DIE ENTTÄUSCHUNG - Lavaman
Intakt: Intakt CD289
Rudi Mahal: bass clarinet, clarinet; Axel Dorner: trumpet; Christof Thewes: trombone; Jan Roder: bass; Michael Griener: drums.
Recorded April 11th by Christian Betz at Berlinaudio.
The list of instruments in this group might look a little like a Trad Jazz Band and the opening drum roll on track 1 (‘Wer nicth furth, furth, furth’) could kid you into thinking that this is a Trad act. But within half a bar, we’re not in Kansas (City) anymore. This is very well controlled, collective free jazz, in which each instrument plays like it is resisting the obvious note. So there is a sense that everyone is seeking the wrong notes and yet everything sounds so right. In the liner notes, the approach to creating the music is succinctly described as ‘you do that, meanwhile I’ll play something else’.
They have been carving out a reputation in Germany but have struggled because of their insistence on not playing ‘pieces of famous people’. The group’s name translates as ‘disillusions’ and this might reflect their response to a disinterested audience. But they take the name more positively and see in disillusionment a drive for change and a quest to find ‘the opposite of an immutable cemented view’. On each listen, you get the impression that here is a group of musicians who are forging their own language; at times, this could be like members of a clique that has its own way of speaking to each other - much like the stories of bop musicians creating their own styles in late-night jams as a way of frightening the more straight-laced of their colleagues. However, it is not such an exclusive clique that they won't welcome people in and, if you immerse yourself in the sounds and patterns that they make, it is definitely a rewarding experience.
Review by Chris Baber
Intakt: Intakt CD289
Rudi Mahal: bass clarinet, clarinet; Axel Dorner: trumpet; Christof Thewes: trombone; Jan Roder: bass; Michael Griener: drums.
Recorded April 11th by Christian Betz at Berlinaudio.
The list of instruments in this group might look a little like a Trad Jazz Band and the opening drum roll on track 1 (‘Wer nicth furth, furth, furth’) could kid you into thinking that this is a Trad act. But within half a bar, we’re not in Kansas (City) anymore. This is very well controlled, collective free jazz, in which each instrument plays like it is resisting the obvious note. So there is a sense that everyone is seeking the wrong notes and yet everything sounds so right. In the liner notes, the approach to creating the music is succinctly described as ‘you do that, meanwhile I’ll play something else’.
They have been carving out a reputation in Germany but have struggled because of their insistence on not playing ‘pieces of famous people’. The group’s name translates as ‘disillusions’ and this might reflect their response to a disinterested audience. But they take the name more positively and see in disillusionment a drive for change and a quest to find ‘the opposite of an immutable cemented view’. On each listen, you get the impression that here is a group of musicians who are forging their own language; at times, this could be like members of a clique that has its own way of speaking to each other - much like the stories of bop musicians creating their own styles in late-night jams as a way of frightening the more straight-laced of their colleagues. However, it is not such an exclusive clique that they won't welcome people in and, if you immerse yourself in the sounds and patterns that they make, it is definitely a rewarding experience.
Review by Chris Baber
