The View from Points West
| The View from Points West | ||||
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| Live album by Georg Graewe , Ernst Reijseger , Gerry Hemingway | ||||
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Publication |
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| Label (s) | Music & Arts | |||
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Format (s) |
CD |
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Title (number) |
7th |
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running time |
70:29 |
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| occupation | ||||
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Russ Summers |
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Location (s) |
Maurier Ltd. International Jazz Festival, Western Front Lodge, Vancouver |
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The View from Points West is a jazz album by the trio of Georg Graewe , Ernst Reijseger and Gerry Hemingway . It was launched on June 22, 1991 at Maurier Ltd. , taking place at Western Front Lodge, Vancouver . International Jazz Festival and published on Music & Arts Program of America in 1994 .
The album
The German pianist Georg Graewe played with Ernst Reijseger and Gerry Hemingway for the first time in 1986 when he was involved in a WDR project in Cologne when a ten-member band recorded his compositions. When Graewe tried to put together a piano trio in the late 1980s, he renewed the collaboration and in 1989 they played five concerts together; the results are documented on the album Sonic Fiction , which was released by HatHut Records . In June 1991 the trio finally played on the Maurier Ltd. International Jazz Festival in Vancouver , Canada ; the evening before, the formation had performed at the Club Glass Slipper .
The first and longest track of the concert recording Lighthouse begins with a vibraphone roar; After Bob Blumenthal, Graewe's themed play is reminiscent of the first part ( Moderé ) of Maurice Ravel's Trio for piano, violin and cello . After seven minutes of Gräwe's playing in the middle register, the piece dissolves into a free improvisation . When a rhythmic basis develops again, Gräwes' opening theme returns. Reijseger now plays Coll'arco a rhythmically accentuated line, which in its vehemence stands in contrast to Gräwe's rather systematic and relaxed approach. After 18 minutes, the trio slowed the pace ; Hemingway rubs the batons on the snare drum to create a new rhythm, to which Rejiseger contributes a pizzicato game; Gräwe concentrates on playing dark rhythmic figures in the low register. The piece heats up again and Gräwe's playing now seems inspired by Marilyn Crispell . When the pace drops again, Lighthouse ends with Reijseger's lines in the high register .
The following dig, drill, dump, fill has no recognizable pulse or meter; " This is a broken, shattered piece that mirrors deconstruction and construction ," said Blumenthal. Sunday is laid out calmly, which Gräwe introduces with a few fragmentary lines, while Reijseger adds dadaesque tricks, followed by abstract arco lines to Graew's wandering around. Percussionist Hemingway is barely audible here.
Night Cobblings begins with a four-note motif that Hemingway plays on the vibraphone. Here Gräwe and Hemingway play together lines that easily fall out of unison , to which Reijseger contributes swinging phrasing on the cello by playing fast pizzicato lines. These are occasionally emphasized with double stops and guitar-like scratches. Strange Picnic is, according to Blumenthal, an “abstract swing track”, characterized by bebop- influenced start-stop rhythms. Hemingway sometimes lapses into a fast four-four time . At 4:40, Gräwes play turns into a riff reminiscent of Count Basie when he supports a little solo by Reijseger. Balooga has a mysterious sound; Reijseger attaches alligator clips to his cello; Gräwe plays the prepared piano by playing the strings with his hand. Hemingway adds subdued vocal contributions to this gloomy soundscape. Monk-Ey-Ing begins with a cascade of notes that lead to a game that is rhythmically reminiscent of Thelonious Monk's composition Evidence , but harmoniously to his title Ask Me Now . In this composition, all three musicians adopt Monk's stance of staggered phrases and shifted rhythms.
Track list
- Georg Gräwe, Ernst Reijseger, Gerry Hemingway: The View from Points West (Music & Arts 820)
- Lighthouse 28:38
- Dig, Drill, Dump, Fill 6:55
- Sunday 4:38
- Night Cobblings 5:30
- Strange Picnic 9:31
- Balooga 9:21
- Monk-Ey-Ing 5:56
All compositions are by Georg Graewe, Ernst Reijseger and Gerry Hemingway.
reception
The critics Richard Cook & Brian Morton gave the album 3½ stars in the Penguin Guide to Jazz ; the authors emphasize that here three players of different temperaments come together, united in resistance to fixed regulations about what “jazz” or “ new music ” is. Their game is undogmatic and of great accuracy, as if they had rehearsed the title for years. Compared to the following album Flex 27 from 1993, The View from Points West is more relaxed, but has the tendency to lapse into fixed licks more often , especially in the long lighthouse , "almost half an hour of concentrated music, presented without the hint of exertion". Allmusic , however, only gave the album 3 (out of five) stars.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Liner Notes by Bob Blumenthal .
- ^ Richard Cook , Brian Morton : The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD . 6th edition. Penguin, London 2002, ISBN 0-14-051521-6 , p. 609.
- ↑ Listing of the album on Allmusic (English)