One of my favorite Monty Python sketches is “Why Michelangelo didn’t paint the Last Supper,” in which the Pope tells Michelangelo at the end that he may not know anything about art, but that he knows what he likes. When it comes to free jazz, I’m just an amateur writer. But I also know what I like. For example, the music of Joe McPhee and John Edwards. Without exception. And I like bass clarinets. Their deep, rich, and resonant tone, their warm and velvety sound.
For the Music Unlimited 37 Festival in 2023 in Wels/Austria the Free Music Forum created a quartet with Joe McPhee (saxophone, voice), Susanna Gartmayer (bass clarinet), John Edwards (double bass) and Mariá Portugal (drums, voice). In their opening remarks to the festival, the organizers made it clear that they see it as a problem that the audience is still predominantly male and rather old, although they have been working for years to attract a younger and more female crowd. Nonetheless, they promised to continue to work on that. This is also reflected in the lineup of this quartet here, which spans several generations of improvised musicians and consists of two women and two men. Additionally, McPhee and Edwards can be considered stars of the scene, while Gartmayer and Portugal were previously rather known only to insiders. Nevertheless, expectations were high – and they were more than fulfilled. “Relicts” is a prime example for the music presented on that night. McPhee introduces the piece with one of his typical solos, and the band joins him somnambulistically. McPhee’s and Gartmayer’s instruments circle each other in the most wonderful way, partly because the bass clarinet complements McPhee’s blues-soaked phrases almost perfectly. Although the music becomes rough and atonal here and there, the mood of the pieces is rather solemn, a deep spirituality permeates them – and Gartmayer feels the music in a similar way as McPhee does. This literal beauty is supported by Edwards and Portugal in an abstract and subtle, but also powerful way, whereby they know how to pick up the tempo here and there, which then immediately leads to minor eruptions, for example by McPhee screaming and yelling. At the end of the set, on “Cool Green Light of the Evening“, the saxophonist delivers one of his legendary spoken word passages: “We make music / In the forest / In the cool green light of the evening / In a ritual long forgotten / On a street called music row / We know our songs come from people / Not from tape machines / We know that our songs are for singing, and dancing, and celebrating life / And when the studios are silent / ancient relics of the past / We will still be here.” With this commitment to handmade music, to old-fashioned free jazz, to blues, to gospel, he struck a chord with the audience, who responded with loud applause.
It’s great to hear the then 83-year-old Joe McPhee in such good shape. And it’s great to get to know musicians like Susanna Gartmayer and Mariá Portugal better. Very recommended album. I still know why I know what I like.
Monster is available as a CD and as a download. You can listen to it and buy it here: