| Sign up for our Email Newsletter & Subscriber Only Specials |
 |
|
Phone Orders Welcome 425-336-4830
Payment Options Checks & Money Orders By Mail Accepted
|
Polylemma
|
|
|
|
Quantity:
 E-mail this product to a friend
|
 |
What a funny, complex, unusual and neat sounding word. Fantastic and worrying: POLYLEMMA. What better word to describe the nature of our work?
Improvising music, organizing sound, making time and emotions audible; losing sleep over the many conceptual possibilities of bringing musical ideas to paper, and finding ways to communicate those you just can’t write down; leaving it up to your bandmates to find the answers for you. Like Philippe Petit, who danced on a tightrope between the twin towers of the World Trade Center, cats are dancing between composition and improvisation.
Sharing compositional credits with Thomas already resulted in my 2010 debut album as a leader and composer on Clean Feed Records—a trio with Thomas and Pascal called HNH. Since the bass clarinet has always been one of my favourite instruments, I envisioned the extension of HNH as a quartet. The first time I heard Joachim at a club in Brooklyn, I knew I wanted to play music with him. When he told me he had already worked with Thomas and Pascal in other formations, I immediately invited him to a session. The repertoire developed so quickly that I took the band into the studio within a couple of months. We recorded live to 2-track, all in one room standing very close to each other. We recorded alternate takes for only two tunes—no mixing, one edit.
I’m very grateful to have found Thomas, Joachim, and Pascal to play this music with, and I admire their sensitivity, dedication, and artistry. We cover a lot of ground on this album. Tracks 1, 3, 6, and 8 are my compositions. The opening track, Polylemma, which is framed by rubato elements, deals with a slow 5/4 swing meter and an ostinato bass line. Sugar’s Dilemma, in which the music is designed for the players to complete and complement each other’s phrases, leads into a quintuplet-swing feel, which builds up and dissolves into an open sound cadenza. Crespect (dedicated to the NYPD) explores the alternating, seamless ways in and out of atonally written and freely improvised sections based on a 9/8 meter concept. And Nupeez, which was inspired by a 12-tone row, developed into a thrilling up-tempo free jazz vehicle. Check out Pascal’s bass solo!
These pieces alternate with Thomas’ compositions, tracks 2, 4, 5, and 7: Garden, the quietest drum feature I ever had the pleasure to solo on, examines musical cues that delimit sections to leave space for those beautiful intervals. One Ocean at a Time is an energetic feature for drums and bass bridged by three short and intense themes. Stratigraphy and Banners n’ Bubbles work with a graphic notation language (developed by Thomas) to stimulate musical interaction in the most imaginative ways.
The unusual combination of bass clarinet and trumpet in this quartet setting is what I wanted to suss out. And the way Joachim’s sound blends with Thomas’ and how their playing carries each other’s playing through the landscapes thrills me every time they phrase and improvise together. Having played music with Pascal for more than ten years now, he was not only the old friend and great musician he has always been, but was also the multidimensional artist who continues to surprise me and challenge my own playing and writing every time we get together.
What you are holding in your hands is the result of a new collaboration, a new sound of European quartet improvisation, developed in New York City—the debut recording of POLYLEMMA…
...which means: a choice from multiple options, each of which is (or appears) equally (un-) acceptable or (un-) favourable.
Confronting this polylemma—this wall of options—and making these choices was and continues to be a joyful, liberating, and highly rewarding experience; it’s a never-ending story and may serve as a lodestar to guide you towards self-expression.
Joe Hertenstein, Brooklyn, 04/2011
|
|
ARTISTS
Joe Hertenstein– drums
Thomas Heberer – trumpets
Joachim Badenhorst – bass clarinet
Pascal Niggenkemper – bass |
TRACKS
1. Polylemma
2. Garden
3. Sugar's Dilemma
4. Stratigraphy
5. One Ocean at a Time
6. Crespect
7. Banners n' Bubbles
8. Nupeez
|
| See all titles featuring Thomas Heberer |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Product Rating:  (0.00) # of Ratings: 0 (Only registered customers can rate)
There are no comments for this product.
|
|
|
|