Entries associated with the tag "Malachi Ritscher":

After my November 2006 blog post about the self-immolation of Malachi Ritscher, I received numerous interview requests; I accepted a couple in the first week, but after that I refrained--true, I'd reported the incident first, but I had no great insight into Ritscher's actions or life. One of the requests I declined came from British video journalist Neil Corbett, who came to Chicago in March 2007 to do some reporting. A version of the piece he produced aired on Al Jazeera English throughout Europe last month. The 11-minute segment includes interviews with Bruno Johnson, the jazz producer who received postsuicide instructions from Ritscher, as well as musicians Michael Zerang and Dave Rempis. You can watch it below. Thanks to Paul Giallorenzo for pointing it out.

Today's playlist:

Lucky Thompson, Lucky Is Back! (Then, So Is Love) (Fresh Sound)
Shape of Broad Minds, Craft of the Lost Art (Lex)
Derek Bailey, Standards (Tzadik)
Various Artists, The Roots of Chicha: Psychedelic Cumbias From Peru (Barbes)
Ophiucus, Ophiucus (Lion Productions)

On Sunday the Guinean musician Alpha Yaya Diallo, who’s lived in Vancouver since 1991, makes one of his infrequent visits to the area, performing at McAninch Arts Center in Glen Ellyn at 7 PM.  His most recent album, Djama (Jericho Beach, 2005), is less slick than some of his earlier efforts, with more of a lovely pan-West African approach. Although the music is rooted in hypnotic Mande grooves, Diallo makes credible excursions into Cape Verde and the western Sahara.The guitar-driven sounds blend various regional styles, but he has enough charisma and presence as a vocalist to pull it off. It’s nothing you haven’t heard before, but it's still beautiful music exceptionally rendered.

One year ago this Sunday local activist and jazz fan Malachi Ritscher fatally set himself in fire, ostensibly to protest the war in Iraq—among other major problems with our troubled nation. A blog post I wrote reporting the tragic news set off a veritable avalanche of comments, some intelligent, some inchoate, but almost all of them passionate in one way or another. His death ignited feverish discussion on the way the media ignored such incidents and acts in the wake of an increasingly unpopular war, which by and large was given a huge pass when it was all getting started five years ago.

On Sunday from 3 to 5 PM, the Hyde Park Art Center hosts an opening reception for a new exhibit called Consuming War, which “addresses the ways the American media and consumer culture have manipulated and influenced our perceptions of war, often turning it into a spectacle for American consumption." If you show up early, at 2 PM, you can catch the “Concert for Malachi,” a musical tribute with percussionist Michael Zerang and pianist Jim Baker.

Today’s playlist:

Peter Brötzmann & Shoji Hano, Funny Rat (Improvised Music From Japan)
Tunng, Good Arrows (Thrill Jockey)
Dave Brubeck Quartet, Brubeck Time (Columbia/Legacy)
Peter Evans Quartet, Peter Evans Quartet (Firehouse 12)

The onetime Chicago label Okka Disk has just released a fascinating and powerful document of the city’s free-jazz history—from the generally fallow late 80s. Fragments is an LP-only release of an intense duo concert with German reedist Peter Brötzmann and the explosive electric guitarist Sonny Sharrock, recorded at the Elbo Room in December of 1989. Back then many of the best gigs by out-of-town out jazz cats were organized by a nonprofit called Southend Music Works, which during the latter half of the 80s provided an oasis of progressive music at an ever-shifting array of venues: some River West loft spaces, Elbo Room, and even their own dedicated space on Michigan Avenue for a short time. If it weren’t for this organization, things would’ve been a lot drearier in Chicago.

Half a decade later, things had improved dramatically. This particular concert happened near the end of Southend, when they programmed a short series at the Elbo Room—I also remember hearing the String Trio of New York and Iva Bittova there. Brötzmann and Sharrock had been playing together as members of the heavy-hitting free jazz/heavy metal juggernaut Last Exit, and I’m pretty sure this date was the first time Sharrock had played in Chicago in many years—he later did several gigs at Lounge Ax—and the anticipation was palpable. During the early 70s Sharrock had developed a kind of electric-guitar analog for the mind-warping free jazz of Albert Ayler, although his work on a record like Monkey-Pockie-Boo with his wife, Linda, sounded more like escapees from a mental institute let loose in a recording studio than Ayler’s gospelized screech.

