Zwei aus Berlin

Berlin Art Quartet - live at MIM (uniSono, 2025)

By Paul Acquaro

 

This review picks up, a few years later, from where my colleague Martin Schray's review of the Berlin Art Quartet's Live from B-flat, released and reviewed in 2020, leaves off. The band is the same, though a couple years more experienced, and the creativity and spontaneity that marked the first release is just as delightfully present in this recording made in 2019 at Berlin's Musical Instrument Museum (MIM).*

Just for a little scene setting, the MIM houses a dazzling collection of over 3,500 instruments dating from the 16th century onward. Some of its show pieces are a travel-friendly harpsichord once owned by Prussia’s Queen Sophie Charlotte (1744-1818), a Glass Harmonica designed by Benjamin Franklin (apparently known for its ethereal sound) and the Mixtur-Trautonium, an early electronic instrument designed in Berlin which helped shape the mysteriousness in film scores like Hitchcock’s The Birds.

 

So perhaps the setting has something to do with the music that was made that day? A day-time concert in a 200 person music recital hall that places the audience around the musicians, who play on a raised stage in the middle. Surrounded not only by an expectant audience but also by the history and sound discovery embodied in the instruments themselves, how could one not be a little bit nudged by the creative spirits flowing through the halls? Whatever may be, the group was certainly feeling moved. In fact, drummer and band-founder Reinhard Brüggemann said, "Truly an inspiring place to make music! Not at night in a jazz club in the basement on a small stage in front of greying fans, no, in the Olympus of a museum for musical instruments ... in the centre of Berlin." Ah, to have only been there. We, however, luckily now have the sounds, plucked from the air and presented on live at MIM by uniSono records.

 

The music begins without hesitation. 'Aufsturz' (collapse) is introduced spiritedly by all four musicians at once. They follow up with a tangle of lines, colorful and zestful, that within a minute-and-a-half begin disintegrating into fraught interplay. The four proceed with wary attentiveness, each note sure but every next one unknown. This charged moment does not last too long, as soon the tempo is racing and the actions and reactions brisk and relentless, taking them to the eventual end. 'Bewegung in Stille' (Movement in silence) follows and the approach is opposite the opener. Anchored in the pregnant gaps between the sounds, each strum of Matthias Bauer's bass strings or tumble of Brüggemann's drums carries the music further, and the sounds of Matthias Schubert's breathy blows through his tenor saxophone and Matthias Mueller's spluttering saliva in his trombone add new tonal dimensions.

 

It is on 'Gegenseitkeit,' (Reciprocity) the album's center piece, coming in at 13-minutes, that the group really has a chance to stretch out. By the middle, the walking bass and pulsating drums give the two horns the perfect setting for their simultaneous soloing, and the menacing bass solo that follows, which is adorned with percussive sounds, is ganz großes Kino (particularly impressive). More follows of course, lively interplay and reflective anticipation (the closing tune 'Hymnus' illustrates this last phrase quite well).

To close, perhaps it is apt to quote Brüggemann again, who said, "It is new music, but always also jazz - call/response as in the blues, collective improvisation as in New Orleans shimmers through." Recorded live, capturing the composition of the music in the moment of its creation is probably the best way to experience the Berlin Art Quartet. Here we have that magic bottled.

*Do read Martin's review of Live at B-flat for more background on the group's origins and connection to the legendary New York Art Quartet from which they derived their name and instrumentation.

  

Unzeit Quartett - self-titled (Trouble in the East, 2024)

The Unzeit Quartett features a mostly different set of Berlin based musicians, connected to the previous group physically by bassist Matthias Bauer and musically in the spontaneity of musical creation that is at once jazz, classical and uniquely a result of the four personalites involved. 

 

Prominent in the foreground is saxophonist Frank Paul Schubert. His tone can be spine-tingling at times, hitting extended notes that he tweaks and twists as they stream from his horn. The eponymous opening track is charged with his pointed melodic statements from the gentle prod at first to the dense motion that come later. Equally as impressive - or impression making - is pianist Celine Voccia whose playing contains unresolving chord voicings and emphatic melodic lines that intertwine with Schubert's. Joe Hertenstein's drumming, along with Bauer's bass work, provides a cohesiveness to the music, adding additional heft to the already excited atmosphere.

 

The music throughout the generous set of tunes, all carrying a name related to time or a time ... like 'Mahlzeit' (meal time) or 'Freizeit' (free time) or even Steinzeit (Stone-age). Each one offers a diverse set of moods and approaches and the musicians demonstrate an astute level of listening and natural reacting. Just for a quick example, on the aforementioned 'Steinzeit', the track opens with Bauer bowing high harmonics and Schubert pushing air through his mouthpiece, making both making "un-notes" (my term) in echtzeit (real-time). These textures are accompanied by Hertenstein's diverse percussive sounds and occasional interjections from Voccia. As the end of the track nears, the music has changed, evolving in a sense from the origins of sound to a reserved and melodic piece. The following track 'Eiszeit' (Ice age) begins uptempo and active, Schubert again delivering intricate and arresting snippets and Voccia filling space with forceful and flowing tones.

 

A lovely album capturing four excellent improvisers in-tune and fully in-time with each other. 

 

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Hautzinger, Schick, Johansson - Rotations+ (Trost, 2025)

By Nick Ostrum

Recorded live at KM28 in Berlin’s Neukölln neighborhood, Rotations+ captures the trio of Franz Hautzinger (trumpet, electronics), Ignaz Schick (turntable, electronics), and Sven-Åke Johansson (percussion, accordion). Itsounds very much of the electro-acoustic corner of the contemporary echtzeit scene and, in that respect, quite different from what Johansson, the elder of the group, is known for. (I will not take this too far, but this album is also an intergenerational meeting of representatives from the first and second generations of Euro improv, and the contemporary Berlin experimental scene. Maybe that is what “rotations” refers to, the changing of the guard, or the persistent presence of that old guard amongst the new. Or the spinning of Schick’s turntables and Johansson’s brushes and cymbals, and the circular path of Hautzinger’s breath.) There are passages where Hautzinger plays cleanly or Johansson decides to pound out drum signals or squeeze a march or melody out of his accordion. And, frequently enough, Schick leans into a record, allowing some faded vocal track or other discernible tune to break through. Just as often, however, Rotations+ leans toward lowercase acousmatic environs. The apparently wide use of electronics feeds into that confusion and textures. If nothing else, this music is finely textured. Even the static plays to the tactility of these pieces.

