KARL BERGER – We Are You (LP-1972, Japanese press)

Label: Trio Records – PA-7017

Format: Vinyl, LP, Album / Country: Japan / Released: 1972

Style: Free Jazz

Recorded November 1971, Tonstudio Bauer, Ludwigsburg

Composed By – Karl H. Berger

Artwork [Cover Art], Design – Carolyn Clarck

Photography By – Horace, Ica Vilander, Tai M. Lüdicke

A1 - Vibes First ......................................................................... 5:50

A2 - We Are You (I) .................................................................. 5:16

         Lyrics By – G. Malerba, Karl H. Berger

A3 - Marimba Dance ................................................................. 2:50

A4 - The Positive ...................................................................... 9:03

         Lyrics By – Sivananda Sarasvati

        Easy Suite .................................... 18:08

B1 - When I Sing  ..................................................................... 9:10

         Lyrics By – Tagore

B2 – Easy .................................................................................. 6:20

B3 - We Are You (II) .................................................................. 2:38

         Lyrics By – G. Malerba, Karl H. Berger

Karl Berger – vibraphone, piano, marimba

Peter Kowald – bass

Allen Blairman – drums, percussion

Ingrid Berger – vocals, percussion

“The thing that struck me as unusual about Karl Berger when I first heard him playing at the Mercer Arts Center in the 1970s was how much at home he sounded with some of the best young players in the New York jazz scene. To my ears then, most European jazz musicians were derivative at best, and often out of touch with the leading American improvisers. But this guy from Germany played as if he'd grown up in New York. How could that be?

 Karl Berger / Don Cherry: The Creative Music Studio in Woodstock

Strongly influenced by Monk and Ornette, Karl Berger created a sound of his own, at once airy and precise, harmonically advanced yet anchored in a destinctive hard swing. He counterbalanced the inherently rich overtone range of the vibraphone by removing (accidentally at first) the vibrato mechanism. Building on a solid bebop base but ranging far afield melodically and harmonically, Berger's music sounded “free” but was set in an unfailingly rhythmic framework. Tempos might shift dramatically within the same composition, but they were always there. This meant that listeners coul lose themselves in the harmonic nuances and still feel grounded by the strong pulse of his playing, a pulse that was abetted by like-minded young players, including bassists Dave Holland, David Izenzon, and Henry Grimes and drummers Barry Altschul, Allen Blairman, and Ed Blackwell. A unique musical atmosphere characterized by lush harmonies, ethereal overtones, and precise rythmic propulsions continues to mark Karl Berger's music today. One the vibes especially, Karl floats like a butterfly, stings like bebop. He has the magical quality of being penetrating and clear at the same time tures are a constant suprise...

From Thelonious Monk, Karl learned the value of “using dynamics and grace notes - grace notes are very important on piano and vibes.” And so in the midts of a swinging solo, or in a softly voiced duet, one note from the vibes will suddenly ring out alone like a brass gong in a silent meditation hall.

We shouldn't forget the compositions themselves, many of which for all their modernity already have the feel of old favorites, the kinds of melodies you might hum while leaving the theater - if you could just remember all their subtleties. This music is timeless in the best sense, and, in Duke Ellington's elegant phrase, “beyond category.” That is its blessing and its potential liability for the composer. The danger of playing music that is free of categorization, or what Karl calls “exercise pieces for a world beyond categories, based on rythmic and melodic parameters that you can find in almost any kind of music,” is that the musician may fail to end up in any easily marketed pigeonhole, But the sales department's loss is our gain. Because if we can never quite get used to Karl Berger's music, we can never get tired of listening to it either.”

By Peter Occhiogrosse, Village Voice

Read this:

Karl Berger and Ingrid Berger: Interviews

https://tedpanken.wordpress.com/2011/07/19/karl-berger-and-ingrid-berger-interviews/

If you find it, buy this album!

