Klangwelten, Tollhaus, Karlsruhe

Klangwelten is celebrating its 25th birthday, and we just attended the concert at the Tollhaus in Karlsruhe, where I already heard them two years ago. The event was just marvellous. Park Stickney’s instrument sounded more like a guitar than a harp, the singing of Katajaq (Inuuk) was more than impressive, Enkh Jargal’s singing and playing was just outstanding, Augus Wahyu Rhythm Explosion added liveliness (not to mention the great acoustic bass), and Terrence Ngassa really knows how to treat the trumpet.

There are several further tour dates. In case you have a chance to attend, do not hesitate – you won’t regret. And hurry up – Tollhaus was well crowded, and some of the concerts are already sold out!

Lineup:

• Rüdiger Oppermann (Europe) – Harps, Morin Khoor
• Katajaq Duo (Canada) – Inuit singing
• Enkh Jargal Dandarvaanchig (Mongolia): Dinging, Violin
• Park Stickney (New York): Harp
• Terrence Ngassa (Cameroon ) – Jazz Trumpet
• Agus/Wahyu Rhythm Explosion (Java) – Gendang drums
• Jatinder Thakur (INdia) – Tablas

Once again, thanks guys and girls for an enjoyable evening.

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Edit: A couple of samples are available online:
www.klangwelten.com/festival/2011/2011_ton.html

Franz Liszt by Pierre Petit, via Wikipedia, Public Domain

Yesterday we celebrated the 200th birthday of Franz Liszt. Countless concerts took place all around the globe, and I noticed contributions in radio broadcastings. His main instrument was the grand piano, but he also composed about a dozen pieces for the pipe organ. Organ players may remember »Praeludium und Fuge über B-A-C-H«, a piece quite difficult to play, which exposes the capabilities of the instrument in an excellent manner.

In case Jazz did not exist, I guess he was one of my preferred musicians :) .

Los Cuatros Del Son

Wer »Sechzehntel, absehbare Kadenzen und Küchenmädchenterzen« liebt, dürfte bei »Los Cuatros Del Son« aus Havanna voll auf seine Kosten kommen. Als Europäer sucht man gelegentlich verzweifelt nach der “eins”, die oft genug »gut versteckt« daherkommt. Joe Zawinul behauptete: »Ich höre einen europäischen Drummer aus 10.000 anderen heraus.« und »Paco Sery is the best drummer in the world.«.

An einem Abend wie gestern wünsche ich mir wiedermal, ich wäre in Westafrika oder der Karibik aufgewachsen und hätte die Polyrhythmik, die ich nur theoretisch verstanden habe, in die Wiege gelegt bekommen. Denn während ich melodisch, harmonisch und klanglich beim Musikhören recht gut mitbekomme, was gerade stattfindet, bin ich mit den luftig-leichten Rhythmusteppichen, die beispielsweise die Musik von Salif Keïta kennzeichnen, meist überfordert.

Zeit, das Metronom auszupacken :) .

»Return to Forever« probably is the most famous fusion band this planet has ever seen. I remember the days of my youth when I programmed my Waldorf Microwave synthesizer to get some Corea-like sounds and playing along their recordings.

Fortunately there was a reunion tour in 2008 where I’ve seen them performing live at Gruga-Halle in Essen. The 2008 lineup consited of Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke, Al Di Meola and Lenny White.

Meola obviously left the band and was replaced by Frank Gambale. Additionally, Jean-Luc Ponty joined the group.

Corea on the left hand side was almost invisible (though not inaudible), hidden behind his Yamaha Motif and Moog synthesizers. Ponty was also almost invisible, as the tall Clarke at the center of the stage just dominated everything :) . Gambale followed right of Clarke, and White’s drums have been placed on the right hand side of the stage, opposite of Corea’s keyboard towers.

BTW: Hey, Lenny, I already knew your boy-group joke. Time to invent a new one, just to avoid boredom of your colleagues ;-) .

Ponty and Gambale both fit the band perfectly, and the mixture of playing old tunes combined with some improvisation and soloing was just right.

Though Corea might be the musical director behind the scenes, Clarke was the master this evening, dominating the show with several solos. Stanley’s capabilities on the bass are simply incredible. And he’s fast. Really fast. Have you ever heard a bass sounding like a machine gun, and have you ever heard a speed race between a bass and a violin player?!?

At the end of the show, there was one bonus set, and they turned the volume up completely. Again it was Clarke who controlled everything – the guy behind the mixing console, his co-musicians, and the audience.

This band is a must-see for every musician. It’s not enough to listen to their recordings. You must see them performing live. Thanks a bunch for the nice evening. This was the most enjoyable concert of my life – til today, at least :) .

Like last year, Lyambiko once again was on stage at the Tollhaus. The musicians were the same as last year, as was the acoustical sound. Frankly, I’d enjoy some electric bass, guitar or keyboard sound every now and then, so it’s not exactly the music I’d listen to at home. But the live experience was just marvellous.

Thanks guys and girl :) .

After Lee Ritenour the next master did me a favour and came close enough to make me spend some money. His works do not exactly fit my taste, so I mainly know his most popular works. He has always been a very progressive musician (remember »Future Shock«?) and he played with some of my favorite artists like Joe Zawinul and Chick Corea. Baden-Baden is just about 40km south, and as the synth addict and fusion enthusiast I am, attending the concert was a must.