Together, Hautzinger, Schick and Johansson make an impressive trio that is eminently current in its blend of abstractions and full tones. It is also, in a sense, very much Berlin. It fits into an aesthetic – disjointed, coarse, ghostly, puckish - and in that it is a wonderful realization – or rather seven realizations - of its surroundings. It is a testament to the fact that Berlin, or at least this pocket of its music scene, is still gritty, despite the city’s increasingly shiny veneer. If you need proof, just listen to these guys roil and whirl.

Rotations+ is available as a download and CD on Bandcamp.

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John Butcher @ 70: Berlin Weekend

All photos (c) Cristina Marx/Photomusix

By Paul Acquaro (text) and Cristina Marx (photos)

In advance of his 70th birthday (October 25, 1954), British saxophonist John Butcher performed for three consecutive nights at the recently renovated experimental music space KM28 in Berlin's lively Neukölln district. The musical program featured six different configurations, with Butcher being the main connecting element, although his long history with the city certainly played a role as well.

Each night of the residency followed an intentional pattern. As Butcher explained, "I wanted each night to start with a duo. It's the most intimate situation for both the players and listeners and I like the clarity of intention one usually hears. Then the trios and quartet, which generate very different dynamics of interaction."

The series kicked off with Butcher and pianist Magda Mayas, who also was co-organizer of the event, who along with photographer Cristina Marx (whose photos are featured here) made the birthday concert residency a reality. Butcher and Mayas' performance, which, although they have played together in different combinations over many years, was their first as a duo. The set was captivating, built on fluttering and fleeting harmonics and overtones of Mayas' prepared piano and Butcher's unique musical language. 

All of the sets were unique, building on old and new collaborators, all drawing out different sides of Butcher's playing. Butcher further elaborated, "it was primarily based around my relationships with Berlin based musicians - some going back 25 years (Axel & Werner) - but adding Angharad (who herself has strong Berlin connections) and Xavier (so we could present The Contest of Pleasures - the one "regular" group). It principally involved musicians I had a history with, although it was the first time I'd played with Andrea and only the second with Emilio.

"The duo with Magda, the trio with Emilio & Liz, and the quartet were all first time combinations, " he continued, and "the duos with Angharad and Tony have been very occasional, perhaps 2 or 3 times."

The end result of all the arrangements was a musically rich event, with Butcher seemingly drawing on ever refreshing sources of inspiration and a very happy birthday party for all involved.

Thursday, Sept 12:

MAYAS & BUTCHER
Magda Mayas (piano) & John Butcher (saxophone)

 

THE CONTEST OF PLEASURES
Axel Dörner (trumpet), Xavier Charles (clarinet) & John Butcher (saxophone)

The Mayas and Butcher set was followed by a reconvening of a long standing "Contest of Pleasures" with trumpeter Axel Dorner and french clarinetist Xavier Charles. The trio's music was telepathic and episodic, one musician introducing an idea and the others quickly reacting to it, sometimes in harmony and other times with harsh dissonance. Extended techniques were plentiful, with the group employing many out of the ordinary approaches to playing their respective instruments.

Friday, Sept 13

BUCK & BUTCHER
Tony Buck (drums) & John Butcher (saxophone)

 

Opposite of the tonal experiments of the first night, the duo opened the night in a more rhythmically syncopated and melodically straight-forward way. Buck used each limb to play a different instrument (chimes, shaker, bells and bass drum) in interweaving times. Butcher followed his melodic muse, first on tenor sax and then on soprano, his freely improvised lines flowing around the polyrythmic percussion. Traces of his highly personal approach to the saxophone - fluttering, chirps, and resonant tones - adorned the music as the two barrelled through a short but complete set.

 

ALLBEE, GORDOA & BUTCHER
Liz Allbee (trumpet), Emilio Gordoa (vibraphone, percussion) & John Butcher (saxophone)

The trio began agitatedly, Gordoa furiously bowing a cymbal, Albee deepening her sound with a mute, and Butcher leaning into signiature multiphonics. Experimental playing, from a bowed beer can to blowing through the trumpet's spit-release valve, abounded as the trio tacitly followed and pulled the musical strands that connected them.

Saturday, Sept 14

 

DAVIES & BUTCHER
Angharad Davies (violin) & John Butcher (saxophone)  

The first set of the last evening began with saliva gurgling in the mouthpiece of the sax as an atonal melody slowly emerged from the violin. Then, the centrifugal forces formed from the circular intensity of Davies playing, which seemed to amplify Butcher's humming and vibrating melodies. Roles then reversed, but the musical tensions stayed strong until the end of this gripping set.

BUTCHER–NEUMANN–DAFELDECKER–BEINS
John Butcher (saxophone)
Andrea Neumann (piano, electronics)
Werner Dafeldecker (double bass, electronics)
Burkhard Beins (percussion)

The final set was with Polwechsel members Werner Dafeldecker and Burkhard Beins, along with Andrea Neumann. The quartet, a deep representation of the Echtzeit musik scene of Berlin (Neuman, Beins and Dafeldecker were all early participants) covered the sonic possibilities from extreme quiet to extended techniques (i.e. steel wool on drums) to train like chugging taking the group to energetic peaks.

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Splitter Orchester – splitter musik (Hyperdelia, 2024)

By Nick Ostrum

In the Splitter Orchester, one hears a convergence of trends that bridge new orchestral music and big band free jazz. There is a group sotto voce, wherein larger and larger units play quietly, creating timbral textures that largely eschew the natural dynamic range posed by the instruments at hand. There is also the use of field recordings, or, in this case, recording in the field. The wind, the cars, the passers-by, the environs of the recording become part of the performance, at times gobbling up the band and at others providing the sonic backdrop, a sort of non-rhythmic rhythm section used in a way that many musicians now use background electronics. In both of these themes, one hears echoes of the Insub Orchestra and, in the latter (disc 3 in this release), the related but self-consciously bucolic Polytopies project , though far be it from me to claim which group inspires which, or whether this is just an avenue many groupings are exploring autonomously.