THE WUPPERTAL WORKSHOP ENSEMBLE – The Family (LP-1982)

Label: FMP – FMP 0940

Format: Vinyl, LP; Country: Germany - Released: 1982

Style: Free Jazz, Free Improvisation

Recorded live on September 7th 1980, during the 8th Wuppertaler Free Jazz Workshop

Design by Peter Kowald

Photography By – Unknown Artist

Producer – Jost Gebers, Peter Kowald

Recorded By – Jost Gebers

A1 - Improvisation I (Charig/Rutherford/Poore/Brötzmann/Parker/

        Trovesi/Wachsmann/Van Hove/Kowald/Sommer) . . . 5:50

A2 - Fantale (Evan Parker) . . . 9:31

A3 - Bones and wishes (Phil Wachsmann) . . . 6:13

B1 - Improvisation II (Charig/Rutherford/Poore/Brötzmann/Parker/

        Trovesi/Wachsmann/Van Hove/Kowald/Sommer) . . . 10:05

B2 - The Family (Fred Van Hove) . . . 11:35

Marc Charig - trumpet, alto horn

Paul Rutherford - trombone, euphonium

Melvyn Poore - tuba

Peter Brötzmann - saxophones & clarinets

Evan Parker - soprano & tenor saxophone

Gianluigi Trovesi - saxophones & clarinets

Philip Wachsmann - violin

Fred Van Hove - piano

Peter Kowald - double bass

Günter Sommer - drums

This short-lived all-star assemblage of European talent only released one LP, and this is it! A large group that wears its size lightly, there is a lot of space for solos and smaller group work, while also allowing for some tremendously beautiful, all-in crescendos. And don't let the "workshop" of the title lead you astray: this is a band with a full understanding of the repertoire, and complete command of the material. Come join The Family!

DISCOGRAPHY: FMP Numbers (LP's, CD's & Singles), SAJ Numbers, Uhlklang:

http://www.fmp-label.de/fmplabel/discographie/fmpnumbers_en.html

If you find it, buy this album!

PETER KOWALD QUINTET – Peter Kowald Quintet (LP-1972)

Label: FMP – FMP 0070

Format: Vinyl, LP; Country: Germany - Released: 1972

Style: Free Jazz, Free Improvisation

Recorded live January 19, 1972 at Akademie der Künste in Berlin

Artwork – Danny, Dietrich Maus, Geges Margull, Gerd Hanebeck, Heiko Hösterey, Krista Brötzmann, Paul Miron, Peter Paulus, Tomas Schmit, Toon Lem, Winfried Gaul, Wulf Teichmann

Producer – P. Kowald

Recorded By – Eberhard Sengpiel

Supervised By – Jost Gebers

"It was recorded at a concert in Berlin, during a Free Music Festival January 19, 1972 , and is a thoroughly excellent example of the kind of music to be heard at such events all over Europe....this LP is highly recommended."

A1 - Platte Talloere . . . 13:16

A2 - Wenn Wir Kehlkopfoperierte Uns Unterhalten . . . 7:06

B1 - Pavement Bolognaise . . . 14:00

B2 - Guete Luuni . . . 2:49

Peter van de Locht: alto saxophone

Günter Christmann: trombone

Paul Rutherford: trombone

Peter Kowald: double bass, tuba, alphorn

Paul Lovens: percussion

The informal freemasonry among European practitioners of the New Music grows daily stronger. Although the Continentals are rarely allowed to play here (thanks to antiquated regulations), British musicians now regularly cross the Channel to appear side-by-side with the best players Europe has to offer.

This album represents just such a collaboration, with trombonist Paul Rutherford taking his place in the band of German multi-instrumentalist, Peter Kowald, which itself contains one Belgian (van de Locht) and one Dutchman (Lovens).

It was recorded at a concert in Berlin, during a Free Music Festival last January, and is a thoroughly excellent example of the kind of music to be heard at such events all over Europe.

The work of the trombone team is what catches the ear first; Rutherford produces his vast array of technical effects, and manages to make music out of them all the time. Near the end of “Pavement Bolognaise”, for instance, he plays a long unaccompanied passage made up of long, low growls, ending with a delicious smear, which is quite riveting.

Christmann is a rather more straightforward player (though not much) and makes a fine complement. When he, Rutherford, and Kowald (on Alphorn, I think) play together on the short “Guete Luuni”, the effect is like a brass band lament from outer space.

The leader himself has some impressive moments on bass, particularly on “Platte Talloere”, where he plays a long solo made up of strange scratching sounds (caused by pressing the bow down hard on the strings) and is beautifully accompanied by Lovens – who seems to have calmed down a lot since I first heard him a couple of years ago.

Van de Locht sounds like a very promising young musician, giving his best work in the ensemble improvisations, when he provides an upper line with a poignant, bitter-sweet flavor.

A quintet, then, which is integrated as well musically as it is nationally; and a LP of informal, enjoyable music, which is highly recommended.

