Off The Record

I know I have an indie-reputation to defend… – and what am I doing?
Until now, I didn’t bother to mention the brief but pleasant guest performance of Lissy Trullie at Molotow’s Motorbooty club a few weeks ago and – far worse than that – I didn’t even attend Germany’s first Shoegaze Weekender at Knust the very same day, although the beautiful Pains of Being Pure at Heart were playing and it certainly was the true height of the season for anyone willing to dance along to The Jesus and Mary Chain and Joy Division… (and secretly I could still kick myself for that star-crossed decision to stay home…).

After all of that; after missing out on the last true highlights of the scene, before the seemingly never-ending summer break comes down on all of us and forcing even the most desperate music geek to get tanned and spend their evenings at some half-hearted barbecue party eating well-intended but badly executed soy-sausages and drinking lukewarm beer… After all of this, here I am, writing about a jazz concert.
Not just any jazz concert: the magnificent jazz concerts at the NDR on June 11 & 12.
Two perfect evenings with two truly great shows.
The wonderful Bobo Stenson Trio did the first set of the show, taking my heart by storm with that emotional yet witty, sometimes almost funny, but sincere performance. The trio itself is the most charming team of outstanding musicians. What could there be left for me to say about Bobo Stenson – one of the true pioneers of European and particularly Scandinavian jazz, who’s magnificent lyric piano play is captivating and inspiring at the same time. In his trio, he is joined by the wonderful bass player Anders Jormin – I still remember his amazing flageolet soli with awe. Simply beautiful. – And by Jon Fält on drums. Jon is a generation younger than his fellow musicians but his part in the band is as organic as it can be. What would this band miss without that crazy, delightfully resourceful and passionate play? Watching (and of course hearing) them interact and create something new every moment really made me remember how a band is supposed to work. It was pure delight.
The second set of the show was no less exciting. The NDR Bigband and the NDR Choir performed Colin Towns amazing ‘jazz oratorio’ “Today is a gift”. It was a great collage of different musics, narration, sounds and noises. – And how could Anne – the crazy that dedicates 100 pages to one single piece of collage-work by John Zorn – how can someone like me not be completely taken in by a piece of this kind. It was one hour of groove tunes, sweeping swing, noise fractions and touching ballads. The combination of the NDR Choir, which is usually, mostly focused on classical music but had to do some crazy shouting and hooting in this piece; the brass sounds of the band and plenty of samples and noises was skilfully woven into an artful “day in a life” story. Surprising and simply beautiful.

PS: I know, I am forever late with blogging these days… my apologies for that.