Gramss is well regarded double bass virtuoso and a great fame in Germany and worldwide. Those who are after music for Contrabasso must  remember his unforgettable duets with  Stefano Scodanibbio, his great master and as well as the other completing this series of recordings: Barre Phillips, Tetsu Saitoh, Mark Dresser, Barry Guy and William Parker to nail just a few of my all time favourites. His most current projects are Fossil 3 (with Rudi Mahall & Etienne Nillesen) and reviewed here Slowfox ( featuring Hayden Chisholm & Philip Zoubek).

All 15 titles on the disc make a perfectly sensible sentence when read as one lot without thinking:

And Those  Who Were Seen Dancing Were Thought To Be Insane By Those Who Could Not Hear The Music.  Could not be more truth. Except one, which is co-composed with the pianist, all music came from the leader.

While I know and regard Zoubek’s music from his Cleen Feed recordings New Zealand born saxophonist  Hayden Chisholm is completely new discovery to me.

I am listening to this music over two months now and I can not stop my fascination. The pieces as they come are hypnotising and are possessing a huge imaginative spell over the listener. I know that they are scored but I can not stop thinking about them as an improvised suite. The amount of spark inside of this music makes it to me equally fresh every time I am coming back to it.In fact I am still discovering this to be perfectly honest and more of that I would like this to stay like that as long as it is only possible. It is like a dream one doesn’t want to leave. It is entertaining with its versatility, changing tempos and twisted instrumental lines. In the same time it is calming down swaying you with blues harmonies and chord progressions inviting listener into intellectual tete -a tete. Everything inside of this trio is so well heard and responded that it merges into perfectly finished stories. I can’t find a single note which doesn’t fit the purpose and I am completely hypnotised by this. That’s said.

Zoubek’s voice in this dialogue doesn’t go far from his solo piano approach I am familiar with. Little preparation is present from time to time but his contemporary pianism is here little bit more on the melodic side to support the concept of music. His percussive approach covers the lack of drum-set successfully and makes the frame together with Gramms’ lines.

Leader itself is as always speechless. His play refers to many of his previous works and pays tributes to the greatest bassist he ever played with, a company which he truly belongs to. For the real Double Bass junkies like myself tracing this paths would be an extra bonus on top of already heavenly cooked dish.

Saxophonist is nothing shorter that congenial. His playing is simply amazing. Capability to articulate gently like a flute ,or using almost invisible vibrato on such a slow tempos there are weaved into that tissue are knocking out. Sounds are fascinating with his musical “ being well read off”. Smooth like Hawk or Webs he can immediately come to Lacy like articulate and lyric side ,to finish with Henderson-esque thrill which I hardly heard coming that close to the original from any one else. God , that man has a skill so huge that it makes me feeling like an new-bee by the fact that I never heard about him before. What more can I say ? It’s a Knock Out. Go and Get it !

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Sebastian Sternal should be well recognised on these pages as we reviewed his both Echo Jazz wining orchestral projects here as well as a calm and charming duo entitled Canada or quartet recording with his friend Frederick Koster. Here he continues to explore his fascination in jazz piano trio classic approach. And to make it even more exiting both of his partners are top piano trios members. Grenadier is a bass pillar of Brad Meldhau’s group when Burgwinkel is an extremely mighty drum-force  of the Pablo Held Trio, among the others.

As should be expected then those three are perfectly merged in together here and they are all feeling easy like a fish in a water. From an opening I am the Ocean intro’s however it becomes clear that it is not going to be another modal piano game. Sternal’s approach gains vastly from his symphonic landscapes and this path attracts his colleagues in crime vastly with their capability to follow whatever comes.

Go is a super modern piece with fascinating piano fingering coming more from the classical music than from choppy or beefy rich jazz school represented by others. Accordingly following bass riffs as well as spacious drumming are up to tempo. Additionally rhythmic landscapes set by drummer are the quality of its own .

Coming after Sand slows almost into the border of de-fragmentation. It’s almost like a piano tune anatomy lesson with the surgeons precision of drum bits lines precise like a scalpel’s cuts with the firm grip of the bass catch. Title piece takes my imagination from the piano trio territory to the landscape I remember from Pat Matheny’s Group with Sternal – Burgwinkel conversation bringing back memories of  dialogues between Lyle Mays and Paul Wertigo from his 70’s super-group.

Gravity comes as a more dance piece, but groovy passages that Sternal plays here holds on groups voice strongly. Following Winter gives more opened space for Larry to shine and his bass walk is here both, lyrical and incredibly charming. Jonas is a drummer that every bass-man is dreaming about. Sound-scapes he creates around the bass lines as well the ground prepared under the piano lines are striking like thunder. This is probably he most elegiac piece, reminding me with its intensity cooperation between Tord Gustavsen and Mat Eilertsen.

Allias falls into similar territory but bass had been given much more narrative capacity here, which had been very well used indeed. All of You , the only standard on this CD tributes its author obviously but as it comes from musicians like those here we are not getting usual approach based on the choral quotes. Pretty much opposite. Sternal with friends are acting here like psychologists researching the subject, dragging pieces of memories from your head, touching moments and referring to this secret associations which All of Us are holding inside of our most private inner space. It comes in a similar way as the Masabumi Kikuchi’s trio used to build up momentum. Quote with anti-quote, hold the line with minimalist touch but an incredible emotional tension.

