Olaf Ton - Olaf Ton und das dunkle Vermächtnis der goldenen Kuh

[Nate Dorward]

I'd reviewed this group's debut on Leo, & compared it to Nils Wogram's Root 70--so it's no surprise to see that this one actually came out on 2nd Floor, the same label as the Wogram disc. There's a thankyou to Frank Gratkowski in the liner notes & that'd be another useful referencepoint, especially for the saxophonist Benjamin Weidekamp, who has the same finenibbed postKonitzian sound & interest in quartertones (like Hayden Chisholm, another of Gratkowski's students). The other thing to note about this band is that the bassist & drummer are just terrific--think of Joey Baron squared (& also a bassist with that kind of thrashy funmaking spirit too).

I suspect this one would appeal to anyone who likes Clusone 3, Gerry Hemingway, or some of Joey Baron's work.


Lineup:

Richard Koch, tpt
Benjamin Weidekamp, as, cl
Matthias Müller, tbn
Michael Haves, b
Christian Marien, d

1. "Jippi Brown’s 18th Birthday". Has the feel one of Joey Baron's trademark combos of oldtimey rickytick drums & thrash. This is basically a trombone showcase for the excellent Müller with the other two horns making little snarks in the background & the bassist & drummer eating the wideopen grove for lunch. Trickster-figure jazz.

2. "Om Sweet Om". Cowbells ahoy! Horseride down the trail turns into a little Gerry Hemingwayish polyphonic groove then it's actually, it seems, a lowdown trumpet blues with bendy bass.....

3. "Rufen sie herrn plim", an 11-minute knockout epic. This starts out with such beatheavy intensity under the trumpet solo (Koch smearing & roaring, more Toshinoro Kondo than his usual Dave Douglas smartness) it's hard to see how it can keep it going for the whole thing. A little written-out interlude & then it's a little rock-influenced powwow, the bassist blasting out oddly isolated roots & then the whole thing gets a little apocalyptic with some outerspace bowing. A tonguelolling trombone solo, & the background changes again to a juddering pummelling not-really-a-groove before the circle back to the head.

4. "1000€, drei wochen". This starts rather unexpectedly quietly with an alert morsecode groove, Koch doing a little Dave Douglas, then after the head there's a disgusting strangled-trombone free episode with the sax clucking like a hen, the plays all slowly converging on a groove & then hitting the discombobulated theme right on the nose.

5. "Let op! bromfiets op de straat". A bumpy swaying camelride groove & a disharmonized fanfare, something of a Jewish or even Gypsy flavour to this that will get the Masada fans onside....

6. "Uw wordt nu doorgeschakelt". Starts with an audio clip of a woman speaking, in German I guess; the quintet rapidly fans out into some squeezed windinstrument play, rather like the opening to many an LJCO track...which takes a while to morph into a written-out stopstart groove with a slightly offpitch bassline; then one of the clacking interludes the group seems fond of, which turns out to be the main direction of the track....

7. "Sparkling Water". This opens rather distractedly, where it'll go is anyone's guess, with little confettis-sized hits by the full group over an oddball bass solo. The disjointed groove gets connected together a bit more as each horn gets a short solo--Weidekamp seems to be dropping into his quartertone bag here a lot--until everyone converges just as it ends.


Great disc--ought to be on people's best-of-2005 lists except that I expect virtually no-one's heard it.

Is there anyone who can translate the album title or track titles by the way? "The dark _____ of the golden cow"?

[MRS]

"the dark legacy of the golden calf"

The 'golden Cow/calf' in German connotes something you do not doubt nor touch, i.e. the cow that is not going to be eaten.

[Nate Dorward]

Hm, very Mosaic. The cover, I should add, has a picture of the Golden Cow/Calf, with a door in its side (complete with buzzer) and a cowboy bearing a saxophone. Hm, so what do the track titles mean?

[Nate Dorward]

Just a note to say there are samples here:

http://www.olafton.com/musike.htm

in case anyone's curious.

