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Peter Br?tzmann / Toshinori Kondo / Sabu Toyozumi: Complete Link

By Mark Corroto
August 5, 2024
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Peter Brötzmann / Toshinori Kondo / Sabu Toyozumi: Complete Link

As the liner notes to Complete Link by Yoshiaki Kinno state, "In the 1960s, each of them [saxophonist

Peter Brötzmann

woodwinds
1941 - 2023

" data-original-title="" title="">Peter Br?tzmann, trumpeter

Toshinori Kondo

trumpet
b.1948

" data-original-title="" title="">Toshinori Kondo and drummer

" data-original-title="" title="">Sabu Toyozumi] was inspired by free jazz, practiced it themselves and met each other in the process of overcoming free jazz." That is indeed a bold statement. Did he mean to say they gained mastery of it? Defeated it? Or is he suggesting the three evolved apart from free jazz?

Most likely Kinno was referring to the commendation "beyond category"

Duke Ellington

piano
1899 - 1974

" data-original-title="" title="">Duke Ellington utilized to describe an artist or performance of the highest quality. Certainly, the trio of Br?tzmann, Kondo and Toyozumi fits Duke's designation.

Although the three artists had performed together in 2014, this live recording at Roppongi Super Deluxe in Tokyo on October 2, 2016, is the first documentation of this special trio. Br?tzmann and Toyozumi worked together during the saxophonist's tour of Japan in the 1980s, recording with

Derek Bailey

guitar
1932 - 2005

" data-original-title="" title="">Derek Bailey and as a duo with the previous release Triangle -Live At OHM, 1987 (NoBusiness, 2024). The saxophonist and Kondo had previously toured with the ICP Orchestra, and recorded with the saxophonist's Chicago Tentet and Clarinet Project, also with

William Parker

bass
b.1952

" data-original-title="" title="">William Parker and

Hamid Drake

drums
b.1955

" data-original-title="" title="">Hamid Drake as the Die Like A Dog Quartet.

This beyond-category is post-free jazz. It could also be described as a punk-rock-blues experience and fourth-world music. Br?tzmann switches between tenor saxophone and tarogato, plus Kondo favors live electronic processing of his trumpet here. The sound can be dynamite, but it can also float not unlike

Jon Hassell

trumpet
b.1937

" data-original-title="" title="">Jon Hassell's electronic waves. Kondo's processed trumpet might have its roots in

Miles Davis

trumpet
1926 - 1991

" data-original-title="" title="">Miles Davis' electric wah-wah pedal attack, but it sounds more like a synthesizer than a brass instrument here. Amplified, Kondo is capable of matching volume and energy of both Br?tzmann and Toyozumi's ferocity. The epic length of "First Monorail" (47:45) flows from thunderous hot magma to meditative musings, mixing bombast with the spacey hushed peacefulness of the blues. Overcome free jazz? This music more like epitomizes the best of free jazz.

Learn more about our star rating system

Track Listing

To the Nature from the Heat; First Monorail; Memories of Wuppertal.

Personnel

Peter Br?tzmann

woodwinds

Toshinori Kondo

trumpet

Sabu Toyozumi

drums

Additional Instrumentation

Peter Br?tzmann: tarogato; Toshinori Kondo: electronics.

Album information

Title: Complete Link | Year Released: 2024 | Record Label: NoBusiness Records

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