★Cien Fuegos
Die Like a Dog (Fragments of Music, Life and Death of Albert Ayler)
Comes in a heavy gatedold sleeve and with printed innersleeves. Peter Brotzmann reflected: "The idea of expressing my love of and admiration for Albert Ayler - both man and music - in a musical statement is not new. We both tried to do similar or almost identical things at the same point in time, each independently and without knowing anything about each other - each of us within his own culture." This album was recorded in August 1993 during the Free Concerts series at Townhall Charlottenburg i…
Outspan No 1 + 2
Tip! The two recent Outspan 1 & 2 in a (slightly discounted) bundle. Joining their longstanding dedication to the back catalog of the legendary German imprint, FMP, Cien Fuegos returns with the first ever reissues of two towering artefacts of European free jazz / improvisation from the 1970s, the quartet of Peter Brötzmann, Han Bennink, Albert Mangelsdorff, and Fred Van Hove’s Outspan No 1, and the trio of Peter Brötzmann, Han Bennink, and Fred Van Hove’s Outspan No 2. Both recorded live in 1974…
Outspan No 2
Tip! Recorded a month after Outspan No 1, this album offers up four more sonic delights from the core trio of Brötzmann, Van Hove, and Bennink. Rarely has free jazz/Euro improv/circus music/[your identifier here] sounded so unfettered and delightful -- adventurous without seeming self-serious, silly yet not without gravity. A must for any fan of these three maestros.
Outspan No 1
Tip! It's hard to imagine how this record -- and it's mate, Outspan No 2 -- managed to remain more or less out of circulation from the CD era onward. Outspan No 1 is nothing less than an ideal distillation of the broad approach to sound creation utilized by the three-ring circus that is Brötzmann, Van Hove, and Bennink, here with the added bonus of Mangelsdorff. Two short numbers, two long, too perfect.
Anticlockwise
"The edges of Schlippenbach’s trio/quartet music have gradually feathered over the past dozen years, a process benchmarked by “Anticlockwise”. Evan Parker’s careening tenor prompts a dramatic sweep from the group that echoes Coltrane’s last period, as on Ore; his multiphonic-oriented soprano style elicits a more spiky rapport. The exceptional American bassist Alan Silva makes an intriguing debut with the quartet, his incisive phrasing and nuance-filled arco technique serving as a lynchpin betwee…
Carpathes
"Percussionist Paul Lovens turns in some exemplary work on Carpathes, joined by Michel Pilz (bcl) and Peter Kowald (b). Actually it is mostly Pilz' date as he appears throughout the record either in solo, trio or duo with Kowald. But it is Lovens who most impresses me here as he hammers, rings, jingles the percussion, managing to both give rhythmic freedom and abstraction while implying a more traditional rhythm and he sustains himself very well. Actually the rhythm is constantly outstanding in …
3 Points And A Mountain
"A real cause for celebration. A performance distinguished by gleeful energy and audacious dada wit. It possesses a vigor of discovery and invention that makes it sound timeless." - Cadence "A great and enjoyable session from three of the most creative and unique musicians in European avant-garde music." - All Music Guide"Wonderful, intoxicating stuff. Together theses three troubadours tiptoe exaggeratedly through pastiches of bop, cabaret, baroque, and lounge, and work through dozens of mood ch…
Hamburg '74 (LP)
This date by the Globe Unity Orchestra featured pianist Alexander Von Schlippenbach, guitarist Derek Bailey, drummers Paul Lovens and Han Bennink, saxophonists Peter Brötzmann, Evan Parker, Rüdiger Carl, Gerd Dudek, and Michel Piz, bassist Peter Kowald, trumpeters Kenny Wheeler and Manfred Schoof , and trombonists Paul Rutherford and Günter Christmann -- a completely gone lineup at the height of Euro free jazz in 1974. To add to the drama, the band is joined by the Choir of the NDR Broadcast und…
14 Love Poems
A monument of post-free solo reeds playing and a stunning album in Peter Brötzmann's discography
Schlingerland / Dynamische Schwingungen
Cien Fuegos present a reissue of Sven-Åke Johansson's Schlingerland / Dynamische Schwingungen, originally released in 1972. Sven-Åke Johansson (Mariestad, Sweden, 1943) works as a composer, drummer, accordionist, poet, and visual artist. Longtime collaborator of the free improv scene in the German '60s with Kowald, Brötzmann, Schlippenbach. He contributed to numerous exhibitions, publications, and recordings. Sven-Åke Johansson - drums. Recorded 1972 in Stockholm, Schweden. Engineered by Göran F…
Three Nails Left
Cien Fuegos present a reissue of Schlippenbach Quartet's Three Nails Left, a classic mid-1970s originally released on FMP in 1975 and showing Schlippenbach is in sublime form. It features a stellar line-up, with Evan Parker - soprano and tenor saxophone; Peter Kowald - double bass and Paul Lovens - percussion. Side A was recorded live at 3rd Jazz Festival Moers June 2nd, 1974 by Michael Krause. Side B was recorded live at the Quartier Latin Berlin, February 2nd, 1975 by Jost Gebers with the FMP…