Disc one of splitter musik, Vortex, begins quietly and builds slowly, with the odd cluck and hiss here, bass pluck there, other noises of various derivations darting back and forth. At about 19 minutes, a brief trumpet fanfare, then a barrage of saxes, breakthrough and incite a powerful crescendo, followed by an extended plain of varying levels of activity. Think: Seven Storey Mountain, but steelier. The music is hardly harmonious, but the components work together toward an oddly variegated stasis. Disc two, Imagine Splinter, has a busier and fuller sound that vacillates between the new big band sound described above and droning sound art. More traditionally musical elements pop up from time to time, but in flits. Muffled voices pop in after about a decade, and various percussion hint at a rhythm. Inevitably, these features converge into a thrumming crescendo. The effect is as if Tim Olive or someone of his ilk were leading an orchestra. Disc three is a different beast. Apparently recorded in the open air (or with quite convincing field recordings), Pas involves voices, sonic scenes of feet tromping through water, chiming bells (or water drops on metal) and various other environmental sounds. Long tone explorations distinguish the band from the ambient foreground, but the interaction between the two is key: it sounds as if they are all vying for space. The tones eventually disjoint from each other and short punctuated clusters meet children’s voices and giggles in a playful section that sounds as if the band has found a live and lively audience. This passage gives way to the tromping that comes earlier, now accompanied by heavy scrapes and quavers. By the end, the piece relaxes. The voices appear again, as do the water sounds and a drone, which draws Pas to its conclusion.

This is a big album, in terms of time and sound. It is not loud but expansive. I would not necessarily suggest swallowing all three discs in a single sitting, but I also would not deter you if you can dedicate the time. That is what I did the first time, and, to my surprise, it held up for those three hours. And, it has held up on subsequent listens, admittedly in shorter chunks, as I tried to make sense of it for this review. I am not sure that I have unlocked its code, but I can say for certain that splitter musik is riveting and, after many spins, continues to offer new clues and new points of intrigue.

Splitter musik is available as a CD and download from bandcamp.

In case the review has not hooked you, yet, here is the line-up, which consists of many key figures from the current echtzeit scene : Liz Allbee (trumpet), Boris Baltschun (analog synthesizer), Burkhard Beins (percussion), Anthea Caddy (cello, electric bass) Anat Cohavi (clarinet), Mario de Vega (electronics), Axel Dörner (trumpet), Kai Fagaschinski (clarinet), Robin Hayward (tuba), Steve Heather (percussion), Chris Heenan (contrabass clarinet), Mike Majkowski (double bass, electronics), Magda Mayas (clavinet, harmonium), Matthias Müller (trombone), Andrea Neumann (inside piano, mixer, hydrophones), Morten Joh (percussion), Simon James Phillips (organ, piano, Korg CX3), Jules Reidy (guitar), Ignaz Schick (electronics, turntables), Michael Thieke (clarinet), Clayton Thomas (double bass), Sabine Vogel (flutes, hydrophones), Biliana Voutchkova (violin), Marta Zapparoli (tape decks, hydrophones, radio receivers, antennas).

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A L`armé! XII Finale (Day 2)

By Martin Schray

The second day of the festival started with Louis Rastig’s last festival introduction, and this is another fact that can make you wistful, because Rastig’s announcements were always pleasantly different from those at other festivals. This one, in which he summed up the entire program for the day and which was naturally a little longer, was the man in a nutshell, so to speak. Again and again he took breaks in which he seemed to lose the thread, but that has always been part of the program, because it resulted in almost cabaret-like passages, which always provided laughter and excitement. The fact that he always paid attention to the correct pronunciation of the artists’ names and always introduced even the members of the largest orchestras perfectly was an added bonus. However, he also made it clear - despite his appreciation of the sponsors - that the funding would not have been enough to keep the festival at this level in the coming years.

Økse

 The day got off to a musical start with Økse, an eagerly awaited band with Savannah Harris (drums), Petter Eldh (bass and electronics), Val Jeanty (electronics) and Mette Rasmussen (alto saxophone). The quartet, founded by Harris and Rasmussen in 2022 on the occasion of the Saalfelden Jazz Festival, guarantees through its name (it’s Danish for “axe“) that they want to let it rip here. In addition, the day was the release date of their first album, on which the quartet collaborates with some of the hottest hip-hop artists at the moment, namely Elucid and billy woods (aka Armand Hammer), and fellow Brooklynites Maassai, and Cavalier. Musically, despite the electronic reference and a certain volume, the music seemed more accessible than the noise attacks from Day 1. The strongest moments of the gig were when Eldh relentlessly stuck to his bass loops and Rasmussen was able to improvise over them. Then the band almost played themselves into a frenzy. In the best moments, listeners could lose themselves in a witches’ brew of hip-hop beats, dub splinters, free jazz solos, samples and techno. But of course it would also have been interesting to have the rappers on board. 

Then the audience had their first move to the neighboring hall, where Ephemeral Fragments & 1:∞ Gordoa/Czerniawska were already waiting, seated in a circle (Lena Czerniawska was unfortunately unable to attend for personal reasons). In terms of their musical philosophy and seating arrangement, the quartet was indeed more reminiscent of a string quartet playing new classical music. This ultimately made it clear that this day was to be about other musical contents than the day before, as the focus here was more on subtlety and close listening. Synthesizer virtuoso Korhan Erel, Florian Walter on the Tubax, some sort of contrabass sax, and cellist Emily Wittbrodt came together at a spontaneous performance about five years ago and were joined here by Emilio Gordoa, a vibraphonist who has been an integral part of the Berlin Echtzeit scene for years. The music of the project was carried by the slightly shimmering drones of tubax and cello, which gave the whole thing an otherworldliness that could almost be described as spiritual. In addition, it lived from the very different timbres of the instruments, which ultimately made one think of the music of the spheres or the compositions of György Ligeti. 

Although the temperatures in Berlin are pleasant, the audience rushed outside because - it has to be said - the ventilation, especially in the hall, did actually not exist. It was brutally hot and stuffy. Nevertheless, after an excursion into the fresh air and the necessary hydration, we returned to the hall, because I Like To Sleep (a Norwegian trio consisting of Amund Storløkken Åse on vibraphone and electronics, Nicolas Leirtrø on baritone guitar and Øyvind Leitø on drums) were also eagerly awaited. From the very first second, it was clear that the musical diversity of the evening would be expanded by another splash of color - jazz rock hasn’t been heard on this year’s festival. The baritone guitar literally made the floor shake and the grooves were danceable almost throughout. A fact that the audience accepted very gratefully, even if the volume and sound frequencies of the mellotron and vibraphone in particular were borderline. The music was reminiscent of Bushman’s Revenge, Black Sabbath, Tool, but also jazz/krautrock bands such as Fire! or Steamboat Switzerland, the solos and feedbacks were sometimes heavily overdriven, heavy rock chords and drum eruptions did the rest. But there were always recognizable melodies, which the band cleverly hid. However, the highlights were not so much the speed metal attacks, but the quieter pieces that presented the band’s musicality. What was more, there was a nice moment at the end of the set. Leitø’s drums slipped and he asked the others to continue playing just to skillfully maneuver himself back into the piece. The set was definitely a crowd favorite. 

