Quartet Noir Revisted

Steve Reynolds · April-22nd-2005, 10:13 AM

for me - and one day maybe they will do it again

from Victo - I think 1998 - the CD case is in the other listening room

Urs, Fritz and Joelle with Marilyn added - and old favorite heard by me for the first time in a while

the closing piece makes this music everything it can be - when Leimgruber picks up the tenor with just a couple of minutes left - and plays a beautiful melodic line - over the pulse of Hauser's drum - a pulse that is new and different than everything that came before - Leandre's bass deepens - a simple figure that seemed to come from Crispell's gorgeous intro to the coda - and they rightly left the last thirty seconds for the applause

these musical moments are what makes this music forever beyond category and beyond words

demands to be experienced

I guess I have to dig up the even greater "No Try No Fail" which doesn't include the pianist - but still stands alone as one of the great 48 minutes of improvised bliss in the history of improvised wonder

One Great Day......

al j · April-22nd-2005, 10:46 AM

this is one disc I regret not having on my iPod while I was away.

Frisco · April-22nd-2005, 07:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve Reynolds

the closing piece makes this music everything it can be - when Leimgruber picks up the tenor with just a couple of minutes left - and plays a beautiful melodic line - over the pulse of Hauser's drum - a pulse that is new and different than everything that came before - Leandre's bass deepens - a simple figure that seemed to come from Crispell's gorgeous intro to the coda - and they rightly left the last thirty seconds for the applause
.

Funny you mention Leimgruber playing "a beautiful melodic line". I had the pleasure to experience this set live and recall the words of some folks that I know, commenting afterwards, "I wish that they would have played just one legitimate note". Great, great set!

Mike Schwartz · April-22nd-2005, 07:38 PM

"Urs, Fritz and Joelle with Marilyn added - and old favorite heard by me for the first time in a while..."

Steve;
It would be helpful if you gave the full names of the band members. Thanks.

It would probably open the possibility of a dialogue with others if you did so as well.

Squaredancecalling Steve · April-22nd-2005, 07:56 PM

Mike: Urs Leimgruber, Marilyn Crispell, Joelle Leandre (mit the umlauts and accent marks) and Fritz Hauser.

An excellent album, almost as good as No Try No Fail by the same group minus Crispell.

Mike Schwartz · April-22nd-2005, 10:17 PM

Thanks SDC,
I'd have been 1 for 4, followed by totally lost w/o your help...now at least I can look some stuff up if I want.

Nate Dorward · April-22nd-2005, 11:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frisco

Funny you mention Leimgruber playing "a beautiful melodic line". I had the pleasure to experience this set live and recall the words of some folks that I know, commenting afterwards, "I wish that they would have played just one legitimate note". Great, great set!

Apparently Leimgruber's earlier stuff is pretty different, more ECM/John Surmanish. Hard to believe, from what his later work sounds like.

He's got a new one out on Emanem which I'm really looking forward to, with the Wing Vane trio (Barre Phillips, Jacques Demierre). Wing Vane is terrific.

Jon Abbey · April-23rd-2005, 12:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frisco

I had the pleasure to experience this set live and recall the words of some folks that I know, commenting afterwards, "I wish that they would have played just one legitimate note". Great, great set!

I was there too, I thought it was fine, but a bit disappointing, I'd seen better from all of those musicians before that, and adding Crispell to the working group made things less focused.

I've been selling a fair amount of material from all of these musicians on eBay the last couple of weeks, No Try No Fail will go when I get to it also if anyone's looking for it. I have a very nice one from the trio of Leimgruber, Hauser and Adelhard Roidinger called Lines which is closing in about an hour.

has anyone heard the solo CDs from Hauser, Solodrumming and Pensieri Bianchi? those are two I'm keeping, amazing stuff.

Squaredancecalling Steve · April-23rd-2005, 04:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jon Abbey

I was there too, I thought it was fine, but a bit disappointing, I'd seen better from all of those musicians before that, and adding Crispell to the working group made things less focused.

I agree. I think 'diluted' was the word I used in my review here, comparing 4tet Noir to NTNF.

Quote:

No Try No Fail will go when I get to it also if anyone's looking for it. I have a very nice one from the trio of Leimgruber, Hauser and Adelhard Roidinger called Lines which is closing in about an hour.

I LOVE the first and like the second a lot! NTNF includes some of the most viscerally powerful sounds I've ever heard/felt -- acoustic or otherwise -- from the interaction between Leimgruber and Leandre.

Quote:

has anyone heard the solo CDs from Hauser, Solodrumming and Pensieri Bianchi? those are two I'm keeping, amazing stuff.

Solodrumming has rapidly become one of my all-time favorite solo albums. I have two other absolutely extraordinary albums from Hauser -- Zwei, one of my all-time favorite albums of duets, and Die Trommel & Die Welle (Die Trommel is a multi-track all percussion piece with Hauser on a single drum, Die Welle is a piece for 10 percussionists).

These three albums are the only ones I have with Hauser as leader, and I think they're all great.

Jon Abbey · April-23rd-2005, 08:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Squaredancecalling Steve

Solodrumming has rapidly become one of my all-time favorite solo albums. I have two other absolutely extraordinary albums from Hauser -- Zwei, one of my all-time favorite albums of duets, and Die Trommel & Die Welle (Die Trommel is a multi-track all percussion piece with Hauser on a single drum, Die Welle is a piece for 10 percussionists).

These three albums are the only ones I have with Hauser as leader, and I think they're all great.

yeah, Zwei I just sold also, I never heard Die Trommel & Die Welle. if you get a chance to pick up Pensieri Bianchi, definitely do so, I think I like that more than Solodrumming.

walto · April-23rd-2005, 09:15 AM

FWIW, I like the addition of Crispell here. More info/complexity, more power. IIRC, there's a pretty amazing climax on this disc.

Frisco · April-25th-2005, 06:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by walto

FWIW, I like the addition of Crispell here. More info/complexity, more power. IIRC, there's a pretty amazing climax on this disc.

Thanks Walt. I thought that perhaps I was in one of my stupors that night and heard it all wrong. I totally enjoyed that set, especially the way that they broke down into duos, trios, etc.... My only non-positive thought, as I recall, was that I was waiting for Hauser to bring the music to a climax on a few occasions, perhaps with a crash of the cymbal and I was often frustrated by the way that he holds back. But I soon discovered that was Fritz and I enjoyed what he did in his subtle ways. I came in almost totally unwawre of Hauser and Leimgruber at that time.

Jon Abbey · April-25th-2005, 08:50 PM

yeah, I'd seen those guys previously in NYC, and was pretty familiar with their Hat Art stuff. it didn't help that the show directly following that was a double bill of Gerry Hemingway's Quintet and the Clusone Trio, both of course very established combos.