a r t i s t : Zentralquartett
t i t l e : Plie
d a t e : 1994
l a b e l : Intakt
g e n r e : Jazz
r l s. d a t e : Mar/2007
t r a c k s : 10
b i t r a t e : VBRkbps
s i z e : 73,6 MB
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Conrad Bauer: Trombone
Ulrich Gumpert: Piano
Ernst-Ludwig Petrowsky: Alto Saxophone, Flute, Clarinet
Gunter Sommer: Drums, Percussion, Bells
Recorded February 1, 1994 Radio Studio Zurich DRS.
"Plie" is something like a curtsey, bending your knees, a
dance step. Ballett language. At any rate it has something to
do with dancing, says Sommer. What Petrowsky says sounds
similar, but is perhaps meant in a somewhat different way. The
Zentralquartett still acts according to the principles of
direct democracy, even after twenty years. Or was it different
back then? But that is a different story.
But not forgotten. Listen to Conference at Lutens! There it is
again. The sound of uprising that honorable historians perhaps
wrote off to tradition somewhat too soon. More like a
tradition of walking out. At best a complete exit from the
other. Away from African-American, Black music, which at one
time was simply called jazz. No one wanted it to be like that,
they say today. The Zentralquartett swings. Always wanted to
swing?
The sound of the suburbs and the conferences. The primeval
times of Synopsis, Zentralquartett's precursor. Sessions in
Pretowsky's hut on the outskirts of Berlin, around the corner
from the big airport. Country house is what Gumpert calls it.
Experiments in composition and discussions about music,
sitting together and blathering for hours.
Back in the sixties, when jazz was broadcast into East German
living rooms by the Voice of America in Tangier at one o'clock
in the morning. Petrowsky can remember thirty-two measures of
beeps, swinging groove and that he could not even clear off to
the East. Not even dive under in the Polish scene; Petrowsky
would have done that. At any rate, the German Democratic
Republic was very far away from the sources.
Which is why at that time there was such terrible prudishness
and that awkward Wolga-Don-Swing between ponderous march
rhythms and classical muse moods.
Neglect, privation. Period. Then independence, the theorists,
the eu-phoria, the woes and pains. Swing was taboo for the
orthodox, "Kinder-garten!", that is easier to say today. But
people were part of it, or weren't they? But that is a
different story.
"Plie" also means bowing, a return to the American roots,
reflection, a statement. Says Petrowsky. In a way Bauer
agrees, but not completely. Improvised music, says Bauer, and
the Zentralquartett, the Group of Four in GDR jazz. Direct
democracy. Also the obligation to the audience, exposing
ideas, political thinking, suggestion and autosuggestion.
And Peitz, the fishing village near Cottbus. Open air and Free
Jazz, intoxication and peace. The whole
between-the-lines-thing and the belief that more could be
found between the sounds. Free Jazzers that became as popular
as rock stars. The people in the gray parkas, the secret
police, did not know what to make of this music any more than
the government bigwigs did, says Petrowsky. A quotation from
Uschi Bruning, the solitary singer.
Halb-5, Bauer likes uneven bars, the trick with tension works
through cutting things in half. What has chan-ged? Telephone
numbers. And that it was once a privilege not to go to work
every morning. Nowadays it seems like everyone stays home.
With an expression of wonderment, Bauer explains that Halb-5
sounds African, at least that is what people once told him
after a concert. Three years ago he was in Nigeria. Otherwise,
his interest in travelling has actually diminished since the
border opened. But he really did not expect that even people
in New York would know the Zentralquartett. And in Canada. And
in Japan.
Marul is the name of a small village in the Austrian Alps,
four to six houses with a church, but no through road. His
oasis, says Sommer, for skiing, composing, relaxing; this is
the same Sommer that was once responsible for Hit Pieces. Four
years ago he started off on a long journey, actually planning
to go to Italy, but getting stuck in Constance. The band
rehearsed for these recordings next to the Lake of Constance,
Conference at Baby's. And PliΘ fⁿr Inge, the dancer who also
lives there.