The fourth set of the evening brought the surprise of the first day back on stage: Baritone saxophonist Sofía Salvo, who held her own against Kenji Haino and Paal Nilssen-Love, presented her latest project, Yexxen, and the band celebrated its world premiere on A L'armé! In Yexxen, Salvo bundles further energies with Claire Nico on guitar, Guido Kohn on bass and Bobby Glew on drums and electronics. The band literally makes no compromises and brings a punk approach to the jazz/noise/metal they play. The fact that Bobby Glew shouted like crazy also added a touch of madness to the whole thing. The project is therefore similar to the Boredoms, the Flying Luttenbachers or New York No Wave bands from the 1980s. Although the music was quite stressful, the audience liked it a lot. 

As is sometimes the case at festivals, however, some people have no resources left for the after-show set. Naaljos Ljom, a Norwegian duo that develops its music from the interplay of mouth organ and the zither-like Langeleik with electric guitar, synthesizers and drum computer, was highly recommended by Louis Rastig in his introduction. The band themselves call their music “folk-synth-dance music“. Unfortunately, it fell victim to my exhaustion. But I’m sure the remaining party people had a great time. 

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See: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3

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Frank Paul Schubert, Olaf Rupp, Lothar Ohlmeier - Entropy Hug (Not Applicable, 2024)

By Martin Schray

Actually a simple thing. Three men come together - all prominent representatives of the Berlin Echtzeit scene - to record an album. Frank Paul Schubert is one of the best European saxophonists, who often plays with English musicians such as Paul Dunmall, Paul Rogers, Mark Sanders and John Edwards, but also with Matthias Müller or Alexander von Schlippenbach. Olaf Rupp is also an old acquaintance, his releases with Rudi Fischerlehner (Xenofox), his various duos (for example with Ulrike Brand or John Hughes) and his trios with Rudi Mahall and Jan Roder (or with Kasper Tom) have already been discussed on this website almost euphorically. Lothar Ohlmeier, who has also been around for over 35 years and is one of the unsung heroes of his instrument, is definitely one of the most exciting European clarinetists. Three real warhorses, nothing spectacular, you might think, but the combination of sonic possibilities is somewhat unorthodox: soprano saxophone, bass clarinet and guitar. Real tonal contrasts come together here with the clarinet and the sax. And then a guitar?

The question seems to be what kind of music is displayed here. Is this chamber music, as the liner notes claim? Music that takes the idea of the classical piano trio (violin, piano, cello) further into contemporary improvisational music and opens up completely new possibilities with the diverse expressive possibilities of the three instruments, free from stylistic or dramaturgical restrictions, to transform the color of individual notes and combined sounds into a lively texture? Or is it this kind of free jazz respectively improvised music, which is decidedly “European“, but whose existence would be inconceivable without American jazz, and which is nevertheless a language of its own?

In any case, we listen to sonic serpentine lines, driven to a point where intensity and sound unite to create intellectual pleasure. Almost 50 minutes of exuberant sound abstraction by the two reeds, held together by the spider’s web of open guitar chords. In their dialogs, the two wind players make furious use of their instruments. They buzz, creak, chatter and smack, chirp, whisper and grunt. The musicians give musical form to the exhaustive tonal variations in long improvisations: expressive and emotional, sometimes hectic and rushed. It is often Schubert who shapes the pieces with his idiosyncratic melodic style, with slowly developing, minimalist figures that intensify and break off again and which are taken up, modified or counteracted by his partners. Then again, wide ellipses seem to be thrown in the mix (especially by Ohlmeier), whose lines approach, overlap, diverge again and circle around an imaginary pole. In the quieter moments, the three explore the sound possibilities of their instruments and their interplay; in the faster moments, Schubert alternates furiously between the homely warmth of the low register and the icy coldness of the high register. Olaf Rupp cushions these designs with his arpeggios and harmonics, but also with shrill interjections with a somnambulistic lightness - best heard in “Old Dog New Trick“.

This is music that opens the ears and at the same time is unconventionally exhausting (but easy at the same time) to listen to and relentlessly self-referential. Entropy Hug is an excellent album, no doubt.

You can buy and listen to the album here: 

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Ignaz Schick - Sunday Interview

Ignaz Schick - Photo by Nuno Martins

1. What is your greatest joy in improvised music?
   
   There are different joy moments, one definitely is when your primal intuition proves to be right. This can be the idea for a line-up, or a musical/material decision you make while playing. In both line-up and material and in improvisation generally speaking we take risks. Like does it really work if I put player A and Player B together in a trio with myself. Then you go on stage, and it comes out exactly as you imagined, or different but even more beautiful than you expected. Similar for musical material, sometimes it is clear what the situation needs, but very often it is a very intuitive decision making process, and when this decisions work, it usually is a big moment of happiness and joy. Another level of course is when you find the new or unexpected. When you don’t expect anything and it just happens. When I found out for myself that objects vibrate and sound just beautifully when being played on and animated directly by holding them onto the rotating platter of a turntable, I found this magic toy by a pure random mistake, and a whole new cosmos of sounds opened up to me. This are the moments you look for! I still remember and I will never forget this exact instant, it was a revelation, this are moments of pure joy and they usually have a long lasting big impact on your work. This moments are rare and thus so valuable. And of course sharing music, with the colleagues while we make it, and with the audience and friends, for whom we make it ...
   
   
   
2. What quality do you most admire in the musicians you perform with?
   
   The ability of (deep) listening, the ability to only play if the music asks for it, and the ability to play the right thing in whatever situation. Plus the curiosity for the unknown or unexpected and a general openness to whatever music or situation. For me it is always an amazing and magical moment if I play music with musicians from completely different styles or geographical/cultural background and when we come together and we find a way to communicate and play music together. This happened to me when playing with Mwata Bowden, with African musicians like Amine Mesnaoui, or recently on many occasions with musicians from Vietnam, Indonesia or India where many were from classical Indian background. Still we were able to play together and create something beautiful as we were all open and ready for it. Another feature I really admire is the type of musicians or improvisors, who really invest themselves, like in musical situations which are complicated or may it be just during a bad and difficult day. There is this type of players, who will lean back and say, oh, this won’t work, and they pull out and let the music fall down. But then there are this other players, who really invest and give everything, who will always try and never give up no matter how difficult the situation or constellation is. They really want to play the music, they want it to come out and unfold, they want to have a good time, so they will do everything to make it happen. I love this type of players. Paul Lovens was such a player, Burkhard Beins, Oliver Steidle and Ernst Bier as well. All of them are drummers, interesting, no? And I admire players who will surprise me, either with unexpected sounds, or crazy decisions, where you have to be on your toe all the time, you have to stay wake and alert and be ready for anything any time. Don Cherry was a master of this, also Charlemagne Palestine and Limpe Fuchs. And, there are this musicians, where you never need to worry, you just start to play, and they have this amazing skill of making you forget all technical issues, cause they are so accomplished, and at the same time generous, the music just comes out and you don’t have to think at all, almost like autopilot, you just let it flow...
   
