12. Peter BrötzmannLow Life
Is your collaboration with Brotzmann your longest standing?
It’s the most significant to me, and it feels more than a collaboration. It’s a duo –a band. 2015 was when it started, at Tectonics festival in Glasgow. And it’s intense. We’ve done five albums, toured constantly. I was so nervous before that first concert, and he did the biggest icebreaker. Right before we were about to go on stage he leaned over and he sniffed, and went "Well, you certainly smell better than Ken Vandermark".
I didn’t know how that concert would go, I just wanted the chance for that to happen. There was always something about his tone, I felt it could work. I really had some sort of deep connection with his sound. What I like about this record, if you were pressed to say, what do Peter and I sound like, related to any of his catalogue, it’s really this one. Laswell will riff on something for ages, and it’s quite minimal. The way it record came together is so punk, too. They found a saxophone for cheap in New York, and they just went into the studio and recorded. It was all done so quick, all on a horn he had never played before. Peter went back to his friend’s house and did the cover on the kitchen table, hand-cut the letters. It’s so primitive. I love to hear all the stories from that time too. They were enjoying the nightlife in New York, going into some really seedy basement scenes. I mean, he’s told me some crazy stories, and I love them, it speaks of a totally different New York, a totally different jazz scene.
