|
Trompeten
& Flügelhörner 4-fach - Kenny Wheeler, Manfred Schoof,
Jean-Luc Capozzo, Axel Dörner, Posaunen ebenfalls 4-fach - George
Lewis, Paul Rutherford, Jeb Bishop, Hannes Bauer, auch die Reeds im
Quartett - Evan Parker, Gerd Dudek, E.-L. Petrowsky, Rudi Mahall, dazu
zwei Perkussionisten - Paul Lovens & Paul Lytton, sowie der Leader
- Alexander von Schlippenbach - am Klavier. Nennt es Blasmusik, nennt
es Free Jazz, nennt es Feuermusik, für mich ist Globe Unity - 40
Years (Intakt CD 133) der einzige Totalitarismus, den ich mir gerne
gefallen lasse. Bis heute hat das GLOBE UNITY ORCHESTRA den Gestus des
Bahnbrecherischen bewahrt, als Männervortrupp mit grobzivilisatorischem
Sinn für Brandrodung und Neuanfang abseits der Herde. Vorerst gibt
es nur eine Schmiede ('The Forge‘), für Prediger, Schullehrerinnen
und Blumensamen scheint wenig Bedarf. Noch dominieren galgenvogelhafte
Individualität, geteilte Abenteuerlust, ein charismatischer Primus
inter pares. Für altersbedingte Ausfälle der ersten Generation
sprangen geistige Söhne ein - Bauer & Capozzo, beide Jahrgang
‘54, Bishop (*1962), Dörner (*1964), Mahall (*1966). Inzwischen
ist auch Rutherford in die ewigen Jagdgründe eingegangen. Das Jubiläumsprogramm
wurde auf dem JazzFest Berlin 2006 und im SWR Studio 1 in Baden Baden
mitgeschnitten. Dabei stoßen diese 'Kompositionen‘ jeweils
Variationen von organisiertem Chaos und konsonanter Kakophonie an. Typisch
sind ein unlöschbarer Funkenflug, der eine ständig wechselnde
Zahl von Köpfen entzündet, sowie gänzlich frei gestellte
Duette und Soli. Daneben entfacht Willem Breukers 'Out of Burtons Songbooks‘
große hymnische Pracht, die sich in Einzelgesänge und Zirkusturbulenzen
auffächert. Je katzenmusikalischer, desto schaurig-schöner,
kitzlich-paradoxer in meinen Ohren. Und wo bleibt das 'Bavarian Calypso‘-Fieber
in bayrischen Bierzelten, ihr tauben Schellen? Müssen Schlippenbach
und Petrowsky euch vormachen, was Piratenschneid ist? Wheelers 'Nodago‘-Solo
mischt spanische Grandezza mit Tristesse, bevor Rutherford und Lovens
ein Kabinettstück liefern. Mit Steve Lacys 'The Dumps‘ kommt
ein zickiger New-Orleans-Swing ins Schlingern mit Mahall als Über-Dolphy
und PoPoPo-Faxen von Bauer, Capozzo versucht es französisch-elegant,
wird aber kakophon überstimmt, bis Dörner mit groteskem Gefauche
die Luft raus lässt. Folgt noch das Synkopengehämmer von 'The
Forge‘, für das Lewis die Glut schürt und Schlippenbach,
perkussiv umrappelt, die Tasten heiß klopft, bis Tuttistakkati
hinkend den Schlusstakt steppen. Lewis, nur äußerlich der
Exot auf diesem europäischen Narrenschiff, liefert zur exzentrischen
Position auch die entscheidende Reflexion: Globe Unity heißt eine
Wahl zu treffen zwischen Ich oder Überich, Sehnsucht oder Angst,
Überschreitung oder Nachahmung.
Rigo Dittman, Bad Alchemy 57, 2007
Beat
Blaser, Aargauer Zeitung, 18.12.2007
Klaus
Nüchtern, Falter, Wien, 51-52-2007
Frank von Niederhausern.
Radiomagazin, Zürich, 1/2008
A mix of studio tracks and
excerpts from their 2006 JazzFest Berlin performance, Globe Unity –
40 Years is pointedly retrospective compared to 20th Anniversary (FMP).
Whereas the earlier album was a contemporary snapshot of Globe Unity
Orchestra’s practice of long-form improvisations juxtaposing ensembles
and solos, 40 Years is, for a single CD, a remarkably comprehensive
survey of Globe Unity’s various pursuits since its 1966 inception.
Additionally, the album is brilliantly sequenced; subsequently, this
is not an anthology to digest or endure, but an album to dig.
By opening the album with Alexander von Schlippenbach’s “Globe
Unity Forty Years,” the pianist piquantly makes the case that
past is prologue. In mixing a twelve-tone row with fulminating ensemble
embellishments and solos by tenor saxophonist Evan Parker and trombonist
George Lewis, Schlippenbach establishes the continuity between the composition
that gave the orchestra its name and his current approach to structuring
the orchestra’s performances. To varying degrees, there is a comparable
linkage between past and present in most of the other pieces, the most
jarring being Kenny Wheeler’s “Nodago,” a smoldering
ballad rendered in a straightforward manner on the ’79 Japo album,
Compositions. The grafting of trombonist Paul Rutherford and drummer
Paul Lovens’ flinty improvised duet onto the end of the piece
is starkly transforming, but ultimately compelling.
The orchestra’s unraveling of Steve Lacy’s precociously
swinging “The Dumps” from a tightly coiled big band chart
into roiling free improvisation has a similar impact. At first, it seemed
like a missed opportunity not to have Parker solo on this piece; Schlippenbach
often refers to the saxophonist as Coltrane’s best student, and
this would have been the perfect opportunity to show that he was also
Lacy’s. The soprano solo goes instead to Gerd Dudek, whose avoidance
of Lacy signatures and reliance on a more flowing approach to line and
a sleeker sound proves to be a counter-intuitively winning combination.