   
3. Which historical musician/composer do you admire the most?
   (see below, these two questions were inadvertently mixed together when the questions were sent out - FJB)
   
   
4. If you could resurrect a musician to perform with, who would it be?
   
   From Jazz and my personal history and even though I played with him, Don Cherry of course. I was too young and not ready in those days when he asked to sit in with them. Now it would be super interesting and with what I do now to play with Don would be a dream. I think I could really challenge him now. I know his mindset would be wide open, he would be absolutely up for it, even the most crazy noise stuff, he would love it. With his immense openness he would completely understand and embrace what I am doing. He just lived too fast for me, in double triple tempo… From that period, maybe also Lester Bowie with his more abstract phases. I always loved his vocality and super beautiful extended sounds on trumpet. And another trumpeter, Bill Dixon !! But as I live in our time, it is more about catching up with all those amazing players who are all around now, especially the young ones, so many interesting musicians are around, it’s just wonderful! And from the living legends, one player who we wouldn’t need to resurrect: Wadada Leo Smith, that would be another dream!!
   
   
5. What would you still like to achieve musically in your life?
   
   Oh, wow, big question. I have never been the person who wanted to play with famous people, or win one of those stupid prizes, like a Grammy, or those ridiculous jazz prizes. It seems some people need those to reassure that they have some importance, because it seems that their music is not enough (for them). I could have aimed for such career paths, but it would have also meant to compromise my music and ideas, to adapt to the business, and to those mafia type opinion makers, and this was never my scope. I am always trying to bring into life the music I hear in my inner ear. And it is quite crazy stuff, anti-career sound so to say ! I think I still want to write more music, and this music is dense, energetic, almost orchestral, weird and mystic stuff. A music full of unheard sounds. So right now I am working on building a community of musicians who a interested and ready to go this path with me, and the nice thing is, there are more and more colleagues who support me and my vision in a very loyal way, that is really a big gift for me. Plus I am building my own sound makers/objects/instruments to bring this sound out. I am not sure if I can achieve it with existing instruments. Partially maybe, but I need to go deeper to dig it out, … I am getting closer, but it is still along path.
   
   
6. Are you interested in popular music and - if yes - what music/artist do you particularly like?
   
   Not really, I went into avantgarde music when I was 11/12 years old, and I always felt quite fulfilled in that zone. I don’t know much about Pop music, I do not really follow what is happening there, and if I get to hear stuff, it is quite random how it comes to my ears. I do like some of it sometimes, I think Prince was a genius, or I highly respect Michael Jackson for his music and performance. I am not interested in his Yellow Press trivia and scandals, but I think he was an amazing artist. I love James Brown, Funk, Soul and good HipHop. I really like it most when it is raw, pure, honest. And I like a lot of the old stuff from the 1960ies, the Beatles, some of the early Stones, Hendrix of course, The Who, … At the same time there is a lot of crap, especially since MTV came on, or this brainwashing Autotune stuff. I just can’t take it, it is like a big stinky rubbish dump, and as we are polluting and destroying our planet by exploiting it and not caring, we also get polluted in our brains by the consumerist mass media and what bullshit music they throw at us nowadays. So it has been really quite rare that I hear some really cool stuff that manages to pull me in. It is always very random, like Björk and Tricky back in the day worked for me, funny enough also Amy Winehouse. There might be a lot of great stuff I miss out on, but I do not follow Pop, I know nothing about it, seriously, it’s not my field, in another life hopefully, but not now, we only live once and I am still busy catching up with all those other histories of music ...
   
   
7. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
   
   A lot of things, first thing talk less when I am amongst people, … Focus more on one thing maybe instead of doing so many things in parallel, … Hard to say, we are who we are, and I have learned not to worry so much anymore and to simply accept who I am. Feels not that bad eventually.
   
   
8. Which of your albums are you most proud of?
   
   Perlonoid from Perlonex, It Aint Necessarily So from Perlonex & Charlemagne Palestine, my solo Rotary Perceptions, ILOG2, Now Is Forever, … It is hard to say, I am generally not so proud of my albums, they are (transition) documents of a long and painful process, but generally speaking recently I am quite ok and in peace with what I am doing. In composition I am slowly getting there. I enjoy to improvise with different folks and types of players. I love playing very physical solo vinyl sets, and I am usually having quite a blast playing saxophone with some well selected rhythms sections. So let’s see, hopefully soon there will be more albums that I can be proud of ...
   
   
9. Once an album of yours is released, do you still listen to it? And how often?
   
   Not so often, but more for time reasons, so many new things are happening, maybe one day when I get older I hope I can re-listen everything.
   
   Some years ago a good friend and respected colleague of mine who I didn't know that well at the time played me different albums over a dinner and we talked about it. He wanted to hear my opinion, like in a blindfold test. I think I was highly critical about everything and so at some point he played me my own record, a duo with Andrea Neumann. I did not recognize it in the beginning, and I started analyzing and commenting. "Oh it’s this and that, like a drone, oh, interesting sound, ah, it is prepared piano, oh, it could be inside piano, oh, this sounds like Andrea Neumann. Damn, this is Andrea Neumann. No idea who the electronics person is, Oh, why did he do this, and that, oh, interesting how he decided to place this harsh noise." And then suddenly "Oh shit, that’s me, it is my own record with Andrea, I haven’t heard that in ages. Man, you really got me here." He smiled at me and we burst out in laughter.
   
   
10. Which album (from any musician) have you listened to the most in your life?
    
    In no specific order:
    
    • Ornette Coleman – The Shape of Jazz to Come
    • Alber Ayler Quartet – Live in Hilversum
    • Don Cherry/Colin Walcott/Nana Vasconcelos – Codona 2
    • Don Cherry/Ed Blackwell - El Corazon
    • Old And New Dreams, all three albums on Black Saint and ECM
    • Abdullah Ibrahim – The Journey
    • Abdullah Ibrahim/Johnny Dyani – Echoes from Africa
    • Don Cherry – Complete Communion + Brown Rice
    • Art Ensemble of Chicago – Urban Bushmen
    • Archie Shepp & The New York Contemporary Five - this albums and a few others were spinning in nonstop autoreverse mode when I started getting into music in a serious way.
    
