The Squid's Ear Magazine

Brotzmann, Peter / Steve Noble / John Edwards

The Worse The Better: Live at Cafe OTO, January 2010 [VINYL REPRESS]

Brotzmann, Peter / Steve Noble / John Edwards: The Worse The Better: Live at Cafe OTO, January 2010 (Otoroku)

LP edition of the first set performed by the trio of Peter Brotzmann, Steve Noble and John Edwards at Cafe OTO in January 2010 during Brotzmann's first residency at the venue, and the first time this trio had played together.
 

Price: $29.95


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product information:

Personnel:



Peter Brotzmann-reeds

John Edwards-doublebass

Steve Noble-drums


Click an artist name above to see in-stock items for that artist.




Two colour silkscreened artwork by Peter Brotzmann printed on acid-free archival card stock. Two colour OTO-roku stock inner sleeve printed at Record Industry on 280gsm card. Record pressed on 180g virgin vinyl at Record Industry, The Netherlands.

Label: Otoroku
Catalog ID: ROKU 001LP
Squidco Product Code: 16016

Format: LP
Condition: New
Released: 2012
Country: Great Britain
Packaging: Vinyl 12" LP
Recorded at Cafe OTO in London on January 30th, 2010 by Shane Browne.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"Vinyl edition of the stunning first set performed by the trio of Peter Brötzmann, Steve Noble and John Edwards at Cafe OTO in January 2010 during Brötzmann's first residency at the venue. This was also the first time the trio had played together.

Two colour silkscreened artwork by Peter Brötzmann printed on acid-free archival card stock. Two colour OTO-roku stock inner sleeve printed at Record Industry on 280gsm card.

Recorded at Cafe OTO by Shane Browne, and Mastered by Andres [LUPO] Lupich at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin. Record pressed on 180g virgin vinyl at Record Industry, The Netherlands.

PETER BRÖTZMANN / Reeds

Peter Brötzmann is one of the most important and uncompromising figures in free jazz and has been at the forefront of developing a unique, European take on free improvisation since the 1960s.

Brötzmann first trained as a painter and was associated with Fluxus (Participating in various events and working as an assistant to Nam Jun Paik) before dissatisfaction with the art world moved his focus towards music. However he continued to paint and his instantly recognisable visual sensibility has produced some of our favourite LP sleeves as well as a number of gallery shows in recent years (see: http://www.peterbroetzmann.com/artworkdesign/exhibitions.php)

Self-taught on Clarinet and Saxophone, Brötzmann established himself as one of the most powerful and original players around, releasing a number of now highly sought after sides of musical invention including the epochal 'Machine Gun' session in 1968 - originally released on his own Brö private press and later recordings for FMP (Free Music Production) the label he started with Jost Gebers. Brötzmann's sound is "one of the most distinctive, life-affirming and joyous in all music" and he has performed with almost all of the major players of free music from early associations with Don Cherry and Steve Lacy to regular groupings with Peter Kowald, Alex Von Slippenbach, Han Bennink and Fred Van Hove, the Chicago Tentet (Mats Gustafsson/Joe McPhee/Ken Vandermark and more) and various one-off and ad hoc associations with many others including Keiji Haino, Derek Bailey, Evan Parker, Anthony Braxton and Rashied Ali.

JOHN EDWARDS / Double Bass

John Edwards is a true virtuoso whose staggering range of techniques and boundless musical imagination have redefined the possibility of the double bass and dramatically expanded its role, whether playing solo or with others. Perpetually in demand, he has played with Evan Parker, Sunny Murray, Derek Bailey, Joe McPhee, Lol Coxhill, and many others.

STEVE NOBLE / Drums

Steve Noble is London's leading drummer, a fearless and constantly inventive improviser whose super-precise, ultra-propulsive and hyper-detailed playing has galvanized encounters with Derek Bailey, Matthew Shipp, Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith, Stephen O'Malley, Joe McPhee, Alex Ward, Rhodri Davies and many, many more.

In the early eighties, Noble played with the Nigerian master drummer Elkan Ogunde, Rip Rig and Panic, Brion Gysin and the Bow Gamelan Ensemble, before going on to work with the pianist Alex Maguire and with Derek Bailey (including Company Weeks 1987, 89 and 90). He was featured in the Bailey's excellent TV series on Improvisation for Channel 4 based on his book 'Improvisation; its nature and practise'. He has toured and performed throughout Europe, Africa and America and currently leads the groups N.E.W (with John Edwards and Alex Ward) and DECOY (with John Edwards and Alexander Hawkins)."-Cafe OTO

Also available on CD.
Two colour silkscreened artwork by Peter Brotzmann printed on acid-free archival card stock. Two colour OTO-roku stock inner sleeve printed at Record Industry on 280gsm card. Record pressed on 180g virgin vinyl at Record Industry, The Netherlands.

Artist Biographies

"After taking up the bass, around 1987, John Edwards co-formed The Pointy Birds who went on to win awards for their music for The Cholmondeleys and Featherstonehaughs dance troupes. The group appeared at festivals in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Moers, Leverkusen, Copenhagen. Around 1990, Edwards played his first gigs with London improvisers such as Roger Turner, Lol Coxhill, Maggie Nicols, Phil Minton.

Between 1990 and 1995 Edwards was a member of three touring groups simultaneously: B-Shops For The Poor, The Honkies and GOD. During this period he also became an increasingly regular player on the London improvised music scene and performed his first solo gigs; he composed and performed music theatre with the bass and cello duo The Great Explorers, street-busked a lot and appeared at many more festivals in Germany, Estonia, France, Italy, Czech, etc.

Since 1995 John Edwards has become a "mainstay" of the London scene, playing with just about everybody, an activity that has seen him clocking up between 150 and 200 gigs a year. He has become regular player with Evan Parker, in many groupings, and with Tony Bevan, Veryan Weston, and Elton Dean, often in collaboration with Mark Sanders on percussion. He has become a more frequent player on the European (and festival) scene, appearing at Taktlos, Ulrichsburg, Nickelsdorf, Budapest, New Zealand and in the USA. He continues to work on solo performances."

-EFI (http://www.efi.group.shef.ac.uk/musician/medwards.html)
3/31/2025

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Steve Noble is London's leading drummer, a fearless and constantly inventive improviser whose super-precise, ultra-propulsive and hyper-detailed playing has galvanized encounters with Derek Bailey, Matthew Shipp, Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith, Stephen O'Malley, Joe McPhee, Alex Ward, Rhodri Davies and many, many more.

In the early eighties, Noble played with the Nigerian master drummer Elkan Ogunde, Rip Rig and Panic, Brion Gysin and the Bow Gamelan Ensemble, before going on to work with the pianist Alex Maguire and with Derek Bailey (including Company Weeks 1987, 89 and 90). He was featured in the Bailey's excellent TV series on Improvisation for Channel 4 based on his book 'Improvisation; its nature and practise'. He has toured and performed throughout Europe, Africa and America and currently leads the groups N.E.W (with John Edwards and Alex Ward) and DECOY (with John Edwards and Alexander Hawkins)."

-https://www.cafeoto.co.uk/artists/steve-noble/ (Cafe Oto Website)
3/31/2025

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



Side A:

22:40

Side B:

16:10

Related Categories of Interest:

Vinyl Recordings

Improvised Music
Jazz
European Improvisation, Composition and Experimental Forms
London & UK Improv & Related Scenes
Peter Brotzmann
Staff Picks & Recommended Items
Recordings by or featuring Reed & Wind Players
Trio Recordings

Search for other titles on the label:
Otoroku.


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The Squid's Ear Magazine

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