Bass clarinetist Rudi Mahall, trombonist Johannes Bauer and trumpeters
Jean-Luc Capozzo and Axel Dörner progressively take it outside,
beyond the gravitational pull of the theme. It is noteworthy that –
with the exception of the newly penned “40 Years” –
“The Dumps” is the only piece not previously recorded by
the orchestra.
The inclusion of two pieces from the so-called Wuppertal period of the
early and mid ‘70s points up the orchestra’s zig-zagging
odyssey. Willem Brueker’s “Out of Burtons Songbook”
exemplified the dynamic tension of folk and martial materials colliding
with free improvisation. Schlippenbach’s “Bavarian Calypso,”
the A side of their only single, took the diametrically opposite approach
to idiom. While Breuker scored ponderous themes and frenetic marches,
the pianist simply lets it rip, and trombonist Jeb Bishop and alto saxophonist
Ernst-Ludwig Petrowsky run with it, handing in boisterous, exhilarating
solos. Still, the Breuker piece features one of the highlights of the
set – a Manfred Schoof solo where the trumpeter is prodded from
poignant lyricism one moment to searing fire the next by Schlippenbach’s
surprise-filled comping and the teeming pulses of Lovens and Paul Lytton.
Another piece first issued on Compositions, Schlippenbach’s “The
Forge” ends the album on a strong, jazzcentric note. The piece
begins with a staccato rhythm that lays the foundation for layered cyclic
and repeated phrases, the overall effect of which is vaguely Lacy-like.
It is also a fine blowing vehicle, as evidenced by a keening Lewis solo
and the concluding statement by Schlippenbach, who demonstrates his
unique ability to morph a solo’s relationship to the thematic
material on a second-by-second basis. It is an unexpected ending to
this defining program, but one that is fitting in the final analysis.
It is Schlippenbach’s compositional vision that launched Globe
Unity Orchestra; compositions like “The Forge” maintained
that thread during a period when the orchestra was less his than at
other times, including the present, given the placement of his name
on this milestone recording.
Given the auspicious occasion, the accompanying booklet includes texts
by not one, but two authoritative writers. Bert Noglik delivers a solid,
straight-ahead annotative essay that traces the orchestra’s history
through the program. Lewis’ “Globe Unity and the Little
Red Hen” is an engaging, far-ranging commentary, but it does not
fully explicate the connection between its two subjects. Lewis rightly
cites the folktale heroine as an icon of self-determination; since no
one will help her plant the seed, she does it herself. Most probably
in the interest of space, Lewis forgoes mentioning that she also cut,
threshed and milled the resulting wheat, and then baked the flour into
bread – a lengthy laborious process that is a bit reminiscent
of LP production. But, Lewis also omits the moral punchline of the story
– since she did all of the work, the Little Red Hen solely determined
that she alone would eat the bread. It is the control and benefit of
the fruits of one’s own labor that is the tale’s most germane
aspect in regards to Globe Unity Orchestra, and the endeavor of experimental
music networks and communities in general. Globe Unity – 40 Years
is a testament to this struggle and its bounty.
Bill Shoemaker. Point
Of No Departure, USA,
January 2008
Forever Free
Saxofonist Evan Parker gehört mit Pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach
und Drummer Paul Lovens auch zum Nucleus des Globe Unity Orchestra,
das nun mit teilverjüngter Mannschaft auf „Globe Unity –
40 Years“ (Intakt) vor allem Kompositionen aus den 70ern neu eingespielt
hat und damit die musikalische Bandbreite der 15-köpfigen Bigband
zwischen Kenny Wheelers Romantizismus („Nodago“), Steve
Lacys mathematischem Swing („The Dumps“) und der launigen
Deftigkeit von Schlippenbachs „Bavarian Calypso“ eindrucksvoll
vor Ohren führt.
Klaus Nüchtern, Falter, Wien 51/52/2007 vom 19.12.2007
Legendarisk fri flyt
Alexander von Slippenbachs Globe Unity Orchestra har runda 40 år
med god margin. Vi snakker om en svært livskraftig jubilant.
Da den tyske pianisten, komponisten og orkesterlederen von Slippenbach
etablerte GUO i 1966, var det på mange vis starten på ei
europeisk grein av frijazzen. Inspirasjonen var henta fra afro-amerikanske
stilskapere som Ornette Coleman, Albert Ayler, Cecil Taylor og John
Coltrane, men von Slippenbach & Co ville sette sitt eget preg på
frijazzuttrykket og de påfølgende tiårene har klart
og tydelig vist at det klarte de.
Bortsett fra ei pause fra
slutten av 80-tallet og fram til begynnelsen det nye århundret,
har Globe Unity Orchestra vært et banebrytende ”storband”
med et svært annerledes repertoar. På denne jubileumsinnspillinga
gjort live i Baden-Baden og Berlin i november 2006, får vi komposisjoner
av von Slippenbach, Willem Breuker, Kenny Wheeler og Steve Lacy som
alle har vært spilt inn tidligere – helt tilbake til tidlig
70-tall.
Bandet og uttrykket har vært kompromissløst fra første
ansats i 1966 og heldigvis har ikke de etter hvert modne herrene slakka
av på de kravene. GUO har alltid vært et ”politisk”
orkester og er det fortsatt – de jobber med noe høyst personlig
som de TROR på og har gjennom det åpna mange dører
for nye generasjoner – både musikere og publikummere.
2006-utgava bestod av trombonistene
Johannes Bauer og Jeb Bishop, trompeteren og flügelhornisten Jean-Luc
Capozzo, saksofonisten, klarinettisten og fløytisten Gerd Dudek,
trompeteren Axel Dörner, trombonisten George Lewis, trommeslagerne
Paul Lovens og Paul Lytton, bassklarinettisten Rudi Mahall, saksofonisten
Evan Parker, saksofonisten, klarinettisten og fløytisten E.-L.
Petrowsky, trombonisten Paul Rutherford, som gikk bort i august i fjor
og trompeteren og flügelhornisten Manfred Schoof, samt sjefen sjøl
på piano. 15 mann altså, noe i nærheten av et vanlig
storband, men der stopper også likheten.