    
11. What are you listening to at the moment?
    
    The music of the composers Pierluigi Billone, Jani Christou, Georg Friedirch Haas, Klaus Lang
    
    Plus various stacks of vinyls I bought recently including traditional music from Sudan, Africa, Tibet, Turkey, ...
    
    Stack 1 includes amongst others
    
    • Graham Moncur III – Evolution
    • Dewey Redman – Look For the Black Star
    • Dieb13 – synkleptie no 1044
    • Dollar Brand – Cape Town Fringe
    • Lester Bowie – Gittin' To Know Y’All
    • Field – Someone Talked
    • Wayne Horvitz-Butch Morris-Robert Previte – nine below zero
    • Zazou/Bikaye – Guilty!
    • Die Vögel Europas – Best Before
    • Senyawa – Alkisah
    • Don Cherry/Jean Schwarz with Michel Portal, J.F. Jenny-Clark & Nana Vasconcelos – Roundtrip (1977) Live at Théatre Récamier Paris
    • Alterations – My Favorite Animals
    • Dewey Redman/Ed Blackwell – Red and Black in Willisau
    • Austin Buckett – Grain Loops 1-30, 30 Works For Sandpaper and 4 Snare Drums
    • Mei Zhiyong – Live in Switzerland
    • The Scorpions & Said Abu Bakr – Jazz Jazz Jazz
    • Night and Day – Live 15.Juni 1984 „FIRST“ Nightclub ehemals FOFIS, Berlin
    • Otomo Yoshihide/Steve Beresford – Museum of Towing and Recovery
      
      … I hope you don’t wanna know what is in the other stacks ! :-o
    
    
12. What artist outside music inspires you?
    
    So many, it is an endless list of visual artists, writers, film makers, better don’t get me started. Interests and attention constantly shift here luckily, … In the moment I am reading different books and texts by Roland Barthes about phenomenology, for study and analysis reasons. And I am re-checking the photography of Alfred Stieglitz and some others. Also I saw a beautiful documentary on Arte about Mark Rothko, just to name some ...

 

Ignaz Schick's music reviewed on the Free Jazz Blog:

• Douglas R. Ewart & Ignaz Schick - Now Is Forever (Zarek, 2023)
• Ignaz Schick & Oliver Steidle - ILOG3 (Zarek, 2023)
• Ernst Bier / Gunnar Geisse / Ignaz Schick - Hawking Extended (Zarek, 2023)
• A L'ARME Festival Vol. 10 (Part 1)
• Liz Allbee / John Butcher / Ignaz Schick / Marta Zapparoli - lamenti dall’infinito (NI VU NI CONNU, 2022)
• Echtzeit@30: Q&A with Ignaz Schic
• Jazz em Agosto 2021 - Day 2
  
  
•  A special note - this was just released on vinyl this past week:
  
  

 

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Olaf Rupp - Sunday Interview

Olaf Rupp Photo (c) Bogdan Edi Dimitriu

What is your greatest joy in improvised music?

I like the ephemeral character of improvisation. That means when it is happening it is really living music, really alive with all the marvels and pitfalls of the human mind. It is like talking with the others but without the talking. And when it is over, it is gone. There is silence and the room is not filled with stones that I have chiselled.

What quality do you most admire in the musicians you perform with?

Rudi Fischerlehner has found a wonderful way to bridge the gap between regular looping beats and free flowing pulse. It reminds me of the orbiting grooves that Björk once had on an App she published. Like multiple, circular layers of polymetric patterns. This gives the other players a lot of freedom to choose without breaking up the connection.

Ulrike Brand was the first (and only) classical player who came to me and asked me explicitly to play the electric guitar in duo with her on cello. Many are blinded by the cliché connotations of the Stratocaster (loud, wild, aggressive) and forget how wonderful these electric sounds go together especially with the cello.

Rudi Mahall has incredibly sharp ears and swift reaction. And I especially like his open mind. He is very much rooted in the Jazz-language, but we played for decades now in many different settings that were stylistically sometimes very far away from that and he always finds a natural way to contribute.

Which historical musician/composer do you admire the most? If you could resurrect a musician to perform with, who would it be?

Never ever in my life, not a single moment have I ever been bored. I don’t know what boredom is. When there is a moment with nothing to do, I just direct my mind to the music. It works like switching on a radio in my head. And this music is so wonderful! If only I could play this on my guitar!! Well, I do my best. But there is no time to look back too much. I am not a music-historian. I look forward and follow my vision. And I like very much to play with musicians younger than me. Because they very often also have a strong vision. Older musicians have a plan, a strategy, youngers have visions. My plans never work.

What would you still like to achieve musically in your life?

I would like to keep my music alive as long as possible.

Are you interested in popular music and - if yes - what music/artist do you particularly like

David Bowie, Björk, Double Nelson, This Mortal Coil, Sisters Of Mercy, Legendary Pink Dots, Blind Idiot God, Swans, Neu, Leonard Cohen, Jacques Brel, Lee Perry

You see I stopped buying records somewhere end of the eighties, when life got really, really tough. In recent popular music there are certainly interesting things, but I could not tell you names. I never was good at namedropping.

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

My “self” is not the part of me that I am worried about. Of course, it belongs to me like my bones and my veins and my fingernails. I have to deal with it every day. I wake up with it. Cannot help.  But it is a complex system. If you change one thing, you just move the balance on a boat and tilt it to the other side. Of course we all want to be stronger, more beautiful, more resilient, more whatever. But it is important to step back and take a wider and calmer look. Then it is not about change myself but rather change how I deal with myself. How I get along. Actually I'm not a big fan of the Stones, but there is some truth in “you get what you need”!

Which of your albums are you most proud of?

I am not proud of any of my albums. They were produced under very poor conditions. Often me doing the recording, mixing, mastering, layout and promotion all as well. And I am a very bad promoter. Once I am gone, nobody will find my albums. Maybe the Youtube-videos will keep crawling the internet on a dystopian planet.

LIFE SCIENCE was a big step ahead, with a real, helping label FMP. But I recorded it in one day in an abandoned building at Oranienburger Straße with a microphone directly into a CDr-recorder. All very rough and free falling.

MYOTIS MYOTIS is a wonderful album, but it is now completely ghosted by the curators. Well, not completely: SERIOUS SERIES have invited us to perform in December!

Once an album of yours is released, do you still listen to it? And how often?

Not often but sometimes it’s good to check again how it changes in time. Well, the album does not change but I do change.

Which album (from any musician) have you listened to the most in your life?

