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Review: Peter Brotzmann at the Victory Grill
Epistrophy Arts, the Austin jazz and improvisational music production outfit, used to sell a t-shirt with Albert Ayler on it. The late legend of avant-garde jazz, who blended almost folky riffs with truly out there playing, was a symbol of the sort of music, spirit and energy the company wanted to bring to the River City.
But their real mascot, of you will, has been Peter Brotzmann, the German saxophonst who was one of the first post-Ayler players in Europe. Brotzmann, now 68, has played in Austin several times over Epistrophy Arts’ 11 year run. His wildly energetic style has traditionally emphasized power and abstraction, his timbre a withering honk with a muscular, signature vibrato.
This time around, Thursday night at Victory Grill, the don of European free jazz was paired with New York drummer Nasheet Waits and Texas bassist Eric Revis, the latter a frequent Branford Marsalis collaborator.
Starting on alto sax, Brotzmann opened with an aggressive flurry of notes, surging and pushing as Waits and Revis crashed into the piece.Victory Grill is an underrated room, the heavy curtain and wooden frame contain and almost massage the sound coming form the stage - the entire band lit it up. Waits’ drumming started frantic, a complex array of cymbal, snare and tom interaction; Revis was also responsive and pulsing, his runs finding purchase between the beats.
When Brotzmann would hit a more lyrical passage, it still sounded raw and umkempt, a grizzled sound that he would build up to a faster run. Waits’ drums would occasionally take a slightly martial cast, his rapid snare leading the section’s charge.
I have always been as fond of Brotzmann’s clarinet work as his sax playing. While it retains the energy of his signature instrument, the clarinet, with its Eastern European feel and association with klezmer, brings out Brotzmann’s more pastoral (and, lets’ face it, accessible) side.
His switch to clarinet kep his vibrator intact while introducing almost Middle Eastern tones. He still hit furious flurries, but these were smaller sounds al lthree player were making, tiny notes that, rushing together, almost recalled the complicated European electronic music of Autechre or Aphex Twin.
But Waits was able to find the tonal sweet spot between John Bonham thump and lighter fare, moving back and forth between brushes and mallets to find a rolling groove that emphasized the waves Brotzmann and Revis trafficked in. Revis seems like an unassuming player, which made the almost distorted energy of his bowed work a distinct surprise. It was an evening of clear, complicated communication between the old world and the new and - with Epistrophy Arts organizer Pedro Moreno taking the next year off to reorganize - a find close to E.A.’s season.
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