_ By RICHARD WILLIAMS

from: Melody Maker, June 17, 1972

If you find it, buy this album!

ASSIF TSAHAR / HUGH RAGIN / PETER KOWALD / HAMID DRAKE – Open Systems (2001)

Label: Marge – 28
Format: CD, Album; Country: France - Released: 2001
Jazz Style: Free Jazz, Free Improvisation
Recorded on May 4 & 5, 2001 at La Fenêtre Studio, Paris.
Painting – Obeye Fall
Design – Laurent Groffe
Engineer [Assistant] – Sylvain Delafosse
Engineer, Edited By, Mastered By – Philippe Maté
Photography By – Thierry Trombert
Producer – Gérard Terrones

... Drake and Tsahar were in Paris as guests at a friend’s wedding. Turning the celebration into a busman’s holiday, the two subsequently went into a studio with veteran German bassist Peter Kowald and American trumpeter Hugh Ragin, who were specifically invited to take part, and produced OPEN SYSTEMS. It’s more than 72½ minutes spread among seven compositions that relate as much to hard core energy music of the late 1960s as the former disc does to spirituality...

... Take the saxman’s “ The Lizards in the Maze ”, one of four Tsahar compositions elaborated here. Beginning with a powerful Wilbur Ware-type string-punishing intro courtesy of Kowald, the freebop head soon gives way to a selection of solos. Even when he soars at the top of his range, Ragin still properly balances every note. In contrast, the tenorist’s tone sometimes slips into altissimo, but is always made up of staccato-inflected sound particles. Probably reminding Drake of his long-time employer Anderson, the percussionist usually meets Tsahar’s steaming thrusts with protracted tattoos, then follows the duet with a calm but heartfelt solo that starts off heavy on the snares and cymbals, but then turns proper attention to all parts of the kit.

Building from an early Ornette Coleman Quartet type of head, “ The Call ” offers more of the same, with Drake in his Ed Blackwell role providing a steady rat-tat-tat and Kowald as Charlie Haden providing the rhythmic bottom. On “ Lonely Woman ” -- a real Coleman line -- he authors a solo which has the different strings on his instrument dialoguing with themselves, and that let’s you know that his assumed identity here was just momentary role playing. Channeling Don Cherry, who spent some time in Paris himself, Ragin not only to creates whinnies and smears to follow Tsahar’s lead, but manages to expose a tiny, melodic passage of modulated beauty, built on short, sharp ascending horn bursts. Odd man out with his tenor tone obviously closer to John Coltrane’s or Ayler’s than Coleman’s alto conception, Tsahar spews out a well-nuanced solo, and after time spent chasing the brass man through the stratosphere, elaborates another motif that drags everyone back to the initial theme.

This drawing together seems to be the motif behind Tsahar’s “ Dream Weaverts ” (sic), dedicated to the newly married couple. Although Ragin, using a sort of funky burr sometimes sounds as if he’s playing Charles Mingus ’“ Weird Nightmare ” or Ayler’s “ The Truth Is Marching In ” -- and what are the brassman’s views on marriage? -- the bowed bass and bass clarinet mirror one another with irregular reverberating vibrations. Despite sections where each horn appears to be heading in a contrasting direction, they pull back to meld together before the end. Is there a wedlock partnership metaphor here somewhere?

Finally, Drake presages the pietistic passages he’d be singing three weeks hence in New York on “ Hearts Remembrance ”, where his measured Arabic (?) chanting is complimented by reverberating didgeridoo-like vocal sounds from Kowald and Ragin. Manipulating the buzz of the frame drum and adapting the bass clarinet ’ s natural resonance and some meshed, muted trumpet, the four allude to timeless, primitive music...

_ By KEN WAXMAN



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KEITH TIPPETT'S ARK – Frames: Music For An Imaginary Film (2LP-1978)

Label: Ogun – OGD 003 / 004
Format: 2 × Vinyl, LP, Album; Country: UK - Released: 1978
Style: Free Jazz, Fusion, Big Band, Jazz-Rock
Recorded 22, 23 & 24 May 1978 at Wessex Studios, London N5.
Design [Sleeve], Photography By – Dick Whitbread
Engineer – Gary Edwards
Engineer [Assistant] – Jeremy Spencer-Green
Executive-Producer – Keith Beal
Producer – Hugh Hopper
This music was commissioned by Ogun Publishing Co. and was first performed at The Roundhouse, London on 21 May 1978.
(Vinyl Rip)