I remember this concert began tentatively, but soon picked up loads of steam. Early on Sharrock stuck to more restrained, lyric passages, but prodded by Brotzmann he soon raised the energy level. Although the grinding blues passage on “No 2” is a bit cheesy, other sections find the guitarist summoning roiling blasts that go head-to-head with his partner's fire breathing. During an alternately tender and searing section of solo clarinet playing there’s a brief pause and some laughter; I still remember Sharrock exclaiming, “Damn, Pete!” after a particularly forceful passage, and I’m willing to bet this was it. Malachi Ritscher recorded this performance, and it’s clearly one of his earlier efforts; the sound is clear enough to capture most of the details, but he’s in the midst of the crowd (you can hear a waitress ask a patron if he needs another drink). One odd thing is that Brötzmann, who designed the album art, credits only himself with composing the music, which is strange since these duets were clearly improvised. Sharrock should share the credit. The release comes in a numbered, limited edition of 1,000, and it’s pressed on heavy-duty 180 gram vinyl.

Yesterday the office of the Cook County medical examiner confirmed that it was indeed Malachi Ritscher who committed suicide last Friday. He was 52.

This Sunday, November 12, Elastic will host a memorial for Ritscher from 5 to 8 PM. Saxophonist Dave Rempis, who is co-organizing the event, writes: "Malachi left many people behind who will greatly miss him, his sense of humor, his fierce individualism, and his selfless efforts in documenting the music for so many years. He was truly a unique and passionate person, who followed his beliefs unflinchingly up until the end. If you have anything that you'd like to bring (photos, etc.) that has some relevance to Malachi, please do. We'd like to display some of these items for everyone to share in. And please pass this information on to others who knew Malachi. There are many out there who will greatly miss his presence."

On Saturday the Sun-Times ran a small item about a man who had set himself on fire during rush hour Friday morning near the Ohio Street exit on the Kennedy. His identity has still not been officially determined, but members of the local jazz and improvised music community say they are certain it was Malachi Ritscher, a longtime supporter of the scene. Bruno Johnson, who owns the free-jazz label Okka Disk, received a package yesterday from Ritscher that included a will, keys to his home, and instructions about what should be done with his belongings. Johnson, a former Chicagoan who now lives in Milwaukee, began making calls. Police are still awaiting the results of dental tests, but Johnson says an officer told one of Ritscher's sisters that all evidence pointed to the body being his; his car was found nearby and he hadn't shown up for work since Thursday. 

Buried on Ritscher's web site Chicago Rash Audio Potential, a compendium of invaluable show postings, artwork, and photography, are a suicide note and an obituary. Both indicate that he was deeply troubled by the war in Iraq and pinpoint it as a motive for suicide (no method is specified), though there are indications that he may have had other issues as well. "He had a son, from whom he was estranged (at the son's request), and two grandchildren," reads the obit. "He had many acquaintances, but few friends; and wrote his own obituary, because no one else really knew him." Ritscher was a familiar face at antiwar protests, and he was arrested more than once for his involvement, including this time this past May. A note found at the scene of the immolation reportedly read "Thou Shalt Not Kill." 

Although Ritscher, who was in his early 50s, had played music off and on over the years, he was best known for his devotion to documenting other people's shows. Several nights a week for at least the last decade he could be found at places like the Empty Bottle, the Velvet Lounge, and the Hungry Brain; by his own count he recorded more than 2,000 concerts. Over the years he invested more money in equipment and as his skills improved, many of his recordings went to be used on commerical releases--by Paul Rutherford, Gold Sparkle Band, Isotope 217, Irene Schweizer, and Ken Vandermark among others. Ritscher was fiercely modest about these pursuits--I once tried to do a piece on him for the Reader but he declined, saying he didn’t want publicity.

Feel free to contribute your own comments or memories below.

Photos courtesy of Joeff Davis