FRANK GRATKOWSKI / FRED VAN HOVE / TONY OXLEY – GratHovOx (2002)

Label: Nuscope Recordings – nuscope CD 1012
Format: CD, Album Country: US - Released: 2002
Style: Free Improvisation
Recorded in Leverkusen, Germany on November 14, 2000 at Erholunghaus Bayer 
Mastered in Cleveland, Ohio on May 30, 2002 at the Cleveland Institute of Music
Co-producer – Russell Summers, WDR
Design [Graphic], Executive Producer – Russell Summers
Liner Notes – John Corbett
Mastered By – Alan Bise
Photography By [Cover] – Gregory J. Lawler
Photography By [Musicians] – Joseph Klaes
Recorded By – Michael Peschko, Udo Kläs

Belgian pianist Fred Van Hove has been a towering presence in improvised music for three and a half decades, though he's still perhaps best known for his monumental bouts with titans Brötzmann and Bennink in the early 1970s. While those two are still slugging it out with anyone prepared to go the distance, these superbly recorded new offerings from Van Hove reveal a delicacy and lightness of touch often lacking in the traditionally muscular world of Northern European improv.
Despite its rather unimaginative title, the Nuscope outing, recorded in Germany in November 2000, is a jewel: Van Hove leaves Tony Oxley plenty of space (more than his other frequent pianist partner Cecil Taylor), and Oxley knows just how to move into it without getting in the way of the others. Clarinettist / altoist Frank Gratkowski is perfectly at home in their company. His mastery of interval, Van Hove's harmonic finesse and Oxley's instrumentation all reveal a profound sympathy with developments in modern classical music - these pieces could conceivably be transcribed and performed as notated compositions and hold their own against contemporary repertoire. Not that they sound composed (they don't), but rather in that they intuitively partake of an idea of structure and motivic development quite in keeping with the aesthetic of European contemporary music. "Carrousel" is a case in point, growing slowly but surely from Oxley's intermittent crescendi towards the high register flurries of the ending, which collapses gently upon itself like a deflating balloon, Van Hove's glissandi dissolving effortlessly into the scales that lie behind them. "Foreplay / Vorspiel" and "Witchy" feature his ghostly accordion, complemented to perfection by Gratkowski's twitching clarinets and Oxley's delicate kit and cymbal work. Oxley is one of the great British percussionists of his generation along with the late John Stevens and AMM's Eddie Prévost, and his playing here recalls both.

_ By Dan Warburton

This is a great radio session recorded in Leverkusen, Germany, on November 14, 2000. GratHovOx embodies everything uninhibited free improv can deliver. The presence of two of the genre's most prestigious veterans certainly has something to do with it. Fred Van Hove performs most of the set on a Steinway D piano. He grabs his accordion for "Foreplay/Vorspiel." Tony Oxley produces an astounding number of different sounds from his acoustic drum kit, keeping the electronics very discreet. Between them stands reedman Frank Gratkowski, using mostly instruments from the clarinet family this time around -- his raspy alto sax makes an appearance in the 20-minute "Trenches/Tranches." The trio aims at a kind of free improvisation that leaves room to breathe and listen without getting entrenched in the sonic scrutiny of Berlin reductionism. The music has movement, grace, and moments of sheer excitement that never lose sight of the group sound -- the perfect balancing act. Highlights are numerous but nothing quite compares to "Foreplay/Vorspiel." Gratkowski has his almighty contrabass clarinet in hand, but Van Hove is handling his accordion. To match the delicate wheezes of the squeeze box, Gratkowski decides to stick to the very upper register of the instrument. It may not sound like much but it truly is an understated tour de force. The way "Trenches/Tranches" boils down in its last five minutes to reveal tiny details in the playing of all three musicians also constitutes a moment of pure delight. Simply put, GratHovOx stands as one of the best free improv sessions released in 2002 and comes heartily recommended.

