BLOOM EFFECT - The Way Out In
Leo Records CD LR 897
Jochen Baldes: tenor and soprano saxophones; Franz Hellmüller: guitar; Patrick Sommer: bass; Tony Renold: drums
Recorded at Hard Studios, Winterthur, Zürich, Switzerland, July 2nd and 3rd, 2019
This Swiss quartet is a group of musicians with long experience as improvisers and teachers. The album is made up of what, in a book, we would call chapters, and they read very well as individual tales and as a complete narrative, all wrapped up in a soundscape whose improvisations reflect the phrasing of conventional modern jazz.
Saxophonist Jochen Baldes grew up in Zurich. He started out as a painter and sculptor, then studied at and graduated from the Swiss Jazz School in Bern, starting saxophone in 1986. Concerts and festivals followed and training workshops with musicians like Tom Harrell, Billy Higgins, Wynton Marsalis and Cedar Walton.
Guitarist Franz Hellmüller studied at the American School of Modern Music in Paris, followed by a Diploma at the Lucerne School of Music and winning numerous prizes. He has played many concerts, pretty well all over Europe. Bass player Patrick Sommer studied electric and double bass at the Swiss Jazz School in Bern, as well as in Los Angeles, California. He plays in various Swiss ensembles, working as a freelance musician. He plays frequently in concerts at home and abroad.
Jazz drummer Tony Renold from Aargau, Switzerland, is one of the most prominent jazz percussionists in the country. It is his working colleagues who testify to this as they do so value his musical sensitivity and flair. He is seen as highly accomplished and a master of meticulousness and timing. He also attended the Swiss Jazz School in Bern, now teaching drums at the Zurich University of the Arts, within the contours of jazz and pop as well as music and movement.
This music, I feel, has a purpose, which is to use its carefully structured elements as gateways to exploring the improvised insertions generated from a clear understanding of jazz customs and configurative enhancement of the whole. Cognizance and sentiment both are enabled and are impregnable, even in an atmosphere where sometimes ferocious variations of temper and tempo see guitar and sax exchanging ostinati as though they were jelly-babies. All four musicians have been playing together for years in various assemblages. Their musical tongue is highly developed, through their complete trust in each other and their understanding that all are listening. This allows them to leave the beaten track in an instant, and to return, allowing each absolute musical freedom.
Reviewed by Ken Cheetham
Leo Records CD LR 897
Jochen Baldes: tenor and soprano saxophones; Franz Hellmüller: guitar; Patrick Sommer: bass; Tony Renold: drums
Recorded at Hard Studios, Winterthur, Zürich, Switzerland, July 2nd and 3rd, 2019
This Swiss quartet is a group of musicians with long experience as improvisers and teachers. The album is made up of what, in a book, we would call chapters, and they read very well as individual tales and as a complete narrative, all wrapped up in a soundscape whose improvisations reflect the phrasing of conventional modern jazz.
Saxophonist Jochen Baldes grew up in Zurich. He started out as a painter and sculptor, then studied at and graduated from the Swiss Jazz School in Bern, starting saxophone in 1986. Concerts and festivals followed and training workshops with musicians like Tom Harrell, Billy Higgins, Wynton Marsalis and Cedar Walton.
Guitarist Franz Hellmüller studied at the American School of Modern Music in Paris, followed by a Diploma at the Lucerne School of Music and winning numerous prizes. He has played many concerts, pretty well all over Europe. Bass player Patrick Sommer studied electric and double bass at the Swiss Jazz School in Bern, as well as in Los Angeles, California. He plays in various Swiss ensembles, working as a freelance musician. He plays frequently in concerts at home and abroad.
Jazz drummer Tony Renold from Aargau, Switzerland, is one of the most prominent jazz percussionists in the country. It is his working colleagues who testify to this as they do so value his musical sensitivity and flair. He is seen as highly accomplished and a master of meticulousness and timing. He also attended the Swiss Jazz School in Bern, now teaching drums at the Zurich University of the Arts, within the contours of jazz and pop as well as music and movement.
This music, I feel, has a purpose, which is to use its carefully structured elements as gateways to exploring the improvised insertions generated from a clear understanding of jazz customs and configurative enhancement of the whole. Cognizance and sentiment both are enabled and are impregnable, even in an atmosphere where sometimes ferocious variations of temper and tempo see guitar and sax exchanging ostinati as though they were jelly-babies. All four musicians have been playing together for years in various assemblages. Their musical tongue is highly developed, through their complete trust in each other and their understanding that all are listening. This allows them to leave the beaten track in an instant, and to return, allowing each absolute musical freedom.
Reviewed by Ken Cheetham
