PAGO LIBRE SEXTET - Platzdada!
Leo Records CD LR 887
Agnes Heginger - vocals, ratchets (rattles); Tscho Theissing - violin, voice, ratchet; Arkady Shilkloper - horn, flugelhorn, alphorn, voice, ratchet; John Wolf Brennan - piano, voice, ratchet; Georg Breinschmid - double bass, voice, ratchet; Patrice Héral - drums, voice, ratchet
Recorded at Hardstudios, Winterthur, Greater Zurich, Switzerland, May 2006 and October 2007 – First released 2008
Pago Libre have taken texts from Dada artists Hans Arp, Kurt Schwitters and Daniil Charms and set them to music. Singer Agnes Heginger and the drummer Patrice Héral have been included to support the band, hence the sextet format. The complete texts of all the poetry is included as a ‘sleeve notes’ booklet.
The original was received with a great passion on its release in 2007, though sold only in German-speaking countries. Now, the original 24 pieces have been remastered in the Hardstudios, from the original recordings.
The unusual, drum-less instrumentation of Pago Libre brings a different sound to an audacious experiment in jazz, a liaison between improvisation and composition, with an underlying humour very much laid down by Agnes Heginger’s lampooning of operatic singing.
The album is a caper, a frolic; avant garde jazz certainly, but with all kinds of burlesque and exuberance thrown in. Who would have thought, but by track 6, Die gestiefelten Sterme, (The Puss in Boots) I am laughing my head off? Then this is followed up by a ballad from Heginger, delivered in the measured style of a leisurely waltz! Although I wish that I could translate the German from the notes, I don’t mind that I can’t, because that is Dada, which I have always admired.
It is fair to say that this is not perhaps a purely jazz album, but there is jazz in the process, along with avant-classical, cabaret, folk, hip-hop and improvisation, underscored by much brilliant intellect, absurdity and hilarity. All six players perform, sing and speak, thus sharing their empathy with both words and music. It may be that it is this that makes them one of Europe’s most interesting groups.
Reviewed by Ken Cheetham
Leo Records CD LR 887
Agnes Heginger - vocals, ratchets (rattles); Tscho Theissing - violin, voice, ratchet; Arkady Shilkloper - horn, flugelhorn, alphorn, voice, ratchet; John Wolf Brennan - piano, voice, ratchet; Georg Breinschmid - double bass, voice, ratchet; Patrice Héral - drums, voice, ratchet
Recorded at Hardstudios, Winterthur, Greater Zurich, Switzerland, May 2006 and October 2007 – First released 2008
Pago Libre have taken texts from Dada artists Hans Arp, Kurt Schwitters and Daniil Charms and set them to music. Singer Agnes Heginger and the drummer Patrice Héral have been included to support the band, hence the sextet format. The complete texts of all the poetry is included as a ‘sleeve notes’ booklet.
The original was received with a great passion on its release in 2007, though sold only in German-speaking countries. Now, the original 24 pieces have been remastered in the Hardstudios, from the original recordings.
The unusual, drum-less instrumentation of Pago Libre brings a different sound to an audacious experiment in jazz, a liaison between improvisation and composition, with an underlying humour very much laid down by Agnes Heginger’s lampooning of operatic singing.
The album is a caper, a frolic; avant garde jazz certainly, but with all kinds of burlesque and exuberance thrown in. Who would have thought, but by track 6, Die gestiefelten Sterme, (The Puss in Boots) I am laughing my head off? Then this is followed up by a ballad from Heginger, delivered in the measured style of a leisurely waltz! Although I wish that I could translate the German from the notes, I don’t mind that I can’t, because that is Dada, which I have always admired.
It is fair to say that this is not perhaps a purely jazz album, but there is jazz in the process, along with avant-classical, cabaret, folk, hip-hop and improvisation, underscored by much brilliant intellect, absurdity and hilarity. All six players perform, sing and speak, thus sharing their empathy with both words and music. It may be that it is this that makes them one of Europe’s most interesting groups.
Reviewed by Ken Cheetham
