“Long Story Short” ends with a spectacular day and night of music. Making it to a noon soundcheck with the Chicago Tentet after going to bed at 9am was a bit brutal but well worthwhile- the group would be playing a piece each with Toshinori Kondo, Michiyo Yagi, Otomo Yoshihide, and Akira Sakata on a special concert to raise money for Fukushima. Caught a quick nap before the show and was ready to play. The performance took place in the Stadtheater Wels, which allowed the group to play acoustically in a beautiful hall- a sonic highlight of the Unlimited Festival. Each piece ran about 30 minutes with a guest, nearly 2 hours straight of intense music. Toshinori sat in 1st, revisiting a band he was part of in the early years of the Tentet (he plays incredible trumpet/electronics on Stone/Water); 2nd Michiyo joined the group, and after the ensemble reached a clear cadence she continued alone on the koto, bring the music into “Pop music” territory which Fred Lonberg-Holm joined, and which Peter decimated with a re-entrance by the rest of the ensemble; Otomo was next, starting with some beautiful feedback that Peter joined on alto and I joined on clarinet, creating all kinds of amplified and acoustic overtones; and Akira rounded out the concert with some fantastic alto and clarinet work, points in the music where he played duo with Peter, Mats, and myself with backing from the band. After this, some more sleep to get my strength and head ordering lasix online together for the evening’s program: 1. a trio with Peter, Eric Revis, and Nasheet Waits (I realized as I listened how focused Peter is on drummers as a key musician of any band. On this festival alone he played with: Hamid Drake, Tamaya Honda, Takeo Moriyama, Paal Nilssen-Love, Sabu Toyozumi, Nasheet Waits, Michael Wertmuller, and Michael Zerang…), great to hear these guys with Peter, bringing such an open Jazz sensibility to the set; 2. a surprise introduction set by the DKV Trio (instigated by Christof Kurzmann’s request to hear the band) that lead into a powerhouse performance by Hamid, Kent Kessler, Mats Gustafsson, Massimo Pupillo, Paal, and myself- the oscillating eighth note polyrhythms set up by Hamid, Paal, and Massimo was mind boggling to play with; 3. Full Blast (w/Marino Pliakas and Wertmuller), Peter’s final performance of the festival and as blistering as his first; 4. Caspar Brotzmann’s Massaker (which I skipped in order to hang out with friends before they left for home, music concluding around 2am each night…). Christof Kurzmann dj’d, starting with some great Jazz sides (Don Ellis’ “Indian Lady”? WOW.), moved to Hip Hop and by 4am I was about to collapse… And rehearsals with Made To Break would start on Monday afternoon… What a gorgeous event- inspiring and joyous, as good as music gets. Thanks to Peter Brotzmann, the other musicians, the Schl8hof crew, the fans. Peter with Eric and Nasheet:
© 2024 Ken Vandermark – musician & composer | Disclaimer