. His scores for dance have been performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and Dance Theater Workshop as well as many other venues. He is a former composition student of Anthony Braxton and Morton Feldman. He performed improvised music in the role of a troubled composer who finds inspiration in the love of a couple he spots on the street in a short film for the Playboy channel."

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Lonberg-Holm)
3/27/2024

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"Kent Kessler (born January 28, 1957 in Crawfordsville, Indiana) is an American jazz double-bassist, best known for his work in the Chicago avant-garde jazz scene.

Kessler, born in Crawfordsville, Indiana, grew up on Cape Cod and began playing trombone at age ten. He and his family moved to Chicago when he was 13, and a few years later Kessler became intensely interested in jazz. While attending St. Mary Center for Learning High School, he began taking lessons from Kestutis Stanciauskas (Streetdancer) in electric bass and jazz theory in the middle of the 1970s. In 1977 he formed the ensemble Neutrino Orchestra with percussionist Michael Zerang and guitarists Dan Scanlan and Norbert Funk. He spent three months in Brazil during 1980-81 and spent time studying intermittently at Roosevelt University in Chicago; he and Zerang also formed a group called Musica Menta, which played regularly at Link's Hall.

Kessler began playing double bass in the 1980s and it became his primary instrument when he was asked in 1985 to join the NRG Ensemble, who toured Europe and recorded for ECM Records under the leadership of Hal Russell until his death in 1992. In 1991, he gigged with Zerang and guitarist Chris DeChiara; in need of a hornist, they called Ken Vandermark, who had been considering leaving the Chicago scene. Kessler and Vandermark would go on to collaborate extensively on free jazz and improvisational projects such as the Vandermark 5, the DKV Trio and the Steelwool Trio. In the 1990s and afterwards he worked with Chicago musicians such as Hamid Drake, Fred Anderson, and Joe McPhee, and also with European musicians such as Peter Brötzmann, Mats Gustafsson, Misha Mengelberg, and Luc Houtkamp.

In 2003, Kessler released a solo album, Bull Fiddle, on Okka Disk. Kessler performs alone on nine of the twelve tracks, and with Michael Zerang on three."

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_Kessler)
3/27/2024

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"Michael Zerang was born in Chicago, Illinois, and is a first-generation American of Assyrian decent. He has been a professional musician, composer, and producer since 1976, focusing extensively on improvised music, free jazz, contemporary composition, puppet theater, experimental theater, and international musical forms.

Michael has collaborated with contemporary theater, dance, and other multidisciplinary forms and has received three Joseph Jefferson Awards for Original Music Composition in Theater, in collaboration with Redmoon Theater, in 1996, 1998, and 2000.

As a percussionist and composer, Michael has over eighty titles in his discography and has toured nationally and internationally to 34 countries since 1981, and works with and ever-widening pool of collaborators.

Michael founded and was the artistic director of the Link's Hall Performance Series in Chicago from 1985-1989 where he produced over 300 concerts of jazz, traditional ethnic folk music, electronic music, and other forms of forward thinking music. Michael has been a Board Member of Links Hall Since 1989. He continued to produce concerts at Cafe Urbus Orbis from 1994-1996, and at his own space, The Candlestick Maker in Chicago's Albany Park neighborhood, from 2001 - 2005.

Michael has taught as a guest artist at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in performance technique, sound design, and sound/music as it relates to puppetry; rhythmic analysis for dancers at The Dance Center of Columbia College, Northwestern University, and MoMing Dance and Arts Center; courses in Composer/Choreographer Collaborations at Northwestern University; music to children at The Jane Adams Hull House.

Michael currently tours and holds workshops in improvisational music, and teaches private lessons in rhythmic analysis, music composition, and percussion technique.

-Michael Zerang Website (http://www.michaelzerang.com/)
3/27/2024

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"Hamid Drake (born August 3, 1955) is an American jazz drummer and percussionist. He lives in Chicago, IL but spends a great deal of time touring worldwide. By the close of the 1990s, Hamid Drake was widely regarded as one of the best percussionists in jazz and avant improvised music. Incorporating Afro-Cuban, Indian, and African percussion instruments and influence, in addition to using the standard trap set, Drake has collaborated extensively with top free-jazz improvisers. Drake also has performed world music; by the late 70s, he was a member of Foday Musa Suso's Mandingo Griot Society and has played reggae throughout his career.

Drake has worked with trumpeter Don Cherry, pianist Herbie Hancock, saxophonists Pharoah Sanders, Fred Anderson, Archie Shepp and David Murray and bassists Reggie Workman and William Parker (in a large number of lineups)

He studied drums extensively, including eastern and Caribbean styles. He frequently plays without sticks; using his hands to develop subtle commanding undertones. His tabla playing is notable for his subtlety and flair. Drake's questing nature and his interest in Caribbean percussion led to a deep involvement with reggae."

