It’s been a week of wide ranging activity: Logistics (sorting out details for the upcoming spring tours in Europe with Paal Nilssen-Love, El Infierno Musicale, Sonore, and the Ex & Brass Unbound), Music (finished the Platform 1 mix with Bob Weston at Chicago Mastering Service on the 12th, the album’s called “Takes Off” and features 7 new compositions written by Magnus Broo, Steve Swell, Joe Williamson, and myself, [with Michael Vatcher on drums], and will be released on Clean Feed next month- an exciting first album by a brand new band; performed strong duo sets with Tim Daisy in Nashville as part of the rousing “Poetry Sucks” night, alongside poets Zachary Greenberg and Brian Barker, a monthly event organized by Chet Weise on the 14th; rehearsed the first of my arrangements for Adrienne Pierluissi’s songs with her in Milwaukee the next day; then heard Wolter Wierbos play a solo trombone set at Woodland Patterns in Milwaukee that night- a superb concert, two great sets with an excellent integration of extended techniques and melodicism, with beautiful mute work), Films (mostly documentaries: Wilco [I Am Trying To Break Your Heart, by Same Jones], Pina Bausch [Pina, by Wim Wenders], the Texas death penalty [Into The Abyss, by Werner Herzog], Ferran Adria [El Bulli, by Gereon Wetzel]; but also the violent narratives, “Pusher” [by Nicolas Winding Refn, I found his later film, “Drive,” more assured and more visually interesting], and “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” [by David Fincher, which raised the questions: why can’t Hollywood make a film with a new story, and why does Fincher like to use CGI on seemingly basic camera shots (Rooney Mara, as the main character, Lisbeth Salander, was remarkable and believable while playing a role that could have easily become a caricature)]. The Peter Brotzmann Chicago Tentet Fukushima Project, Wels Music Unlimited Festival, 2011:
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