"Born 1944 in Germany, died 21 September 2002 New York City; double bass, voice, tuba.

Peter Brötzmann (Corbett, 1994) recounted that 'there was this young guy trying to play the bass, who was Mr Kowald, at that time seventeen years old. Peter lived with his parents. I had my little studio, so he was always hanging out at my place. But he had to be at home at 10.00, he was drinking milk. But we changed that, very soon. His parents were always very angry with me, because he never showed up at home anymore, he dropped studies of ancient languages, Greek and all that.' By this time (1962) Peter Kowald had been playing bass for two years and, with different drummers the two Peters were playing Mingus, Ornette, and Miles Davis things as well as listening to Coltrane, Stockhausen, Cage et al. Kowald was part of the European tour undertaken by the Carla Bley/Michael Mantler band in 1966 (also featuring Brötzmann) and then came work with other German musicians, membership of the Globe Unity Orchestra and the first recordings: Globe Unity, For Adolphe Sax and Summer 1967, recorded during a brief vacation in London. In particular, Evan Parker credits this visit to London for his invitation to play in the Pierre Favre/Irene Schweizer quartet and his subsequent longstanding involvement with German (and other European) musicians. Kowald's work with Brötzmann continued - on and off - on record at least, to the time of Kowald's death and included the Cooperative Trio with Andrew Cyrille, a duo on the Duos project and a recent mix of free jazz, hip-hop and rap.

Peter Kowald was a member of Globe Unity Orchestra for 12 years (1966 to 1978) and for much of this time played less of a side-man role and more of an equal partner - for example, conducting the band - with the person to whom the group has become most associated, Alex von Schlippenbach. His influence is particularly noticeable on Jahrmarkt/Local fair where the two sides of composition are by Kowald (as is the second side of Live in Wuppertal and he is also credited, along with Paul Lovens as 'producing' the record, presumably sorting out the sprawling theatricality and poor sound into two 'meaningful' fragments. In his notes to 20th anniversary, Schlippenbach emphasises the importance of Kowald in creating a programme that became a lot more 'colourful'; while further pointing out that he and Kowald gradually drifted further apart 'until one fine evening after lengthy discussions which resulted in a fight in a pub in Wuppertal, this chapter also closed'. However, before this ending, from 1973 to 1978, Kowald also worked with the Schlippenbach trio (Schlippenbach/ Parker/Paul Lovens), turning it for much of this time into a regular quartet.

Throughout his career, Peter Kowald worked with a wide variety of improvising musicians worldwide and in many considered and unusual situations. He recorded bass duets with Barry Guy, Barre Phillips, Peter Jacquemyn, Maarten Altena, Damon Smith and William Parker, released two solo bass recordings, and had regular groups with Leo Smith and Günter Sommer; with Joëlle Léandre and dancer Anne Martin (Trio Tartini); with dancers Cheryl Banks and Arnette de Mille and cellist Muneer Abdul Fataah (Music and Movement Improvisation); a trio with pianist Curtis Clark; a trio with Canadian alto saxophonist Yves Charuest and Louis Moholo; and Principle Life with Jeanne Lee, Klaus Hovman, and Marilyn Mazur. During the period 1980 to 1985 he was a member of the London Jazz Composers' Orchestra. He has spent periods in the US and in Japan and recorded three duo LPs (two CDs) with US, European and Japanese musicians. He also lived in Greece and similarly played and recorded with the Greek musicians Floros Floridis and Ilias Papadopoulos. By contrast, the 12 months May 1994 to May 1995 was designated Kowald's 'Year at home' project which comprised a mixture of solo works - out of which, to some extent, the last solo CD grew (Was da ist) - and group performances.

In addition, Peter Kowald collaborated extensively with poets and artists and with the dancers Gerlinde Lambeck, Anne Martin, Tadashi Endo, Patsy Parker, Maria Mitchell, Sally Silvers, Cherly Banks, Arnette de Mille, Sayonara Pereira, and Kazuo Ohno. Specific works included Die klage der kaiserin (1989) with Pina Bausch, Short pieces (since 1989) with Jean Sasportes, The spirit of adventure (1990) with Anastasia Lyra, Wasser in der hand (1990/91) with Christine Brunel, and Futan no sentaku/The burden of choice (1990/91) with Min Tanaka and Butch Morris."

