Joe McPhee, Peter Brotzmann, Kent Kessler, Michael Zerang - The Damage Is Done

Label: NotTwo, 2009
Catalogue No: MW 823-2
Format: CD

Tracks:

Disc 1:
1. The Damage Is Done 30:30
2. Alchemia Souls 17:46

Disc 2
1. A Temporary Trip 16:20
2. With Charon 15:08
3. On The Acheron 14:08
4. Into The Hades 8:32

Line-up:

Joe McPhee - trumpet, alto sax
Peter Brotzmann - alto & tenor saxes, tarogato, B-flat clarinet
Kent Kessler - bass
Michael Zerang - drums

Recorded:

at Alchemia club, Krakow, Poland on March 16, 2008

Reviews:

Recorded live at the Alchemia Club in Krakow, Poland, The Damage Is Done holds two uncut sets from four heavy-hitting improvisers: trumpeter and reedist Joe McPhee, multi-reedist Peter Brötzmann, bassist Kent Kessler and drummer Michael Zerang. Working as a quartet since 2004, this nameless group grew out of Brötzmann’s Tentet, which consists largely of Chicago-based musicians and sometimes includes Swedes. In either ensemble, McPhee is the single musician from Poughkeepsie, NY; Brötzmann, the only German. The Damage Is Done is the quartet’s third album.

Most of the applause from this two disc issue has been mastered out; only hints of it remain. Each disc has a distinct character. On the first, Brötzmann melts open the thirty-minute title cut; Zerang pumps up the tempo to bring in McPhee on pocket trumpet. Underlying the explosion of energy, detonated by Brötzmann, is the pizzicato of the bass. The lines remain remarkably distinguishable even when they converge into such a large sound that it could be mistaken for cacophonic chaos.
But, in fact, the sound describes a true meditation, which requires the galvanized focus of each member of the quartet.

On the second disc, it is easy to hear the character of the music changing as Brötzmann switches from tenor and alto to tarogato and B-flat clarinet, although not exclusively. Given the variations of leading instruments, which could also be the bass or drums, the seductiveness of the music unlocks a denser deeper story. McPhee, Kessler and Zerang often have the sole opportunity to escort the musical journey to another stage, through means no less dramatic, acerbically lyrical or exquisitely beautiful than aspects of the preceding multitudes of overlapping layers might have implied. To listen to this quartet necessitates commitment. Only an open mind can absorb the flow of the music. Interpretation can come later.

(Lyn Horton, Jazztimes)

***

This live date features legendary free jazz pioneers Peter Brötzmann and Joe McPhee, and Chicago's leading rhythm section, bassist Kent Kessler and drummer Michael Zerang. The four also make up 4/10 of Brötzmann's Chicago Tentet, maybe the most successful large new music jazz ensemble ever assembled.
As they have in the past while touring with the Tentet, they step away and perform in this more intimate lineup. This quartet has released two previous recordings, Tales Out Of Time (hatOLOGY, 2004) and Guts (Okka, 2007), with The Damage Is Done's two discs recorded live at Alchemia in Krakow, Poland in March of 2008.

While the players can (and do) perform volatile energy jazz here, their preference is for music that's dissectible enough for the players to be distinguished in parts and direction.

The obvious reference point here is the legend of Albert Ayler and his brother Donald. Brötzmann has never shied away from his admiration for free jazz's holy ghost. With Brötzmann on tenor and McPhee sporting the trumpet role, the attention to Ayler can be heard on "With Charon" and the title track (all 30-plus minutes). Brotzmann and McPhee's stamina, both nearing 70, is impressive. The pair delivers an onslaught of energy with a relentless attack, the only pause being for Zerang and Kessler's solos. With that, the pace slows, allowing Brötzmann to paint from a different palette. This gentler approach acts as a collection point before the music again spreads its energy patterns outward.

Kessler and Zerang open "Alchemia Souls," with itchy bowed bass and sound effect brushes on drums. Brötzmann enters, playing a persistent tarogato before McPhee's twitchy alto joins. The rhythm section maintains the energy through constant motion. The more affable music making here comes at the urging of the rhythm section. Slowing down the pulse or playing with mallets coaxes the horn players to decelerate and clarify the sound.

The breadth and power of these four players comes through with an exhaustive clarity in this crisp and vigorous live recording.

(Mark Corroto, AllAboutJazz)