Joe McPhee, Peter Brötzmann, Kent Kessler, Michael Zerang
The Damage Is Done
2009 - Not Two Records: MW 823-2 
http://www.nottwo.com/PelnaPlyta.php?Id=364&W=0

* Joe McPhee: trumpet, alto saxophone
* Peter Brötzmann: alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, b-flat clarinet, tarogato
* Kent Kessler: double bass
* Michael Zerang: drums

Set one
~~~~~~~
1. The damage is done (30.30)
2. Alchemia souls (17.46)

Set two
~~~~~~~
1. A temporary trip (16.20)
2. With charon (15.08)
3. On the acheron (14.08)
4. Into the hades (08.32)

Recorded live at Alchemia, Krakow on 16 March 2008.

Reviews
~~~~~~~

by Stef

The reason why Joe McPhee and Peter Brötzmann form a great horn section is
because their styles are linked and still quite different. McPhee can be violent
and fierce, but he has that touch of sentimentality - in the good sense of the
word - and spirituality that is entirely lacking with Brötzmann. The latter is a
force of nature, all power and energy, but he has his poetic side too. Besides
the violence, they share technical skills, musical vision and first and foremost
instruments that are a direct conduit to their feelings, unaltered, without
embellishment, without unnecessary ornaments or fake feelings. They deliver
directly : raw, authentic, true to themselves. Ken Kessler on bass and Michael
Zerang on drums feed the hurricane that is blowing in front of them,
relentlessly.

But the hurricane can become a light breeze too. And that is to a certain extent
largely to be ascribed to both McPhee and Kessler, who add more nuance and
subtlety, melodic elaboration and lyricism, but don't get mistaken about
Brötzmann either: the slow and very beautiful melody that he develops in the
quiet middle part of the thirty-minute title song is entirely his, almost
sounding like McPhee. It is a real pleasure how the German manages to find the
common ground, but don't worry either, it doesn't take long before he blows his
lungs out again, so much so, that it almost becomes an entertainment by
itself. The second track, "Alchemia Souls", is more free improv, a sound
dialogue between the four musicians, and the title refers to the Alchemia Club,
in Krakow, Poland were the performance took place on March 16, 2008.

The second disc is even better, with titles referring to the descent into the
Greek underworld. Soft and poetic flowing passages alternate with gut-wrenching
sound blasts and the most excruciating emotional explorations - after all: you
are in hell, yet it all fits, it has coherence and purpose, indeed like Acheron,
the river of pain, that flows through Hades. Anger, human misery,
dissatisfaction with the world, yes. But also musical beauty and great artistic
delivery, very balanced in a very varied performance.The only downside of the
performance is that Brötzmann's sax comes across much louder than McPhee's, but
whether that's a question of sound mixing or because of sheer decibels produced,
remains unsolved.


More: 
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=35472 
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=35075 
http://jazztimes.com/articles/25754-the-damage-is-done-joe-mcphee-peter-br-tzmann-kent-kessler-michael-zerang