I was invited to attend a concert at the Stadtkirche Karlsruhe. The Staatstheater Karlsruhe performed the oratorio »Esther« of Georg Friedrich Händel. Unfortunately the invitor didn’t leave home, since she was trapped by some severe cold :( .

I found the instrumentation quite interesting. Besides the “usual” candidates like the choir and vocal solists, the bowed string instruments plus some hautboys and bassoons, a lute and a bass lute took part as well as a harp, a harpsicord, and a chest organ. Two horns and a trumpet were the only brass instruments. No drums were involved.

A great concert, well visited. Thanks girls and guys :) .

BTW: The choir organ on the left hand side, built by Remy Mahler, is a masterpiece. In case you get a chance to visit a concert, do not hesitate – you won’t regret.

Über einen Beitrag im Deutschlandfunk[1] bin ich auf das von Charles Coleman und Kristjan Järvi 1993 gegründete Absolute Ensemble[2] aufmerksam geworden. Die Livemitschnitte eines Konzertes in Bremen haben mir auf Anhieb gut gefallen. Was nicht weiter verwundert, denn im weiteren Verlauf der Sendung wurde das Album »Absolute Zawinul« (Details) angesprochen, das seit 2004 in Zusammenarbeit mit Joe Zawinul entstanden ist[3].

Zawinul-Fans finden auf dem Album durchaus bekannte Stücke:

01 – Bimoya
02 – Sultan
03 – Great Empire
04 – Peace
05 – Good Day
06 – The Peasant
07 – Ballad For Two Musicians
08 – Ice Pick Willy

Wer nochmal Joes sakralen Synthsound oder den Vocoder hören möchte, kommt hier auf seine Kosten. Zu hören sind außerdem weitere Syndicate-Musiker wie Sabine Kabongo, Allegre Correa, Aziz Sahmaoui, Paco Séry (»greatest drummer on the earth«) und Linley Marthe (der des öfteren mit einem stark abgegriffenen Instrument zu sehen war). Hier das Lineup laut Progarchives:

• Joe Zawinul – composer, keyboards and vocoder
• Kristjan Järvi – music director, conductor
• Gene Pritsker – arranger
• Vesselin Gellev – violin
• Neela de Fonseka – violin
• Eddie Venegas – violin
• Gregor Huebner – violin
• Edmundo Ramirez – viola
• Michael Block – cello
• Mat Fieldes – acoustic, electric bass
• Jay Elfenbein – acoustic, electric bass
• Hayley Melitta Reid – flute, piccolo
• Keve Wilson – oboe, English Horn
• Michiyo Suzuki/ clarinet, saxophone
• Marianne Gythfeldt /clarinet
• Martin Kuuskmann – bassoon
• Damian Primis – contrabassoon
• Charles Porter – trumpet
• Ann Ellsworth – horn
• Michael Seltzer – trombone
• Damien Bassman – drums, percussion
• Pablo Rieppi – percussion
• John Ostrowski – percussion
• Matt Herskowitz – piano, keyboard
• Gene Pritsker – electric guitar
• Sabine Kabongo – vocals
• Allegre Correa – guitar, vocals
• Aziz Sahmaoui – percussion, vocals, gumbri
• Jorge Bezerra – percussion
• Paco Sery – drums, percussion, kalimba
• Linley Marthe – electric bass

Es ist schon erstaunlich, was dabei herausgekommen ist. Davon würde ich gerne mehr hören, nicht zuletzt deshalb, weil es mich an die Musik erinnert, die ich Anfang der 1990er selbst gemacht habe :) .

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[1] Leider kann ich keine Informationen zu dem Beitrag mehr im Archiv finden. Das wird mit dem ab diesem Jahr neuen Rundfunkgebührenmodell sicher alles viel besser ;-) .
[2] Man muss genauso wie beim Online-Musikkauf bei Amazon Flash im Browser aktiviert haben, damit die Seite angezeigt werden kann.
[3] Joe starb am 11. September 2007 vor der Fertigstellung.

Once again[1,2] Rüdiger Oppermann brought a couple of outstanding musicians to the Tollhouse yesterday. You never knew what you can do with string instruments alone until you heard it :) . In case you get the chance, don’t miss it. You won’t regret.

Today we had the occasion to listen to some Irish Folk music. Altan played at the Tollhaus which was well crowded (though the smaller stage was used). An enjoyable and recreational evening after the great hiking trip. That’s it for today, as I need to check the contents of the fridge right now :) .

After Stanley Clarke Herbie Hancock performed live at Tollhaus, Karlsruhe, together with James Genus (Bass), Trevor Lawrence (Drums) and Lionel Loueke (Guitar), a linup similar to the one 20 months ago.

This evening was four outstanding musicians playing outstanding music. In case you think you learned about rythm, jazz and functional harmony, I can recommend those guys to set you right :) . They are using sounds and playing stuff you won’t find anywhere else.

I’m once again impressed by the progressiveness of Hancock. After all those years, he’s still the one who constantly reinvents music.

Thanks, guys :) .

Stanley Clarke (Bass), Stewart Copeland (Drums), Ruslan Sirota (Keyboards) and Brady Cohan (Guitar) performed live at this year’s Zeltival. Frankly, I enjoy Stan more when performing with RTF. It was a great show anyway. Stan performed as well as 40 years ago. This guy is just amazing, both technically as well as a leader. In case I became a musician (yes, this was one of the options ages ago), I’d like to work with people like him.

Thanks, guys, for the great show. My ears are still impressed :) .

»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.

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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« :) .