a r t i s t : Manfred Schulze Blaserquintett
t i t l e : Konzertino
d a t e : 1995
l a b e l : FMP
g e n r e : Jazz
r l s. d a t e : Jan/2007
t r a c k s : 04
b i t r a t e : VBRkbps
s i z e : 101,5 MB
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Paul Schwingenschlagl trumpet
Manfred Hering alto sax, tenor sax, clarinet
Heiner Reinhard tenor sax, soprano sax
Gert Anklam bariton sax
Johannes Bauer trombone
Recorded live by Jost Gebers and Jonas Bergler on September 9,
1994 during the 'Free Concert' series at the 'Rathaus
Charlottenburg' in Berlin.
Manfred Schulze is a name almost completely unknown to jazz,
free improv, and new music fans, but it shouldn't be. His
pioneering work with the Brass Quintet began in 1969 and
continued until the early '90s ù whenever he was well enough
(he suffers from a terrible illness), creating possibilities
for groups such as Rova, the World Saxophone Quartet, New
World Saxophone Quartet, and many others. Schulze heard, in
his inner ear, the base elements of the German vocal tradition
as idealized by Bach, the jazz, and the free jazz dimensions
of everyone from Sonny Rollins to Ornette Coleman to Cecil
Taylor, as well as the new European classical tradition of
Hindemith and Webern. His vision was of a music composed but
improvised upon, and was far ahead of its time ù and treated
as such. Only some of his peers paid him the attention and
accolades he deserved.
When Manfred Schulze was forced to abandon his performing
activities with the Brass Quintet because of illness, the
group split. Trombonist Johannes Bauer and saxophonist Manfred
Hering had been with Schulze long enough to know he was no
self-promoter ù nor was he self-effacing ù and that his music,
whatever he was writing, would be lost unless it was recorded.
To that end, with the composer's permission, they assembled a
new Brass Quintet that included a trumpet in the mix and left
out the flutes. The music here was recorded live in September
1994, approximately six months after the band had played its
first gig, a concert for Schulze's 60th birthday. Schulze
conducted the band live whenever he was well enough to do so.
Perhaps what this recording does more than anything else is
reveal what exactly it is that Schulze contributed to free
improvisation, jazz, and "new" music. In the jazz world, he
invented not just the ways and means to improvise over
particular chord changes or intervallic invention, but more
than that, he invented new concepts surrounding the terrain
from which improvisation travels. In "Quintett No. 1" and
again in "Quintett No. 12," Schulze's use of layered harmonics
is employed often by Rova, and in the '80s, when the World
Saxophone Quartet began to realize that playing free didn't
necessarily mean without conditions, they too adopted these
concepts ands the new modalities introduced here by
"Konzertino," a vibrant, joyous, and lusty piece of music
where the original composition never leaves the arena though
the improvising among the reeds is constant and bright, full
of a vivacious clarity that uses one idea and tonally grinds
it into glass in favor of its atonal counterpart. Polytonality
was a constant concern for Schulze, and in these ensemble
pieces the full rainbow effect is in evidence ù the timbral
elegance in "Hymne" allows the clarinet to reveal its
individual singing voice amid the droning squawk of the
baritone and tenor saxophones. At one point about halfway
through the work, the sopranino and soprano enter, and along
with the trumpet, become voices speaking in tongues before the
baritone introduces a new interval based on a harmonic concept
in C sharp and the tongues begin to wag instead of speak, but
no less fervently or reverently. The baritone becomes a
didgeridoo-like instrument and calls forth from the desert,
first droning and then screaming for the rest of the
instruments to heed its call ù when they do, the microtonal
gates of paradise are opened. Recreating the Brass Quintet
without Schulze's own saxophones blazing or whispering was a
risky maneuver, but it is obvious that the gamble made by
Hering and Bauer paid off handsomely.
Thom Jurek - All Music Guide
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01-Quintett No.1 [14:51]
02-Hymne [12:29]
03-Konzertino [11:36]
04-Quintett No.12 [35:28]
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74:24 min