Oct 25 2018
Recommended: Fire! – “The Hands”
For me personally, it’s kind of jarring to be reminded that the Fire! Orchestra got its start as a trio. The large ensemble variant has spent the last handful of years putting out some of the most exciting music to hit the shelves. It’s music that I find particularly rewarding, especially in that singular way the ensemble forms a handshake deal between unbridled chaos and innate tunefulness bordering on catchy. The intensity that derives from this tenuous agreement between typically warring qualities is something that registers strong on my enjoyment meter.
As a trio, saxophonist Mats Gustafsson, bassist Johan Berthling and drummer Andreas Werliin present the core of that agreement in its simplest terms. The foundation of repetition that nurtures the catchiness is evident throughout their latest release The Hands, as is the naked edginess that obliterates that repetition without warning. Missing are the rich textures and massive presence of the trio’s Orchestra ensemble, and while it’s an absence I’m not particularly fond of, it is refreshing to hear again what beats at the heart of that music.
Your album personnel: Mats Gustafsson (tenor, baritone & bass saxophones, live electronics), Johan Berthling (electric & double basses) and Andreas Werliin (drums, percussion, feedback).
Released on Rune Grammofon.
Listen to more of the album at the artist’s Soundcloud page.
Music from Amsterdam.
Available at: Amazon
Apr 22 2019
Fire! at Big Ears Festival 2019: Way down in your bones
I’ve enjoyed some Brötzmann recordings in my time. Hell, the discovery continues into the present day. But I never truly appreciated the man’s artistry or the absolutely power of his sonic delivery until I saw him live. It occurred in a small church in Lexington, KY, out on North Limestone and years before that neighborhood became the darling of the real estate industry. Peter Brötzmann teamed up with vibraphonist Jason Adasiewicz, and the way the icy tones of that percussion clashed and melted into the searing heat of Brötzmann’s saxophone was like nothing I’d experienced before. There was an immediacy to his sound that the recorded medium never could accurately relay in its totality. But it was revelatory of more than just pure power. Hearing this music live also illuminated how nimble Brötzmann could be, even on an instrument like bass clarinet, whose sound typically shines as displays of heavy soul, not delicate turns of phrase. That being said, all of that still came secondary to Brötzmann’s ability to brutalize the laws of physics with his saxophone, like he was ripping apart reality at the seams or threatening to obliterate the walls and bring the whole building crashing down.
These thoughts were bouncing around in my head as I watched Fire! perform at The Standard on Friday night. This was my first opportunity to see them live. The raw strength and driving intensity displayed by the trio didn’t come as a surprise. I have a far greater familiarity with the music of Mats Gustaffson and his various Fire! ensembles than I do Brötzmann. Fire! Orchestra is a fixture of my listening routine. I knew what I was getting into when the trio of saxophonist Mats Gustafsson, bassist Johan Berthling and drummer Andreas Werliin took the stage at midnight. But the live setting meant I would feel the music, that it would pound away at my heart at the same time it was bleeding into my ears. It’s an entirely different experience. And it’s about more than the trio’s devastating power. At times, they enter fugue-like states when the music grows more moody than manic. Their sonic barrage can take on a trance-like quality, a high-intensity hypnosis where volatility becomes the catalyst of expectation and resolution. But, yeah, the best part is feeling when the music shakes the earth beneath the feet. And a packed house at The Standard on Friday night got shook that way, very late into the night.
This trio’s music gets slotted in the Jazz category for any number of reasons, but, seriously, for any reason you go see a rock concert, those same reasons apply to the Fire! trio. Their show in Knoxville was Exhibit A.
Enter was also this site’s 2014 Album of the Year.
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By davesumner • Live Jazz • 0 • Tags: Andreas Werliin, Big Ears Festival, Fire!, Johan Berthling, Knoxville (TN), Live Jazz, Live Music, Mats Gustafsson, The Standard