Chicago’s Tiger Hatchery, coming to Columbus’ north campus punk bar Cafe Bourbon Street on October 23rd, with Cincinnati’s dirty avant-garde veterans Wasteland Jazz Unit, Strep Torso, and a rare solo show by Mark Van Fleet of local heroes Sword Heaven, have a greater allegiance to noise bands and DIY venues than what JazzColumbus usually covers. But make no mistake, they play a throbbing, snarling brand of free jazz that owes more than a little to ’60s titans like Albert Ayler and Charles Gayle and their hometown’s own scene led by Ken Vandermark and Nicole Mitchell but hews closest to the model of Peter Brötzmann’s all-directions-at-once action painting with sound. Drummer Ben Billington’s deliberate whirlwind of cymbals and kick seems to float over Andrew Scott Young’s almost falling apart in the best way bass. Saxophonist Mike Forbes’ acidic tone has a raunchy physicality that grounds his cries, gasps, and screams. Their first album, Sun Worship, was released by a resurrected version of ESP-Disk, known to fire music fans far and wide, and anyone who was there for their first appearance in Columbus two years ago on tour to promote that slab of wax remembers having their hair blown back by this intense, innovative trio. This trip through town finds Tiger Hatchery returning from East Coast release shows for their new album on Ergot Records, Live in New Haven, which finds them expanding to a quartet with saxophonist Paul Flaherty, who adventurous Columbus listeners remember coming to our much-missed DIY venue BLD Warehouse for eye-opening shows with Chris Corsano in the early ’00s. While Flaherty’s not joining them on this round, expect some dust to be kicked up as they lift the roof up in this tiny room. Keep reading for a video of them in Brooklyn last year:
2015-10-20