Keith Tippett's Ark - Frames: Music For An Imaginary Film

Keith Tippett - Piano, Harmonium
Stan Tracey - Piano
Elton Dean - Alto Sax, Saxello
Trevor Watts - Tenor & Soprano Saxes, Alto Flute
Larry Stabbins - Tenor & Soprano Saxes, Flute
Mark Charig - Trumpet, Small Trumpet, Tenor Horn, Kenyan Thumb Piano
Henry Lowther - Trumpet
Dave Amis - Trombone
Nick Evans - Trombone
Maggie Nicols - Voice
Julie Tippett - Voice
Steve Levine - Violin
Rod Skeaping - Violin
Phil Waschmann - Electric Violin, Violin
Geoffry Wharton - Violin
Alexandra Robinson - Cello
Tim Kramer - Cello
Peter Kowald - Bass, Tuba
Harry Miller - Bass
Louis Moholo - Drums
Frank Perry - Percussion

Julie Tippett,  Keith Tippett, Maggie Nicols

Tracklist:

Side A
1 Frames Part One  (20:07)
Side B
2 Frames Part Two  (19:06)
Side C
3 Frames Part Three  (23:52)
Side D
4 Frames Part Four  (20:37)


Several years after his great success with the huge ensemble Centipede and its Septober Energy release, pianist Keith Tippett returned to the large-group format with his newly formed Ark. This band, a mere 22 strong, was less rock-influenced and arguably more "mature" musically, that is, quite capable of handling the diverse demands placed on it, which covered ground from richly arranged written portions to incisive free improvisation. One of the motifs tying this work (which is a single composition spread over four sides of the original LP) is the dual presence of vocalists Maggie Nicols and Julie Tippetts (the latter possessing one of the truly beautiful voices in avant-garde jazz), their twinned vocal lines serving as fine structures around which to erect woollier passages. Also as before, Tippett deploys small groups within the larger ensemble, for example a percussion duet that's soon joined by violin and soprano saxophone. These little "nuggets" within the orchestra provide a healthy degree of differentiation as well as connecting nodes between more fully massed sections. As such, "Frames" is essentially suite-like, with anthemic melodies like the one that begins side three abutting jagged, free lines that dissolve into group interplay standing alongside pulsing minimalist patterns. It's not really so much about the soloists, although there is much fine individual playing to be found, notably the leader's piano (and that of Stan Tracey), the alto work of Trevor Watts, and the bass playing of the late, great Harry Miller. Listeners who have enjoyed Barry Guy's London Jazz Composers Orchestra or Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath will find themselves right at home here. Recommended.

_ By BRIAN OLEWNICK



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CARLOS BECHEGAS and PETER KOWALD – Open Secrets: A Suite in 13 Parts (2001)

Label: Forward – Forward/01
Format: CD, Album; Country: Portugal - Released: 2001
Style: Free Improvisation
Recorded by Nana Sousa Dias at ´TIA studios´ (Lisbon) in October 1999
Mixed by Frank Engelmann and Peter Kowald @ ´Pro Audio´, Wuppertal (Germany)
Produced by Carlos Bechegas
Cover painting: Catarina Castel-Branco; Design: Carlos Santos
Liner notes: José Duar te, Gérard Rouy

Excerpt from the booklet:

(…) Enjoying the flute is not easy, but to enjoy it in all the ways it can be played (…) is practically impossible. Carlos Bechegas (…) knows all the secrets of the flute and how to practice transgression with it, talking to it, suffering with it as it is blown.
(…)
Even though the flute is one of the oldest musical instruments in the history of humanity, it is one of the least used in the world of free improvised music. (…) Born in Lisbon (Portugal) in 1957, Carlos Bechegas studied (like Keith Rowe or Peter Brötzmann) visual and graphic arts, and while pursuing an academic classical education, played jazz- rock, Portuguese popular music, and big-band Jazz. After taking part in improvised music workshops with Steve Lacy, Evan Parker, Richard Teitelbaum and playing with his compatriot Carlos Zingaro, he decided to give up his alto and soprano saxes in 1988 and go in search of new musical territories by transferring contemporary flute playing extended techniques to improvisation and by using electronics. After the release of his trio-CD ´Movement Sounds´ (1997) and a remarkable solo album (´Flute Landscapes´ , 1998) he decided to play live with other improvising musicians. He made contact with Peter Kowald through an improvised music workshop held by the bassist at Lisbon´s Goethe Institute in 1997, followed by a duo concert at the ´O da Guarda´ Improvisation Festival in 1999. The similarity of intention, attitude and material between the two men convinced them to record together in duo.
(…)
Peter Kowald, a celebrated and prize-winning practitioner in the field of improvised music (…) turns the bass into a machine for commentary and direct speech. (…) He brings new unorthodox playing methods to bear, both in his pizzicato work alternating deep sonorities and harmonics, and in his use of the bow (particularly in combining low notes with his voice), contributing to create complex structures and a dreamlike universe with hypnotic qualities. On flute, Carlos Bechegas covers his nervous and timbered phrasing with a great variety of colours and effects borrowed from contemporary music: multiphonics, flutter-tonguing, micro-tonality, percussive key effects, glissandi, use of the voice, circular breathing. Together, they create bright and rugged landscapes where the listener is carried away in the maelstrom of their passionate and generous play.