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamid_Drake)
3/27/2024

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Track Listing:



SIDE A



1. Ultraman vs. Alien Metron (18:25)

Related Categories of Interest:


Vinyl Recordings
Improvised Music
Jazz
Free Improvisation
European Improvisation, Composition and Experimental Forms
Chicago Jazz & Improvisation
Peter Brotzmann
Large Ensembles
Limited Editions & Out of Print
New in Improvised Music
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(Listen! Foundation (Fundacja Sluchaj!))
A rare setting for tenor saxophonist Ivo Perelman in a larger ensemble: an exemplary sextet with trumpeter Nate Wooley and vibraphonist Matt Moran over a string section of Fred Lonberg-Holm on cello, Joe Morris on bass and Mat Maneri on viola, recording a ten-part work sans drums or piano, allowing fascinating new orchestral possibilities performed with utmost creative mastery.
Ballister (Rempis / Lonberg-Holm / Nilssen-Love)
Smash And Grab
(Aerophonic)
"Smash", "Even More Smashing" and "Grab" sums up the intense energy that the Ballister trio brought to their 2022 performance at Elastic Arts in Chicago as part of the Catalytic Sound Festival, impelled by Paul Nilssen-Love's powerful drumming and Fred Lonberg-Holm's demanding cello work, with Dave Rempis roaring on alto, tenor and baritone saxophones; wow!
Tabbal, Tani Quartet (w/ McPhee / Bisio / Siegel)
Intentional
(Mahakala Music)
Drummer with some of the most significant of free jazz icons--Roscoe Mitchell, David Murray, Henry Threadgill, Anthony Braxton, &c.--Tani Tabbal's own trio with fellow New Yorkers Michael Bisio on bass and Adam Siegel on alto sax are joined by Joe McPhee on tenor sax, with compositions from each of Tabbal, Bisio and Joe McPhee, plus four collective improvisations.
Gush (Gustafsson / Sandell / Strid)
Afro Blue
(Trost Records)
Recorded in 1998 but sounding absolutely modern, exuberant and often explosively inspired, this live recording at Jazzclub Fasching in Stockholm brings the then 10-year collaboration of drummer Raymond Strid, pianist Sten Sandel and saxophonist Mats Gustafsson to ecstatic heights, bridging free jazz forms and rendering Coltranes "Afro Blues" with intense passion.
Gustafsson, Mats
Hidros 9 Mirrors
(Trost Records)
Forming his NU Ensemble in 1997 to merge free-jazz, improv, noise and contemporary forms, Mats Gustafsson presented Hidros One for 9 improvisers, tape & conductor that same year, progressing over 25 years to this 9th conduction of the Hidros concept in his largest ensemble yet: 25 musicians in two 9-piece ensembles plus soloists, captured live at the 2022 Avant Art Festival in Warsaw, Poland.
Gregorio, Guillermo
Two Trio
(ESP)
Pivoting between his home base of Chicago for 25 years and his current home in New York City, Argentina-born clarinetist and improviser Guillermo Gregorio presents two concerts, the first at the 2018 Edgefest Festival with Chicago luminaries Fred Lonberg-Holm on cello and vibraphonist Carrie Biolo; then in New York with Ivan Barenboim on contralto clarinet and Nicholas Jozwiak on cello.
Dunmalll, Paul (Dunmall / Kinch / Cole / Mwamba / Kane / Drake)
Bright Light A Joyous Celebration
(Discus)
Recalling his Sun Quartet album, UK saxophonist Paul Dunmall's new sextet pivots off the jubilant rhythm section of drummer Hamid Drake, double bassist Dave Kane and vibraphonist Corey Mwamba, with three saxophonists--Dunmall on tenor & c-soprano saxophones, Xhosa Cole on tenor and Soweto Kinch on alto & tenor saxophones--in a truly joyful bright celebration of free flowing jazz.
Williams, Mars / Vasco Trilla
Critical Mass
(Not Two)
The second release from the duo of Spanish percussionist Vasco Trilla and Chicago reedist Mars Williams, the latter performing both on reeds and on toy instruments, each using extraordinary and extended technique to create exotically energetic conversations and beautifully meditative environments, in five creative, playful and impressively informed dialogs.
Brotzmann / Toyozumi
TRIANGLE, Live at OHM, 1987
(NoBusiness)
Never before issued, this stunning concert between long-time collaborators, Japanese drummer Sabu Toyozumi and German multi-reedist Peter Brötzmann performing on tenor saxophone and tarogato, was captured live at OHM, in Koiwa, Tokyo in 1987, in an energetic and enthusiastic free concert of impressive skill and expression, a vital addition to the discography of both.
Brotzmann / Van Hove / Bennink
Outspan No 2 [VINYL]
(Cien Fuegos)
Recorded a month after Outspan No 1, this album was captured live at 1974 Ost-West-Festival in Nurnberg, Germany from the legendary, masterfully amusing and absolutely serious trio of Peter Brötzmann on alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, clarinet, Fred Van Hove on piano, Han Bennink on drums, clarinet, homemade junk, everything, anything.