I could continue finding connections and revealing paths for you another page but it would be sadistic to take all this pleasure out of you. Instead I am leaving it here as it is. Needless to say that what we are finding on this recording is a real treasure chest. Full of absolute erudition and understanding of what happened in the jazz and classical piano world during the last hundred years. Cherry picking from this Master Cake is a real debauchery for everyone who loves to rob Sweet- shops.

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Multi reeds and clarinets player Niels Klein is also a multiple musical awards holder, just like the rest of members in his Tubes and Wires quartet. As I mainly know him from his work with EJO I hardly had any exclamations once this music arrived. Watching instrumentalists there one would expect some electric jazz like approach perhaps ? But its a no , no.

With Burkwinkel on drums I am confident that they can play whatever they like. Remaining two musicians , guitarist and keyboardist are new faces to me as well, which is always a nice challenge.

Music presented here is quite extraordinary. It deviates from a jazz idiom significantly, exploring different sorts of fusion territory.  There are traces of rock and psychedelic influences, but also numeric reminiscences to the chamber music of the modernism era.

All is merged together in clever way bringing wonderful textures to the surface.

In a piece like Perpetual Waves for example we are getting some kind of alienation, almost sci-fi picture with the way the electronics is used to  co- sound with wind instrument. After the break guitar with connection with rocky drums extending it into a more psychedelic plot , but still the leader’s contra-alto clarinet supported by electronic effects are making a core of the tune.

Similar suspense like sound-scapes are coming from another tittle: Beams. Here the feeling of open space builds on the wave background supplied by Rhodes brings very holographic feelings. Camarudo changes that hang on laid back with speedy bravado theme supplied in fast tempos from the bass clarinet solo, soon joined by all band ride thickening the structure of the picture. More hymnal Gleam brings me memories of Arne Domnerus due to its bluesy and antiphonal character and a gentle harmony build between the clarinet and organs, but rhythmic section takes it back to the Scofield-esque aesthetic of his group from the 80-ies.

Closing tittle tune is one of the most attractive to me as it builds on lovely clarinet riffs joined by the grudge like section aka early bass lines from The Pixies. On such a background leader’s trips occasionally dialogue with Moog piano supplying wonderful musical tissue full of subtle tonal weaving masterly made by both musicians.

Same qualities come with an opening Launch Pad Disco tune which sets up the mood for the land of changes. Worn Out Lifelong Machine is probably the most challenging in that regard. Sounds coming from the synthesisers are merged with electronically modulated lines from clarinets in the way which makes is hardly possible to recognise what is what. On the other hand this enhanced octaves experience is like listening to the voice of the castrato, which is equally beautiful as it is unreal.

All together it is very unusual recording exploring a lot of virgin lands and bringing a charm of something new to my ears. Sonority of this acoustic- electric passages are spelling charm over the listener and engage an imagination. Simple beauty of the harmonies alone would be enough to be pleased, but the fact that they are also extraordinarily composed makes them timeless.

Five years on from their debut album ‘No Fiction Now!’, Fiium Shaarrk, the trio of Rudi Fischerlehner(drums),Maurizio Ravalico (percussion) and Isambard Khroustaliov (electronics) return with their second album; “We Are Astonishingly Lifelike”. The album documents various stages in the recent life of this continent-scattered ensemble, and was written and recorded in different studios between Berlin, London and various other European cities that have hosted the band for festivals and concerts.

Giving the fact that the two drumming gents both completed architectural studies would put some new light on that far from usual sonic proposition. Reviewing recently Khroustaliov’s colaboration with Tom Arthus I am well aware of his capabilities.

All seven titles on this recording comes with some memory notes which suppose to constitute the way that listener would deal with this sonic universe presented here , but TBH I would live it for everyone to explore for himself as words tend to have a different meaning to all of us . So do sounds. And here sounds are challenging, just like the cubic spirit of Architecture is.

As I mentioned above the drumming here has just such character. It is a conversation of two voices on one hand . On the other they are like two monologues. But it still counts as a verbal alike sort of communication. Or at least an attempt of having one.  Sound is very spacious and keeps flying and changing directions. Lots of that is probably trafficked like that by Isambard who is a kind of director for this spectacle. But solo voices of the two gentleman have both its own distinctive tone.

The music is full of re-verbs, remixes and changing tempos. It is mostly very rich and incredibly engaging and absorbing. If you loose your spot you more likely fall into the noise. But you can climb back soon. As it also has some melodic side. More calm and relaxed when you can actually rest and regain your powers back. I tried different approaches with this multi-layered tissues and I must admit that it never brings you back to the same place.

 It all depends on the mood of course and it is also a little bit like a light trapped in the complex building. It meets edges and and smooth surfaces. It sometimes soaks silky gentle way inside of the passed by layers. Other times it bends sharp. It forges the shape on the resistive contour. Catapults on that or decays gently fading.

Needless to say it is very narrative too. Those like myself ,who’ve grown on Laurie Anderson , Brian Eno , Harry Parch or Pierre Dørge like will trace a lot of influence coming from these directions. Other might hear a spirit of Cage or Hovhaness in it too. And it will be equally accurate.

This music is not for everyone, but it is brilliant and those who dare to listen to it will be greatly rewarded. More of that they will be coming back for more. Just like I do.