Noen er veteraner som har vært med helt fra starten, noen er nykommere
og to amerikanere – Bishop og Lewis – har også blitt
tatt inn i det gode selskap. Fellesnevneren er et alle tilhører
kremen av frijazzutøvere, samtlige med personlige stemmer og
i dette unike kollektivet utstråler de hver for seg og til sammen
et uttrykk ikke noe annet band er i nærheten av.
Ofte kan musikken her høres ganske så anarkistisk ut, men
så samles de 15 til en homogen enhet før de igjen legger
ut på ekskursjoner til morsomme og spennende steder, bl.a. i von
Slippenbachs ”Bavarian Calypso”. Måtte Globe Unity
Orchestra få mange fler inspirerende år.
Tor
Hammerø, Side2, Norway, 08.01.08
Alex
Dutilh, Jazzman, France, Janvier 2008
Kazue
Yokoi, Jazztokyo, Japan, January 2008
40 années, donc, qu’Alexander
Von Schlippenbach mène son Globe Unity Orchestra. En novembre
2006, au Jazzfest de Berlin, eut lieu une célébration
qui rassembla, aux côtés du pianiste : Evan Parker, Gerd
Dudek, Ernst-Ludwig Petrowsky, Rudi Mahall, Kenny Wheeler, Manfred Schoof,
Jean-Luc Capozzo, Axel Dörner, George Lewis, Paul Rutherford, Jeb
Bishop, Johannes Baueur, Paul Lovens et Paul Lytton.
Une équipe irréprochable, en somme, qui œuvrait à
défendre trois compositions de son leader, et trois autres signées
Steve Lacy, Willem Breuker et Kenny Wheeler, au son d’envolées
et de débordements combinés aux façons intactes
des intervenants. Prenant ici les airs d’une drôle de fanfare
héroïque (Out of Burtons Songbooks), l’ensemble interprète
ailleurs avec précision The Dumps (soprano de Parker contre clarinette
basse de Mahall), ou sert un air de fête qui ne tardera pas à
dégénérer en affrontements (Bavarian Calypso).
Partout, dépeintes avec merveille, les frasques déraisonnables
d’adultes contrariés.
Le son du Grisli,
Jazz, musiques expérimentales et autres, France, Janvier 2008
felb.
Jazzzeit, Wien, Jänner-Februar 2008
Dan
Warburton. The WIRE, London, February 2008
Thierry
Lepin, Jazzman, Paris, Fébrier 2008
Ulrich
Seinmetzger, Leipziger Volkszeitung, 25.1.08
Während die Rolling
Stones medial extrem ausgeleuchtet letztes Jahr ihren 45sten feierten,
wurde das Globe Unity Orchestra schon 2006 unglaubliche 40 Jahre. Was
dieser Vergleich soll? Na, das zeigt sich vielleicht in 10 Jahren. Es
könnte spannend sein, dann zu checken, ob Rock 'n Roll oder vielleicht
doch der Free Jazz jünger hält - oder ist es einfach nur die
Musik? Alex von Schlippenbach, der im Frühjahr seinen grandiosen
70sten feiern wird, ist jedenfalls nach wie vor einer der inspiriertesten
und kreativsten freien modernen Pianisten der Jetztzeit - siehe erst
letztens seine unglaublichen "12 Tone Tales", und wenn sein
Orchester auch nicht so rastlos tourt wie die Rock-Opas, ist sein Output,
wenn es sich denn mal trifft - wie hier dokumentiert in Baden-Baden
und beim Jazzfest in Berlin - so frisch und atemberaubend wie am ersten
Tag. Neben dem Who's Who des avancierten zeitgenössischen Jazz
frischen Spieler wie Rudi Mahall, Axel Dörner, Jeb Bishop und der
elder statesman George Lewis, von dem auch - neben Bert Noglik - wunderbare
Linernotes zu lesen sind, das Spiel gehörig auf. Und da gibt es
keine Atempause, denn Geschichte wird gemacht: Schlippenbach selbst,
Willem Breuker, Kenny Wheeler und Steve Lacys "The Dumps"
- eine Scheibe wie ein guter Satz heißer Ohren. Utopischste Momente
des hierarchie-freien und spontan-bewussten Improvisierens - das ist
das Prinzip Freiheit!
MADE MY DAY by HONKER, TERZ 02.08
The pianist Alexander von
Schlippenbach founded Globe Unity Orchestra in 1966. Its 40th anniversary
features 15 former collaborators from the European, British and American
free-jazz scenes, including Evan Parker and the English trombonist Paul
Rutherford, who died last year. Three lengthy tracks showcase the tropes
of collective improvisation that von Schlippenbach helped to define,
as the polyphonous ensemble eschews sequences of solos to move forward
en masse. Three five-minute pieces are more playful, tuneful and structured.
Bavarian Calypso reconciles unrelated styles with comical conviction;
Kenny Wheeler’s spacious Nodago offers a conventional, sultry
respite.
