Heiner Stadler: Brains on Fire

Brains on Fire fuels reflection on the past and response in the present.

These eight extraordinary extended tracks, recorded in unusual conjunctions of master jazz improvisers instigated by composer/pianist Heiner Stadler for sessions held from 1966 through 1974, are alive with the passions of that era celebrating large, original works stretching the bounds of even the most ambitious music come before. As Stadler and his cadre of fully collaborative, creative interpreters brought immense smarts, skills and sensibilities besides sheer fervor to their enterprise, their efforts burn brilliantly now, throughout what's genuinely a new album: all pieces new to CD, two works (including the nearly 25-minute orchestral "In Bea's Flat") never previously released in any format.

Sounds that emerge, converge, build and flow organically, as if born of their own seeds or cells, though they are actually prompted by pre-determined materials—individual's personal, vivid expressions that cohere as collectively-contrived constructions of multiple dimensions, plans not obvious or maybe even evident though the supporting structures and concepts are indeed there—intervals, motifs, scales and harmonies connecting and collecting, roaring in one dense space and splintering into divergent lines that yet cross, eddy, or otherwise come together—music that flares from a spark and shoots out from its player's imagination while the materials that kindled it are drawn out or echoed by others of the company... Those are impressions and suggestions of what's happening in Brains on Fire, each a possible path of investigation towards more appreciative comprehension of the interactions that occur and/or conditions that exist to give rise to such distinctive and powerful art.

First, though, the artists. Stadler is a singular exemplar of the serious, contemporary American visionary, born during World War II in Poland, raised in Hamburg, emigrating to New York City at age 23 and within a year attracting such all-stars as the cast here on "The Fugue #2" to rehearsals of his unapologetically challenging scores, which bridged the perceived gap between contemporary "classical" and avant-garde jazz practices. Thoroughly versed in atonality, polytonality and serialism descending from 20th century European compositional developments, Stadler has also grasped the strengths of the American emphasis on performance, the infinite possibilities and irrefutable honesty of immediate, spontaneous music-making when that activity is practiced by virtuosi steeped in experience but encouraged to "excel over their characteristic ways and exploit their talents as they don't in their own settings."

When Stadler first presented "No Exercise," his opus 1 that opens this program, intrigued players from across the spectrum of jazz activities attended rehearsals to engage with unmet trials they realized had the potential of setting them even more free. Trumpeter Thad Jones and Donald Byrd, tenor saxophonist John Gilmore from Sun Ra's Arkestra and pianist Roger Kellaway were among those who looked in on Stadler's experiment with a 12-tone row shaped into blues form; "No Exercise" was premiered by trombonist Tom McIntosh's New York Jazz Sextet with trumpeter Jimmy Owens (then 24), saxophonist Benny Golson, bassist Barre Phillips, pianist Roland Hanna and drummer Freddie Waits.

The rendition here commences with the arco bass of Reggie Workman—whom Stadler says "has always been a very positive influence on my life"—and features Owens, who throughout Brains on Fire exhibits the plentitude of ideas and precision which forecast a brilliant career, recently resulting in his being honored by the National Endowment of the Arts. Trombonist Garnett Brown was a much-in-demand freelancer and studio ace who became involved in film and television soundtrack production. Drummer Brian Brake provided rhythms for Motown and Gary Burton as well as Stadler but left music in the '70s, as did tenor saxophonist Tyrone Washington, a blazing star in his every appearance on Brains on Fire but one of jazz's unfortunate losses.

The diamond-hard intensity of Washington's attack and voraciousness of his technique, so stunning on "No Exercise" and Stadler's quartet tracks "Three Problems, "Heidi," "USC" and "All Tones," in which he's the dominant soloist, was also captured on Natural Essence, his sole Blue Note recording as a leader, to a lesser extent on Horace Silver's The Jody Grind, Stanley Cowell's Brilliant Circles, and his own two commercially compromised productions Roots and Do Right, both long out-of-print. Washington left music, changed his name to Bialar Mohammed and, living in Newark, New Jersey, devotes himself to religion. It is easy to imagine the man as a fervent preacher based on the urgent and beseeching qualities of his music, although it is hard to imagine any medium in which he would deliver his points more directly than with his sax and flute (on "Heidi").