_ By François COUTURE



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CARL LUDWIG HÜBSCH'S PRIMORDIAL SOUP – Primordial Soup (2007)

Label: Red Toucan Records – RT 9331
Format: CD, Album; Country: Canada - Released: March 2007
Style: Free Improvisation, avant-garde, Free Jazz
Recorded In April 2005 live at Loft, Cologne. Germany or at Neuwerk 13 Studios, Lahr, Germany
Recorded By – André Horsmann (tracks: 3, 6), Christian Heck (tracks: 1, 2, 4, 5, 7 to 9)
All tracks composed by Carl Ludwig Hübsch

"My playing is focused on music as a structure in time. All focus is on the genesis of the moment. While emphasis and plot are fragmented and given the freedom of a new point of departure, utmost care is given to awareness of musical flow and continuity of the play. Through the use of avant-garde and self-invented performance techniques, the tuba acquires completely new characteristics as a brass instrument. An innovative array of unexpected sounds is heard, the instrument is seen from a fresh perspective, and the audience is confronted with a novel way of perceiving time."
(Carl Ludwig Hübsch)

Primordial Soup is based on material composed by Hübsch, who is accompanied by three of the best artists of the German jazz improvisation scene. An innovative listening experience through an amorphous, unrecognizable, de/structured sound.

Review:

Carl Ludwig Hübsch's Primordial Soup is made up of German free jazz stars, yet they are called upon to navigate some very complex compositions. That is not to say that the pieces do not allow for some extended improvisation. It is just the knowing where the written stops and the free starts that is beyond recognition.

The opening track, a twelve-minute introduction into Primordial Soup's mission statement tentatively slips across as a classical piece of music that is extended, elongated and infused with improvisation tools. Midway through NGC 2271 Hades Bb the logical progression of the composition stops. The nothingness begins again with trumpeter Axel Dörner's whispered breath technique. Is it the same song, but with a written passage of silence? It certainly must be the breathy growls and uttered tones, whether improvised or notated, are mood stabilizers.

It is as if the composer has written with tools that are all now familiar within free jazz; he has simply gathered them into his color palate for music making. The obvious reference for a track like NGC 2273 Vier/Four with the off-kilter measure and the tuba bottom is Anthony Braxton. But Hübsch is less serious (in the best sense of the word) than Braxton. Compositions written here must have been developed with the individual players in mind. Hübsch allows the familiar playing of Dörner and Gratkowski to blossom as he does not straightjacket each player by his writing. For his part, the drummer Michael Griener is a colorist and a fine collaborator with the other players.

This music might be one of the finer examples of how free jazz can be tailored into not randomly coherent, but orchestrated, coherence.

_  By Mark Corroto (AAJ)


This music has great depth, and what the musicians manage to create, not only by getting unknown sounds out of their instruments, but also by creating sound sculptures you've never heard before, is a great listening experience.

_ by Stef Gijssels (FreeJazz)



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FRANK GRATKOWSKI PROJEKT – Loft Exil V (2CD-2003)

Label: Leo Records – LR 410/411
Format: 2CD, Album; Country: US - Release: 2004
Style: Free Jazz, Free Improvisation
Recorded live at the 32nd New Jazz Festival Moers (Germany) on June 7th (CD 1) and June 8th (CD 2) 2003 by Stefan Deistler
New Design by ART&JAZZ Studio SALVARICA, Designer by VITKO - 2012
Mixed and mastered by Wolfgang Stach

Review:

Milestone birthdays are as fine a catalyst as any for convening all-star aggregates of improvisers. Evan Parker teamed with colleagues from his two longstanding trio associations for his 50th. The results released on the Leo label were memorable and still rank in the top tier of his discography. Paul Dunmall followed suit when he hit his own half-century mark by conscripting his Moksha big band for a BBC-commissioned concert. German reed maven Frank Gratkowski, a guy who can count both men as peers, marked his 40th in similar fashion. Coordinating celebratory gigs as part of the 2003 Moers Jazz Festival, he assembled a formidable septet fronted jointly by his own horns, trumpeter Herb Robertson, and trombonist Wolter Wierbos. A dyadic rhythm section comprised of Dieter Manderscheid and Wilber de Joode on basses and drummers Gerry Hemingway and Michael Vatcher, divided into separate stereo channels, completes what reads on paper as a powerhouse collective. And as if that weren ’ t enough marshaled might, the set ’ s second disc finds Tobias Delius joining in on both tenor and clarinet, further swelling the band to octet size.