Stewart Lee, The Sunday Times, London, January 27, 2008
Le Globe Unity Orchestra
existe officiellement depuis 1973, le premier enregistrement d’Alexander
Von Schlippenbach à la tête d’une formation préfigurant
cet orchestre date de 1966. De l’équipe réunie cette
année-là restent aujourd’hui Manfred Schoof et Gerd
Dudek, auxquels on ajoutera Kenny Wheeler, Evan Parker et Paul Lovens
qui étaient là en 1973 lors de l’enregistrement
du “Live In Wuppertal” (FMP). Anniversaire oblige, on aura
une pensée pour les disparus (Peter Kowald par exemple, non remplacé),
on constatera que la musique n’a pas pris une ride, sans se demander
si c’est un compliment ou un regret, et on fera la fête
aux nouveaux venus, notre Jean-Luc Capozzo, mais aussi Rudi Mahall et
Axel Dörner. Von Schlippenbach insiste pour que l’on nomme
sa musique free-jazz et non musique improvisée, ce qui doit s’entendre
au sens où la liberté ici en acte se glisse entre les
mailles d’un certain nombre de contraintes acceptées :
partitions et repères, thèmes récurrents, signature
d’un seul. Pour le reste, une fête très réussie,
entre les moments de joyful noise, les détournements emballés
et dansants (Bavarian Calypso), l’unisson, l’hymne ou la
marche comme résolution possible de la question de l’unité
dans la diversité (Out of Burtons Songbook de Willem Breuker),
et les moments où l’émotion tendue affleure, comme
dans le très beau Nodago de Kenny Wheeler. Ce dernier très
en vue dans de nombreux solos, tout comme Evan Parker, George Lewis
et l’irréfutable paire de percussionnistes que sont Paul
Lovens et Paul Lytton. A l’heure où les grands formats
ont une vie précaire mais précieuse, un beau témoignage
du plaisir qu’on peut prendre à faire advenir la musique
à plusieurs, et une superbe illustration du lien entre les générations.
Philippe Méziat, Disques D'émois, Jazzmagazine,
Paris, Fevrier 2008
Luc
Bouquet, Improjazz 142, Février 2008
“The cosmic eye at
the central point and on the periphery of the sphere can see all the
structures from every angle at the same time. From the divine indifference
of the sphere emerge the solos with all the impulse of revolt. The lines
they trace are the images of life.”— Alexander von Schlippenbach,
from the liner notes to Globe Unity (Saba, 1966).
In 1966, German pianist/composer Alexander von Schlippenbach convened
two of the groups he was working with (the Manfred Schoof Sextett and
the Gunter Hampel group) and added a host of rising stars of European
free music, some whose pedigrees are now mythical and others who have
remained as obscure as their talents were large. Fourteen musicians—two
trumpets, five reeds, tuba/trombone, vibes, piano, two basses and two
drummers—came together in a momentous squall. Globe Unity, containing
the dense title track and a sparser piece (which had the musicians doubling
on a variety of flutes and non- western instruments) entitled “Sun,”
was released on the Saba label under his name. Following a notorious
performance at the Berlin Jazztage 1966, it was technically the pianist's
first recording as a leader.
The orchestra itself became a working and recording group the following
year, its performance at Donaueschingen frightening to the “new
music” cognoscenti who also reviled tenor saxophonist Archie Shepp's
performance at the same festival. The GUO had a few periods of hiatus
in lean economic times during the 1980s and 1990s, but despite change
and loss have persevered as an ensemble since their inception. Following
a number of recordings for FMP, Po Torch, and Japo (plus archival documents
on Atavistic), they found a home on the Swiss Intakt label with Globe
Unity 2002 (Intakt, 2002). Globe Unity - 40 Years is their 17th recording;
it is also quite possibly the final recording of trombonist Paul Rutherford,
a longtime member of the orchestra who passed away in 2007.
The Globe Unity Orchestra of 2008 looks a little different than the
earlier line-ups—bassists are absent, for the only two who could
hold that chair, Peter Kowald and the criminally underrated Buschi Niebergall,
have since died. Though for most of the 1970s (the “Wuppertal
Years”), Aachen-born Paul Lovens was the sole percussive engine,
he's recently been supplanted by Paul Lytton. The current cast is diverse,
with many returning conscripts as well as the young fire of trumpeters
Axel Dörner and Jean-Luc Capozzo, trombonist Jeb Bishop and bass
clarinetist Rudi Mahall.
Globe Unity - 40 Years counts as something of a retrospective, and quite
nearly a “greatest hits” album. There are two tunes from
the classic FMP dates, one tune each from saxophonist Steve Lacy and
trumpeter Kenny Wheeler, and “The Forge” from their brief
Japo sojourn.
The title track is clearly written around the Schlippenbach-Lovens-Evan
Parker trio, who after a punchy collective beginning and a momentary
rise in density, emerge as the primary voice. Parker's tenor saxophone
is a picture of commitment to phrases and scales, hanging onto and extrapolating
the folk dances of piano and drums. There's a brief tenor-drums duet
before a riff straight out of the original “Globe Unity”
emerges in a beeline for the past, as Parker's controlled ululations
ride atop the orchestra's pulse. Trombonist George Lewis, who has followed
Anthony Braxton's membership as an AACM figure in the orchestra since
the 1980s, solos unaccompanied and in a firestorm trio with Lovens and
altoist Ernst-Ludwig Petrowsky—frenzied and searing madness that
recalls some of the high-octane playing of the FMP heyday. Soon other
voices join the party in pointillist stabs, returning to the forms that
introduced the piece and, as Schlippenbach's fingers rake the piano
strings, invoking the overarching order in the most notoriously “free”
big band in contemporary music.
”Out Of Burton's Songbooks” is a theme by an early collaborator,
Dutch reedman Willem Breuker, who was part of the original Globe Unity
date and throughout the band's first several years contributed to its
book. It's a reference to (if not lifted entirely from) pianist Burton
Greene, who has made his home in Holland since the late 1960s. Schlippenbach
and Greene aren't that different in their approach—both have a
huge affinity for pianist/copmposer Thelonious Monk and Eastern European
folk music, and yet can bring an uncanny pastoralism to the proceedings.
Schlippenbach opens the tune solo in a minor key “tree theme”
before a plodding Kurt Weill- like melody appears. Trumpeter Manfred
Schoof is poised in his series of trills and bell-clear runs, sallying
over wispy percussive accompaniment and in counterpoint with the leader.
There's a ham-fisted take on Gypsy music that leads into a collective
improvisation, Gerd Dudek's gruff post-bop saxophone keen tearing out
from under, only to be swallowed again. Mahall and trombonist Johannes
Bauer joust in trio with the pianist; Mahall's painstaking solo architecture
is a studied advance on Eric Dolphy, and runs in direct counter to the
borderline obnoxious paint-peeling of his predecessor in the group,
Luxembourgian Michel Pilz.
