ICP, another label in the
Listen In Groom for Friday 14 September 2001 at Blew Cote Nep TUNE rheum,
Liver-pool! MD compiled Thursday 13 September 2001.
1. ICP 028 Bospaadje
Kanijnehol I (of 2) (Rec:1990)
Track 1, (eponymous, version
1)
Misha Mengelberg, Ab Baars,
Han Bennink, Ernst Glerum, Michael Moore, Ernst Reijseger, Wolter Wierbos 01:55
(Misha’s ‘signature tune’…)
2. CD-R (INCUS) Chats
Track 10, Steve Beresford,
gossip & poetry (this track probably rec: 1997)
Derek Bailey c.04:00
(With mention of the 30th
Anniversary sessions of ICP; see book/ release*)
[*
= ICP 31, a book covering a brief history of ICP from 1967-1997, by Kevin
Whitehead with CD MIHA included, duos, Misha and Han. As it happens, I was
there for these celebrations. Here is my contemporary note, after minor editing
[ ] and abbreviation […]:
Dateline 21 November 1997
ICP
Orchestra and guests, Amsterdam, Bimhuis and the ‘Stedelijk’ (Amsterdam City)
Art Museum, 29 October – 1 November 1997
Han Bennink mentioned to me just before this celebration of 30 years of the ICP (Instant Composers Pool) got underway that ‘there was a lot to do the preceding weeks to make the festival happen, like a “book”, three new ICP CDs - by the Tobias Delius Quartet, by Wolter Wierbos “solo” and by Misha Mengelberg and Han’. Han, of course, made the cover designs for all these. And put together the book and two posters. Who came? Well, Han said they tried of course Derek (Bailey), Anthony (Braxton) and George (Lewis) but they were all too busy. But they did have great friends to play like Peter Brotzmann, Alexander Schlippenbach, Louis Moholo, Roswell Rudd, Steve Lacy, the Ex, Djibril Diabate, Cor Fuhler and Sean Bergin. Not bad!!
This celebration took place
over three consecutive nights, with guests every evening. There was also a free
concert performance at the Modern Art Museum in Amsterdam on the third day,
Saturday, in the afternoon. The ICP Orchestra for these events was –
Misha Mengelberg, the
inimitable pianist, composer, arranger, singer… moving spirit;
Han Bennink, drums par
excellence, enthusiast, fellow spirit, organiser and also a singer;
Michael Moore, alto sax,
clarinets – master of the solo with discreet charm and unpretentiousness and
luscious timbre, yet with some tongue-in-cheek;
Ab Baars, tenor sax and
clarinet, shades of John Carter’s beauty and of a very affecting spirituality,
trembling and off-key seduction;
Thomas Herberer; confident,
bold and simultaneously sympathetic trumpeter;
Wolter Wierbos, shy yet
brash, trombone of high calibre, master of the extreme techniques – and the
band’s video reporter;
Ernst Reijseger; cellist
who knows no bounds and sees his instrument not only as a cello but as a
guitar, too;
Tristan Honsinger, cellist,
too; driven, slender but strong, angular and fluid.
Ernst Glerum, bass
ubiquitous; steady and reliable swinger, with some elegant tricks up his
sleeve.
The first night got
underway a little behind schedule – no great surprise! The euphoria of all
being there - orchestra and guests, some from afar, ready to go after a good
meal, genuinely Italiano, preceded by a delicious fish soup, served in the
BIMhuis bar, rehearsals under belts, wine washed, beer imbibed – slowed the
process. Then, Bonanza – solo kora by Mr Diabate, delicate and delightful; Alex
Schlippenbach solos; the other extreme - The EX! And Han with The EX, and then
these joined by Wolter, Ab and Michael; Roswell struts his stuff to the light
touched percussion of Louis Moholo; others come and go; the Orchestra plays,
led by Misha under a new hat from – if I remember correctly - his daughter in
New York, Steve Lacy and the indefatigable Roswell Rudd included…
Friday evening gets going
at the appointed hour – near enough at 9.21 pm.. Messrs Reijseger and Glerum
are joined by guests Louis Moholo (drums) and Cor Fuhler (on a machine not too
different from a hurdy-gurdy) to start the ball rolling with a couple of short
Fuhler pieces; charming material for the Sentimental Touring Club (we are all
members, according to Breton). These allow the gentle playing of Louis Moholo
to be savoured to the full. They are followed by a keyboard composition of
Fuhler who is joined by Misha, Han, the two Ernsts and Messrs Moore, Baars,
Herberer, Wierbos and guest, Roswell Rudd. Exit Fuhler, nine pieces play ICP
material (Tristan Honsinger being otherwise engaged for the evening). Roswell
contributes some strong, splendidly dirty solos (in the trombone sense, you
understand!). And there are fine solos from Wolter Wierbos, Ab Baars, Han
Bennink – with one stick flying. The fourth piece shows the
tongue-in-cheekiness of Misha Mengelberg, serious pastiche/ parody and includes
a fine, driving solo from Mr Rudd assisted greatly by Han Bennink. This reminds
me of why I fell in love with jazz all those years ago! After the break, Misha
and Mr Moholo duet. Exquisite stuff, taking us out of ourselves. Octet back at
11.06 pm with Rollos [a composition of Mr Mengelberg], Misha and Ab Baars
turning out excellent solos. Rollo 3 I can’t believe, what riffs from Ernst
Reijseiger with Wolter Wierbos. In the circus parades Roswell is back under a
trilby hat soloing on his knees with Ernst assisting! Octet conclusion with
more standards. Misha provides a highly sophisticated, minimalist solo and
there are other fine solos, notably from Thomas Herberer and Wolter Wierbos.
