Mulhouse Jazz Festival 2004 (22-28 August)

gnhrtg · July-26th-2004, 10:08 AM

Great program - Barry Guy solo, The Electrics, The Thing w/Joe McPhee, Schweizer/Favre duo, Vandermark 5, Aki Takase Plays Fats Weller with a great band, Portal/Sclavis/Humair/Chevillon and many others. It's almost certain that I'm going; I already booked my festival pass. As always, if anyone else is interested, let me know and we could at least share the accomodation, company would be nice, too.

Jazz a Mulhouse 2004

(click on Programme 2004)

Steve Reynolds · July-27th-2004, 06:00 PM

love to hear that Aki Takase led band with Paul Lovens

plays Fats Waller?!?!

sounds like it could be something else

JPCLEJAZZ · July-27th-2004, 06:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gnhrtg

Great program - Barry Guy solo, The Electrics, The Thing w/Joe McPhee, Schweizer/Favre duo, Vandermark 5, Aki Takase Plays Fats Weller with a great band, Portal/Sclavis/Humair/Chevillon and many others. It's almost certain that I'm going; I already booked my festival pass. As always, if anyone else is interested, let me know and we could at least share the accomodation, company would be nice, too.

Jazz a Mulhouse 2004

(click on Programme 2004)

Bravo pour les organisateurs de ce festival d'avoir programmé tous ces musiciens.
Je tâcherai de penser à vous faire part du programme (cet auromne) du Reims Jazz Festival.
Quand ça marche, pensez à écouter l'Heure du Jazz, le soir, du lundi au vendredi, de 23 H. à minuit, en vous connectant sur www.radiojeunesreims.com
JPCLEJAZZ
JPCLEJAZZ

hermann · July-28th-2004, 03:26 PM

Hey Steve
I love this ( but what do I not love in jazz ? ) and all the tunes that come from Aki, Paul, Nils, Rudi and so on, try to catch all their concerts in the Cologne area.
The St. Louis Blues project is:
Aki Takase p - Rudi Mahall bcl - Fred Frith git - Nils Wogram tb - Paul Lovens dr
1 St. Louis Blues (W.C. Handy) 3:56
2 Way Down South Where the Blues Began (W.C. Handy) 8.15
3 Mobilat (Rudi Mahall) 2:44
4 Morning Star (W.C. Handy) 4:13
5 Eine Drehorgel aus dem 21. Jahrhundert (Aki Takase) 7:29
6 Lulu (Harry Warren) 2:06
7 Wer kommt mehr vom Blues (Rudi Mahall) 2:32
8 St. Louis Blues (W.C. Handy) 4:54
9 Nur da wo du bist da ist nichts (Aki Takase) 4:15
10 Memphis Blues (W.C. Handy) 2:37
11 Jazz Ain’t What It Used To Be (Nils Wogram) 4:07
12 Yellow Dog Blues (W.C. Handy) 4:08

Nils is great at time, I have the 3 days at Moers on CD, man, that could be something for You.

The Waller-CD has nearly the same crew like the Handy-CD :
"aki takase plays fats waller"
Eugene Chadbourne
Nils Wogram
Rudi Mahall
Thomas Heberer
Paul Lovens
enja CD 9152-2

http://www.akitakase.de/fats_music_2.html
or
http://www.akitakase.de/index_2.html

gnhrtg · August-6th-2004, 02:04 PM

I'll be there for the shows on the 26th, 27th, and the 28th. I have a room booked for two but I'll be leaving for there alone. If anyone is interested in sharing a room or if anyone else will make it and wants to hook up there, let me know. Still in Turkey and unable to post frequently, back in France on the 10th.

hermann · August-7th-2004, 06:59 AM

Hey what an offer, i really like to come, but have no money to do so.
Allthough I'm shure we will meet some day, so enjoy and report!

gnhrtg · August-12th-2004, 07:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hermann

Hey what an offer, i really like to come, but have no money to do so.
Allthough I'm shure we will meet some day, so enjoy and report!

I sure hope so Hermann. Once the line-up is announced, I'll see whether I'll go for Total Music Meeting, so that will be one opportunity perhaps.

More proximally, though, I'm very much looking forward to the dozen or so concerts in Mulhouse.

gnhrtg · August-23rd-2004, 08:20 AM

Last call - anyone to share a room? My next post here will be on the concerts.

gnhrtg · August-29th-2004, 07:03 PM

The Electrics - more pics and comments to come later, just trying my hand at this. Tell me if no one gives shit about pics, won't bother posting in that case.

edit: Raymond Strid on percussion, Axel Dörner on trumpet and valve trumpet, Ingebright Håker Flaten on bass (behind Dörner), and Sture Ericson on alto, tenor, and baritone saxophones.

