Urban folktales
| Urban folktales | ||||
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| Studio album by Jazz Bigband Graz | ||||
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Publication |
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| Label (s) | ACT | |||
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Format (s) |
CD |
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Title (number) |
6th |
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running time |
64:18 |
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Heinrich von Kalnein , Horst-Michael Schaffer |
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Location (s) |
ThomTone Productions, Thalberg |
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Urban Folktales is a jazz album by the Jazz Bigband Graz , most of which was recorded between July 18th and 22nd, 2011 in the Tomtone Productions studio in Thalberg near Pöllau (Styria) . The album was released on ACT in 2012 .
The album
The album Urban Folktales is characterized by a mixture of European and African world music , traditional jazz styles that are embellished with contemporary electronica. After guest vocalists Kurt Elling , Take 6 and Jon Hendricks , Theo Bleckmann is the focus of two titles; he interprets Peter Rosegger's poem Mein Lied (1911) in Seelenbaumeln and contributes the electronically alienated singing in Space Trip . The other guest soloists are from Guinea native singer Hadja Kouyaté ( Rêve Africain ), the Finnish trumpeter Verneri Pohjola ( Seelenbaumeln ), the Italian trombonist Gianluca Petrella ( High Voltage ) and the French-Vietnamese guitarist Nguyên Lê . Urban Folktales was conceived by the two directors of the orchestra, the Austrian trumpeter Horst-Michael Schaffer and the German saxophonist Heinrich von Kalnein . “On the one hand, they draw their inspiration from Austrian and Eastern European folk music - evidently manifested in unusual instruments such as the (electric!) Zither and hurdy-gurdy. On the other hand, it integrates influences from rock and drum & bass, minimal music and electronics. ”During the tour on which the album was presented in 2012, the theremin player Barbara Buchholz - a member of the band since 2008 - died .
The album is introduced by Urban Tribes , soloist shaped by the electric hurdy-gurdy , which is played by Matthias Loibner . The up-tempo number borrows rhythmically from Eastern European folk music. Seelenbaumein features the electric zither from Christof Dienz and Barbara Buchholz's Theremin. Space Trip - The Day We Landed begins and ends with sampled voices from the Apollo 8 crew before Bleckmann's vocals begin. After High Voltage with Gianluca Petrella as the soloist, the two-part Rêve Africain with the vocalist Hadja Kouyaté follows .
Track list
- JBBG - Jazz Bigband Graz: Urban Folktales (ACT 9528-2)
- Urban Tribes / Introduction - 4:21 (Soloists: Matthias Loibner, Nguyen Le)
- Dangling the Soul - 10:47 (Soloists: Christof Dienz, Uli Rennert, Barbara Buchholz, Theo Bleckmann, Verneri Pohjola)
- Space Trip / The Day We Landed (Text: Horst-Michael Schaffer) - 11:08 (Soloists: Theo Bleckmann, Nyugen Le)
- High Voltage - 7:28 (Soloist: Gianluca Petrella)
- Rêve Africain: Part 1: The Dream - 12:01
- Rêve Africain: Part 2: The Revelation - 6:14 (Soloist: Hadja Kouyaté, Johannes Enders )
- Coming Home - 12:14 (Soloists: Henning Sieverts , Heinrich von Kalnein)
All compositions are by Heinrich von Kalnein and Horst-Michael Schaffer.
reception
The Austrian magazine Kultur - Zeitschrift für Kultur und Gesellschaft praises the album as a musically highly varied adventure journey and emphasizes that on “Urban Folktales” all stylistic boundaries have long been broken and the sound aesthetics expanded in the direction of electronics, but without of course To completely dispense with traditional big band elements used without cliché. On “Urban Folktales” one encounters meditative carpets of sound, swinging passages and rocky grooves, spherical sounds like film music and earth-boundness to world music. [...]
John Fordham praised the “rich” pieces on the album in the Guardian , such as the gently pulsating minimalism in Space Trip and the extraordinary 20-minute Reve Africain . With Hadja Kouyate's pleading vocals and Johannes Enders' tenor saxophone, it is an “African evocation” that draws on an orchestral glow reminiscent of Gil Evans before it turns into a shuffle led by the saxophones . Even if “the eclecticism of the record sometimes has a bland and borderline-smooth polish”, Urban Folktales are pleasantly accessible, sometimes also inspired and pointedly presented world jazz .
