Catonapotato

O grupo Volcano the Bear lançou agora em maio de 2005 seu novo álbum, que registra performances ao vivo em Leicester (Inglaterra), Paris, Norrköping (Suécia) e Sheffield (Inglaterra). Se calhar de ser um trabalho tão excêntrico quanto o The Idea of Wood (Textile, 2003), é obra obrigatória para quem aprecie Robert Wyatt, This Heat, Faust, sonoridades free, cacofonia, experimentalismos dadaístas, e que tais.

"VOLCANO THE BEAR - Catonapotato (Digitalis 014) "Volcano the Bear was formed in 1995 with the constant idea of being a group with uncompromising and boundless ideas, and they've always tried to aim for a live environment where they can do whatever they please. This results in a live show that, beyond grandiose sonic qualities, blends the very essence of key words such as surreal, shifting moods, myriad of instruments, humor, beauty and to a certain degree, even self-indulgence. That said, these sonic transgressors are not for everyone. If you're a fan of free-form improvisations, free jazz, weird drones, pagan folk, whimsical acoustic pieces, disjointed percussive riffs, crackling electronics and actually own more than one record by either the Sun City Girls, This Heat, Faust, Residents, The Shadow Ring or Captain Beefheart, then you owe it to yourself to check out these cats."

Via Downtown Music Gallery

Rondó

I can't remember exactly if I met him the first time I saw him with Miles or if I met him when he toured with his own quartet, but I remember meeting him one evening at the Montmartre Club. The big jazz guys would always come down to the club after their own concert because there was always somebody interesting playing there, like maybe Johnny Griffin or Don Byas or someone. I remember a whole bunch of us hanging out and jamming with Coltrane -- come to think of it, maybe it was when Coltrane's quartet was in Copenhagen because I seem to remember Cecil Taylor was at the Montmartre and both groups were in town at the same time in November of 1962. Anyway, Ayler sat-in that night and I remember later hearing that Coltrane commented, after hearing Ayler play, that he had once dreamt that he would someday be playing the same way Albert did. (John Tchicai - entrevista por Mike Trouchon)

Albert [Ayler] we found out quickly, could play his ass off. Some critics said his sound was primitive. Shit, it was before that! It was a big massive sound and wail. The crying, shouting moan of black spirituals and God music. Pharaoh [Sanders] was so beautiful and he had a wildness to him too, a heavy force like the world could be opened, but Albert was mad. His playing was like some primordial frenzy that the world secretly used for energy. (Gennari, John. “Jazz Criticism: Its Development and Ideologies.” in Spiritual Unity and the Resurrection of Albert Ayler.)

(...) Coltrane was greatly influenced by Ayler, even commenting to the younger musician after recording Ascension: “I recorded an album and found that I was playing just like you". (Wilmer, Valerie. "As Serious as Your Life: The Story of the New Jazz". London: Allison & Busby, 1977 in Spiritual Unity and the Resurrection of Albert Ayler.)

Orkestrova - Electric Ascension

Orkestrova - Electric Ascension (Atavistic, 2005)

Bruce Ackley: soprano saxophone
Steve Adams: alto saxophone
Larry Ochs: tenor saxophone
Jon Raskin: baritone saxophone
Chris Brown: electronics
Nels Cline: electric guitar
Fred Frith: electric bass
Ikue Mori: drum machines, sampler
Don Robinson: drums
Otomo Yoshihide: turntables, electronics
Carla Kihlstedt: violin, effects
Jenny Scheinman: violin

Ascension (1965), composta para cinco saxofones (Coltrane, Sanders, Archie Sheep, Brown & Tchicai!), certamente foi uma grande influência para todos os modernos aventureiros do free-jazz. O quarteto de saxofones Rova (Ackley, Adams, Ochs, Raskin) presta sua homenagem a este marco avant-garde lançando sua versão elétrica para o clássico, acompanhada por músicos do quilate de Fred Frith (Henry Cow, Naked City, Massacre), Ikue Mori (DNA, Mephista) e Otomo Yoshihide (Ground Zero).

É pouco mais de uma hora de improvisação coletiva para não colocar defeito - a banda soa particularmente magistral sempre que Nels Cline intervém assomando dissonâncias e ruído à sua guitarra - sempre habilidosamente acompanhado por Frith. As extravagâncias ficam por conta dos artefatos eletrônicos de Mori e Yoshihide, este último responsável por boa parte de ruído que assola o álbum (arranhando seu turntable). Em seus momentos minimalistas (Frith interagindo com os violinos) há ecos do trio londrino AMM, a banda desacelerando para um quase inaudível concerto de cordas. Intercalados entre a recorrências do tema clássico do original de Coltrane, a banda adiciona improvisações absolutamente geniais: o esquizofrênico crescendo ao final do álbum é arrebatador, antecipando o explosivo retorno ao fraseado original.

Im·promp·tu'

Lá pelo final de Epistrophy, na versão de Eric Dolphy em Last Date (1964), o baterista atravessa um pequenino solo - dura uns 15 segundos - nada muito over the top. Era a primeira vez que Han Bennink se fazia notar em uma gravação de destaque. Desde então o holandês tocou com boa parte da nata do free-jazz, com destaque para sua longa parceria com Peter Brötzmann. E, num octeto tão caótico quanto aquele do seminal Machine Gun (1968), comumente você se pega prestando exclusiva atenção à bateria mirabolante de Bennink, seguindo sua sequência torrencial de tricks and turns. E com Brötzmann, Breuker e Parker aprontando tamanha algazarra, isso não é pouca coisa.

A especialidade de Bennink, no entanto, está na improvisação. É daqueles bateristas que não fica satisfeito atrás do seu drum kit:

I don't need any more enormous drum kit or bells or gongs or whatever sort of shit. I find something here and there behind the stage. Canadian stages are very clean, so there's nothing to find, but yesterday I found some strings, a cardboard box, and a piece of wood. They are more interesting to me sound-wise than many other things because sounds are everywhere and it depends on what context you put them in. When I play on something, it's still playing with two sticks, so I just let the audience hear the difference between how the drum kit sounds or a garbage can, piece of junk, or whatever. That's the idea.

Em Boogie with the Hook (1996), por exemplo, ele toca uma caixa de pizza, num dueto com o igualmente excêntrico Eugene Chadbourne.

Ao vivo, Bennink costuma improvisar usando aparatos criados por ele mesmo para impressionar a platéia - usualmente de maneira cômica - como mecanismos que o permitam tocar à distância, papéis (geralmente pegando fogo), tesouras, altos-falantes, o que estiver à mão. Não é raro que ele desmonte o kit em pleno show, jogue-o ao chão, faça-o girar, etc. Sua inventividade remete ao grande Rahsaan Roland Kirk, que criava instrumentos próprios e era capaz de tocar três saxofones ao mesmo tempo.

Ah, Bennink toca com o pé também.