"The French saxophonist Daunik Lazro combines a tart, piercing tone with a quick mind and a flexible philosophy of music-making. His professional start was in bassist Saheb Sarbib's orchestra, a relationship he maintained through most of the '70s, which included three recordings. His first steps playing his own music involved a radical resizing of the cast on-stage, going from orchestra playing to solo saxophone concerts and duets. In the '80s, he busily played with many on the European improvised music scene, including bassist Jean Jacques Avenel, cellist Tristan Honsinger, violinist Carlos Zingaro, drummer Christian Rollet, and saxophonist Evan Parker, among others. In the mid-'80s, Lazro expanded his partnerships to include dance and theater projects, including work with the Company of the Chance.

He formed a particularly fine trio in 1987 with fellow saxophonist Michel Doneda and the brilliant ppercussionistLê Quan Ninh, playing at many of the major European festivals and also touring in Canada. Duets with the American free improviser Joe McPhee are a 1991 discographical highlight, during a period when Lazro also began playing viola. In 1993, he started his own orchestra as well as a quartet called Outlaws in Jazz with Jac Berrocal, Didier Levallet, and Dennis Charles. In 1995, he toured Europe in a triple-threat combination with both McPhee and Parker, and the former artist also joined him in a quartet the following year with the superb British contrabassist Paul Rogers. In the late '90s, he continued involvement with a series of orchestra projects, often as a guest soloist."

"French avant-garde vocalist Annick Nozati first met the Belgian free jazz pianist Fred Van Hove at a festival in the summer of 1984, and the music they began making together was at once totally traditional and completely outside musical traditions. What was quite normal was for pianists and vocalists to work together, an easygoing combination harking back to classic blues and the early days of the recording industry, not to mention the combination's tradition in classical music. Yet there were not so many improvising vocalists working in avant-garde improvisation at this point, so the ever-adventurous Van Hove was naturally intrigued. By the end of the year, the two were performing their first gig together as a duo in Paris, a relationship that would continue until the singer's untimely death. The duo's formation would often be enhanced with the addition of a guest such as the British saxophonist Lol Coxhill. Nozati also worked with Van Hove in a regular trio with mind-blowing trombonist Johannes Bauer, and in the Van HoveNonet, featuring a whole crowd of serious noisemakers.

The Nozati singing style was based on a total presentation of her personality, including some aspects of theater that naturally filtered into the proceedings through her activities as an actress. Her vocal creations tended to be completely spontaneous; in fact, Van Hove has held up the trio with Bauer as an example of a "true" spontaneous improvisation ensemble. It was yet another famous group that claims to have never rehearsed, and it is definitely true that Bauer and Nozati had no way to communicate other than music; neither spoke the other's language. As for the nonet, Van Hove wrote in a tribute to the singer: "She was not afraid of the eight blaring men around her, she put her foot down, she was the signboard of the group." She created several solo recordings in the early '80s, then came up with the critically praised Les Peu des Anges on the Victo label some 16 years later.

She began her performing career in the mid-'60s in experimental theater. A huge influence around 1967 were the brothers Baschet, who created sound sculptures and drew in many players from the European experimental scene. Nozati's later solo recordings include wonderful examples of her improvising with her mentor Baschet's sound sculptures. She also came in contact with the Art Ensemble of Chicago during that group's extended Parisian residency, a period of experimental art and radical politics. She began to improvise with her voice from a completely self-taught background that included absolutely no formal training or classical rudiments. Her work with improvisers besides Van Hove included performances with Workshop de Lyon, Urban Sax, a trio with the brilliant French bassist Joëlle Léandre and the great Swiss pianist Irène Schweizer, Portuguese violinist Carlos Zingaro, French reedman Daunik Lazro, hearty German bassist Peter Kowald, and many players from the English scene including fellow vocalist Maggie Nicols. Nozati also worked in contemporary music theater in works by the composer Georges Aperghis. She was articulate discussing the nature of work, and gave lectures on vocal improvisation on campuses such as the French University of Lille. She was also an accomplished painter and claimed to have been inspired musically by the fine art of mixing different pigments of paint."