Loft Exile V also celebrates Gratkowski ’ s enduring relationship with H.M. Müller, proprietor of the Loft, a performance space where the reedman got his start along with a still-growing alumni of other European musicians. Assembling his dream band in a crowded formation against one wall (pictured in a landscape shot in the liners), Gratkowski largely eschews his customary compositional intricacy, opting instead for looser free-range blowing. The two dates captured each carry an ad hoc feel, with the players tossing out the formalities of a rigid, premeditated roadmap and simply seeing where there shared ingenuity takes them. Gratkowski supplies the single ‘ composed ’ piece with the closing “ Out of the Loom ” . It works as a fitting capstone to the mammoth slabs of free improv that precede it. Point-of- entry track demarcations further leaven the density by allowing for easy episodic listening. The first disc ’ s hour plus “The Morning Beckons” contains ten such tags.

The music is much too sprawling and discursive to reconstruct an accurate itinerary within the space of a review (and why read a faulty facsimile when one can take the trip in person for the price of a parting with a small stack of bills?). Arresting moments are numerous, starting with the opening fracas that finds the horns bristling and blustering atop a stomping crosshatch of snap-plucked basses and stentorian drums. But there are also a fair number of quietly palaverous passages too, still strung with tension. A loping two-prong pizzicato groove surfaces and Wierbos ’ mute-socketed brass spreads metallic glisses. Arco harmonics weave with floating flute-like sonorities in a creaky dance of ethereal tones only to turn knotty and diffusive once again with the ‘ rhythm ’ section thwacking and smacking away at its instruments. Gratkowski ’ s all-stops-pulled alto solo in the crowning closing section represents an energized apogee. Delius ’ presence on the second disc also helps in shoring up the more meandering sections too.

Some listeners will probably second-guess Gratkowski ’ s decision to mostly suppress his composerly urges in favor of freewheeling improv. For those doubters there are plenty of places in his existing catalog to find solace. His jubilee shindig might not place on par with the likes of Parker ’ s, but there ’ s still much enjoyment to be had. With luck Gratkowski ’ s own 50th will stir up an even more potent habanero heat.

_  by DEREK TAYLOR, 17 January 2005 (AAJ)



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GEORG GRÄWE QUARTET – Melodie Und Rhythmus (1997)

 

Label : Okka Disc - OD12024

Produced by: Georg Gräwe; Executive Producer: Bruno Johnson 

Engineer: John McCortney

Format : CD, Album; Recording Date : 1997

Recorded at AirWave Recording Studios, Chicago, IL, May 1997

Style : Free Jazz, Free Improvisation

Cover painting: Ben Portis
Graphic design: Louise Molnar; Inside photo: Bruce Carnevale

Linear Notes:

Georg Gräwe visits Chicago for the first time (1995), performing solo, recording a solo record for OkkaDisk, and collaborating with alto saxist/clarinetist Guillermo Gregorio. Gräwe quickly develops an affinity for the vibrant local scene and the city ’ s jazz and blues heritage. Buys a copy of Magic Sam ’ s West Side Soul (Delmark). Enjoys a Bookers at the Hopleaf. Late that year, he hears a group of Chicago improvisors in Germany at the Moers Festival. Bassist Kent Kessler and drummer Hamid Drake are among the six participants (later known as the Moers Six). At a certain point in three days of ad- hoc groupings, long-standing Gräwe accomplice Frank Gratkowski adds his alto sax and clarinet to the Chicagoans ’ music. The seeds for the group are sown in the ears of the listening pianist. In 1996, Gräwe is deeply impressed by Kessler ’ s playing on Steelwool Trio ’ s International Front (OkkaDisk), and he finally settles on the formation of a quartet, inviting Drake — with whom he had been eager to work since before his first visit to Chicago — and Kessler from the Windy City, and Gratkowski from Köln. Music Minus One: first concert (and studio session) in November of ’ 96, without Drake. Intensive trio interaction, clear connection forged between these three parts — big question-mark how it will work with the master percussionist in the mix. Inspired by the scene, and with a desire to rehearse (and eventually record) his new quartet, in April ’ 97, Gräwe moves to Chicago for the spring and summer. The full group makes its triumphant first appearance in May at the Empty Bottle Festival of Jazz and Improvised Music, in Chicago, then plays again in July at Nickelsdorf Konfrontationen, in Austria. In between these two performances, both spectacularly rich and (for Gräwe followers especially) extremely surprising, the quartet storms the studios and produces the record you now hold in your hands. And as the group presently finishes its first European tour, the story continues...

- John Corbett, Chicago, November 1997

Review:

Melodie und Rhythmus captures the interplay of a fine and charismatic quartet of German and American jazz improvisers. Pianist Georg Gräwe is joined by reeds player Frank Gratkowski from Köln, Germany, and Chicago jazzmen, percussionist Hamid Drake and bassist Kent Kessler, for a recording date that reveals a strong likemindedness and communication between the musicians. The opening piece begins quiet and sparse, with staggered steps of high piano chords and ambient shadings provided by the others. As "Nodality" develops, the space gradually fills in with increased activity. The immediate contrast of a dark piano punctuation starts the next piece, "Imaginary Portrait I," which turns into quick streams of nightclub piano jazz fragments and runs. It's a testament to this group's skill that the fast- paced activity seems effortless, coming off with elegance. The album continues with the hot afternoon bustle of "Passing Scopes," which includes a solo by Gratkowski; the dark and stormy bombardment and impressive whirlwind that is "Trajectory"; "Fringe Factor," with a slowly building clarinet monologue that runs through the center of the quartet's playing, ultimately giving way to a beautiful solo from Gräwe; the more abstracted, single-note rounds of "Multiversum"; and, finally, the more traditional feel of the excellent "Memory of Wings II." The superb playing of drummer Hamid Drake, as well as the strong presence of Kessler's bass throughout this session need mentioning, as does the evocative and tight knit sound of this quartet.

_By Joslyn Layne (AMG)



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CARL LUDWIG HÜBSCH'S PRIMORDIAL SOUP – Souped-Up (Live-2008)

Label: Jazzwerkstatt - Catalog#: jw096
Format: CD, Album; Country: Germany - Released: 25 Jan 2011
Style: avant-garde, free improvisation, Contemporary Jazz, Free Jazz
Recorded live at Jazzclub Karlsruhe on June 5th, 2008 by SWR2.
Artwork – Beatrix Göge, Jorgo Schäfer
Engineer – Alfred Habelitz, Matthias Neumann
Executive-producer – Ulli Blobel; Liner Notes – Christoph Wagner; Mastered By – Reinhard Kobialka

Hübsch s group is a German avant jazz supergroup that plays complex music at a meeting point between improv jazz and new music. Through the use of avant-garde and self-invented performance techniques, the tuba acquires completely new characteristics as a brass instrument.

Review:

Whither avant jazz in the waning years of the aughts? It's a tough question and the attempts at extending its great lineage are often problematic and sometimes result in a bit of head-scratching. Depending on one's frame of reference, a possible source of an especially wide shadow of influence is Anthony Braxton. All well and good, but there's a line between influence and over-emulation; to these ears, Hübsch largely finds himself on the wrong side of that marker.

