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Peter
Brötzmann Die Like a Dog Trio
Houston TX, 24 April 2001
by Frank Rubolino
September 2001
 The
Peter Brötzmann Die Like a Dog Trio, with William Parker on bass
and Hamid Drake on drums and percussion, crisscrossed the country
in April 2001, and after an appearance at the Empty Bottle Festival
in Chicago with guest Fred Anderson, they proceeded south to Austin,
Houston, and then New Orleans. The Pauline Oliveros Foundation sponsored
the Houston concert at the MECA inner-city cultural center. These
musicians have interacted on a regular basis over the last several
years, and the professionalism and unity of the Houston set bore out
their long association.
Brötzmann opened the concert on taragato with his noted fiery
deluge of improvised energy. He sent a rush of electric current through
the packed auditorium as he continually bombarded the senses. Sound
and emotion poured from the man as heavy artillery fire in cannonade
style. Parker was furious as ever on bass, playing at breakneck speed
with an arrhythmic beat that matched the intensity of Brötzmann's
output. Drake makes a monstrous presence on stage. His giant-like
frame and huge hands are in perfect synch with his enormous talent,
and he has a dominating effect on the music. He pounded out mixed
rhythms that cascaded through the room with crashing authority.
Brötzmann moved to tenor saxophone, and the thunder and fury
continued unabated. While he fueled the robust fire, Parker and Drake
were displaying a challenging form of rhythmic interplay. The violence
of the horn and the controlled rage of the bass and drums made an
interesting contrast.
 Some
of the most fascinating segments of the set occurred when Parker and
Drake engaged in ritualistic duets. Drake chanted in hymnal fashion
and fingered a large frame drum while Parker played the jogi baja,
a screamer reed of Nepal similar to the shanai. On another occasion,
Parker played the dousson'goni, an ancient upright string instrument,
using his two thumbs to mete out a continuous rhythm while Drake rapped
eloquently on percussion.
Die
Like a Dog played two enervating sets, and Brötzmann altered
his tonality and the mood by moving among the taragato, tenor, and
bass clarinet. The Moroccan beat from Drake meshed perfectly with
the snake-charmer spirals from Brötzmann's bass clarinet. Instinctively,
Parker and Drake supplied the matching intense beat that kept the
music moving at full throttle for the duration. It was an electrifying
performance that left the crowd drained but begging for more. Eremite
Records producer Michael Ehlers accompanied the band on its tour,
and I would imagine that he gathered a significant amount of quality
music that we hopefully will be hearing on CD in the near future.
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