”Bavarian Calypso” has the distinction of being included
on one of the ultra-rare FMP singles. Though relegated mostly to collective
improvisation, the tune is a fantastic (and humorous) take on the South
African kwela themes used by contemporaries the Brotherhood Of Breath,
as well as German parade music and who knows what else. Here, it's also
a vehicle for the blistering tailgate of Jeb Bishop and torrents of
multiphonics from Petrowsky. It segues into “Nodago,” a
beautiful dirge by (and feature for) Kenny Wheeler, who joined the band
in 1970. Tacked on is a brief but illuminating series of earmeals by
Rutherford and Lovens, the trombonists' buzzing and chortling a perfect
transition into Steve Lacy's “The Dumps.” Lacy appeared
on a few GUO recordings during the 1970s and contributed “Worms”
to the album Compositions (Japo, 1979), but “The Dumps”
hasn't had orchestral treatment until now. Dudek inhabits the composer's
horn amiably, his clear tone carrying the traditional melody into a
spirited horns-only fanfare. Mahall digs in over the rhythm section,
turning birdsong into sqawks as the tune's character shifts from winsome
melody to a contrapuntal conflagration.
Axel Dörner, surely among the trumpet's most willfully experimental
voices since Bill Dixon, opens “The Forge” unaccompanied,
a panoply of soundmasses, guttural exhortations and vaguely electro-acoustic
sounds spilling from his slide-affixed axe. The tune itself builds on
the multipart “Payan” theme, nearly martial before becoming
a true rhythmic hornet's nest. Schlippenbach and Lovens take the reins
in knotty dialogue following Lewis' dissertation on flicked facility,
arcing exhortations and subtonal discoveries.
The closing title is apt: part of running an orchestra is hammering
out structure from fifteen very individual creative minds. But the longevity
of the band is a testament to the true cooperative nature of the effort.
Now nearly forty-two years on, the feral intensity of Globe Unity has
been replaced with a clear handle on a collective lexicon. Schlippenbach
quoted the painter Paul Klee in the first album's liner notes: “You
leave behind all that belongs to this side, building yourself a new
world on the other side, a world in which everything is wholly 'Yes'.”
Could there be another answer?
Clifford Allen,
All
About Jazz, USA February 10, 2008
Christoph
Merki, Tages-Anzeiger, Zürich, 13. Februar 2008
Christian
Rentsch, Jazz'n'more, Zürich, März 2008
Reiner
Kobe, Jazzpodium, März 2008
Few, if any, large scale
ensembles of recent memory can claim the antiquated but still apposite
designation “All-Star” like this one can. Roscoe Mitchell’s
recent Transatlantic Art Ensemble comes close and shares slight overlap,
but as an assemblage of cross-generational European and American improvisers
the latest incarnation of the venerable GUO takes the prize. Essentially
an expansion of the 2002 re-launch group (also documented by Intakt),
Brötzmann is no longer on board, but the trade-off is more than
worth it. The trumpet teaming of Kenny Wheeler, Manfred Schoof and Axel
Dörner alone is enough to make savvy improv listeners salivate
profusely at the prospect of the sounds ensconced on disc. Brass outnumbers
reeds two to one. Jeb Bishop and George Lewis are the American emissaries,
an intriguing made practically transcendental by the addition of Paul
Rutherford and Johannes Bauer to the ranks. The gatefold photo-op of
all fifteen men in performance formation is an awesome sight. But enough
fawning over the roster… even the most infallible orchestra can
find itself compromised the source material isn’t up to snuff.
Fortunately, there’s no danger of that as bandleader Schlippenbach
hand picks several of the finest numbers from the GUO archives. Dictated
primarily by collective free improvisation, the title piece employs
Schlippenbach Trio as catalyst and more specifically Evan Parker’s
indefatigable and unmistakable tenor, which rides the rising and falling
troughs generated by the orchestra en mass. These fanfare-shaped waves
reach Kentonian magnitudes in the piece’s second half, eventually
falling off into a largely unaccompanied solo for Lewis and closing
on a pedal weighted rumble from the composer. Borrowed from GUO colleague
Willem Breuker, “Out of the Burtons Songbooks” is more conventionally
structured and relies on wildly shifting dynamics as well as almost
comedic application of folk march forms. Grand anthemic gestures punctuate
solo passages from several band members, which in turn lead to a bracing
exchange between Mahall and Bauer. A circular Parker soprano sortie
primes the audience for a tension-thick slow simmer close.
“Bavarian Calypso” and the Wheeler-derived “Nodago”
join Schlippenbach’s “The Forge” as the shorter forays
into variegated song forms. The first brings the cultural collision
of its title to practice in humorous fashion and once again Breuker
comes to mind as Bishop and Perowsky compete for woolliest, most unhinged
improvisation. Wheeler and Rutherford devise diametric solos on the
second, trumpet dealing in soaring ballad elegance while trombone doles
out a nail-studded retort flanked by the drummers. Lacy’s “The
Dumps” receives a rousing reading as well. Gerd Dudek leads the
ensemble in an exploration of the highly hummable theme before slipping
into several interludes of raucous polyphony and rounding off with one
of Dörner’s raspberries meet broken air duct and tea kettle
statements. It’s hard not to imagine the composer pleased by the
tribute were he around to hear it. Four decades in the can for the GUO,
if only we might be privy to four more!
Derek Taylor,
www.bagatellen.com,
März 2008
Ulrich
Steinmetzger, Sonic 2/ 2008
Duncan
Heining, Jazzwise, London, March 2008
Bill
Meyer, Downbeat, May 2008
La Globe Unity torna a incidere,
non succedeva dal 2002, e il risultato ancora una volta è straordinario.