[Tom K]

Sorry, I have to correct the translation from MRS. The Golden Calf is the idea taken from the Bible: After Moses came down from Mt Sinai, he found that his people were dancing around the statue of a golden calf. The image of the Golden Calf is the idea of the dance around/the race for money. The other idea that MRS mentions is the sacred cow from India. - However, I don't see why the title says "Kuh" (cow) not "Kalb" (calf).

But anyway, this sounds like a great recording, which I'm sure to get, as I liked Wogram's sensational "Root 70" a lot.

Greetings,

Tom K (German speaking).

[Steve Reynolds]

thanks for the review, Nate

I'd like to hear this - maybe when I get something more than the little job I have now...

what an asinine comment from the last poster - thanks for sharing

[Tom K]

I'm certainly not going to baise toix, Baise Moix, however dishy you look.

[Nate Dorward]

Tom--thanks for the correction. Yeah, Root 70 was great--I keep hoping to hear more of Hayden Chisholm..... & the drummer there, Jochen Ruckert, is pretty amazing too.

Always nice to hear someone toss around the word "atonal" without obviously having the faintest idea what atonality is.

[walto]

Based on the two lengthy clips at the site you posted, I can see why you like the tunes, Nate. They're certainly in that hairy, George Russell tradition we both enjoy. (These seem a little dated to me, but I'm jaded, and they're certainly accomplished--whatever their date of origin.)

OTOH, the solos aren't very good, I don't think. In particular, the trombone solo on the first cut is endless and, to me anyway, pointless.

[gnhrtg]

I will check out Olaf Ton, too, but given that I've consistently enjoyed Wogram's contributions in a number of contexts - and he was also pretty good the one time I saw him live, with Aki Takase and co, which Root 70 is the one to go for (there's one released in 2001 on 2nd Floor and a later, 2003, album on Enja, it seems)?

Edit: Oh, let me give the clips a hearing soon.

[mke]

Interesting to note that titles 5 & 6 are in Dutch: "Beware! scooter on the street" and "You will now be connected" (hence the voice?).

[Nate Dorward]

Thanks, Mwanji, for the glosses on the Dutch titles.

Walter: hm, I dunno about a George Russell connection--seems to me that it's closer to some of the Dutch guys, or to Hemingway's Quintet of the 1990s, or some of Dave Douglas's less self-conscious things. I'd agree that the solos aren't necessarily outstanding (I think the best player is Weidekamp, who has that needling alto-sax purity a la Michael Moore or Frank Gratkowski) but it's really more of the group vibe I'm excited by, especially what the bassist & drummer are doing.

[Nate Dorward]

Originally Posted by gnhrtg

I will check out Olaf Ton, too, but given that I've consistently enjoyed Wogram's contributions in a number of contexts - and he was also pretty good the one time I saw him live, with Aki Takase and co, which Root 70 is the one to go for (there's one released in 2001 on 2nd Floor and a later, 2003, album on Enja, it seems)?

Edit: Oh, let me give the clips a hearing soon.

Oh, is there a 2nd Root 70 disc? I only know the self-titled debut on 2nd Floor, which is great stuff. -- That's odd: the 2003 Enja disc seems to be self-titled also, but it's not the same tracks at all. Very confusing!

There's one track (track 3) from the Olaf Ton on that compilation I just mailed you, by the way.

[walto]

Interesting, Nate. Again, just based on those two cuts, I don't hear any connection with "the Dutch guys" at all and not too much with Hemingway's group either. I don't know the Douglas stuff.

I'd be curious what others think, based on that link. (Maybe we need an Eigen analysis here....)

[hermann]

Maybe one is interested to look at:
http://www.olafton.com/homee.htm
or to read this short review
http://www.splendidezine.com/review....07067620954912

and thank's for this thread!

It's a wonderful record. I specially liked the cowbell, somewhat atonally. It does elevate the spirit of the beholder. BTW, did you realize that the soccer world cup will be taking place in Germany soon?