Search - Aoyama Crows :: Die Like A Dog Quartet

Procrastination saved me money! Get the boxed set.

Pharoah S. Wail | Inner Space | 09/23/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"*IMPORTANT MESSAGE* Though all 4 of these fmp Die Like A Dog Quartet albums are listed here for big bucks, I think they're now out of print so these are just leftovers. If every time you see the $35+ price tags here you sigh and pass these albums by, stop! In late 2007 or early 2008 they became available as a 4-disc boxed set for $40 - $50! I've seen it at both the Atavistic and Downtown Music Gallery sites where I got mine in early 2008. It's nothing fancy. It's the 4 cds (Aoyama Crows, Little Birds Have Fast Hearts, No. 1,Little Birds Have Fast Hearts, No. 2, and Die Like A Dog: Fragments Of Music, Life & Death Of Albert Ayler) and a booklet in a sleeve. ESSENTIAL!



*THE MUSIC* Recorded on 11/3/99, Die Like A Dog here is Peter Brotzmann on tenor saxophone, a-clarinet and tarogato, Toshinori Kondo on electric trumpet, William Parker on double bass and Hamid Drake on drums. I'm tempted to write "This is one of the greatest live (or otherwise) albums of all time!" and call it a review.



This cd is 70 minutes but I only know that from seeing it on the back cover. When I listen to this cd I can't tell if it's 10 minutes or 3 hours. There are passages here that could scare Albert Ayler, and then there are passages of such quiet, ancient beauty that it seems like it's 12,000 years ago around the night fire of any indigenous culture of that time. This one stretch of sound where William has gone arco is pure ancient humanity. It's like the band turns into an old medicine man whispering prayers into a mysterious wind. People who think Brotzmann is a neverending shrieker need to step away from his 40 year old albums and get with his stuff of the past 15 years where he's one of the most dynamic, expressive saxophonists/reed players of all time. Most of this album feels like listening to the chemical sparks that make humans human.



If you read When God Is Gone, Everything Is Holy: The Making of a Religious Naturalist you'll know what I mean when I say if conventional jazz was the thousands of creation myths and religious belief systems of the past 40,000 years, then this album is a major part of The New Story."

FMP does it again

John C. Graham | toronto, ontario Canada | 12/06/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"70 minutes of well recorded live music from the Total Music Meeting in Berlin 1999. The Die Like a Dog Quartet has made 4 or 5 recordings and gets together whenever scheduling permits. Parker and Drake have played with Brotzmann on other occasions, in trio and in larger ensembles, always with startling results. It's Toshino Kondo and his trumpet/electronics that make this quartet special. His solos are out of this world, adding another dimention to the music. Drake and Parker fit comfortably into the mix, subtly shading and embellishing the horns, never loud or overindulgent(great job of recording by Holger Scheuermann). Brotzmann sounds somewhat less intense, less forceful than on other recordings. His playing is, however, lovely to hear in this way. The tenor and the tarogato spin beautiful lines of improvisation that are almost delicate....but the intensity does rise and the playing heats up. It's at these points Brotzmann is most Ayler-like. Thankfully it's just part of the music on this disc because everything leading up to those climaxes is what really draws you in. It's a great set by a stellar quartet with some great horn playing from Kondo and Brotzmann and excellent support from Parker and Drake. All the Die Like a Dog discs are above average and worth owning. This one happens to be my favourite."