Schwarzwaldfahrt ("A Trip Through the Black Forest") is an album by saxophonist Peter Brötzmann and percussionist Han Bennink . It was recorded during May 9–11, 1977, in the open air of the Black Forest in Baden-Wuerttemberg , Germany, using a Stellavox tape recorder, and was initially released on vinyl later that year by the FMP label. In 2005, Atavistic Records reissued the album on CD as part of their Unheard Music Series , with previously unreleased tracks. The album was reissued on vinyl in 2012 by the Cien Fuegos imprint of Trost Records , and, in 2022, Trost reissued it again in limited quantities, accompanied by a 120-page book containing photos and an essay by novelist David Keenan .
9-417: On the album, the musicians are credited with performing on "instruments" such as wood, trees, sand, land, water, and air. Nearly 30 years later, Brötzmann reflected: "We didn't have any big message in our heads, but we just did it for the excitement of being there. We played on trees and in the water and with the birds and wind. We used what we had and what we found, and with all of that we made some music, which
18-519: A huge sense of audio space. It's not a noisy record. It's actually abstractly sublime." The Wire ' s Daniel Spicer commented: "Let loose in this environment, Brötzmann and Bennink explore their surroundings with a childlike sense of wonder and inquisitive mischief... Here, the act of becoming lost in the woods is a way of entering a kind of shamanic consciousness... To play there is to step outside of time and exist in an exquisite cosmic present." In an article for Cadence , Carl Brauer wrote: "On '#10'
27-449: A reciprocal arrangement (the fauna react too) imbued with a sense of fun that's as palpable as it is infectious." Writing for The New York City Jazz Record , Kurt Gottschalk stated that the music is "filled with adventure," and noted: "There's a sense that, perhaps more than ever for the impromptu wilderness troubadours, anything was good to go. There are reed duets, percussion jams and scavenged marimbas. There are also natural sounds and
36-414: Is a website established by Michael Ricci in 1995. A volunteer staff publishes news, album reviews, articles, videos, and listings of concerts and other events having to do with jazz . Ricci maintains a related site, Jazz Near You , about local concerts and events. The Jazz Journalists Association voted All About Jazz Best Website Covering Jazz for thirteen consecutive years between 2003 and 2015, when
45-471: Is in a way the real meaning of improvising. To work with what you have." In a review of the Atavistic reissue for All About Jazz , Clifford Allen wrote: "Certainly there's the sheer joy of making music unencumbered outside... There's also the power of recording what could be akin to the first human music... Audio-collage it might be, but the fact that one can visualize and share in the experience of making it,
54-496: Is what makes Schwarzwaldfahrt such a unique document in the history of creative music." In a separate review for Paris Transatlantic , Allen commented: "In its primal and very human way, Schwarzwaldfahrt is the highest form of conversation: conversation between two men, and man and nature. In the depths of the Black Forest that day, Peter Brötzmann and Han Bennink found music ." The Free Jazz Collective' s Eyal Hareuveni called
63-470: The album "iconic and seminal," and stated: " Schwarzwaldfahrt is a great album, and still radiates an inspiring urgency and a unique sense of rare musical bond and resourceful invention. Brötzmann and Bennink play in a totally free and playful mode... A timeless treasure." Spencer Grady of Record Collector remarked: "These two forest freaks plainly had a ball... In conversing with their own Sylvania, Brötzmann and Bennink became totally inspired by it – it's
72-453: The category was retired. In 2015, Ricci said the site received a peak of 1.3 million readers per month in 2007. Another source said that the site has over 500,000 readers around the world. Ricci was born in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania, United States. He heard classical and jazz from his father's music collection. He played trumpet and went to his first jazz concert when he was eight. With
81-471: The two are heard splashing in the water – just like two kids playing in the bath tub. So it was not altogether unexpected when I played this track for a second time that my 20 month old son suddenly came running into the living room, said 'rain', went over to a speaker, looked behind it, and then sat down a foot in front of it, transfixed, laughing with delight. He loved it." All music by Peter Brötzmann and Han Bennink. All About Jazz All About Jazz
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