Dirk Marwedel _ sassofono
Jeff Platz _ chitarra
Georg Wolf _ basso
Jörg Fischer _ batteria

Musica improvvisata con tre musicisti di Berlino ed uno (Jeff) di New York, in questo bellissimo quartetto. La musica è stata registrata l'11 marzo 2018 al Kunsthaus di Wiesbaden.
Per maggiori informazioni:
www.nurnichtnur.com/artists/marwedel.htm
www.jeffplatz.com
www.de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_Wolf_(Musiker)
www.joerg-fischer.net

"(...) Pebbles & Pearls è il titolo di un cd di un quartetto di improvvisatori che vede il chitarrista Jeff Platz unirsi a tre improvvisatori di rango dell'area tedesca, in un concerto al Kunsthaus di Wiesbaden, un luogo celebrativo della cultura tedesca con gallerie d'arte, sale destinate a conferenze e seminari ed un'efficiente biblioteca a supporto degli artisti. I tre improvvisatori di lingua germanica sono il sassofonista Dirk Marwedel, il contrabbassista Georg Wolf e il batterista Jorg Fischer; si tratta di figure considerevoli della free improvisation tedesca della seconda generazione, musicisti che non hanno nulla da invidiare quanto a tecnica ed idee improvvisative, a quei musicisti che hanno avuto una visibilità maggiore, costruita anche con qualche incisione in più. Marwedel, in particolare, è uno specialista delle estensioni del sax (ha estratto sonorità da tubi, palloncini ed altri corpi sonori), interessato ad intersezioni con installazioni, pittura e sculture (quelle sonore in pietra di Kubach & Kropp): ha suonato in moltissimi festivals ed ha finanche sviluppato una sua filosofia improvvisativa. Wolf e Fischer vennero alla ribalta come la sezione ritmica di Uwe Oberg, quando nel '97 incisero Lo, un cd che gli appassionati del settore hanno avuto modo di apprezzare nel laboratorio di Leo Feigin.
Va da sè che strumentisti così validi ed esperti non possono che far bene in Pebbles & Pearls, che fa la somma delle capacità e richiama concezioni artistiche: un sound fisico, aspro ed astratto, che lascia trasparire anche lievi tracce idiomatiche. Platz porge le melodie con note discontinue o sotto forma di enigmatici riverberi, Marwedel le contrasta sul sax, versando in "antipatiche" segmentazioni od estensioni tese ad inasprire timbri e registri, Wolf e Fischer sorreggono con empatia e personalità la sessione improvvisativa, prendendosi con profitto anche un proprio spazio di libertà.
Pebbles & Pearls è un omaggio alle teorie dinamiche e alle strutture modificabili: passa da casuali tessiture insabbiate nei regimi calmi dell'acustica musicale, ad azioni di cambiamento di stato che producono tracimazioni energiche. Un calcolato espressionismo astratto applicato alla musica, certamente non nuovo, ma che si lascia apprezzare per la percezione d'arte che riesce a trasmettere." Ettore Garzia, Percorsi Musicali, 2019.

"(...) Wiesbaden meets Boston on the six active improvisations on this CD, confirming once again that ideas and skill are more important than geography when it come to creating Free Music. The protagonists here are American guitarist Jeff Platz, who has recorded with the likes of Daniel Carter and Blaise Siwula, and three veteran improvisers from the city in central western Germany which hosts the annual HumaNoise congress free music get together. They are alto saxophonist Dirk Marwedel, involved in interdisciplinary projects as well as being a HNC founding member and organizer; bassist Georg Wolf, who has played with among many others, Uwe Oberg and Cecil Taylor; and drummer Jörg Fischer, who has worked with Alfred 23 Harth and Peter Brötzmann.
Exhibiting no trans-Atlantic fissures, the four swiftly meld into a cohesive unit, propelling forward minimalist and expressive clanks, crunches and claps. Individualistic, as early as “I-4”, the atmospheric second track, Platz’s string fills encompass Barney Kessel-like melodiousness alongside hardened flanges which fit in with Wolf’s straight-ahead thwacks and contrast with tongue squalling and circular puffs from Marwedel and Fisher’s cymbal swats. Almost concurrently though, the guitarist exhibits slurred fingering sequences that lead to hardened frails and intense metallic twangs that almost seem detuned. These expositions create a responsive duo section from Wolf, while the saxophonist’s slurring variations make common cause with ruffs and clatter from the drummer.
Working up to extended last track, “II-2”, Platz’s fluid comping provide a backdrop for the saxophonist’s interlude of irregular vibrations and mouth pops that intensify when matched with hand drumming and rubbed double bass strings. Expanding and quickening the narrative with drum rim shots and clangs, the penultimate sequence leads into a finale of nearly continuous shaking reed timbres and finger-style, guitar-string elaborations, sympathetically affiliating by the end.
The sort of synchronous activity in which the political leaders of Germany and the US can only dream of achieving is second nature to mature musicians like these, Pebbles & Pearls is another indication of how musical activity surpasses politics every time." Ken Waxman, Jazz Word, 2019.