Round midnight, it’s all over. We go, glowing into the cool Amsterdam misty
night…
Saturday afternoon finds us
at the Stedelijk Museum in the Aula Room for a free session with the Orchestra
(no guests). An elegant near-hour of loosely structured pieces from Misha with
nicely crafted solos all round pleased a full house; even the kids kept quiet!
Saturday evening is the
final night at the BIM. Thereafter, [for them] it’s a tour in Holland,
Switzerland, Germany and Belgium. Again, it is another fine night for
listeners. The Orchestra opens with Roswell featured – and he turns in a
brilliant solo, under the hat. Peter Brotzmann joins the band and blows his
powerful tenor saxophone solos; shades of Albert! There are fine solos, too,
from Michael Moore with Han Bennink and a pleasing transition provided by
Messrs Glerum and Bennink. A chamber piece follows and is itself followed by
all swinging, more great solos – Rudd, Honsinger, Brotzmann, Bennink. After the
interval, a very fine duo opens things up – Misha Mengelberg and Peter
Brotzmann. The Orchestra gets to swinging again and is joined eventually by
Sean Bergin – it’s his piece; good solos, notably from Mr Bergin and the string
trio with piano. More groups within. Another piece almost immediately follows
and Misha sings! A grand finale – nine plus Rudd and Brotz. Wolter Wierbos
weaves in and out when not on playing duties shooting the action for video
posterity – I’d love to see some of his material, unusual angles – to say the
least. It’s over; boisterous applause. Misha (under his shiny PVC peaked cap of
filial provenance, no badge of allegiance visible) and angular Han give us a
capella an ancient air of mutual respect and admiration.
Altogether,
these were three splendid days. It was great to see again Misha and Han, Ernst
Reijseger and Michael Moore […] especially on this occasion! Thirty years of
ICP is celebrated in the book which encloses the release, ‘MIHA’, (CD 031),
material by Misha and Han from two separate dates; January, this year and
January five years earlier. The book is stitched between grey boards (cover
designed by Han) and is hand -numbered (up to 1000). Inside, there is an ICP
discography, (by Kees Stevens) and each release cover – front and back – is
illustrated; there are monochrome photographs taken by Pieter Boersma covering
the period; and there is an informed and informative short text by Kevin
Whitehead […]
It
was on this visit to Amsterdam that I became acquainted with Dick Lucas, the
man responsible for recording many of the performances released by ICP. In the
succeeding month I went on to Ghent for the Carlos Ward Quartet (05/11),
Antwerp for the trio of Joe McPhee, Daunik Lazro, Paul Rogers (06), Leeds at
the Termites Club in some ‘Firkin’ pub for the King Ubu Orchestru (08), the
Liverpool Picket for Mr Bailey and for Bonehouse (Phils, Hargreaves &
Morton) (19), the Huddersfield New Music Fest for Barry Guy, in an interview
followed by a solo morning performance (26), London, to the Spitz for Evan
Parker with Eddie Prevost, preceded by John Tilbury, piano, with an actor
giving a performance of Samuel Beckett’s ‘Rough’ (27), Antwerp, for Fred Van Hove’s WIM Festival
(28 & 29), Bruges at De Werf for the Lily White Quintet (12/01) and Brussels,
to the delightful Archiduc bar for a solo performance by Mal Waldron launching
a recently recorded CD released by the Belgian arm of a major company in the
‘multi-national’ entertainment industry.]