machine gun
Cien Fuegos present a reissue of the Peter Brötzmann Octet's Machine Gun, originally released in 1968. One of the most important albums of European free jazz, finally in the Cien Fuegos series. Recorded May 1968 at "Lila Eule", Bremen. Recorded with a whiff of revolution in the air back in May '68, this landmark Brotzmann LP taps into the spirit of its time with a robust garage rock sensibility, lending a considerable urgency to the session, with the highest volume passages taking up far more ai…
Machine Gun - Alternate Takes
Alternate versions, never before released on vinyl from Peter Brötzmann Octet's Machine Gun (1968). As Brötzmann has said: 'It was the feeling, the very naive feeling that we could take a little part in changing the world.' Adopting its title from Don Cherry's nickname for Brötzmann, 'Machine Gun' drew on the huge horn section of Lionel Hampton's 'Flying Home' for inspiration, translating the hilarious saxophonic power of the jump blues and Illinois Jacquet's booting and hollering into an abstra…
Elements, Couscouss de la Mauresque, The End
Since they first emerged on FMP in 1971, a series of recordings - often referred to as the Berlin Trilogy, have represented an axis point in the history of Jazz. Made earlier the same year by Peter Brötzmann, Fred Van Hove, Han Bennink, and Albert Mangelsdorff - Elements, Couscouss de la Mauresque, and The End quickly became legendary for their towering artistry and worth, but their larger contextual concern - with how they came to be, was an answer to a quite multilayered war being waged in th…
The End
Peter Brötzmann: tenor saxophone; Fred Van Hove: piano; Han Bennink: drums, voice; Albert Mangelsdorff: trombone. Recorded during the Free Music Market, August 27 and 28, 1971, in Berlin. Designed by Peter Brötzmann. Part of the legendary "Berlin Trilogy" originally released by FMP in 1971 (FMP 0050). 180-gram vinyl. One-time pressing of 500. First standalone reissue."The great thing about this trilogy/set is how naturally everything flows. . . . each subdividing of the group, each solo excursio…
Couscouss de la Mauresque
Peter Brötzmann: tenor saxophone; Fred Van Hove: piano; Han Bennink: drums, voice; Albert Mangelsdorff: trombone. Recorded during the Free Music Market, August 27 and 28, 1971, in Berlin. Designed by Peter Brötzmann. Part of the legendary "Berlin Trilogy" originally released by FMP in 1971 (FMP 0040). 180-gram vinyl. One-time pressing of 500. First standalone reissue."Brötzmann's regular trio was joined by the trombonist Albert Mangelsdorff, one of the most respected German jazz musicians,…
Elements
Peter Brötzmann: tenor saxophone; Fred Van Hove: piano; Han Bennink: drums, voice; Albert Mangelsdorff: trombone. Recorded during the Free Music Market, August 27 and 28, 1971, in Berlin. Designed by Peter Brötzmann. Part of the legendary "Berlin Trilogy" originally released by FMP in 1971 (FMP 0030). 180-gram vinyl. One-time pressing of 500. First standalone reissue."What reveals itself in the über energetics on display here is the ability of one quartet to take so much for granted and ye…
Peter Kowald Quintet
A legendary moment in European free jazz, but which stand as some of the most powerful music of the time! Cien Fuegos present a reissue of Peter Kowald Quintet's self-titled album, originally released by FMP in 1972. Personnel: Günter Christmann - trombone; Peter Kowald - tuba, bass, alphorn; Peter van der Locht - alto saxophone; Paul Lovens - drums; Paul Rutherford - trombone. Composed and produced by Peter Kowald. Recorded by Eberhard Sengpiel at Akademie der Künste, Berlin, on January 19th, 1…
Das Orgien Mysterien Theater. 25. Aktion - Wiederaufgeführt
Hermann Nitsch - Orgien Mysterien Theater - 25. Aktion. Re-performance of 25. Action, March 1982 in the gallery Pakesch, Vienna. The premiere was in New York, in 1968. Hermann Nitsch, an Austrian painter, performance-artist and composer, was a crucial founding artist of "Viennese Actionism". He has held exhibitions and performed all over the world since the '60s. The idea of the very sensual and archaic Orgien Mysterien Theater was developed in the late '50s and has been performed in variations …
Orchester 33 1/3
Recorded live at 'Music Unlimited' Festival in Wels (Austria) November 1996. Contains an additional movie about the orchestra directed by Peter Hormanseder (1998) on extra DVD. Plus previously unreleased bonustracks recorded 1998 (Graz) & 2001 (Vienna). Packaged in special bound old recordsleeves, with silver-grey screen prints on front and backside. The legendary Austrian ensemble lead by Christof Kurzmann and Christian Fennesz in the late 90s, is finally re-releasing their debut with bonus-tra…