Rating:
Genre:
Jazz
Release Date: 09/09/2008
Run Time: 41:41
This CD is the debut from two of the premier pioneering creative improvising musicians that in time became the most enduring players in their style. While peers of
Ornette Coleman,
Albert Ayler, and
Archie Shepp, German
Gunter Hampel and Dutch native
Willem Breuker were introduced to American audiences with this breakthrough recording, now on its second straight reissue for the
ESP-Disk label.
Hampel is clearly a devotee of
Eric Dolphy on bass clarinet, doubles on vibraphone, and handles the flute on occasion.
Breuker also wields the low-end woodwind
Hampel prefers, as well as alto clarinet, and his full arsenal of saxophones from soprano to baritone. The near-22-minute seven-part epic suite
"Assemblage" kicks off with a slight melody before
Hampel and
Breuker immediately slam the transmission into fifth gear, wailing into polyphony with ferocious abandon. They switch instruments almost as furiously, slowing and speeding up, churning, using written and improvised passages with
Hampel's shimmering vibes and
Breuker's whirring overblown unrefined phrases standing apart from a drum solo by
Pierre Courbois,
Hampel's flute, or
Breuker's bass clarinet.
"Heroicredolphysiognomystery" show the all-pervasive influence of
Dolphy, extant in the introductory soprano/flute workout contrasting the arco bass from
Piet Veening and clattery percussion via
Courbois, building to a consistently intense and dense wall of sound, then surprisingly calming in a classic signature vibes solo from
Hampel.
"Make Love, Not War, To Everybody" is not so much a peace chant or mantra as it is a call to arms, identified by slide whistle, pizzicato bass, bowed cymbals all in hushed tones, sparse vibes, tambourine, and sliding bass restrained, then unleashed on
Breuker's cue to a full-force phalanx of anxious, scattered warriors battling, then fading to triple pianissimo sexual hums, moans, and a satisfied, joyful clarion climax, all as the title suggests. Admittedly a recording for the challenged listener, with the caveat that these musicians are in their age of discovery, it bears historical and empirical substance as a recording not only reflecting the turbulent times, but part of an era that established personal freedoms for many thousands of players who followed, strived, and continue to stride alongside them.
~Michael G. Nastos, All Music Guide
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