KIMMIG - STUDER - ZIMMERLIN AND GEORGE LEWIS
CD ezz-thetics 1010 (HatHut Records)
Harald Kimmig, violin; Daniel Studer, double bass; Alfred Zimmerlin, violoncello; George Lewis, trombone, live electronics.
Recorded live at Kunstraum Walcheturm in Zurich, April 8th 2018
The Kimmig-Studer-Zimmerlin string trio is a formidable, European group which plays, generally, outside of any convention, absorbed in the dynamics of a piece and the notion that space is an indispensable component of articulation and communication in their music. Tonal colour shares this vital quality as does the depth of complexity of any of their pieces. This latter is clearly extended by the addition of George Lewis’s trombone, giving us a unique combination of instruments and improvisational opportunities. The music has an extraordinarily eloquent sound, unexpected perhaps because the group are performing, simply, something which they enjoy a lot. They do, of course, put a huge amount of effort and energy into that performance.
This highly innovative quartet are occupying us (and them) with spontaneously improvised, conceptual soundscapes, audio settings of immersive environments, that we might also call the perception of sounds as environment. A very much earlier instance of this idea in jazz is hard-bop pianist Cedar Walton’s album ‘Soundscapes’ (1980, with Freddie Hubbard and Bob Berg). It is, of course, very different.
The present-day quartet’s improvisation grows as its chemistry increases and develops; exchanges nurture each other and become more complex. At times, one’s attention may wander a little as these complexities become less than perceptible: one’s hearing needs more focus, one’s observation more acuity.
Here is almost an hour of the finest improvisation, with no side-tracks, no distractions. Whether one calls it jazz or free, avant-garde or contemporary classical will make no difference to the superb quality of the music and its performers.
Reviewed by Ken Cheetham
CD ezz-thetics 1010 (HatHut Records)
Harald Kimmig, violin; Daniel Studer, double bass; Alfred Zimmerlin, violoncello; George Lewis, trombone, live electronics.
Recorded live at Kunstraum Walcheturm in Zurich, April 8th 2018
The Kimmig-Studer-Zimmerlin string trio is a formidable, European group which plays, generally, outside of any convention, absorbed in the dynamics of a piece and the notion that space is an indispensable component of articulation and communication in their music. Tonal colour shares this vital quality as does the depth of complexity of any of their pieces. This latter is clearly extended by the addition of George Lewis’s trombone, giving us a unique combination of instruments and improvisational opportunities. The music has an extraordinarily eloquent sound, unexpected perhaps because the group are performing, simply, something which they enjoy a lot. They do, of course, put a huge amount of effort and energy into that performance.
This highly innovative quartet are occupying us (and them) with spontaneously improvised, conceptual soundscapes, audio settings of immersive environments, that we might also call the perception of sounds as environment. A very much earlier instance of this idea in jazz is hard-bop pianist Cedar Walton’s album ‘Soundscapes’ (1980, with Freddie Hubbard and Bob Berg). It is, of course, very different.
The present-day quartet’s improvisation grows as its chemistry increases and develops; exchanges nurture each other and become more complex. At times, one’s attention may wander a little as these complexities become less than perceptible: one’s hearing needs more focus, one’s observation more acuity.
Here is almost an hour of the finest improvisation, with no side-tracks, no distractions. Whether one calls it jazz or free, avant-garde or contemporary classical will make no difference to the superb quality of the music and its performers.
Reviewed by Ken Cheetham