01 _ I-1  7:51
02 _ I-4  6:18
03 _ I-2  7:03
04 _ I-3  4:33
05 _ II-3  8:17
06 _ II-2  11:12

(C) + (P) 2019

Dirk Marwedel _ saxophone
Jeff Platz _ guitar
Georg Wolf _ bass
Jörg Fischer _ drums

Improvised music with three musicians from Berlin and one (Jeff) from New York City, for these beautiful quartet. The music was recorded on March 11st, 2018 at Kunsthaus Wiesbaden.

Bassist Georg Wolf started playing concerts in 1978. Wolf began his musical career self-taught when he appeared in 1978 with jazz bands of different styles such as swing, bop or free jazz, for example in the
formation Grumpff, later also in other groups around Ekkehard Jost. Since then he has worked with Sebastian Gramss, Günter Christmann, Uwe Oberg, Martin Speicher, Cecil Taylor (Legba Crossing 1988)
and Paul Hubweber; He was also a member of the Ensemble 2 INCQ, the Ensemble Sondarc (with six double basses) and the Giessen Improvisers Pool (1991 album). He currently plays in formations with
Mark Charig, Jörg Fischer and Tom Heurich. Wolf has been leading the Lich Music School Jazz Workshop since 1987. He also held workshops at the music schools in Butzbach and Friedberg, and is also a teacher
of double bass with a focus on jazz.

Drummer Jörg Fischer was born 1971, grew up in Einbeck (Germany), later studied jazz drumming with Janusz Stefanski in Mainz. He eventually relocated to Wiesbaden, where he's an active member in the Kooperative New Jazz (ARTist). With his esthetics deeply rooted in 60s/70s/80s euro-free jazz & improv, Fischer plays in several freejazz focussed ensembles, but also enjoys playing more open, fragile and nuanced improvised music on his prepared percussion kit. A few newer projects stylistically cross the line also into "experimental" noisy rock-territory - post-Beefheart avant-punk & (neo-)no wave add some fresh perspective to his music. Fischer's playing can be heard on several CDs featuring year-long comrades and occasional collaborators like Martin Speicher, Alfred 23 Harth, Matthias Schubert, Peter Brötzmann, Mark Charig, Uli Böttcher, Rudi Mahall and Uli Phillipp, to name a few.

Extended saxophonist Dirk Marwedel’s musical work concentrates on Improvised Music since more than 30 years. Furthermore he constantly is part of related musical concepts and interdisciplinary projects with performance, sound installation, film, dance, theatre, sculpture and painting. In several groups from orchestra size to small combinations as well as a soloist he has developed technics of sound shaping and instrumental preparation, which are extending the sonic spectrum of the saxophone far beyond its conventional sound. Playing with sets of slate slabs he also works on the sound qualities of stone. Dirk Marwedel performed in Europe and Canada. He lives in Wiesbaden, where he is a founding member and organizer of the HumaNoise congress.

Guitarist Jeff Platz, from the New York, Boston USA has toured extensively for the past decade throughout the U.S. and Europe. He has performed in various music festivals worldwide such as New York City’s What is Jazz? festival, the Heidelberg jazz festival, Amsterdam's Crossing Borders festival, the Munster International Jazz festival in Munster Germany and the Bia Jazz Festival in Milan Italy. The Berlin based music journalist Wolf Kampmann writes, “Platz’s music is generous although never accidental. The secret of its uninhibited quality lies more in Platz’s playful use of the familiar where intuition, feeling, and memory are the most important navigational instruments Free Jazz.com writes, “Platz’s ensemble is a wonderful example of cohesive playing and total sound, full of lyricism”. Jeff has recorded for a variety of jazz music labels including Skycap Records, Evil Rabbit, Konnex, Glitch, and Setola di Maiale records.

