HAYDEN PROSSER – Tether
Whirlwind records: WR4705
Hayden Prosser: bass, electronics; Philipp Gropper: tenor saxophone; Elias Stemeseder: piano; Max Santner: drums.
Recorded 6th and 7th February 2016 at Studio P4, Funkhaus, Berlin
Hayden Prosser is a young British bass player, currently living and working in Berlin. The quartet in this recording are all Berlin based musicians (Stemeseder has long played with US drummer Jim Black; the mixture of electronic and acoustic on this CD is familiar territory for Gropper, who you might know from the electro-acoustic improv group Tau; and Santner is a member of the Berlin KIM collective).
Prosser studied at Middlesex University and has more recently been studying with US bass players Drew Gress and Chris Lightcap. It is to these two in particular that he credits his approach to composition. As he notes, ‘bass players write with a different outlook’. This is his debut recording and offers an intriguing exploration of the space between electronic and acoustic music. For example, he might transcribe phrases created from programmed electronic devices, and use these transcriptions as the basis for playing on acoustic instruments. On ‘All’ (track 3 and track 11), a motif is taken from synthesised arpeggios and this is morphed as each player improvises on it. This blurring of the composed and the improvised creates a range of overlapping timbres, from the slow-paced astringency of ‘Undo’ (track 1) or ‘Out of this’ (track 6) to short, sprightlier improvised tracks such as ‘Glas’ (track 2) or ‘Small chance’ (track 9).
As well as composing the pieces, Prosser plays a delicate arco bass, giving plenty of space for the other instruments to shine. The solos have a strong post-bop flavour, often working through repetitions of simple lines. This is an assured set of pieces, with a clear sense of the philosophy through which composition is approached and a strong unity in the playing. As a debut, it promises a bright career.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
Whirlwind records: WR4705
Hayden Prosser: bass, electronics; Philipp Gropper: tenor saxophone; Elias Stemeseder: piano; Max Santner: drums.
Recorded 6th and 7th February 2016 at Studio P4, Funkhaus, Berlin
Hayden Prosser is a young British bass player, currently living and working in Berlin. The quartet in this recording are all Berlin based musicians (Stemeseder has long played with US drummer Jim Black; the mixture of electronic and acoustic on this CD is familiar territory for Gropper, who you might know from the electro-acoustic improv group Tau; and Santner is a member of the Berlin KIM collective).
Prosser studied at Middlesex University and has more recently been studying with US bass players Drew Gress and Chris Lightcap. It is to these two in particular that he credits his approach to composition. As he notes, ‘bass players write with a different outlook’. This is his debut recording and offers an intriguing exploration of the space between electronic and acoustic music. For example, he might transcribe phrases created from programmed electronic devices, and use these transcriptions as the basis for playing on acoustic instruments. On ‘All’ (track 3 and track 11), a motif is taken from synthesised arpeggios and this is morphed as each player improvises on it. This blurring of the composed and the improvised creates a range of overlapping timbres, from the slow-paced astringency of ‘Undo’ (track 1) or ‘Out of this’ (track 6) to short, sprightlier improvised tracks such as ‘Glas’ (track 2) or ‘Small chance’ (track 9).
As well as composing the pieces, Prosser plays a delicate arco bass, giving plenty of space for the other instruments to shine. The solos have a strong post-bop flavour, often working through repetitions of simple lines. This is an assured set of pieces, with a clear sense of the philosophy through which composition is approached and a strong unity in the playing. As a debut, it promises a bright career.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
