2 September 2008

Brotherhood of Breath in Altena Castle, Germany, 1972




There's been an encouraging spate of Chris McGregor and Brotherhood rereleases lately, some of which has been featured on this blog before. Just around the corner is a Blue Notes box set containing all of their four releases on the Ogun label. One of them has also been posted here previously.

But what's on offer here and now has not been officially released yet at any rate. It's an excerpt from a concert inside Balver Höhle in Germany in 1972.

The info given is as follows:

Call 8:44
Andromeda 9:13
Think Of Something 14:19
Track 4 4:14

Lineup:

Harry Beckett
Marc Charig
Malcolm Griffith
Nick Evans
Dudu Pukwana
Mike Osborne
Gary Windo

The first three pieces are announced as such by the radio presenter, but "Call" sounds uncannily like "Ismite is Might" off the Willisau album and features most likely Nick Evans on the trombone. The second piece is "Mra" leading into "Andromeda". The third piece is "Do It" leading into "Think of Something", the latter featuring Mike Osborne on alto, Gary Windo on tenor and either Mark Charig or Harry Beckett on trumpet. The last piece is quite clearly "The Serpent's Kindly Eye", also on the Willisau album (which was the first ever release on the Ogun label).

The sound's fair on the first three, but a bit grimy on the last, though. The band is at its ramshackle best as ever. Some may find the BoB cacophonous at times, but to these ears it's beautiful cacophony.

Mp3 and flac versions in the comments section. Another golden dime.
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18 comments:

  1. kinabalu2 September 2008 at 01:07:00 CEST

    Mp3 version:

    http://www.divshare.com/download/2640789-8b3

    Flac version:

    http://rapidshare.com/files/141599653/Brotherhood_Of_Breath_Altena_1972-06-24__pt.1.rar

    http://rapidshare.com/files/141608260/Brotherhood_Of_Breath_Altena_1972-06-24__pt.2.rar

    Please note that the flac files have to be unpacked separately. This is because RapidShare allows for files of up to 200mb for free users (and more for premium users). By packing in more than 100 mb per file, I'm reducing the number of downloads from three to two. Hopes this makes sense.

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  2. Anonymous2 September 2008 at 12:22:00 CEST

    A great post! And a great band, lovingly remembered after so many years, and still missed. Thanks K!

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  3. gilhodges2 September 2008 at 20:21:00 CEST

    Outta sight. Thanks Kinabalu. You are a man of exquisite taste. But you knew that.

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  4. Wallofsound2 September 2008 at 20:40:00 CEST

    Many thanks. Very much looking forward to this.

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  5. wightdj2 September 2008 at 23:40:00 CEST

    Thanks for this. Had the good fortune to find a promo copy of the McGregor septet Up To Earth yesterday. Surman, Parker and Pukwana are a dream reed section!

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  6. Anonymous4 September 2008 at 05:12:00 CEST

    fabulous--can hardly wait to tap into it!

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  7. ubu4 September 2008 at 14:24:00 CEST

    Here's the info I have (thanks for the fixes with the setlist!) - any more insights on the line-up? I think the seed on dime came without any info:

    Brotherhood of Breath
    International New Jazz Meeting Balver Höhle, Altena (DE)
    June 24, 1972

    prob. line-up:
    Harry Beckett, Marc Charig - trumpet
    Malcolm Griffith, Nick Evans - trombone
    Dudu Pukwana, Mike Osborne - alto sax
    Gary Windo, unknown (Alan Skidmore? Evan Parker?) - tenor sax
    Chris McGregor - piano
    Harry Miller - bass
    Louis Moholo - drums

    Sound: A-/B+
    Lineage: FM > ? > CDR > EAC > WAV > FLAC

    Note: #4 prob. from different broadcast (has J.E. Behrendt announcing, while #1 and #3 had different announcer). Maybe #4 is from a different concert.

    Edit:
    - separated fm talk preceeding #1 (0:10, kept on back-up DVD)
    - deleted fm talk at end of #3 (0:07, "Vom New Jazz Festival 1972/CUT")
    - separated fm talk at end of #4 (0:03)
    (J.E. Behrendt "Tja, es ist ein Jammer hier auszublenden, entschuldigen si/CUT")

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  8. kinabalu6 September 2008 at 13:02:00 CEST

    gilhodges,

    it takes one to know one (but you knew that) ...

    ubu

    thanks for the additional info.

    There is a second tenor? But I do think the solo is by Windo, but possibly someone might hear differently?

    The fourth track sounds as if it is from a different source (which might explain the huge variation in sound quality). I haven't heard Behrendt's voice before, but I do of course know about him, so that might be another indication of there being two different sources.

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  9. Anonymous7 September 2008 at 23:16:00 CEST

    Hello All,
    the record of this BOB concert was not in the Balver Höhle, it was on the Altena Castle. I was there in 1972 and got an double lp with a lot of articles about BOB in an added booklet, but theres bo music on his lp from the concert.

    The fourth peace was recorded next day (sunday), because Dudu Pukwana misses his horn on saturday. Thats the reason why he BOB plays again on suday.

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  10. kinabalu10 September 2008 at 17:31:00 CEST

    Udo,

    thanks for that clarification. I realised, after a bit of research, that Balver and Altena are indeed two different villages/towns, so it couldn't be both, but no way to know which one was the correct one.

    May I ask what was on that double lp? Their two first records?

    Since this was a radio broadcast, there must be (hopefully) some tapes lying around still.

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  11. Anonymous1 February 2009 at 23:23:00 CET

    There is a record of that altena72 festival (where BOB played on two days 24/25.6.1972). the booklet of this record prays the brotherhoods as the highlight of this festival, but there is no musik of BoB on the record (only a radio broadcast exists). I think the radio broadcast is this what you mentioned as a rapidshare file.

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  12. brown beard18 February 2009 at 07:23:00 CET

    thank you much. I look forward to hearing this.

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  13. Anonymous9 February 2010 at 08:36:00 CET

    Cool story as for me. I'd like to read something more concerning that matter. Thank you for posting that info.

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  14. DRONSZ29 November 2018 at 05:49:00 CET

    Could somebody, please, reup this one? The links are long gone.
    Thanks.

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  15. Ernst Grgo Nebhuth29 November 2018 at 07:47:00 CET

    The first three pieces of this bootleg were reissued as part of an still available box-set.
    Call 8:44
    Andromeda 9:13
    Think Of Something 14:19
    https://www.discogs.com/Various-International-New-Jazz-Meeting-Burg-Altena-1972-1973/release/9043491

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  16. DRONSZ23 October 2023 at 15:13:00 CEST

    I don't think this B.Free label from Luxembourg is official. Many of their releases are marked as "unnoficial" on Discogs.

    Anyway, it's unavailable as for now, so if you could reup this, it would be great.

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  17. Ernst Grgo Nebhuth23 October 2023 at 17:48:00 CEST

    Hi DRONSZ - the box set is still available through the offical retailers here in Germany (Bear Family Records and JPC and probably others) and at Discogs.
    This box set and the others from Altena released through Be.Free are official enough I assume. At least that's what I was told by one of the founders of ECM Records who helped the producer of Be.Free with the Jutta Hipp and MoD Records box sets. This co-founder of ECM was my former boss and after his retirement we still had contact quiet frequently until he died four years ago.
    The tapes, photographies etc. were bought from the son of Karlheinz Klüter who was the founder and owner of the original label (JG Records).

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  18. DRONSZ23 October 2023 at 22:01:00 CEST

    Ernst, thanks for the nice infos.

    ReplyDelete