Jon Abbey · August-29th-2004, 07:37 PM

always good to see my man Axel in action.

mke · August-30th-2004, 09:14 AM

I'd like to see the pictures. Do you shoot from your seat, or get closer to the stage? Do you use a flash?

gnhrtg · August-30th-2004, 10:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mke

I'd like to see the pictures. Do you shoot from your seat, or get closer to the stage? Do you use a flash?

I shoot from my seat - as I always sit in the first couple of rows, well either the second or third row through this series of concerts. The first row usually ends up being reserved for the professional photographers. They kindly asked to not use any flashes and I never did - I think there were not more than two dozens shots with flash throughout the three days, most people, it turns out, are sensible enough. Well, that's why out of the more than a hundred pictures I took, roughly ten will end up being posted. I have some good shots of Rudi Mahall and Nils Wogram and The Thing w/Joe McPhee, less so of Johannes and Konrad Bauer and Ernst Reijseger. Oh and did I tell you how eerily close to Hemingway Peter Hollinger looked - well, you'll see for yourself.

gnhrtg · August-30th-2004, 04:46 PM

This's for those who fear that Reijseger might have been taking himself too seriously in recent times. No, the ride cymbal's not on fire - smoke from Hollinger's cigarette, that is. Reijseger shortly went on to recruit a small boy, about 6-7 years old, from the front row and helped the boy pluck the strings while he, Reijseger, fingered a nice chord progression (holding the cello in a guitar position). The band was called "Fifty 4" with Johannes Bauer on trombone, Eugene Chadbourne on guitar, banjo, and voice, Ernst Reijseger on cello and Peter Hollinger on drums. Mr. Chadbourne irritated me to no end - having seem him in two configurations here, the other was Takase's band, I'm convinced that not only does he lack any decent technique but that his ear, not as in responding to musical stimuli in general but as in hearing and responding to the notes themselves, and musicianship are, well, not to my taste. Reijseger was his usual self with all the right components that make a great musician in place. Johannes Bauer, I found, both here an in another band with Xu Fengxia and Martin Blume the next day, is a bit too pig-headed and always trying to lead the proceedings. Even though Hollinger was way too relaxed, as in not caring and popping bottles and lighting cigarettes, he at least knew - unlike a great majority of the improvising musicans I saw during these three day - when to keep silent.

I will gather this and other comments in a soon to be started thread, under live reviews. I had a couple of minutes to type now hence the above.

gnhrtg · September-4th-2004, 05:16 AM

After glancing at the line-up, I had already bought, but not listened to, the Aki Takase Plays Fats Weller disc before the concert. Even Mr. Chadbourne was ok so long as he was either singing, thereby lifting his and the audience's spirits, or in the background as part of the rhythm section w/Paul Lovens. I did enjoy the concert a fair bit and was most impressed with Ms. Takase and Mahall. Even though the sound was well balanced for most/near all of the other shows, it required some extra effort to hear Wogram - as Mr. Chadbourne apparently thought it fine to adjust his volume, I mean through the knobs, at will. Here's a shot of Rudi Mahall and Nils Wogram going at it.

gnhrtg · September-6th-2004, 08:02 AM

The last day of the festival, 28th of August, I attended the free, hour-long, solo concert Konrad Bauer gave at Chapelle Saint-Jean. I was there pretty early and secured myself a seat at the front row-center. What a musician and what a great concert it was (the presenter announced him as the "great" Konrad Bauer, he must be a regular lurker around these parts). The way Konrad improvises relates mostly to repetition, development, and embellishment, with each piece rather cohesive and self contained and very much built around a central phrase or two which he would use as anchors. Then he would insert short phrases between or embellish these riffs and he was quite a fountain of ideas that day. I wouldn't know the proper name, if any different, but most of what he played was without breaks utilizing something along the lines of circular breathing (the string you might see is, actually to empty saliva - when he pulls it and blows hard while holding the note he'd be playing at that time). By the time I was out of the chapelle, all his solo discs at the merchandise table were sold.

sashabur · September-7th-2004, 10:15 AM

How about the Thing, did they play ''songs" (like on the "She Knows" CD) or freer material?