Brotzmann / Van Hove / Bennink / Albert Mangelsdorff
Outspan No 1 [VINYL]
(Cien Fuegos)
Recorded a month after Outspan No 1, this album was captured live at 1974 Ost-West-Festival in Nurnberg, Germany from the legendary, masterfully amusing and absolutely serious trio of Peter Brötzmann on alto saxophone, tenor saxophone & clarinet, Fred Van Hove on piano, and Han Bennink on drums, clarinet, homemade junk, everything & anything.
Anderson, Fred Quartet (w/ Brimfield / Drake / Hayrod)
Milwaukee Tapes Vol. 2
(Corbett vs. Dempsey)
An original member of the AACM and owner & director of the Velvet Lounge jazz club leading Chicago's free and experimental music scenes, and a mentor to countless young jazz musicians, tenor saxophonist Fred Anderson is heard in the counterpart to the 2000 Unheard Music Series album, The Milwaukee Tapes, this 2nd unissued volume of material from the same 1980 concert.
Rodrigues / Lonberg-Holm / Flak / Madeira / Oliveira
The Giving Tree Moving On
(Creative Sources)
Adding Chicago cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm to their string-oriented improvisation, the Portuguese collaborative quartet of Ernesto Rodrigues on viola and crackle box, João Madeira on double bass, Flak on electric guitar and percussionist Jose Oliveira perform an 8-part suite of entwined strings and subtle punctuation, a selfless blending of masterful skill.
McPhee, Joe / Mette Rasmussen / Dennis Tyfus
Oblique Strategies [VINYL]
(Black Truffle)
An unrestrained album of free jazz, unorthodox electronic excursions and vocal irascibility as legendary tenor saxophonist Joe McPhee joins the Bazuinschal duo of alto saxophonist Mette Rasmussen and percussionist & electronic manipulator Dennis Tyfus (Ultra Eczema) for this singularly unusual 2018 concert at Het Bos, in Antwerp, Belgium; magnificently indescribable!
End, The (Jernberg / Moster / Gustafsson / Hana / Fjordheim)
Why Do You Mourn [VINYL]
(Trost Records)
The third album from the genre-merging quintet The End of of Sofia Jernberg (vocals), Kjetil Moster (clarinet and tenor saxophone), Mats Gustafsson (flutes, baritone saxophone and electronics), Anders Hana (baritone and bass guitar) and Borge Fjordheim (drums), an experimental song-based project influenced by avant rock, jazz and soundscape in seven nuanced pieces.
End, The (Jernberg / Moster / Gustafsson / Hana / Fjordheim)
Why Do You Mourn
(Trost Records)
The third album from the genre-merging quintet The End of of Sofia Jernberg (vocals), Kjetil Moster (clarinet and tenor saxophone), Mats Gustafsson (flutes, baritone saxophone and electronics), Anders Hana (baritone and bass guitar) and Borge Fjordheim (drums), an experimental song-based project influenced by avant rock, jazz and soundscape in seven nuanced pieces.
Swell, Steve / Joe Mcphee / Chris Corsano
Sometimes The Air Is
(Mahakala Music)
A masterful album of collective free improvisation captured in Brooklyn's Park West Studios by Jim Clouse, of the trio of tenor saxophonist Joe McPhee, trombonist Steve Swell and drummer Chris Corsano, ten conversations of diverse approach, from reflectively abstract to uncompromisingly assertive discourse that is ultimately fueled by a joyful camaraderie.
Vandermark, Ken / Hamid Drake
Eternal River [VINYL]
(Corbett vs. Dempsey)
Focused on the music of Don Cherry and recorded at Corbett vs. Dempsey's gallery space on the closing day of an exhibit of art by Cherry's partner Moki Cherry (whose tapestry "Spirit" is the LP's cover) this concert finds drummer Hamid Drake, who lived with the Cherry family in Sweden, and Ken Vandermark on tenor sax, reworking medleys of Cherry's tunes from across his discography.
Polyorchard (Menestres / Bishop / Brice / Clancy / Grubbs / Eubank / &c)
scree/n
(Tripticks Tapes)
Composed, constructed and mixed by bassist, improviser and composer David Menestres, this extended electroacoustic work features work from a tremendous set of performers: Jeb Bishop, Olie Brice, Sean Clancy, D. Edward Davis, Laurent Estoppey, Chris Eubank, David Grubbs, Michael Thomas Jackson, David Jordan, David Menestres, & Catherine Sikora.
McPhee, Joe Quartet +1 Kirk Knuffke
Keep The Dream Up
(Listen! Foundation (Fundacja Sluchaj!))
Long a fan of his music, NY trumpeter Kirk Knuffke joined with saxophonist Joe McPhee and his quartet of Christof Knoche (bass clarinet), Michael Bisio (bass) and Jay Rosen (drums), following Knuffke's wife's advice to "keep the dream up" as the quintet recorded a series of exceptional collective improvisations, one Knuffke compositions and at Knuffke's request, a poem/"Invocation" from McPhee.



The Squid's Ear Magazine

The Squid's Ear Magazine

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