_ by Gérard Rouy, José Duarte

Review:

On his 1998 solo CD Flute Landscapes, Carlos Bechegas was applying extended techniques developed by free improvisers like Evan Parker, Derek Bailey, and bassist Peter Kowald. In the case of the last artist, it led to a fruitful relationship, as Open Secrets testifies. Recorded in a Portuguese studio in October 1999, this CD demonstrates how like minded the two musicians are. Their level of communication is exemplary. Bechegas integrates his voice in his flute playing, something that has become a trademark for Kowald, especially when using the bow. Therefore some of these duets sound like quartets; "Part 10," featuring the bassist's scary basso profondo, is simply stunning. At the beginning of "Part 7," it is the bassist who mimics the flutist, playing the high register. The 13 free improvisations are kept short (nothing over eight minutes), dense, and electrified. In "Part 3," Bechegas' flute jumps all around, unstoppable, while Kowald tries to keep up, obviously amused. The flute's flutter-like exuberance completes the bassist's more introverted playing to a surprising extent — they were born to play together. Some free improv records are inhabited by a magical atmosphere. Open Secrets is one of them. All the promises found in Flute Landscapes have been kept. This is the first release on Bechegas' imprint Forward, and his first recording with a renowned improvisor. Strongly recommended .

— by François Couture



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SCHLIPPENBACH QUARTET – Hunting The Snake 1975 (2000)

Label: Atavistic – UMS/ALP213CD
Series: Unheard Music Series –
Format: CD, Album; Country: US - Released: 2000
Style: Free Jazz, Free Improvisation
Recorded September 10, 1975, Sendesaal Radio Bremen, Bremen, Germany.
Engineer [Recording] – Ramie Köster; Mastered By – John McCortney
Painting [Cover] – Michael Snow; Design – PM Froehle
Photography By [Photo Portraits] – Roberto Masotti
Producer – John Corbett; Recorded By – Peter Schulze

Note:

The material on Hunting the Snake -- four lengthy improvisations, each in the 20-minute range -- comes from a live 1975 radio performance but was not released until 2000. It features all three members of the long-running Schlippenbach Trio (pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach, saxophonist Evan Parker, and percussionist Paul Lovens) along with Peter Kowald on bass. The music here is dense, kinetic, atonal, and often harsh, but while not easy listening, this album is not entirely remote or inaccessible, either. The group's playing is very physical and energetic, and though it is recognizably distinct from most American free jazz, the jazz roots are, at this point, still readily discernible. The real interest comes in listening to the quartet's interplay, which is less refined than on some of the Schlippenbach Trio's later work, but which has a certain ragged cohesiveness and charm of its own. Parker's scraping saxophone, Lovens' junk-pile percussion, Kowald's feverish bowing, and Schlippenbach's atonal piano clusters contribute equally to the music's flow -- there isn't a real separation of "lead" vs. "rhythm" instruments during most of the album. Occasionally, however, Parker steps out on his own and lets loose with an extended high-pitched squall, as he does on the standout title track; these abrasive solo moments are especially interesting (or hard to listen to, depending on your take). Its near-80-minute running time is exhausting, but Hunting the Snake is worth tackling in more manageable doses, as it continues to sound daring and alive more than 25 years after its creation. AMG.