E per festeggiare le quaranta candeline, Schlippenbach e soci hanno
fatto le cose in grande. Innanzitutto largo alle nuove leve, con l’innesto
di giovani virgulti pescati al di qua e al di là dell’oceano:
i trombettisti Jean-Luc Cappozzo e Axel Dörner, il clarinettista
Rudi Mahall e il fenomenale trombonista Jeb Bishop, ex Vandermark 5.
E poi, a differenza delle ultime testimonianze discografiche, due negli
ultimi vent’anni, in cui si era privilegiata un’unica, interminabile,
improvvisazione collettiva, si ritorna ad una scaletta articolata, che
pesca a piene mani nel repertorio accumulato dal ’66, anno di
fondazione, a oggi.
Disco celebrativo nelle intenzioni, dunque, anche se di celebrativo,
nel senso di geriatrico o museale, in questa musica c’è
ben poco. Perchè la formula Globe Unity, e qui sta la grandezza
del progetto, è viva più che mai e più che mai
attuale. Al di là delle considerazioni sulla lunga storia della
formazione, che poi è la storia dell’improvvisazione europea,
e sulla fastidiosa, ma inevitabile, conta degli assenti, compreso il
recentemente scomparso Paul Rutherford, piace sottolineare come lo spirito
che Schlippenbach infuse al progetto quaranta primavere or sono, scommettendo
sull’ipotesi di una formazione allargata in cui la libertà
del singolo non venisse soffocata, ancora si agita e contorce, contribuendo
a mantenere intatta un’identità collettiva che supera di
gran lunga la somma algebrica - e che somma algebrica - dei singoli
musicisti coinvolti.
Bastano pochi secondi d’ascolto per calarsi nel flusso e cogliere
lo spirito Globe Unity. I gorgoglii di George Lewis in coda all’inedito
“Globe Unity Forty Years”, il duetto Rudi Mahall-Johannes
Bauer e il soprano di Evan Parker nella maestosa “Out of Burtons
Songbooks”, a firma di Willem Breuker, il solo di Jeb Bishop nella
cadenzata “Bavarian Calypso”, la commovente intro di Kenny
Wheeler alla nostalgica “Nodago”: sono solo alcuni dei momenti
indimenticabili in un programma che non conosce cedimenti, indugi, concessioni
all’autocompiacimento e giogionerie.
Globe Unity forty years and forever!
Luca Canini, All
About Jazz Italia, Italy, 14. April 2008
Guillaume
Bellhommee, Inrock, France, Mai 2008
Globe Unity Orchestra's life-line closely follows that of my own. With
forty years behind our belts, we can both say we're older, a little
wiser, perhaps a little bit more confused [but that's hitting things
on a more personal note]. Alexander von Schlippenbach's creation has
survived many changes over the last four decades, yet it's still able
to show sharp teeth. His writing has always left me in an ecstatic mood,
while his performances have been nothing short of spectacular. There's
only one big band that I can think of that can produce the same sort
of synergy and that would be Barry Guy's London Jazz Composers' Orchestra
[which on occasion shares some of Globe Unity's line-up]. To celebrate
four decades of dedicated work, Intakt released a recording from 2006.
Simply entitled "Globe Unity - 40 Years", the CD is a mix
of live [JazzFest Berlin] and studio recording. Only three of the pieces
were penned by Schlippenbach, while the other three are given over to
former members of the Orchestra. Willem Breuker's swinging "Out
of Burtons Songbooks" gets a powerful rendition. Kenny Wheeler's
"Nodago" receives a sparse reading [which highlights Wheeler
on trumpet along with Paul Rutherford robust trombone bursts], while
Steve Lacy's "The Dumps" gets a quirky take, which features
dueling trumpet work of Axel Dorner and Jean-Luc Capozzo. Some of the
other highlights include trombonist George Lewis [who penned the liner
notes for the disc] who is featured on outstanding, full-squelching
work on "The Forge" and Evan Parker, who is highlighted on
tenor as he ravages through the disc's title track. Just about every
one of the Orchestra's fifteen members gets to do a brief solo or play
in a duo scenario. Two Pauls - Lovens and Lytton - on percussion don't
break out of their mold and never, not even for a brief section attempt
to over-power the sound of the band. Some of the numbers feature the
Orchestra blasting furious motifs away at the audience or one another.
Whether they're in an all-out mode of jubilation or when the music is
toned down a notch to highlight talents of a given player, the Orchestra
simply shines. With some of their best work still out of print, we'll
gladly take any recording that comes our way. Luckily "Globe Unity
- 40 Years" is not just any recording. It's a wealth of creative
prowess moving forward to the next decade of great music, improvisation
and creative high. Mr. Schlippenbach, all we're asking is for another
helping of this fine music of life.
Tom Sekowski,
Gaz-Eta, Poland, May 2008
Twenty
Minutes - Interview, John Eyles, All About Jazz, 20. May 2008
Juri
Giannini, Concerto, Österreich, Februar/März 2008
JazzReview,
London, June 2008
Marcello
Lorrai, In Sound, Italy, May 2008
Alan
Waters, Signal to Noise, USA / Canada, Summer 2008
Enzo
Pavoni, Jazzmagazine, Italy, July/August 2008
Marek
Romanski, Jazzforum, Poland, June 2008
Alan
Waters, Signal to Noise, USA/Canada, Fall 2008
Het Globe Unity Orchestra
van Alexander von Schlippenbach is zowat de pionier in het genre. Het
orkest veroorzaakte in 1966 een enorm schandaal ("Heksenketel!")
maar heeft de tand des tijds grandioos doorstaan. In de loop der jaren
hebben ze verschillende strategieÎn gehanteerd, gaande van streng
gecomponeerd werk tot totale improvisatie. De jubileumopname Globe Unity
- 40 Years (****) toont de werkwijze van het orkest in een zestal composities.
'Bavarian Calypso' begint bijvoorbeeld met een aanstekelijk dansdeuntje,
maar de groep breekt dat gauw af tot een nauwelijks herkenbaar kluwen.
Toch landt het orkest even later nog zachtjes in de schaduw van een
melodie. Maar elk nummer werkt helemaal anders en steunt altijd sterk
op de ingeving van individuen.
