Peter Brötzmann / Toshinori Kondo / Sabu Toyozumi: Complete Link

As the liner notes to Complete Link by Yoshiaki Kinno state, "In the 1960s, each of them [saxophonist Peter Brötzmann, trumpeter Toshinori Kondo and drummer Sabu Toyozumi] was inspired by free jazz, practiced it themselves and met each other in the process of overcoming free jazz." That is indeed a bold statement. Did he mean to say they gained mastery of it? Defeated it? Or is he suggesting the three evolved apart from free jazz?

Most likely Kinno was referring to the commendation "beyond category" Duke Ellington utilized to describe an artist or performance of the highest quality. Certainly, the trio of Brötzmann, Kondo and Toyozumi fits Duke's designation.

Although the three artists had performed together in 2014, this live recording at Roppongi Super Deluxe in Tokyo on October 2, 2016, is the first documentation of this special trio. Brötzmann and Toyozumi worked together during the saxophonist's tour of Japan in the 1980s, recording with Derek Bailey and as a duo with the previous release Triangle -Live At OHM, 1987 (NoBusiness, 2024). The saxophonist and Kondo had previously toured with the ICP Orchestra, and recorded with the saxophonist's Chicago Tentet and Clarinet Project, also with William Parker and Hamid Drake as the Die Like A Dog Quartet.

This beyond-category is post-free jazz. It could also be described as a punk-rock-blues experience and fourth-world music. Brötzmann switches between tenor saxophone and tarogato, plus Kondo favors live electronic processing of his trumpet here. The sound can be dynamite, but it can also float not unlike Jon Hassell's electronic waves. Kondo's processed trumpet might have its roots in Miles Davis' electric wah-wah pedal attack, but it sounds more like a synthesizer than a brass instrument here. Amplified, Kondo is capable of matching volume and energy of both Brötzmann and Toyozumi's ferocity. The epic length of "First Monorail" (47:45) flows from thunderous hot magma to meditative musings, mixing bombast with the spacey hushed peacefulness of the blues. Overcome free jazz? This music more like epitomizes the best of free jazz.