This Braxton leaning is leant even more weight by the presence of clarinetist Frank Gratkowksi, an extremely able player whose own work is also much indebted to him. With the leader on tuba, the quartet is rounded out by the always-fascinating Axel Dörner (trumpet) and Michael Griener (drums), forming a nice three-horns plus percussion grouping that certainly lends itself to the intricacies of the pieces. Right from the get-go, on "Floater, Gesten Part 1", we're in Braxton territory, a bubbling start/stop theme that nods to Tristano-era bop while pointing outwards. It's just very hard not to hear it as an augmentation of, say, a Braxton/Lewis/Leo Smith/Altschul ensemble — the sonorities and approaches are quite similar, which isn't to say "bad", not at all, just a little odd in the overt referential character at such a late date. One could ask, "Why bother?" no matter how effectively the task is handled. And it's all done very well, to be sure. There's a fine nimbleness in play here, especially from Gratkowski and Dörner, who handle the jagged written lines with ease and grace and inject a decent amount of grit and spittle into what could easily have been a far more "clean" operation. Track three, "Vier", even strays into march territory, again causing one to wonder if you're in 1976.

The final cut, "Solist am Rand", ventures the furthest from the Braxton comfort zone and is, unsurprisingly, the most successful offering, a broad palette of breath tone lamina over skittering drums that pulsates with a life of its own that owes little to obvious precursors; one wants to hear much more in this direction. Elsewhere...well, I imagine there are Braxton aficionados who are quite happy with hearing replications of his ideas by the next generation of instrumentalists and those listeners will doubtless be well pleased by what's contained here, as engagingly and efficiently as it's served up. But those who value the great Chicagoan's creativity and advancement of new ideas might wonder why musicians who admire him so don't try to do the same thing instead of imitating him.

_ by Brian Olewnick, 2011-05-11


THE MUSICIANS:

Axel Dörner born 1964 in Cologne, 1988-89 studied piano at the Conservatory of Arnheim (NL) 1989-96 studied piano and trumpet (with Malte Burba) at the Academy of Music in Cologne. Has lived in Berlin since1994. Has worked together with numerous musicians of international import in the areas of improvised music, new music and jazz. He developed an exceptional, very personal style of trumpet playing, based partly on rare techniques mixed with his own inventive style.

Frank Gratkowski, Born in Hamburg, 1963. æAlto saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet, contrabass clarinet, flute, composition Studied at the Hamburg Conservatory (Hamburger Musikhochschule) at the Cologne Conservatory of Music with Heiner Wiberny, graduating in 1990. Further studies with Charlie Mariano, Sal Nistico and Steve Lacy. Soloist in various international formations (Musikfabrik NRW, Tony Oxley Celebration Orchestra, Bentje Braam, WDR Big band etc.). Solo performances throughout Europe, Canada and USA. Duo w/Georg Graewe (CD "VicissEtudes"). "Frank Gratkowski Trio" w/ Dieter Manderscheid, Gerry Hemingway, +Wolter Wierbos. Duo w/ Sebastiano Tramontan, Trio w/ Wilbert De Jode + Paul Lovens.. Frank Gratkowski played on nearly every German and on numerous international Jazz Festivals. He has been teaching saxophone and ensembles at the Cologne, Hannover and Berlin Conservatory of Music and is giving workshops all around the world as well.

 Michael Griener moved from Nürnberg to Berlin some years ago and since then is one of the most demanded drummers for all cases. Played with traditional heroes like Herb Ellis, radikal players like Barry Guy, stars of the Berlin scene like Axel Dörner or sound explorers like Zeena Parkins. He proofed to be the perfect player for all oppourtunities as he understands to play the most special idea in his very own way finding the right balance between his own play and the given context. His selftought stile merging flow and fragility is unique as well as his coolness. Eric Mandel for the program of Jazz Fest Berlin `99.

