Catching Ghosts

Vinyl LP pressing. "Catching Ghosts" by revered, iconoclastic 81-year-old reedist Peter Brötzmann (passed away on June 22, 2023 at his home in Wuppertal, Germany. He was 82) with Moroccan Gnaoua adept Majid Bekkas playing two-stringed, camelskin-backed guembre and Chicago-bred drummer Hamid Drake, proves that "free" spontaneous interactions deriving power from age-old traditions can transcend cultural lines. Improvising on incantations from Gnaoua liturgy, Brötzmann's horn cries as summons and statement; Drake's drums awaken inner impulses; Bekkas' strings, plucked and strummed, tie it all together, and his voice brings the song home. But this is no lucky success: The music is vital due to it's players' career-long practice, their knowledge of heritage, and belief the past must always be reinterpreted, renewed.