Joe Williamson, HOARD

David Sylvian, SECRETS OF THE BEEHIVE

György Ligeti, ATMOSPHERES

Cecil Taylor, ERZULIE MAKETH SCENT

What are you listening to at the moment?

Arvo Pärt, DA PACEM

 

Olaf Rupp reviewed on the Free Jazz Blog

• Xenofox - The Garden Was Empty (audio semantics, 2023)
• Ulrike Brand & Olaf Rupp - Myotis Myotis (Creative Sources, 2022)
• Rudi Mahall / Jan Roder / Olaf Rupp - Skyhook (Audiosemantics, 2022)
• Potentiale Festival: Shhh ... It's a Secret
• Echtzeit@30: Q&A with Olaf Rupp
• Guitar - Solo Part 1: Unexpected arpeggios and surprising onomatopoetics
• Olaf Rupp - NOBEACH (Audiosemantics, 2020)
• Two new releases by guitarist Olaf Rupp
• Olaf Rupp - Fuzzy Logic (Audiosemantics, 2020)
• Rudi Mahall Olaf Rupp Kasper Tom - s/t (Barefoot Records, 2019)
• Olaf Rupp's World of Guitar
• FMP. The Living Music; Berlin 3/14/18 - 3/21/18; The Concerts
• JR3 - Happy Jazz (Relative Pitch, 2017)
• Two by Olaf Rupp
• Olaf Rupp, Marino Pliakas & Michael Wertmüller - Toomuchisnotenough (FMP, 2009)

 

 

 

 

 

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The Pitch & Julia Reidy – Neutral Star (Miasmah - 2023)

By Guido Montegrandi

“The idea . . . that one can understand the ratios of musical consonances without experiencing them with the senses is wrong. Nor can one know the theory of music without being versed in its practice.” (Giovanni Battista Benedetti-mathematician 1563)

… setting aside all the theoretical explanations (but if you like them: David B. Doty), this is what Just intonation is about: experiencing consonances and different ways to combine sounds and pitches that quite diverge from the mean-tone temperament combinations that represents the standard of western music.

Even though the discussions about the use of just intonation date back to the renaissance theorists, all in all just intonation is but a tool and, in more recent years, this tool has spread out from the inner circle of academic geeks to go as far as the Horse Lords (which are roughly classified as an experimental rock band) to add a new sensation to consolidate music practices. The evolution of Berlin lowercase improv or echtzeit music scene has offered fertile ground for the diffusion of such a practice and here is where we finally come to “The Pitch” and the record that is the object of this review.

To make a 14 years tale short, (but for those of you who are interested in going deep in the history of The Pitch, the 475 September issue of The Wire offers an exhaustive overview) the ensemble has started exploring just intonation since 2019 and this work is the most recent chapter.

Neutral Star is the result of the collaboration between The Pitch (Boris Baltschun, organ, Koen Nutters, upright bass, Morten Joh, vibraphone, percussions Morten Joh, Michael Thieke, clarinet) & Julia Reidy (adjustable fret guitar) and comes after various exchanges they have had starting from the 2019 concerts of The Pitch to celebrate their ten years and the record that Joh and Reidy released in 2022.

The first of the two pieces is a transformation of Joh and Reidy piece endless ≠ limitless included in Tape Shadow and the result is paradigmatic of the music in this album: a collective, unified process that moves around some shared reference points and slowly unfolds producing a sound that is all focused on making music together. Drones and sparse arpeggios go through a tonal sliding also favoured by the use of unstable cassettes to process and delay the sound. And this is the peculiar way The Pitch approaches just intonation adjusting the tones to play together.

The second piece Neutral Star in marked by a constant double bass punctuation that builds up the foundation for the various shifting layers produced by the other musicians and by the electronics.

The whole album “was recorded in one take (by Rabih Beaini in his Morphine Raum studio/venue) in front of a live audience and without overdubs” (from the album notes) and this again is consistent with the idea of music as collective process related to space and time/here and now.

In conclusion I have to say that I like what I have heard and hope you like it too… it certainly needs some dedication, but if you succeed in finding the here and now for this music, you will get a rewarding experience. Repeated listening is recommended.

You can listen, download or buy it on Bandcamp

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Jost Gebers (1940 - 2023)

Photo by Gérard Rouy

By Martin Schray

Usually, we publish obituaries about musicians here, but this time we say goodbye to a man without whom European free jazz would not have existed: Jost Gebers. He was the driving force behind Free Music Production (FMP). Even though FMP was founded in 1969 by Gebers, Peter Brötzmann, Alexander von Schlippenbach and Peter Kowald, it was continuously tied to no other person as it was to him. Yet, he would probably be embarrassed by these lines now, because the cult of genius was completely far from him. And if Gebers had known in 1968/69, when the foundation of FMP was in the offing, what was in store, if he had known that there would probably never have been a successor to carry on the label in the spirit of the founding years, who knows whether he would have taken on this task.

Behind the founding of FMP, above all, was the desire to improve the musicians’ working conditions if they owned the means of production - also for the production and distribution of recordings - themselves, “i.e. to be able to determine the conditions oneself, instead of having to go into the studio for a few hours and deliver one’s stuff in the shortest possible time“, as Gebers put it. Because of too much friction, the collective was dissolved in 1976 and Gebers was appointed sole managing director. However, further on there were enough serious crises, because it’s questionable whether this music, which has always been fundamentally very uncommercial, would have supported itself on its own (today more than ever, but even then). FMP was also on the brink of going bankrupt in the 70s and 80s. Without the encouragement from outside, Gebers would not have been able to continue. Above all, Peter Brötzmann, who was more committed to the label than any other musician, was able to convince Gebers again and again to continue the label after all. Cultural politicians sympathetic to the label were also helpful.

After the German reunification, however, FMP - like so many things in Berlin - had to reorient itself. Because of the cheap housing in the city at that time (especially in the eastern part), the scene became even more lively, multi-layered and international than it already had been. But FMP was thus also no longer the sole top dog, and the struggle for funding became more difficult as many federal subsidies for the former West Berlin fell away. Until the mid-1990s, FMP represented the main streams of improvised music, as well as the most important side streams - more comprehensively than any other label. However, contact with musicians who were now moving to the city and looking for performance and publishing opportunities remained sporadic. It’s bitter irony that at the moment when Berlin, at least musically speaking, finally overcame its rather provincial status, FMP, this decidedly cosmopolitan enterprise, started to fade into the background. Thus, from 1996/97 on, it was already foreseeable that the history of FMP was drawing to a close. Gebers had already signaled that he would retire. At that time it was clear that Berlin politics would provide less and less funding for something as exotic and unruly as free jazz. FMP itself had not become a commercially successful business model (which would have been impossible, since the label owes its existence to a unique biographical/temporal constellation), but the idea that stood at the beginning - to produce free music undiminished, continuously and against the spirit of the times - had broadened. This will forever remain Jost Gebers’s achievement.

