Peter Brötzmann, Nasheet Waits and Eric Revis Trio [Victory Grill]

German reedman Peter Brötzmann has been a part of modern creative music since 1967, when he produced his first album on his own BRO records, For Adolphe Sax. That defining statement, a recasting of the innovations of Albert Ayler into a European light, found Brötzmann alongside regular collaborator Peter Kowald (bass) and itinerant Swede Sven-Ake Johansson (drums). While convening formations from saxophone duos to orchestras in the ensuing decades, the support of bass and drums has always been a favorite. The South African rhythm team of bassist Harry Miller and drummer Louis Moholo were constant, plastic support in the early 1980s for Brötzmann’s lung-busting saxophone flights and dervish-like clarinet and tarogato work. A decidedly funkier edge coursed through the playing of drummer Hamid Drake who, alongside bassist William Parker, became the Die like a Dog trio in the 1990s.

Over the past decade, if Brotzmann’s muse has had anything like a regular creative outlet, it might be the Chicago Tentet, which features a diverse range of musicians from the United States, Sweden and Norway in addition to occasional “guests.” Brotzmann’s compositional acumen has increased greatly in this environment, but it’s with small groups that he’s really able to cut loose as a soloist. This particular aggregation features drummer Nasheet Waits, with whom the reedman has had an occasional collaborative relationship since 2002, mostly in a duo setting. Waits has worked most notably with more “mainstream” artists like pianists Jason Moran and alto saxophonist Greg Osby, as well as with famed Blue Note pianist-composer Andrew Hill. His late father, drummer Freddie Waits was a favorite for artists as diverse as trumpeters Lee Morgan and Bill Dixon, so crossing post-bop and avant-garde “boundaries” is in the younger Waits’ blood. Bassist Eric Revis has been integral to contemporary jazz in New York for the last decade and a half, working with saxophonist Branford Marsalis, vibraphonist Joe Locke, and drummer Jeff “Tain” Watts. With an inventive but rock-solid rhythm section such as this, it will be interesting to see how the Brötzmann Trio dynamic takes shape.

Peter Brötzmann [MySpace] [Official]