According to Bruce Lindsay in All About Jazz (2012), Urban Folktales shows new directions in big band jazz. The compositions by Heinrich von Kalnein and Horst-Michael Schaffer gave the Jazz Bigband Graz a unique sound that included traditional big band instrumentation and section playing , but mixed this with electronic processing , sampled voices and African and European musical influences. Lindsay highlights the addition of the electrically amplified zither , hurdy-gurdy and the theremin :
- There's a quirky inventiveness to the JBBG's instrumental lineup too. All three have a spooky, spectral quality that complements the more usual big band brass and reeds .
The ensemble sound is nicely balanced, each section demonstrates the leadership of dynamics and a bandwidth that ranges from calm, beautiful sound to powerful playing. The entry of the brass and woodwinds in the opening of Rêve Africain (Part Two: The Revelation) is particularly dramatic ; he creates an irresistible groove which, alongside Johannes Enders' lyrical solo on the tenor saxophone.
Mike Hobart wrote in the Financial Times : “The multi-layered big band mixes brass sounds and novel electronica with a light and disciplined touch and a range of global influences . Compositions come and go, styles and pans change as well as riffs that shimmer over dry beats and Nguyên Lé's spooky guitar gives way to a pleasing trumpet. There are space-age mysteries, full-blown solos and heartbreaking singing - Hadja Kouyaté from Guinea complaining about the Rêve Africain ; Theo Bleckmann lyrically in the offbeat in Mein Lied “. The band is best when they are very adventurous, only the conventional high voltage doesn't live up to its name.
The magazine jazzthing emphasizes the influence of the drummer and electronics engineer Gregor Hilbe: The JBBG also creates six powerful sound structures on “Urban Folktales”, which receive their very special twist from various guests. Singer Theo Bleckmann makes “Space Trip” just such a thing and gives expression to an introspective longing in “Seelenbaumeln”. The Italian trombonist Gianluca Petrella puts “High Voltage” under high tension and the singer Hadja Kouyaté leads the big band in “Rêve Africain” to Africa with the active support of Johannes Enders. Don't forget Nguyên Lê. The jack-of-all-trades from Paris puts half of the tracks on with his magic on guitar and e-bow . The ornamentation by Philip Taaffe on the cover already indicates how far the musical journeys of the Jazz Big Band Graz go.
According to Michael Arens, “the boundaries between jazz, big band, folkloric world music and structures that sometimes seem to come from classical music blur into a surprisingly homogeneous, varied molasses, which at the same time was played with absolute precision. [...] A work that sometimes borders on the offshoots of experimental music, full of playful brilliance and explosiveness, that is equally capable of captivating friends of something different jazz as well as folk fans and friends of big band jazz of a classical color. "
Individual evidence
- ^ A b John Fordham: JBBG - Jazz Bigband Graz: Urban Folktales - review in The Guardian (2012)
- ↑ Program information in Deutschlandfunk
- ↑ a b c Review of the album in All About Jazz
- ↑ [1] at Allmusic (English)
- ↑ http://kulturzeitschrift.at/kritiken/cd-tipp/jbbg-2013-jazz-bigband-graz-urban-folktales
- ↑ Original: The multi-layered big band blends brass sonorities and zippy electronica with a light, disciplined touch and a slew of global influences. Compositions ebb and flow, shift styles and change tack as riffs shimmer over deadpan beats and Nguyên Lé's spooky guitar yields to winsome trumpet. There are space-age mysteries, full-blown solos and heart-tugging vocals - Hadja Kouyaté from Guinea plangent on Rêve Africain; Theo Bleckmann lyrically offbeat on “Mein Lied”. Best when most adventurous, only the orthodox “High Voltage” fails to live up to its name.
- ^ Review of the album in the Financial Times
- ^ Discussion in Jazzthing
- ^ Review in Jazz Dimensions