Von Schlippenbach: As free jazz. I can't describe it any other way. Even today.

Von Schlippenbach: I didn't like the idea and instead suggested trying out free jazz with a larger cast. The core was a double formation of the Manfred Schoof Quintet and the Peter Brötzmann Trio.

Von Schlippenbach: Volume goes from triple fortissimo to triple pianissimo and everything in between. That was pretty open for us. Most of the time it was rather violent. There was also the so-called “general cluster”, as a tutti chord for the entire keyboard at the same time. A board that was designed to be stacked on top of each other so that it fit exactly in the handle. We experimented a lot back then, including with materials.

Von Schlippenbach: Good question, at our concert debut as Globe Unity everyone was supposed to wear a “quality suit” on stage, as they said, and ties of course. But that quickly changed in order to counteract the bourgeois habitus through clothing. Then suddenly it was no longer “dress up when you go on stage” but the motto was “dressing down”. So we stopped wearing the tuxedos.

taz: In the 1970s you gave workshop concerts in Wuppertal together with Globe Unity and Peter Kowald. European musicians played in the orchestra, including Enrico Rava, Tomasz Stanko, Han Bennink and Evan Parker. Even later, US jazz avant-gardists such as Anthony Braxton and George Lewis were also there. How did this come about?

Von Schlippenbach: It wasn't always the same happy result, but that's the risk of free play and also the beauty of it.