JAZZRAUSCH BIGBAND - Beethoven's Breakdown
ACT RECORDS 9898-2
Julius Braun, Angela Avetisyan (tpts) Daniel Klingl, Frederik Mademann, Raphael Huber, Florian Leuschner (saxes) Roman Sladek, Matthias Zeindlhofer, Carsten Fuss (troms) Juta KeeB (tuba)
Patricia Romer (vcl) Severin Krieger, Kevin Andre Welch (keys) Georg StirnwelB (bs) Henrich Wulff (gtr) Silvan StrauB (drs) Leonhard Kuhn (electronics)
Special Guest; Nils Landgren (trom)
This Munich based Big Band was formed in 2014 and has in the recent past been averaging over 120 concerts each year throughout Europe, America, Asia and Africa. It has much to thank its arranger, composer and electronics expert Leonhard Kuhn for, as it has been his expertise in blending electronica with the sounds of jazz, house and techno that has enabled this extraordinary group of musicians to fill the largest rock oriented venues around the globe.
Do not be fooled by the album title here. This is a full on proper jazz record, modern, dynamic, full of twists and turns as well as intrigue plus playing of the very highest class. You may well have enjoyed many great interpretations of classical works by Duke Ellington such as The Nutcracker and Peer Gynt suites among many others. You may have also discovered wonderful interpretation of Stravinsky's Right Of Spring by The David Patrick Octet and David Gorden's superb off the wall trio album take on one of the great Russian composers Alexander Scriabin's Ragtime Band. (Both reviewed in this magazine) However you will find that the sheer impact of The Jazzrausch Bigband take things to a whole new level. The album which has eight tracks and runs for just under the hour can be split into two distinct parts. Tracks one, two, seven and eight are Leonard Kuhn's arrangements of Beethoven works. They comprise The Piano Sonata No 14 (Moonlight), The Allegretto from the 7th symphony, plus to finish The String Quartet No 14 in two parts. In between are four sonatas that are both written and arranged by Mr Kuhn and can be looked at as a modern commentary of the great Viennese masters style from a perspective of almost two hundred years. These pieces all feature guest trombonist Nils Landgren whose smooth uncluttered sound and superb skills of diversity and invention are such that it is difficult to imagine that anyone else would be equal in such a role. The individual sonatas are: Allegro Spirituoso, Scherzo, Largo and Finale. Together they comprise a pulsating musical journey through many genres of modern music but with an underlying theme rooted firmly in the jazz idiom. There are many great solos throughout these works, particularly from within the reed section along with superb electronic effects and an unrelenting drum performance from start to finish which really locks the listener into the music.
What Ludwig Van Beethoven would have made of all this we can only speculate. To my mind I think he may well have approved.
Reviewed by Jim Burlong
ACT RECORDS 9898-2
Julius Braun, Angela Avetisyan (tpts) Daniel Klingl, Frederik Mademann, Raphael Huber, Florian Leuschner (saxes) Roman Sladek, Matthias Zeindlhofer, Carsten Fuss (troms) Juta KeeB (tuba)
Patricia Romer (vcl) Severin Krieger, Kevin Andre Welch (keys) Georg StirnwelB (bs) Henrich Wulff (gtr) Silvan StrauB (drs) Leonhard Kuhn (electronics)
Special Guest; Nils Landgren (trom)
This Munich based Big Band was formed in 2014 and has in the recent past been averaging over 120 concerts each year throughout Europe, America, Asia and Africa. It has much to thank its arranger, composer and electronics expert Leonhard Kuhn for, as it has been his expertise in blending electronica with the sounds of jazz, house and techno that has enabled this extraordinary group of musicians to fill the largest rock oriented venues around the globe.
Do not be fooled by the album title here. This is a full on proper jazz record, modern, dynamic, full of twists and turns as well as intrigue plus playing of the very highest class. You may well have enjoyed many great interpretations of classical works by Duke Ellington such as The Nutcracker and Peer Gynt suites among many others. You may have also discovered wonderful interpretation of Stravinsky's Right Of Spring by The David Patrick Octet and David Gorden's superb off the wall trio album take on one of the great Russian composers Alexander Scriabin's Ragtime Band. (Both reviewed in this magazine) However you will find that the sheer impact of The Jazzrausch Bigband take things to a whole new level. The album which has eight tracks and runs for just under the hour can be split into two distinct parts. Tracks one, two, seven and eight are Leonard Kuhn's arrangements of Beethoven works. They comprise The Piano Sonata No 14 (Moonlight), The Allegretto from the 7th symphony, plus to finish The String Quartet No 14 in two parts. In between are four sonatas that are both written and arranged by Mr Kuhn and can be looked at as a modern commentary of the great Viennese masters style from a perspective of almost two hundred years. These pieces all feature guest trombonist Nils Landgren whose smooth uncluttered sound and superb skills of diversity and invention are such that it is difficult to imagine that anyone else would be equal in such a role. The individual sonatas are: Allegro Spirituoso, Scherzo, Largo and Finale. Together they comprise a pulsating musical journey through many genres of modern music but with an underlying theme rooted firmly in the jazz idiom. There are many great solos throughout these works, particularly from within the reed section along with superb electronic effects and an unrelenting drum performance from start to finish which really locks the listener into the music.
What Ludwig Van Beethoven would have made of all this we can only speculate. To my mind I think he may well have approved.
Reviewed by Jim Burlong
