18 August 2008

Brötzmann/Portal/Bennink in Paris 1977





Continuing with the bass clarinet theme (after the previous posting of Michel Pilz), here are two in one go.

In particular, Michel Portal has made the bass clarinet his primary instrument, but here he picks up the sax and a bandoneon as well. Peter Brötzmann is mostly known for his tenor work, but here he switches to bass clarinet and a bunch of other instruments. And even Han Bennink dabbles on the clarinet in between hammering the kit and the bass drum.

So, all in all, about 40 minutes of anarchical merriment, recorded in a Paris studio in 1977, and broadcast on radio, though details are scanty. The announcer butts in at about the thirty minute mark to tell what's going on, but no titles to the piece.

Brötzmann and Bennink are mates of 40 years standing, but the presence of Portal adds another dimension to this set. I leave it to the listener to figure out who is who, but I find Portal adds a melodic touch to the fierceness of Brötzmann, but Portal can be as screechy as the other guys when the fancy takes him.

Basic info:

BRÖTZMANN / PORTAL / BENNINK
16-Jun 1977
unknown, Paris, France
source/lineage: FM


Peter Brötzmann: bassclarinet, clarinet, tenorsax, altosax, mouthpiece

Michel Portal: bassclarinet, clarinet, altosax, "double clarinet", contrabassclarinet, bandoneon, voice

Han Bennink: small drum set, "soft trumpet", clarinet, viola, xylophone, whistle, piano, various percussion, etc.

1. untitled improvisation 30:09
2. untitled improvisation 10:16 (at start with voice over by radio host)

Another Dime download ...

There'll be more bass clarinetists coming up shortly ...

32 comments:

kinabalu said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
1009 said...

Thanks for this, Kinabalu. I had no idea Portal played w/ Brotz, although PB certainly would have fit in on *Alors*.

Anonymous said...

This is the link to get you into a Peter Kowald concert -- http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=00bb25726436bb1e1686155677bb268543e1a53e24fb3efb . All the info is at with a great cover http://follyfortoseewhat.blogspot.com/ --- Steve

Anonymous said...

If you click on my files you have access to all that is posted at folly for to see what Steve

gerireig said...

Great line-up, can't wait! Thanks

SOTISE said...

thanks K, cant wait to dig in!!

centrifuge said...

nice one k, just pulling this one now... not that i've yet got round to playing the *last* lot of brotz i downloaded - ! but i guess i will find time for it all eventually :-S

Unknown said...

thank you. look forward to checking this out. by the way, would anyone have Don Ayler- 3lp set live in Florence? or anything of Donald, minus what releases are out there with his brother? very curious to hear more. thanks in advance.

Anonymous said...

Matches would love to have that 3 lp Don Ayler , this stuff is hard to find

1009 said...

Pretty sure the Don Ayler stuff was up on C#9 at some point. I wasn't hip to him then. (Hey, I'm learning! Slowly!) Maybe someone hipper than I picked it up & could re-post.

Anonymous said...

Would you guys who run this blog mind if I left a comment with the links to all my posts in follyfortoseewhat , there is some good music there and I would hate to see the links go down due to inactivity . Thought I would ask if you mind thx Steve

Volkan Terzioglu said...

Thanks K for this great post. Alwaysa great find when Brötzman is concerned.

1009, just upped the don ayler which was originally from c#9. Here it is : http://tinyurl.com/5kg4v2
cheers,
volkan

Unknown said...

wow!! this is incredible. didnt think i was going to get the chance to hear it after all these years. cannot thank you enough Volkan for sharing. sad that Don Ayler didnt record more and the get the love that he deserved.

1009 said...

Thanks, Volkan!

Volkan Terzioglu said...

Don't mention it :)

jazzme, since you are the folly guy, tell me, is there sth wrong in the post of Doek fest #3 with wierbos, gusafsson, mengelberg and de Joode fom the date 4/8/8? It was not upped since then, or am i missing something?
best from istanbul,
volkan

david_grundy said...

thanks for the don ayler, volkan! didn't manage to grab it when it was on C#9 before

Anonymous said...

I only make the odd contribution and know the guy who does look after is very busy , I am waiting for the same post .

Anonymous said...

Thx for the Ayler record

kinabalu said...

There was a flurry (if not a torrent) of Portal over at Dime - eleven different sets and I got 'em all. Expect more Portal definitely!

hxlfnxxsx said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
hxlf_nxxsx said...

Can this possibly be reupped? It would be much appreciated.

kinabalu said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
jeff said...

yeereeeeaaaaahhhhh baby. thanks for the reup kinabalu!!!!! This looks amazing

hxlf_nxxsx said...

Thanks!

JC said...

Thanks for putting this back up. Portal is unexpected in this context (I can't imagine that the other two wouldn't set the tone).

Anonymous said...

Do You can reupload the Ayler in Florence? The best from Poland

Ernst Grgo Nebhuth said...

1fichier

kinabalu said...

New link:

Adrive

Ernst Grgo Nebhuth said...

Hey kinabalu - we did it both at the same time......

kinabalu said...

Wow, that's synchronicity!

Ernst Grgo Nebhuth said...

Indeed :-)

Tantris said...

Freely improvised telepathy ;)