The bluesy side comes from Gumpert, says Bauer. He has always
been a fan of Blue Note records. The wisdom of old age, says
Sommer. Inner compulsion, says Petrowsky. For ELP. Gumpert's
birthday serenade for Luten's sixtieth. Something went wrong
then. The Markowitz Bluesband and Uschi's singing, the great
tradition of the Adderley Brothers, for Luten alone, alias
Petrowsky. Markowitz, the glib TV cop, who,inebriated,
searches for criminals in the former zones of Berlin after the
fall of the Wall. Who grubs in very private muck and
demonstrates on the TV screen that history leaves its marks.
Scars that run deep. Like thirty-two measures of beeps.
Lamprecht's role and Gumpert's music. According to the script,
Markowitz is written the same way it is said.
The wisdom of old age, says Sommer. Not always to be the only
one responsible for Hit Pieces! Fⁿnf Miniaturen. The band
sounds like a big orchestra with several contrabasses. The
secret to this tremendous sound is not given away. Two big
drums, uncomfortable positions, the alto in the tenor sector:
research in materials. The miniatures are the parts that can
be repeated most clearly, explains the composer. Here nothing
develops into something else, everything is centered around a
clear way of dealing with assigned material. "Linear" is
mentioned as a key word and "score" as well.
Rue Sthrau, a small street and a small hotel in the
south-eastern part of the Seine metropole. A lot of foreigners
live there. It is also where the Zentralquartett stays. There
is really something to that part of town, says Gumpert.
Come together and funky riffs. Solus? No, Soul Plexus, soul as
in spiritual soul. Blues-heavy theater is Petrowsky's comment.
And Schmetterling, which means butterfly. It reminds Bauer of
his dance music times in the sixties. Has nothing to do with
the fluttering of a butterfly, more with "schmettern", which
means to blare, like a trumpet. A play on words.
A lot of things were exaggerated back then. The folk song
material was once very successful as a sticker. At one time
more so for Gumpert's Workshop Band, but also for the
Zentralquartett. GDR folkmusic and its own jazz? No, that was
never our intention, says Gumpert, he of all people. Yet, the
song and Free Jazz, that was the Zentralquartett, says Bauer.
A bonus for being exotic? Behind the western faτade Petrowsky
sees mafia-like structures crumbling. What to do with the big
names? They are individually teamed up with others, sent to
the slaughter for some kind of Old School-New School bluff or
other dubious festival business. The Zentral-quartett now
plays about ten times a year. They all have their own
projects, each of them manages to keep his head above water,
somehow. "The most important things happened while there was
still a GDR and we were allowed to travel," says Gumpert. In
the eighties, in Iceland: Thrill, the kicks. And what happened
to the tradition, what came after-wards? Personal style and
opinions. Underdog status, low salaries, private quarters and
manager blues, fax, computer and the jungle of subsidies,
somehow just everyday, normal life. A nasty little welcome to
the World of Jazz. Disillusionment. The bonus for being exotic
had nothing to do with the music.
Twenty years ago they began as a consequently improvising
group, Bauer remembers. The wisdom of old age, says Sommer. No
longer so relentlessly free, no longer so doggedly determined.
Direct democracy. Possibly "Plie" before the jazz tradi-tion,
in the sense of lightness, says Gumpert. Who never really was
able to see the GDR specification, but who knows that music is
the greatest whore: It can be used for everything.
The great Synopsis rebellion once followed the artistic sense
of form, the Zentralquartett-East was followed by the
Zentralquartett-After-The-Wall. The Zentralquartett-Today
somehow sounds liberated. And not only because the gentlemen
have grown older, the systems buried and with them the great
theories. Whether society finds its expression in music? Well,
these four believers in direct democracy have differing
opinions. Whether the music has changed?
Christian Broecking, Berlin 1994 / Translation: Susan
Kaufmann-Guyer
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01-halb-5 [06:13]
02-ode an marul [08:11]
03-conference at baby's [04:27]
04-rue sthrau [06:26]
05-fuenf miniaturen [04:44]
06-for elp [07:38]
07-soul plexus [03:25]
08-conference at lutens [03:02]
09-pliΘ fuer inge [06:00]
10-schmetterling [06:55]
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57:01 min