         

                                              Parker                  Kowald

Review:

The Schlippenbach Trio remains one of the most redoubtable ensembles in creative improvised music due in no small measure to the sum of its formidable parts. Schlippenbach, Parker and Lovens need no introduction to those the least bit familiar with free jazz. The seemingly unsurpassable stature of their union was forged over the course of sporadic meetings and recordings and though the group has been in existence for decades only a handful of albums are represented in its discography. Several occasions over the years have
afforded a chance for a fourth to join the fold most commonly either Alan Silva or Peter Kowald on bass. This treasure trove date unearthed through the efforts of producer John Corbett recounts one such meeting early in the trio ’ s existence with German bass impresario Kowald joining the triumvirate for a session recorded by Radio Bremen.

The music contained herein stretches the running time of the disc to its limits threatening to spill over the eighty-minute mark. Four long pieces make up the program and each one is loaded to the gills with furious and furibund interplay. On the opening “ Glen Feshie ” Schilippenbach ’ s lyrical chords flank Kowald ’ s keening arco streaks. Lovens overruns his kit with raucous clatter and chatter, though an underlying fragmentary pulse pervades even his most verbose stick work. After an initial extended shriek Parker drops out leaving the group convulsing heatedly in trio formation. Kowald saws off splintered harmonic shards in a solo interlude before Lovens and Schlippenbach, worrying his piano innards zither-style, rejoin him. Parker ’ s soprano descends soon after in a whinnying swirl of multiphonics before ascending heavenward in a harmonic arc trailed by bowed bass and cymbals.

         

                                              Lovens                 Schlippenbach

Lovens opens “ Moonbeef ” with a cyclic metallic cranking over which Parker ’ s suspiring tenor takes hold. Kowald and Schlippenbach annex much of the remainder of space with elastic tears and chiming clusters. Racing across the keys on the title track Schlippenbach vertical wall of self-immolating clusters. Further on in the piece Parker ’ s serrated soprano sustains create an eerie counterpoint to the pianist ’ s more lyrical musings. Kowald ’ s worried bow dogs his strings creating an almost continuous spray of charged particle harmonics. Parker ’ s solo statement that dominates the second half of the track delivers a deliciously drawn out sample of his long-lauded circular breathing style. Whistling wind chimes and the songs of humpback whales are just some of the auditory images conjured by his extended techniques. So much is packed into each piece that despite the disc ’ s lengthy duration, temporal density dissipates swiftly. The rarity of this recording alone is enough to announce its value. Couple this with the wealth of improvisatory energy channeled consistently through the music and the disc is made indispensable.

By DEREK TAYLOR, Published: October 1, 2000 (AAJ)



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PETER KOWALD and WILLIAM PARKER – The Victoriaville Tape (2003)

Label: Les Disques Victo – VICTO CD 088
Format: CD, Album; Country: Canada
Released: 10 Jun 2003
Style: Free Improvisation
Recorded on 19 May 2002 live at Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville


Note:

On May 19, 2002, Peter Kowald and William Parker played a duo set at the Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville .

JazzTimes (11/03, p.104) — "There is no doubt that Kowald and Parker generate an expansive sound together....The two men create a slowly shifting field of pure sound, sometimes out of which emerge small moments of furious walking bass or fragments of melody."


Review:

Both bassists had made regular appearances in Victo over the past two decades, but no one in the audience could have guessed that it would be Kowald's last. The German improviser died in New York City four months later. The French-Canadian radio was not recording this concert, but the mixing desk engineer kept a tape rolling, just in case, and negotiations toward the release of this performance were already in progress when fate struck. Now, as the listener, you can decide whether or not to "hear" this album as a normal performance or as a farewell, but it's suggested you choose the latter. Why? Because, all in all, The Victoriaville Tape is a rather ordinary offering from extraordinary musicians. There are moments in "Arrival" and "Conversation" when the sound of the two basses becomes overwhelmingly claustrophobic, each player trapped in his own world without stepping into the other guy's sphere. When Kowald starts singing 24 minutes into the 41-minute "Conversation," it sounds unnecessary. That said, there is magic on this record, especially in the last minutes. The two shorter tracks ending the set are nothing less than fabulous. "Departure" drones in a rapturing way, soothingly beautiful after the monolithically hyperactive monster that came before it. This refreshing dip opened new doors of communication between the bassists for the encore "Farewell." One wishes the concert had started just then, but as it is, The Victoriaville Tape makes a decent album and, circumstances considered, a worthy document.

~ François Couture, All Music Guide




Welcome to new prog-blog "Different Perspectives In My Room...!".
Enjoy the music, and please leave a comment. Thanks in advance.

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