Didier Wijnants,
De Morgen, Belgium, 23. September 2008
A month shy of the 40th anniversary
of Alexander von Schlippenbach’s monumental album Globe Unity
(SABA, 1966), the German pianist brought together a modern edition of
this freewheeling large ensemble for a concert at the 2006 Berlin Jazzfest
as well as time in the studio. The result is an album that celebrates
the history of one of Europe’s longest-running jazz ensembles
(a couple of years older, though with an involuntary 10-year hiatus,
than Holland’s ICP Orchestra) and demonstrates it is, with new
material and members, still a vital part of the European jazz scene.
When Globe Unity was released
in 1966, the band was 14 strong, almost exclusively hailing from Germany,
based around the Manfred Schoof Quintet and Peter Brötzmann Trio
of the time. By 1967-1970, there were a number of personnel changes,
which included expansion into England, Poland, France and Sweden and
swelling to as many as 19 players. Over the years, the Globe Unity Orchestra
(GUO) has expanded and contracted, featuring musicians from all over
Europe as well as some notable American participants like Steve Lacy
and George Lewis.
What makes GUO particularly
fascinating, besides having included a fair percentage of the Western’s
world’s best improvisers, is that its repertoire included both
compositions and large-scale free improvisations (see the two albums
on JAPO - 1977’s Improvisations and 1979’s Compositions
- for both sides). 40 Years focuses more on the compositional side of
GUO. Included on this slightly-more-than-an-hour disc culled from three
days in November 2006 is a brand new piece (“Globe Unity 40 Years”
by the group’s leader); a piece included on Live in Wuppertal
1973 (early constituent Willem Breuker’s “Out of Burtons
Songbook”); another piece from Wuppertal as well as the A Side
of a rare FMP single (Schlippenbach’s “Bavarian Calypso”);
two pieces from the Compositions album (Kenny Wheeler’s “Nodago”
and Schlippenbach’s “The Forge”) and a previously
unrecorded piece by Steve Lacy (“The Dumps”), a guest with
the group in 1975. Most of the pieces stick close to their original
recorded lengths, with the delicious exception being “Out of Burtons
Songbook”, lengthened by over 12 minutes. That, “Globe Unity
40 Years” and the Lacy piece make up the bulk of this album and
contain some wonderful individual features.
An improvising ensemble is
only as strong as its component players and they are only as good as
their communication and rapport. Since that first album, GUO has, with
all the personnel changes, centered on Schlippenbach, saxophonist Gerd
Dudek and trumpeter Manfred Schoof, who have been performing together
since 1966. Another crucial component to that mix is the British contingent
of saxophonist Evan Parker, the late trombonist Paul Rutherford and
(honorary Brit) trumpeter Kenny Wheeler, GUO’ers since 1970. The
rest of the 15-piece edition on 40 Years represents an encapsulated
history of both GUO and Schlippenbach’s career: trumpeter Axel
Dörner and bass clarinetist Rudi Mahall are part of Schlippenbach’s
current quintet; drummer Paul Lovens is also part of that group but
is more notably the third component of the Schlippenbach trio with Evan
Parker, playing steadily since 1972. Trombonists Johannes Bauer and
Jeb Bishop and trumpeter Jean-Luc Capozzo are newcomers to the group,
representing three countries’ improvising traditions, while the
final three musicians are occasional players in the GUO’s ranks:
reedplayer Ernst-Ludwig Petrowsky, trombonist George Lewis and drummer
Paul Lytton (who seems to have become the regular foil for Lovens).
It’s unheard of for
an avant garde ensemble to put a Greatest Hits album and that was most
likely not the intent of 40 Years. After the release of Globe Unity
2002 (Intakt), GUO has been getting far more work than would be expected
for an international experimental large group (see review of a recent
concert in Berlin on page 13). Playing so near to its 40th anniversary,
it is not surprising that Schlippenbach, who just turned 70 this past
April, would be somewhat nostalgic. But what listeners have here is
not a summation of GUO’s work; rather it is a warm invitation
to explore this seminal group’s long history in more detail and
to catch them live if you can.
Andrey Henkin, All About Jazz New York, November 2008
Andrey
Henkin, All About Jazz USA, November 22, 2008
More than 70 years old,
pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach is one more proof of Steve Lacy’s
adage that “free jazz keeps you young”. A professional musician
since 1962, Berlin-based Schlippenbach has maintained his level of creativity
in various contexts, most prominently in the trans-European Globe Unity
Orchestra (GUO) and his trio with saxophonist Evan Parker and drummer
Paul Lovens.
Consistency may be another attribute of quality as well as metaphoric
youthfulness, since these CDs – one celebrating the GUO’s
40th birthday and the other recorded in the year of the Schlippenbach
Trio (ST)’s 35th anniversary – confirm that the pianist
and his associates are still on top of their game(s).
Taking them one by one, death and disagreements have taken their toll
on the GUO’s personnel, but the 15-piece aggregation – sans
bass player like the ST – holds to the high standards set by its
predecessors. Mixing older compositions with newer pieces, such as the
pianist-composed title track, solo space is given to every band member,
who range from GU veterans such as trumpeter Kenny Wheeler and multi-reedist
Gerd Dudek to newbies such as American trombonist Jeb Bishop and French
trumpeter/flugelhornist Jean-Luc Capozzo.
Some of tracks are practically bagatelles, with the real meat in the
more lengthy explorations. Still there is period charm in the rhythmic
punctuation, complete with screaming high-note trumpet lines –
likely from Capozzo – that enliven “Bavarian Calypso”’s
cacophonous polyphony. Plus “Nodago”, a reflective showcase
for Wheeler, who composed it, proves that the old Woody Herman-Stan
Kenton-style big band backing can be legit. Nonetheless, the late British
trombonist Paul Rutherford manages to counter nostalgia here with a
burbling multiphonic solo that contrasts contralto and basso tones.
