Hunting the Snake

Hunting the Snake

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
The Schlippenbach Quartet was a high-octane group in the 1970s European free-jazz scene that played with the same unfettered adventurousness as groups led by Peter Brotzmann. In fact, both the quartet's saxophonist, Evan Parker, and bassist, Peter Kowald, appear on Brotzmann's legendary Machine Gun. But pianist Alexander Von Schlippenbach is a formidable musician in his own right, playing with the same manic pyrotechnics as Cecil Taylor. With the multifaceted Paul Lovens handling drums and percussion, Von Schlippenbach's group is formidable. Originally produced as a broadcast for German radio in 1975, the four long, unreleased pieces here are European free jazz at its best and most challenging. Members take off on interesting side trips even though the music is never less than extremely intense. Parker's saxophone style, a mix of circular breathing, split tones, and jittery leaping, is fully formed by this time and it energizes the band. It's shocking that Snake is the only thing released from this group domestically or in CD format worldwide, but it's no more shocking than the titanic effort put forth by this great group. --Tad Hendrickson

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