Torrid woodwind (tenor saxophone, bass clarinet, Tárogató, b-flat clarinet) & pedal steel guitar conversations, monologues sprinkled in, for 28+ minutes. It’s the interactions (and the back to back stance, axes in the air, hair flying – double solos) that burn brightest. And man, does that bass clarinet sound good.

The terrain covered here by PETER fucking BROTZMANN and pedal steel priestess HEATHER LEIGH is varied and breathtaking. LEIGH’s six strings sound alternately beautiful, and noisy as fuck. At 9 minutes wobbly exploding, steel meets sax, at serious altitudes. And then hurtles far beyond it. BROTZMANN, human hero, brings the bluster immediately out of the gate, wailing and finally drifting into a melting pile of pedal steel at around 2:40. Far beyond at the 13 minute mark I believe the audio to be the sound of a turkey that is being throttled. And things devolve (and then evolve again) from there. BROTZMANN gets downright mournfully beautiful around 17 minutes, and creepily atmospheric at 21 minutes, LEIGH’s guitar spiraling toward the ether, reaching it, and returning.

This is a monster of a free improv thing. Recorded on November 8, 2015 at the Alchemia Club in Krakow, you too can bear witness, as I have, in the comfort of your own home. And this is all thanks to CATALYTIC SOUND (home to the works of 5 musicians: Peter Brötzmann, Mats Gustafsson, Joe McPhee, Paal Nilssen-Love, and Ken Vandermark). This is a collaboration, a meeting of timbres and sounds, that I would love to hear more of in the future. HEATHER LEIGH is one of very few pedal steel players who can match PETER BROTZMANN. You should listen to this now.