Ears Are Filled With Wonder starts with long, wailing riffs from Peter Brotzmann, passioned and beautiful in their depth and feeling. Emphasized by the emptiness at each pause, this opening is amazing. Heather Leigh then joins in dissonant mismatched notes, her pedal-steel guitar contrasting beautifully with its gentleness against the harsh, brash, ascensions driven out by Brotzmann.
These two musicians do not go together — yet somehow they do and it works so incredibly well. They create a sound which at once is two competing instruments, yet at the same time, two musicians who are listening to each other.
Peter Brotzmann ceases at one point, allowing Heather Leigh’s guitar work to take center stage, and she paints an ethereal scene with a blues-driven feeling underneath. Brotzmann’s horn is used to add velveteen textures over the guitar. A different listen each time, more can be heard and felt. There is a lot going on here and the two musicians at times sound like a small combo with a strong sense of the lyrical from Brotzmann, which leads Leigh on to counter it with suggestive and subtle detail.
There is a section where Heather Leigh takes the guitar off into realms of other-worldy senses, with long, eked-out notes of soaring length, coupled with chunky thunks on other strings. A different and original style of playing, she releases some kind of imp from her music. Peter Brotzmann assails that imp, stomping on the tune and working it up into a manic, striding escalation or ever more unharmonious counterpoints. It results in an effervescence which could, if you listened to it for too long, drive you completely nuts — but it falls short of that (just) and the listener is gently laid on a bed of nails.
Brotzmann uses one section to play a bluesey, rolling riff — a reminder that this free jazz player adores the blues and plays them well. From under the bluesy depths rises the steel pedal as Leigh interprets the notes and sounds of Brotzmann in an intuitive and almost loving manner.
Then, Peter Brotzmann reverts to type, taking the theme and developing it, using every conceivable progression, with Heather Leigh’s guitar contrasting beautifully and we are off to other planes. Brotzmann’s bass clarinet interlude is exquisite and Leigh fades out to allow him his pleasure. Both musicians lead, follow and allow the other freedom, creating harmony, not in the musical sense but in a sense of understanding, feeling and power throughout Ears Are Filled With Wonder.
Blow the adage that improvised music never sounds good when recorded — this does. Along the way, Ears Are Filled With Wonder taps into something really special in the musicians. Although very different and both expressive in their own style, Peter Brotzmann and Heather Leigh blend together in a wondrous and surprising manner. They listen to each other and any differences melt away. Ears Are Filled With Wonder shows what happens when musicians tune in.
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