A close cousin to the calypso is Steve Lacy’s “The Dumps”.
Thelonious Monk-like in its interpretation it features oomph-pah-pah
brass, slithering reed timbres and high-frequency rolling chording from
Schlippenbach. Here Dudek expels a continuously breathed circular soprano
saxophone solo with more grit than Parker brings to similar outputs.
Bishop’s slippery slide positions and tongued pressure layer the
backing along with Capozzo’s mouse squeaks and behind-the-beat
grace notes, which are given further impetus by Lovens’ cymbal
spanks and rim shots. In contrast, Dörner’s concluding knitted
capillary tones appear to leech sound as much from metal stress and
throat scraping as from what is pushed through the bell.
Another showcase, Wilem Breuker’s “Out of Burtons Songbooks”,
from 1973, makes obvious the GU’s early style-spanning. The processional
piano introduction could have been lifted from a chamber recital, while
Schlippenbach’s subsequent exchanges with Dudek outline the sort
of interdependent dissonance that seems a lot closer to Joe Henderson’s
and Herbie Hancock’s work for Blue Note, then contemporary European
experimentation. In-the-moment interface is thus left to Bishop and
bass clarinetist Rudi Mahall’s whack-a-mole-like duet, where smears,
vibratos and trills in all registers are immediately answered and intensified.
Still the GU’s 21st Century identity is made clearest on the pianist’s
title composition. Fabricating the piece from drum pops, brass plunger
tones, slurred reed chirps, zig-zag trumpeting and irregular triplets
from the piano, serendipitously its resolution involves members of the
ST. Schlippenbach is appropriately staccato and cross-handed in his
playing; Lovens wallops cracks, drags and crashes his percussion; while
Parker unleashes hummingbird-swift sliding, slurping and triple tonguing.
Trombonist George Lewis’ side-to-side slurs and doubled tongue
flutters extend the line still further.
Gold Is Where You Find It’s title tune provides an equivalently
definitive description of the 21st Century ST. Coupled with the subsequent
“K. SP”, it exposes the trio strategy of tick-tock wooden
drags and positioned licks plus cymbal pops from Lovens; echoing strummed
piano chords plus bowed, twanged and stopped prepared piano strings
from Schlippenbach; and squeezed irregular note clusters and unstated
squeaks and breaths form Parker.
Like the GU, the trio improvisations obliquely refer to antecedents
as well as the future. For instance, there’s a section on “Three
in One”, when Schlippenbach’s key-clipping is so obviously
Monk-like – the American pianist is an admitted influence –
that Parker’s continuously uncoiling chirps and split-tone asides
start to resemble the tenor saxophone styling of Johnny Griffin. Meanwhile
the pianist circles through a variety of chord and cluster coloration
as cascading high-energy feints and fills share space with wriggling
note clusters and off-handed patterns.
“Cloudburst” – not the Lambert-Hendricks & Ross
vocal showcase – in instead a moody nocturne where circumspect
tenor saxophone timbres meet rebounds, pops and temperate cymbal lacerations,
with the tune accelerating in andante increments, until it climaxes
in kinetic cadenzas from Schlippenbach as well as tough saxophone cadences
from Parker.
Finally there’s “Z.D.W.A.”, the impressive group improvisation
that begins this recital. Balanced on Lovens’ distinctive locution
of rolls and rebounds plus irregular cymbal shattering, the pianist
expresses himself in different styles and tempos. Moving from dreamy
romanticism to rolling stride in his solos, bass pedal pressure and
chord clusters gradually give way to playful double-timing. Similarly
Parker’s tongue-slapping and tone-scraping attain his characteristic
line-and-pattern extensions before downshifting with the others to cumulative
silence.
Extrapolating Parker’s composition title “Three in One”,
the Schlippenbach Trio has maintained its power over many years by sympathetically
amalgamating each other’s skills. What’s more, even with
a constantly shifting cast, the Globe Unity has performed a similar
task. Perhaps then it’s this organizational flair, along with
his choice of compositions, and situations that welcome new ideas, which
accounts for the pianist’s musical youthfulness.
Ken
Waxman, Jazz Word, November 2008
Tobias
Richtsteig, Jazzpodium, Dezember 2008
It has been a pleasure to
see the venerable GUO back in action, and this is an even more convincing
effort than that from 2002, on the same label. The title piece is nothing
short of a happening, as are all Globe Unity events. How can it be otherwise
with what amounts to a dream cast of improvisers from two continents?
Globe Unity Forty Years is positively epic, building in its first wave
to a stunning solo by George Lewis; to have him and the late lamented
Paul Rutherford in the same ensemble provides an embarrassment of riches,
both on paper and in the realities of these 2006 performances.
Jeb Bishop makes a fine showing on the cataclysmically whimsical “Bavarian
Calypso,” an uproarious testament to the obvious
joy felt by all on this auspicious occasion.
It’s not all depraved abandon though, as the gorgeous Kenny Wheeler-penned
“Nodago” makes plain. He’s playing with such beauty,
each note almost sobbing its way out of existence. On that track’s
second half, we find Rutherford in transcendent form in one of his last
recorded performances, maybe not quite as fiery as in previous circumstances
but exhibiting extraordinary control and invention. This is a wonderfully
varied program, Steve Lacy’s “The Dumps” and Willem
Breuker’s “Out of Burton’s Songbook” adding
another layer of wise humor. Schlippenbach’s playing is technically
masterful and endlessly inventive, as usual.
GUO has recorded most of these pieces during its forty year existence,
so Forty Years is a fine retrospective as well as showcasing
a newly refreshed ensemble under the direction of one of this music’s
most revered practitioners.
Marc Medwin, Cadence-Magazin, USA, Jan-Feb-Mar 2009
Chris Searle, Morning Star, Great Britain, November 22 2011
Chris Searle, Morning Star, Great Britain, April 22, 2014
Andreas Hartmann, Taz, 12. Oktober 2016, Deutschland
|