For more info:
www.nurnichtnur.com/artists/marwedel.htm
www.jeffplatz.com
www.de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_Wolf_(Musiker)
www.joerg-fischer.net

"(...) Wiesbaden meets Boston on the six active improvisations on this CD, confirming once again that ideas and skill are more important than geography when it come to creating Free Music. The protagonists here are American guitarist Jeff Platz, who has recorded with the likes of Daniel Carter and Blaise Siwula, and three veteran improvisers from the city in central western Germany which hosts the annual HumaNoise congress free music get together. They are alto saxophonist Dirk Marwedel, involved in interdisciplinary projects as well as being a HNC founding member and organizer; bassist Georg Wolf, who has played with among many others, Uwe Oberg and Cecil Taylor; and drummer Jörg Fischer, who has worked with Alfred 23 Harth and Peter Brötzmann.
Exhibiting no trans-Atlantic fissures, the four swiftly meld into a cohesive unit, propelling forward minimalist and expressive clanks, crunches and claps. Individualistic, as early as “I-4”, the atmospheric second track, Platz’s string fills encompass Barney Kessel-like melodiousness alongside hardened flanges which fit in with Wolf’s straight-ahead thwacks and contrast with tongue squalling and circular puffs from Marwedel and Fisher’s cymbal swats. Almost concurrently though, the guitarist exhibits slurred fingering sequences that lead to hardened frails and intense metallic twangs that almost seem detuned. These expositions create a responsive duo section from Wolf, while the saxophonist’s slurring variations make common cause with ruffs and clatter from the drummer.
Working up to extended last track, “II-2”, Platz’s fluid comping provide a backdrop for the saxophonist’s interlude of irregular vibrations and mouth pops that intensify when matched with hand drumming and rubbed double bass strings. Expanding and quickening the narrative with drum rim shots and clangs, the penultimate sequence leads into a finale of nearly continuous shaking reed timbres and finger-style, guitar-string elaborations, sympathetically affiliating by the end.
The sort of synchronous activity in which the political leaders of Germany and the US can only dream of achieving is second nature to mature musicians like these, Pebbles & Pearls is another indication of how musical activity surpasses politics every time." Ken Waxman, Jazz Word, 2019.

"(...) Pebbles & Pearls è il titolo di un cd di un quartetto di improvvisatori che vede il chitarrista Jeff Platz unirsi a tre improvvisatori di rango dell'area tedesca, in un concerto al Kunsthaus di Wiesbaden, un luogo celebrativo della cultura tedesca con gallerie d'arte, sale destinate a conferenze e seminari ed un'efficiente biblioteca a supporto degli artisti. I tre improvvisatori di lingua germanica sono il sassofonista Dirk Marwedel, il contrabbassista Georg Wolf e il batterista Jorg Fischer; si tratta di figure considerevoli della free improvisation tedesca della seconda generazione, musicisti che non hanno nulla da invidiare quanto a tecnica ed idee improvvisative, a quei musicisti che hanno avuto una visibilità maggiore, costruita anche con qualche incisione in più. Marwedel, in particolare, è uno specialista delle estensioni del sax (ha estratto sonorità da tubi, palloncini ed altri corpi sonori), interessato ad intersezioni con installazioni, pittura e sculture (quelle sonore in pietra di Kubach & Kropp): ha suonato in moltissimi festivals ed ha finanche sviluppato una sua filosofia improvvisativa. Wolf e Fischer vennero alla ribalta come la sezione ritmica di Uwe Oberg, quando nel '97 incisero Lo, un cd che gli appassionati del settore hanno avuto modo di apprezzare nel laboratorio di Leo Feigin.
Va da sè che strumentisti così validi ed esperti non possono che far bene in Pebbles & Pearls, che fa la somma delle capacità e richiama concezioni artistiche: un sound fisico, aspro ed astratto, che lascia trasparire anche lievi tracce idiomatiche. Platz porge le melodie con note discontinue o sotto forma di enigmatici riverberi, Marwedel le contrasta sul sax, versando in "antipatiche" segmentazioni od estensioni tese ad inasprire timbri e registri, Wolf e Fischer sorreggono con empatia e personalità la sessione improvvisativa, prendendosi con profitto anche un proprio spazio di libertà.
Pebbles & Pearls è un omaggio alle teorie dinamiche e alle strutture modificabili: passa da casuali tessiture insabbiate nei regimi calmi dell'acustica musicale, ad azioni di cambiamento di stato che producono tracimazioni energiche. Un calcolato espressionismo astratto applicato alla musica, certamente non nuovo, ma che si lascia apprezzare per la percezione d'arte che riesce a trasmettere." Ettore Garzia, Percorsi Musicali, 2019.

01 _ I-1  7:51
02 _ I-4  6:18
03 _ I-2  7:03
04 _ I-3  4:33
05 _ II-3  8:17
06 _ II-2  11:12

(C) + (P) 2019