3. ICP 026 Program 2 – Monk
(rec: 1984)
Track 6, Mysterioso 07:29
(An example of Misha’s ‘open’
arrangements; and of the ‘strangeness’ of the playing of Ab Baars.)
4. ICP 033 Heron (rec: 1997)
Track 2, P Chats 04:41
(Tobias Delius 4; w. Tristan
Honsinger (composer of this track), Joe Williamson and Han Bennink; inter alia,
for its coincidence with item 2.)
5. ICP 032 X-Caliber (rec:
1995)
Track 2, …of extreme… 10:22
(Wolter Wierbos, solo
trombone)
6. ICP 030 Mix (rec:1994)
Track 2, (extract), Mix
Canary 09:14
(Misha, solo; illustration
shows him, without a hat. And, on ‘hats’ – ‘hatologically’, perhaps! – a note
of more recent vintage, [usual conventions]:
11:12
Saturday, August 18, 2001
[…]
The
intervening twenty-four or so hours went – briefly – thus:
(17),
we got mobile and drove over to the [Middelheim] park [in Antwerp]. Eventually,
about 1430/ 1500, I established the ‘secret’ HQ in our usual speck under the
spreading chestnut tree. […]. We were here around 1215. We found Miel [the
Middelheim Jazz Festival organiser] behind the lines and joined him there, at a
table out in the fine weather with some shade from a parasol and the large
surrounding trees. There were two others present already. We had great soup, an
‘Oriental Borsch’ as I termed it. Han [Bennink] turned up as I exited the
[backstage] Gents. We embraced. He went on with his business. I went round the
front of house while the quartet did its sound check. Back stage again, we
chatted with Dave Douglas (DD) and Misha [Mengelberg] and later, with Han. Werf [Bruges] Rik was around, too. Han said that
Mary Oliver was around, too, promoting her new solo CD on ICP. […] A young man
approaches Misha saying that he is a ‘composer’. Misha said that he had stopped
composing as it interfered with his playing. I said that once he stops playing
for good, then he can de-compose!
There
were ‘hat’ stories told: Misha almost always wears one. DD told of the [recent]
time in Cordoba, Argentina, where they were doing a master class that Misha
opened by advising all present that if they wanted to be jazz musicians then
they should get a hat! He lost the hat that he was wearing at that time - an
old, black leather one - on the flight out of Argentina, but didn’t mind at
all. Han told the story of one time when they were on the road in Europe in a
band, Misha discovered he had left his hat behind at the place of the last gig
and they all drove back – something like 80 kilometres – to get it. Misha said
they shouldn’t have bothered! […]
The
day had brought us Masala (3), Octurn & Greg Osby, Masala (4), Aka Moon
& Co., Dave Douglas, Misha Mengelberg, Han Bennink, Brad Jones. After the
show, [I] went over to De Singel for the ‘jam session’. […] I spoke a little
with Han and Mary Oliver (who has a new solo CD out on ICP). I had a chat, too,
with Ernst Glerum and with Michiel Braam. Quite early in the proceedings, Han
and Mary took off. Misha played. He was in a group that had at least two
saxophones and none of the evening’s trio members. […]
(Of
no particular relevance, but pleasing to know,) the ‘Forgotten English’
Calendar entry for today is ‘summer-colt’, a description for when the air is
seen in a calm day to undulate near the surface of the ground and appears to
rise, as from hot embers. ‘The summer-colt rides…’]
7. As item 3. ICP 026 Program
1 – Nicols (84)
Track 11, Spinning Song 04:38
(Misha and Michael Moore
solo)
8. Hatology 508 Jubilee Varia
(Rec:1997)
Track 2, - 09:44
(Ernst Reijseger, Tristan
Honsinger and Ernst Glerum; strings from a three part composition – performed
by a 9-piece orchestra, under the ‘hat’)
9. As Item 1. ICP 028 (Rec:
1990)
Track 3, Moodmixes Indigo
(Duke Ellington) 07:19
10. (As 9; Track 12, A curved
Backrest) from The Purple Sofa (MM) 00:34
(Rec: 1986)
11. (As 9; Track 13 (extract
from) Bald Spots (86) --:--
12. ICP 029 (Rec 1990)
Track 7. Kwela P’kwana (from
K-Stukken) 05:27
(Reference to Dudu Pukwana,
Brotherhood of Breath etc)
13. (As 12; Track 13, Zing
Zang Zaterdag) from Epiloog (MM) 01:30
Misha sings for you!
14. (As 12; Track 18,
Bospaadje Kanijnehol 2) 01:46
[rhp 14 September 2001, 1100 LMT]