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Peter Br: Nipples
ByIt was recordings like this one that Brötzmann and his peers first garnered the reductionist reputation as "angry young men." Considering the comparative lack of precedent for what they were doing it's easy to see why their work raised such animosity in certain circles. However, time has proven the tonic against these kinds of reactionary appraisals and listening to the material today it's telling how well their early music together has aged.
Two lengthy pieces form the meat and the gristle, the first with full sextet, the second with a pared down core quartet. On the title piece Niebergall's bow guts his instrument with violent jabs, eviscerating damaged rhythmic ribbons from its wooden innards in erratic confluence with Bailey's spiky accents and the careening combination of Van Hove and Bennink. I'm no expert on either player, but of the horns it sounds as if Parker arrives first, blasting forth a tangle of turbid lines before Brötzmann's clipped honks make an abrupt entrance beside him. There's a moment about three minutes into the maelstrom where everyone drops out save the pair who engage in a brief, but explosive contest of saxophonic physiques. Though their initial joust ends in a stalemate it serves as an effective precedent for the further clashes to come. Van Hove's chattering piano is almost a calming force rising above the avalanche of percussive energy crashes out of Bennink's kit, but the din is at times so thunderous that Bailey's patented volume pedal effects are drowned out in the molten dirge of instruments. Brötzmann's raw, lung rending lines spit out metallic shards of multiphonics and Parker's twisting overblown exclamations offer up a vehement retort. Giving evidence that this isn't just a free-for-all blowout later sections of the piece aren't as overtly militant such a stretch toward the close where Bailey's staccato figures mesh in rising and falling alien rapport with the rest of the "rhythm" section.
"Tell a Green Man" builds from the restless chatter of popping strings and piecemeal percussion. Bennink's devil may care drumming bangs out a loose choppy cadence and Niebergall's plucked string bursts answer with in a wash of fractured bass figures. Brötzmann finally plows through the turbulent tide chewing off chunks of snarling phrases before it's Van Hove's turn at dismantling any sense of conventional structure. Brötzmann eventually returns to take things out in an abrupt close leaving anyone with open ears craving for more. Some may balk at the disc's running time and consider it brief, but be forewarned- all of the fervor, defiance and angst that was the social, emotional and political climate of the world in 1969 is bottled up in these 34 minutes. When it's uncorked through the simple and innocent act of pressing the play button on a stereo be prepared for the ear-opening consequences.
Track Listing
Nipples*/ Tell a Green Man.
Personnel
Peter Brötzmann
woodwindsPeter Br
Album information
Title: Nipples | Year Released: 2000 | Record Label: Atavistic Worldwide