NEW JAZZ TRIO & STREICHQUINTETT – Page Two
MPS reissue: MPS 15355
Peter Trunk: bass; Manfred Schoof: trumpet, flugelhorn; Cees See: drums, tabla, percussion, flute, irish hand harp (on Page One and Page Two); String section (on Page Two): Viola d’amore: Johanes Fritsch, Manfred Niehaus; Violin: Crisel-Renate Wustenbeckner, Koenraad Ellegiers; Cello: Othello Liesmann
Recorded Rhenus Studio, Godorf, 1972.
This is a rare treat for fans of avant garde jazz – the reissue of two albums by The New Jazz Trio. The digital release on Friday 19th May is for two months exclusively on iTunes. Here we have Manfred Schoof, a founder of the European Free Jazz scene with a long history of recording with Irene Schweizer or Peter Brotzmann, or Evan Parker or Alexander von Schlippenbach, and, further afield, George Russell, in full flow. He is accompanied by Peter Trunk and their Dutch partner Cees See. While they were very much part of the avant garde, free tradition, there is a great deal of jazz history in their playing. It is not so much that they’re trying to burn the bridges of the tradition (as some of their counterparts might have been attempting back in the early ‘70s) so much as building a new bridge. Trunk’s bass playing carries a huge debt to the post-bop of the late ‘60s, providing lines that sing more than simply carry the rhythm. On this recording, you get see why he was so highly regarded (sadly dying in a car accident a couple of years after this set was originally released, at only 37 years of age). Schoof’s playing (on the both trumpet and flugelhorn) is far less bombastic than other players of the time; even at his most frantic, he works melody and harmony into his playing. This is, perhaps, not too surprising given the wide range of musical fields in which he worked, being equally at home in opera or classical music as jazz. Schoof’s melodic lines draw the bass into closer, possibly modal, patterns, such that the ‘free’ aspects tend to be rhythmic rather than aharmonic. See’s percussion work builds on this, or perhaps creates, the rhythmic gymnastics in the playing, with each piece skittering across time signatures supported by his restless pulsing. in addition to drumming, See is proficient across a range of instruments, and these are used to provide colour to several pieces here.
On ‘Page Two’, the string quintet lend an air of contemporary chamber music, with the scrabbled pizzicato playing between Trunk’s bubbling bass lines and Schoof’s melodic excursions. This adds an interesting texture to the music, but the heart remains the trio and their ability to work together. At times a lone violin or viola or cello might venture up a line or two of arco playing, drawing other members of the quintet, but this tend sinks back into the melee of ensemble playing. What is fascinating is the way that acoustic instruments, in the right hands, can create effects that might be rendered electronically in modern sets; violins playing as if on a tape being rewound, or the bass and trumpet getting louder and then fading as if a directional microphone is being moved across them.
The vinyl versions of these recordings are pretty hard to get hold of, so it is very much welcome that MPS are providing a digital version so that a new generation of jazz fans can hear what should be regarded as one of classic trios of modern jazz.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
MPS reissue: MPS 15355
Peter Trunk: bass; Manfred Schoof: trumpet, flugelhorn; Cees See: drums, tabla, percussion, flute, irish hand harp (on Page One and Page Two); String section (on Page Two): Viola d’amore: Johanes Fritsch, Manfred Niehaus; Violin: Crisel-Renate Wustenbeckner, Koenraad Ellegiers; Cello: Othello Liesmann
Recorded Rhenus Studio, Godorf, 1972.
This is a rare treat for fans of avant garde jazz – the reissue of two albums by The New Jazz Trio. The digital release on Friday 19th May is for two months exclusively on iTunes. Here we have Manfred Schoof, a founder of the European Free Jazz scene with a long history of recording with Irene Schweizer or Peter Brotzmann, or Evan Parker or Alexander von Schlippenbach, and, further afield, George Russell, in full flow. He is accompanied by Peter Trunk and their Dutch partner Cees See. While they were very much part of the avant garde, free tradition, there is a great deal of jazz history in their playing. It is not so much that they’re trying to burn the bridges of the tradition (as some of their counterparts might have been attempting back in the early ‘70s) so much as building a new bridge. Trunk’s bass playing carries a huge debt to the post-bop of the late ‘60s, providing lines that sing more than simply carry the rhythm. On this recording, you get see why he was so highly regarded (sadly dying in a car accident a couple of years after this set was originally released, at only 37 years of age). Schoof’s playing (on the both trumpet and flugelhorn) is far less bombastic than other players of the time; even at his most frantic, he works melody and harmony into his playing. This is, perhaps, not too surprising given the wide range of musical fields in which he worked, being equally at home in opera or classical music as jazz. Schoof’s melodic lines draw the bass into closer, possibly modal, patterns, such that the ‘free’ aspects tend to be rhythmic rather than aharmonic. See’s percussion work builds on this, or perhaps creates, the rhythmic gymnastics in the playing, with each piece skittering across time signatures supported by his restless pulsing. in addition to drumming, See is proficient across a range of instruments, and these are used to provide colour to several pieces here.
On ‘Page Two’, the string quintet lend an air of contemporary chamber music, with the scrabbled pizzicato playing between Trunk’s bubbling bass lines and Schoof’s melodic excursions. This adds an interesting texture to the music, but the heart remains the trio and their ability to work together. At times a lone violin or viola or cello might venture up a line or two of arco playing, drawing other members of the quintet, but this tend sinks back into the melee of ensemble playing. What is fascinating is the way that acoustic instruments, in the right hands, can create effects that might be rendered electronically in modern sets; violins playing as if on a tape being rewound, or the bass and trumpet getting louder and then fading as if a directional microphone is being moved across them.
The vinyl versions of these recordings are pretty hard to get hold of, so it is very much welcome that MPS are providing a digital version so that a new generation of jazz fans can hear what should be regarded as one of classic trios of modern jazz.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