"Heidi," Stadler believes, is one of the "most perfected performances integrating the written and the improvised." Lenny White, who drummed for Miles Davis on Bitches Brew, Freddie Hubbard on Red Clay and Chick Corea in Return to Forever, adds coloristic propulsion to the quartet in which Stadler uses the piano to hold form rather than to flash chops. But it will be, for most listeners, fruitless to try to discern where writing ends and improvising takes over. The point of this piece and Stadler's others is not to disguise either modality but rather to fuse the two into one. For those interested, the composer provides these markers: "In 'UCS' it takes 4:44 for the second statement of the theme (after the improve section); in 'All Tones' the improve section starts at 8:42 into the track." It's advisable, however, to let the music wash over you and to absorb as much as you can instead of parsing the format, eyes on a clock.

Time—by which I mean duration, not necessarily meter—is of significant interest to Stadler, who has authored what he believes to the "the longest piece in the history of jazz, 'Blues for Sister Sally,'" and also "a double piano piece, somewhat inspired by Cecil Taylor, of Wagnerian scale"; neither work has yet been debuted or recorded. "In Bea's Flat" is the longest and largest work in Brains on Fire, a stunning modified blues given a definitive reading by the Big Band of the North German Radio Station, conducted by Dieter Glawischnig. Turning all responsibilities for improvisation as well as realization of brash ensemble parts to a European entity results in a triumph for all participants, including especially Germany trombonist Albert Mangelsdorff, pianist Wolfgang Dauner, cornetist Manfred Schoof, tenor saxophonist Gerd Dudek and excellent drummer Tony Inzalaco.

Each of their spotlit episodes segues smoothly into an arrangement that sustains its through-threads verging on half-an-hour. Such lengths were not unknown to jazz then, since Coltrane might have blown that long on one theme, the Jazz Composers Orchestra staged concerts of expansive jazz concertos and Miles Davis, too, made a habit of sets without breaks between unannounced tunes. But the architecture of Stadler's big band foray brings to mind certain aspects of Duke Ellington's "Harlem." In this composer's repertoire, "In Bea's Flat" is a companion to "Clusterity," 29:30 minutes, issued on his cd Retrospection.

Speaking of companion pieces: Retrospection contains the first take of "Love in the Middle of the Air," one of the most daring jazz duos ever committed to tape, and Brains on Fire has the just-as-daring alternate version. For 20 minutes here, Dee Dee Bridgewater and Reggie Workman perform as trapeze artists without a net, tied only to each other and the task of playing every variation they can conjure on the unambiguously demanding text by beat poet Lenore Kandel. When Bridgewater essayed this tour de force in 1973 she was not yet recognized as the reigning jazz diva she's become in 2011. Performances such this prove her current reputation has been long deserved.

The original master take of "The Fugue #2" completes this edition of Brains on Fire, as it kicked off the original vinyl lp release, Labor Records 7001, of 1973. Jimmy Owens, Garnett Brown and Barre Phillips are joined in this sextet by Joe Farrell, the first-call reeds specialist who was also a mainstay in the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra (the Village Vanguard's Monday night band), Elvin Jones' trio and, soon after, the circle of experts crafting the CTI label style. Don Friedman, a still under-appreciated pianist, who back in the day was second in touch and harmonic exploration only to Bill Evans, holds the ensemble together; drummer Joe Chambers, with his own interests in composition, supplies subtle accents.

We know the fugue form, of course, but as this sextet unfolds it, the form is more plaint than we might remember. Stadler's method does that to every composition he's created and arranged—most definitely including the jazz classics "Ba-Lue Bolivar Ba-Lues-Are" and "Au Privave" he reconceived and conducted on his masterpiece A Tribute to Monk And Bird, recorded in 1978. In response to the imperatives of the independent musical life, Stadler has accrued an impressive resume of record and concert productions over the past 40 years, embracing such dissimilar styles, subsets or creators of music from blues to Bach to Berg to Cage to jazz. Through it all, he has aimed without fail at the highest qualities, embraced the fullest complexities, employed always the most genuine talents, and personified the revelation that real music is beyond style, genre or subset. Rather than accepting conventions or fulfilling conditions, Heiner Stadler demonstrates again and again with persuasive conviction that enduring music results from musicians joining with a purpose, confront compositions that set their brains on fire.

Liner Notes copyright © 2024 Howard Mandel.

Brains on Fire can be purchased here.

Contact Howard Mandel at All About Jazz.
Howard is a Chicago-born writer, editor, author, arts reporter for National Public Radio, consultant and videographer. Visit Howard at howardmandel.com.

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