The lineup consisted of Herbie Hancock (grand piano, Korg Oasys), Kristina Train (vocals, violin), James Genus (bass), Trevor Lawrence (drums), Lionel Loueke (guitar) and Greg Phillinganes (Korg Oasys, Korg Triton, vocals). His current project is called »The Imagine Project«, but of course he could not resist to play some of the hits (like Cantaloupe Island) that made him popular. The way he puts different influences and styles together is pretty interesting. Plus it is a great joy to see how he treats the piano and his synthesizers. He also used a Roland AX-Synth twice, really excessively during the last tune.

A great concert indeed. There are some further tour dates nearby during the next couple of days, so don’t miss your chance.

Lee Ritenour @ Tollhaus

This was a concert I visited on spec. I never heard a lot of music of Lee. I only knew he’s a well known guitarist. But a price tag of 22€ left no room for any excuse. Visiting the concert really was a good idea.

The lineup consisted of Lee Ritenour (guitar), Patrice Rushen (Bechstein grand piano, Yamaha Motif ES6, Yamaha S90), Melvin Davis (seven (sic!) strring Bass and vocals) and Will Kennedy (drums). Patrice mainly used sampled standard sounds (like Rhodes, Organ, and Clavinet) and there was no synth solo. A prejudice of mine seems to materialize. Men use the upper dynamic range of an instrument, while women are more familiar with the lower range.

The whole combo did an excellent job. I was surprised that I actually enjoyed the music, though it was a bit too straightforward for my taste. Great to see real pros at work, where everyone knows his job. I’m tempted to buy a semi acoustic guitar, as I really liked Lee’s sound.

A very nice concert, well worth the bucks. Herbie Hancock, next week in Heidelberg, won’t be that »cheap« :) .

Incognito@Zeltival

In the evening hours of a warm and sunny sunday, a concert of Incognito took place at the Zeltival (which now more or less is a Hallival, as the Tollhaus built a new large hall during the last year). I’m not exactly a fan of funk, but as I’ve never seen Jean-Paul Maunick and his group live, there was no excuse not to attend.

Many Jazz masters forgot that music was invented to entertain people in the first place. Thus Jazz often is music from musicians – written and played for musicians. I guess all those weird chords, scales and rhythms might have less meaning to the average listener.

Incognito’s funk compacts Jazz into a mass compatible form. They use weird chords and scales as well, but they are not changing them every two beats. This essence gets served in a grooving container, enriched by three black singers (two female, one male) and spiced by a section of three brass instruments. A quite interesting mixture indeed.

The sound in the hall was not the best, except near the mixing desk – my preferred location when attending concerts. Some songs have been built from simple chords (hello II – V), but some even used really weird harmonics. Jean-Paul played the guitar (which I seldom could hear) plus some MIDI controller triggering drum and percussion sounds. He left the solos to the other musicians. Mike Cooper was mainly addicted to an electric piano sound (Yamaha Motif) and some occasional organ (Roland Phantom) and clavinet (Korg Triton) sounds. He used his Roland JP 8000 mainly for some synth effects.

The concert was not exactly cheap, but well worth the bucks. Dividing the 28€ by 120 minutes results in about 25¢ per minute. That’s comparable to the price of an audio CD. OTOH you can listen to the CD more than one time :) .

A very nice concert. I enjoyed every minute. Thanks girls and guys.

Zawinul 2007 (taken from user bobtravis on Flickr, Attribution-Share Alike 2.0)

Though one of my favourite musicians died back in September 2007, the Band is still alive and on tour in Europe 2010. The current lineup consists of four remaining members.

Paco Sery is playing the drums:

Paco Sery 2009 (wikimedia commons, Svíčková, CC-by-SA 3.0)

He can be heard in some recordings I’d like to recommend. Together with Joe Zawinul he performed »My people« (1996), »World tour« (1998) and »Faces and places« (2002). He also played with Salif Keita on »Amen« (1991), an excellent recording (which was produced by Joe Zawinul on request of Salif). See him performing Zansa (using a thumb piano) and Bimoya.

Aziz Sahmaoui acts as percussionist and vocalist, Jorge Bezerra as percussionist. Here is guitarist Alegre Corrêa:

Alegre Corrêa, concert with Sandra Pires (Wikimedia commons, Tsui, CC-by-SA 3.0)

Additionally Aloune Wade can be heard on bass, Emile Parisien on sax, and Thierry Eliez replaces Joe on keyboards.

Unfortunately there are no tour dates in germany.

Anthony Pateras at Jazzclub Karlsruhe

Last saturday Anthony Pateras performed a concert at the Jazzclub Karlruhe. He played a prepared grand piano in a very uncommon manner.

He was accompanied by Natasha Anderson (Recorders/Electronics), Will Guthrie (Percussion/Electronics), Jerome Noetinger (Revox B-77/Electronics) and Clayton Thomas (Double Bass). They treated their instruments like mad. For example, the bass player put a number plate between the chords and hit it with a drum stick:

Number plate applied to the bass

Though the concert admittedly was not my tase of music, it was very interesting to see them performing live. As the ignorant I am, I left after the first set anyway :) .