Die Like A Dog Quartet – Aoyama Crows (1999)

A Darker Shade Of Blue

Recorded on 5 and 6 November 1999 during the Total Music Meeting at Podewil, Berlin.
Released Feb. 2002; Label: – FMP CD 118

Reviews:

Peter Brötzmann’s late ‘ 90s Die Like A Dog Quartet produced five records – Live atFire in the Valley (Eremite, with Roy Campbell, Jr.) and the four discs originally on FMP collected here. Brötzmann is joined by Japanese trumpeter and master of extended techniques Toshinori Kondo and the now-ubiquitous rhythm team of bassist William Parker and drummer Hamid Drake. It’s interesting to consider this group in the context of a generation of post-Ayler saxophonists ’ work. While fragments of an Ayler call-to-arms weave their way into the title suite (disc one) and are comparable to Milford Graves ’ work on Love Cry, it’s an homage that quickly begins to occupy other areas. Kondo builds on Brötzmann ’ s multiphonics wail in crisp, darting punches that at first only slightly pull away from tonality before bends and wows are nearly buried in an electric howl. Though Parker is known for a massive, physical approach to the bow that would have certainly served previous iterations of Brötzmann’s music, in Die Like A Dog his role is to permute time and create a fluid chordal-rhythmic underpinning. Die Like A Dog shows the quartet rightly as a working and cooperative band, one with a shared European, American and Japanese heritage. Anyone who feels they have enough Brötzmann in their shelves, they don’t without Die Like A Dog in hand.
By Clifford Allen
from: All About Jazz-New York, December 2009
 
“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.”
By John C. Graham
from: Amazon, December 6, 2006

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