PS.To those who noticed my absence

- sorry for dropping out rather abruptly, I'm back after some adventures, most notably attending Tuvan concerts of Sun Ra Arkestra in July

gnhrtg · September-7th-2004, 10:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sashabur

How about the Thing, did they play ''songs" (like on the "She Knows" CD) or freer material?

Will soon post comments on and a picture or two taken at their show - but apart from "To Bring You My Love," an improvised tune by McPhee/H.Flaten, and "Lonely Woman" (as an encore) mostly material from their most recent release, Garage.

gnhrtg · September-17th-2004, 08:30 AM

The last band in the festival to take the stage, right after "Aki Takase Plays Fats Waller." Save for PJ Harvey's "To Bring You My Love," which appears on their second album "She Knows...," an improvised duo by McPhee and Haker-Flaten, and "Lonely Woman" by Ornette Coleman - as an encore, all the tunes they played were from their most recent release, "Garage."

Even though this was the second time I saw the band (with McPhee) in less than two months, I really enjoyed the concert and especially savoured the McPhee/Haker-Flaten duo piece as it provided ample opportunity for McPhee's musicianship to shine through (he/they did one of those improvised sentimental ballads McPhee's well known for).

The energy and intensity, more so than the level of sound, these guys generate is something to be experienced. And you know that the music touches the audience in an immediate and real way, I think, when you hear apprehensive and encouraging hollers from the crowd upon the first few notes (sounds?) Mats generates after picking up his baritone, in the second tune of the set. The discs at the merchandise tables were most certainly sold out after the concert (I made sure to pick mine before the show).

Nilssen-Love's proficiency and the ease (though you wouldn't say so from the ubiqutous frown on his face - during the show only, lest I be misunderstood) with which he moves around the kit are very impressive, live even more so than on record (and for the umpteenth time, if you enjoy Atomic, School Days, or want to hear more of Wiik, Nilssen-Love and co., I can't recommend "Nuclear Assembly Hall" highly enough).

One thing though, Haker-Flaten was curiously unsure of his note choices and tentative in where he would go next throughout the duo with McPhee, landing on a couple of rather, let's say, questionable note choices made all the more prominent by their playing a soft ballad. McPhee was as sure-footed, though by no means unadventurous, as ever; a rather striking contrast. Though you could almost guess this as after Mats' said "Well, thanks a lot, we have no idea what we'll do next," to which McPhee responded "Well, we'll play a piece with Haker-Flaten, then" Haker-Flaten was already shaking his head, as if to say, "Come on Joe, don't do this to me, let's get on with our routine."

Once again, great show. Would/will see them again.

Here they are, ending their concert with a memorable rendition of "Lonely Woman" - the highlight of the show for me.

claude · September-17th-2004, 09:25 AM

Thanks for the pictures and descriptions, feels "almost" like being there.

gnhrtg · September-19th-2004, 11:50 AM

Claude - very glad you found some to be worthwhile. I have a couple other decent pics which I might post.

I also saw Fengxia/Johannes Bauer/Blume; Vandermark 5; Cemal Zekri (a solo set in the chapel); and Breschand/Pauvros and Woodrascka/Lopez duos; and I will be there for next year's festival. I could only make it for the last three days and so missed, regrettably, Barry Guy solo, Portal/Sclavis/Humair/Chevillon, Demierre/Guy/Niggli, and Schweizer/Favre duo. The tickets and the accomodation I found to be quite affordable (€45 a night for a room for two; €20 for three evening concerts with 2 free concerts per day, or a festival pass - 6 evenings, 18 concerts - for €75) - perhaps some of you might be (t)here next year.

claude · September-20th-2004, 12:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gnhrtg

Claude - very glad you found some to be worthwhile. I have a couple other decent pics which I might post.

I also saw Fengxia/Johannes Bauer/Blume; Vandermark 5; Cemal Zekri (a solo set in the chapel); and Breschand/Pauvros and Woodrascka/Lopez duos; and I will be there for next year's festival. I could only make it for the last three days and so missed, regrettably, Barry Guy solo, Portal/Sclavis/Humair/Chevillon, Demierre/Guy/Niggli, and Schweizer/Favre duo. The tickets and the accomodation I found to be quite affordable (€45 a night for a room for two; €20 for three evening concerts with 2 free concerts per day, or a festival pass - 6 evenings, 18 concerts - for €75) - perhaps some of you might be (t)here next year.

Wow! What a line up. That is amazing value for money.