But unfortunately, the story about him and FMP did not come to a harmonious end (at least the Berlin part). Gebers planned his exit smoothly, everything was to be well prepared: With the dissolution of his company, the institutional funding ceased. In return, he received a guarantee that he would receive full funding until his exit, and planning security was assured for a few more years. The FMP publishing company, which has represented many of the musicians' works since 1985 and is not identical with the label, remained in existence and took over the label and was able to produce CDs beyond 1999. At the same time, FMP-Publishing granted Helma Schleif in a license agreement “the unrestricted and exclusive right to have the recordings of the label FMP/Free Music Production/An Edition of Improvised Music produced and distributed worldwide“. The entire stock of goods went to her, but the Total Music Meeting, the basis of many productions, was effectively ended, which was to play an unfortunate role in the future of Schleif’s continuation. Helma Schleif associated the distribution takeover with more far-reaching plans and believed that she would also inherit the entire label - including its festival - through this takeover. This was further supported by the fact that Gebers, after discussions with younger musicians such as Gregor Hotz and Olaf Rupp, was persuaded to organize a TMM compact festival that would be self-financed without subsidies. The festival was a great success, especially artistically. But it made his decision to dissolve his company and thus also end the financial support of TMM seem short-sighted, stubborn and self-important (the two lines of argument in complete opposition, it’s difficult to position yourself when you’re on the outside). Gebers and Schleif fell out completely, and the whole thing ended up in court, where Gebers was fully vindicated.

In 2003, Gebers, who had retired from his work as a social worker in the meantime, moved to the Westphalian small town of Borken, where the publishing house had already been based for many years. At the end of 2004, Gebers ceased production activities altogether. It was not until 2007, after the legal dispute, that he was able and willing to resume them. Many FMP productions are now available via Bandcamp and destination:out, at least digitally.

A statement by Olaf Rupp outlines the importance of Gebers’s influence. When we asked him for an interview about the Echtzeit network whether there were people that he would like to highlight because they have contributed a lot to today’s improvising scene, he answered: “FMP! Most definitely!“ He pointed out that Jost Gebers had done an incredible amount for improvised music, even if some people (including him) complained about him back in the 90s because they believed he was not very open to new musicians. Now Rupp sees that differently. He only realized much later, that all of the musicians, even those who weren’t allowed to play at the Total Music Meetings, benefited indirectly from the fact that FMP existed, especially because of its structures.

There are many rumors about Gebers’s vault, about many tapes that actually deserved to be published. Who knows what the future will bring. But today we simply mourn the loss of a great man in free jazz. It’s been a sad year for free jazz fans so far, seeing three German legends - Brötzmann, Petrowsky and Gebers - pass away.

Note: Large parts of this text are based on Felix Klopotek’s history of FMP “Tschüss! 40 Jahre FMP“. For those who read German, you can find the long version here.

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Lina Allemano, Uwe Oberg, Matthias Bauer, Rudi Fischerlehner - SOG (Creative Sources, 2023)

By Martin Schray

SOG is a quartet by trumpeter Lina Allemano, bassist Matthias Bauer, percussionist Rudi Fischerlehner and pianist Uwe Oberg - in other words: three excellent members of the Berlin Echtzeit cosmos are augmented by the most prominent musician of the very lively Wiesbaden scene (Oberg). What is more, SOG is the German word for “eddying“ or “maelstrom“ and this is exactly what the quartet’s music is like. The four pieces “El Remolino“, “Il Vortice“, Le Tourbillon“ and “Malstrom“ all mean the same thing in different languages. This is why at least the three major pieces are structured alike (“Malstrom“ is only a very short encore). As a listener there’s no way to escape the magic, the energy and the sheer beauty this music develops over the course of almost 60 minutes.

“El Remolino“, the opening track, is the perfect example of the band’s idea for this project. It’s reminiscent of a typical Cecil Taylor piece from the 2000s. Before the wind instrument kicks in, the rhythm section leads up to it. Oberg uses delicate Taylor-like clusters, Fischerlehner plays the Tony Oxley/Paul Lovens part with strong emphasis on snare, cymbals and extended materials, Bauer drives forward unobtrusively, yet uncompromisingly. When Allemano’s trumpet finally begins, it blends smoothly into this structure, its tone pointed and clear. Here and there she sounds like a military trumpeter in a free jazz band. But the fact that the band has its own concept becomes clear already in the duel between Oberg and her, because here the pianist deviates from any Taylorian influences and goes his own way. If the listeners think they might be able to focus less, the music pulls them back in - as in a maelstrom. Out of nowhere the sound of Allemano’s trumpet changes, one thinks she literally tears the notes apart. Oberg responds with prepared sounds reminiscent of a spinet. From this moment on, both instruments float feather-light above the bass and drums, and Bauer and Fischerlehner realize that they only have to be supportive here. In these first ten minutes the piece is as if from a single mould, it’s a prime example of European free jazz - only to disintegrate completely (which it does not, of course)! The drums lose their pulse, the same goes for the bass. The trumpet meanders in nowhere, the piano sets very sporadic notes. Bass and drums scratch around on their instruments. It seems as if the musicians leer at each other to see who will lead the improvisation back to the beginning. In the end, it’s all of them together, through intensity and volume. Powerful chords, sharp, bowed bass lines and pointed trumpet runs are all it takes. Fischerlehner, interestingly, stays completely out of it here, which adds to the energy level. By the end of the piece, the band is actually back to free jazz, but with different timbres. Fischerlehner’s drums are darker, more driving (this is where it comes into play that he’s also at home in the rock realm), Oberg plays flashy, high notes, while Bauer and Allemano again try to tear the piece apart sonically. In terms of structure and energy control, “El Remolino“ is certainly one of the best pieces I’ve heard this year, and “Il Vortice“ and “Le Tourbillon“ are in no way inferior to it.

All in all, SOG is a great band and a great album. Whenever I come across Uwe Oberg, I think that I constantly underestimate his way of playing, the same goes for Matthias Bauer (I have to make amends here). Then again, I’m a big fan of Rudi Fischerlehner, whose restrained but incredibly versatile style of playing has always fascinated me. However, what Lina Allemano does on this album, is outstanding. The way she plays with varied sound colours and textures makes the difference that this album is not just very good, but outstanding.

SOG is available as a CD and as a download.

You can listen to the album and buy it here:

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