brötzmann/van hove/bennink plus albert mangelsdorff: the end

Peter Brötzmann: tenor saxophone; Fred Van Hove: piano; Han Bennink: drums, voice; Albert Mangelsdorff: trombone. Recorded during the Free Music Market, August 27 and 28, 1971, in Berlin. Designed by Peter Brötzmann. Part of the legendary "Berlin Trilogy" originally released by FMP in 1971. 180-gram vinyl. One-time pressing of 500. First standalone reissue. "The great thing about this trilogy/set is how naturally everything flows. . . . each subdividing of the group, each solo excursion, feels smooth and logical, as though the player(s) in question had nodded to the others as if to say 'Gimme a minute here, I've got an idea,' and received assent in response. There's all the ferocity any free jazz diehard could ask for, but it never goes on so long that it becomes schtick, and it's always countered by passages that are genuinely beautiful in the most conventional, you-could-play-this-for-your-mom sense. Even without Mangelsdorff, Brötzmann, Van Hove and Bennink were a remarkably empathetic and attuned team, and when he joined them (and these records document their second and third times playing together, ever), everyone's game was raised." --Phil Freeman, Burning Ambulance, 2013