 

Carl Ludwig Hübsch, tuba, composition drum- and singing studies Freiburg, south Germany, classical tuba training. Studies in improvisation, tuba (H.Gelhar) and composition (J.Fritsch) in Cologne. Played Jazz-, Improvised or New Music with Lester Bowie, W. Breuker, M. Schubert, Frank Gratkowski, Jasper vanÇt Hof, Arthur Blythe a.m.o. Numerous radio- und CD-produktions. Composes music for theatre . Toured India, Namibia and the USA. 2002: OMI fellowship in the USA. 2003: "Jazzpott"-award Essen.

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KAUFMANN, GRATKOWSKI, de JOODE – Unearth (Live - 2004)

Label: Nuscope Recordings - nuscope CD 1016
Format: CD, Album; Country: US - Released: 2004
Style: Free Improvisation
Recorded in Köln, Germany on September 28, 2004 at the LOFT 
Mixed in Köln, Germany on November 13, 2004 at Maarweg Sudios
Mastered in Cleveland, Ohio on Decembr 15, 2004 at the Cleveland Institute of Music
Recorded By, Mixed By – Wolfgang Stach
Design – Russell Summers; Painting [Cover] – Gabriele Guenther

On September 28th, 2004, pianist Achim Kaufmann, reedist Frank Gratkowski, and bassist Wilbert de Joode performed this marvelous session at the LOFT in Koln, Germany.
This release features an 8-page booklet with liner notes from Montreal-based journalist Marc Chenard, and very original cover art from Achim Kaufmann's wife, Gabriele Guenther

Excerpts from reviews:

According to journalist Marc Chenard, "Call them spur-of-the-moment pieces if you will, or instant compositions, these essays in spontaneous music are outgrowths of a collective playing experience. Since its inception almost three years ago, this unit has criss-crossed Europe on more than one occasion, one of its tours yielding enough material for a first recording on the Berlin-based Konnex label, a disc entitled Kwast.
In this follow up release, pianist Achim Kaufmann, reedist Frank Gratkowski and bassist Wilbert de Joode have succeeded in meeting one of the prime challenges of improvised music, i.e. of achieving a very different sounding set of music than in its previous effort. In Unearth, these musicians focus more so on discursive strategies, whereas its predecessor emphasized timbral explorations."

Bruce Gallanter of the Downtown Music Gallery says, "This is an extraordinary trio that had a superb disc out last year on the Konnex label. With instrumentation similar to the classic Jimmy Giuffre Trio (clarinet, piano & bass) from the mid-sixties, this current trio updates Giuffre's chamber-jazz sound in different ways. If this music is mostly improvised, it certainly doesn't sound like it. It is much closer to the restraint, thoughtfulness and sublime balance of contemporary classical music, than most modern jazz. At times it difficult to tell the bowed bass from the bass clarinet and the rubbing of objects inside the piano also comes from a similar sonic section. Pieces often move in slow motion so that the combined sounds can move and explore together, between space and suspense. Even when they start to swing more quickly, they always sail together as one solid force, no matter that they are still free at times. Like all releases on the consistently great Nuscope label, the production and balance is perfect, a marvel of warmth and attention to detail in just the right studio."

According to David Dupont in Cadence magazine, "Gratkowski, Kaufmann, and de Joode demonstrate on Unearth the kind of close listening needed to create a unified collective sound. Often that means they moderate the volume of the music, forcing the listener either to fade out of the proceedings or, if they're serious, to focus more intently on the musicians' interactions...For this trio, the musical poetry is found in the sawing song of de Joode's bass, the breathy tones of Gratkowski's horns, (and) the splashes and plinks of Kaufmann's piano. To draw on the rhetoric of the session's titles, it all has its own kinky logic, yet nothing seems remotely connected to any textbook."

See also on youtube video link: live at BIMhuis Amsterdam - excerpt
Live in "Pianolab.Amsterdam in BIMHUIS" 24.feb.2010
Achim Kaufmann - piano, Wilbert de Joode - bass, Frank Gratkowski - reeds
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wg1MfS4V4M&feature=youtu.be




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