Axel Dorner / Agusti Fernandez / Ramon Prats: Venusik

Avant Jazz / Free Improvisation / Avant-Garde
premiera polska: 2018-11-09
seria wydawnicza: Spontaneous Music Tribune Series is dedicated to iberian free improvised music
kontynent: Europa
opakowanie: Triplefoldowe etui
opis:
multikulti.com:
Dedykowana iberyjskiej scenie muzyki improwizowanej seria wydawnicza Multikulti Project - Spontaneous Music Tribune konsekwentnie się rozrasta.

Jedenasta jej część to płyta „Venusik”, a sygnują ją niezwykle znaczący dla europejskiej sceny muzyki improwizowanej muzycy - Axel Dörner (trąbka, elektronika), Agustí Fernández (fortepian) i Ramon Prats (perkusja, instrumenty perkusyjne). Trio zaprasza nas na intrygującą podróż do świata muzyki eksplorującej niezbadane jeszcze pokłady dźwięków, jakie dostarczyć mogą instrumenty akustyczne, delikatnie wspierane elektroniką. Muzyka ta w wyobraźni hiszpańskiego dziennikarza Carlosa Péreza Cruza (elclubdejazz.com) stworzyła takie oto skojarzenia:
„Jest to (....) muzyka przyczajonej bestii, ukrytej w lasach deszczowych Amazonii i dźwięczących w nim odgłosów i perkusyjnych biczy, które wiją gałęzie drzew; jest to echo ceremonii rozbrzmiewającej plemiennymi bębnami, które są zarówno niepokojące, jak i pociągające; to głęboki pogłos ogromnego fortepianu, który przesuwa podłoże; to dalekie wołanie wolności; dzień i noc, pocieszenie i niepokój, to jesienna dojrzałość, która odradza się z nowymi sokami improwizowanej wiosny”.

Premiera płyty „Venusik” zbiega się w czasie z przyznaniem Axelowi Dörnerowi prestiżowej, niemieckiej nagrody „Jazzpreis Berlin 2019”. W uzasadnieniu czytamy m.in. iż „Dörner stworzył zupełnie nowe przestrzenie dźwiękowe, poprzez celowe odejście od tradycyjnych sposobów grania. Zajmuje szczególne miejsce na międzynarodowej scenie jazzowej i jest ważnym punktem odniesienia dla muzyków spoza Niemiec”. Nagrodę przyznaje RBB Kulturradio wraz z Senackim Departamentem Kultury i Europy. Serdecznie gratulujemy!
WYBRANE RECENZJE/SELECTED REVIEWS

All About Jazz * * * *:
The command must have been "make it new," and the trio of Axel Dorner (trumpet & electronics), Agusti Fernandez (piano), and Ramon Prats (drums & percussion) wholeheartedly agreed. Venusik is one of several recordings made under the Spontaneous Music Tribune Series for the parent label Multikulti Project.

The newness focuses on original music and, maybe better yet, original sounds. With this trio, "original" is interpreted to mean unpredictable. Dörner's trumpet plus electronics are often mistaken for a machine language or wind drafts. Fernández prefers to act as a mechanic, working diligently under the hood of his piano as opposed to sitting at the keyboards. Prats' percussion approach offers an overwrought busyness that would be at home in an ant hill or bee nest.

The music is, by its charge, free improvisation but not free of patterns and outlines. Sounds, though, are encrypted and, without a close listen, unavailable to the ear. "AEM" pulverizes metallic objects as if titrating sound. You may initially believe this is a field recording at some factory instead of a performance by piano, trumpet, and drums. The musicians ask you to unleash your imagination. With "SSO," instruments are recognizable as trumpet, piano and drums. It's just that they are caught in the turbulence of a river's rapids, a sort of speed freak's free jazz. Deeper into the session "SRON" and "SUPARCO" decelerate the music-making to allow an insight into their process. Deconstruct becomes a construct of creation and traditional instruments become machines.
By Mark Corroto


The Amateur Guide to Jazz and Avantgarde: Poland, Catalunya, Portugal and More - Ocena * * * * *:
Incredible stuff, comparable only to the best of the best free jazz recordings, like ones of Albert Ayler or John Coltrane or Cecil Taylor, or the best of free improvised music ones, like those of Alexander von Schlippenbach Trio or Barry Guy Trio. I had an honor and incredible pleasure to assist in this recording session.

The music belongs here can be described as "Barcelona specialle de la maison a rebours". Agusti and Ramon do what the member of the Barcelona scene should do: use acoustic means to mimic and fake other instruments, including the electronic ones. Axel does the same thing in principle, but he does use electronics too! What ever the approach, the final result is incredible.
The amazing thing in this fantastic recording is that despite the density of different sounds, one can cleary distinguish what the piano, the drums and the trumpet are doing/faking. The opening "AEM" is a good example, in which the trumpet can be clearly identified only in the last minute essentially. "SSO" is more "traditional" in this sense: the trumpet is the trumpet, and even the piano is... a kind of piano. This track is a masterpiece of emotional expression.

But, the following "SRON" is also amazing, especially for a truly superb work of Ramon. "SUPARCO" is dominated by the electronic and inside piano noise, as far as I can distinguish with my ears. The final highlight is nearly 18 minutes long "SNSB", a reflection full, quiet tune, with fragmented improvisations, plenty of silence pauses, but overall positive and creative mood. The middle part is particularly impressive. It is post-avantgarde music that has no comparison to anything else. A master work of Juan Rodríguez Berbín, who recorded, mixed and mastered the material.
by Maciej Lewenstein

FreeFormFreeJazz.org * * * *:
O trompetista alemão Axel Dorner se une aos espanhóis Agustí Fernández (piano) e Ramon Prats (percussão) neste encontro captado no Rosazul, Barcelona, em novembro de 2017.
Como resultado, free impro de primeira linha destilado por cinco temas, variando de 5 a 17 minutos. "AEM" começa de forma mais climática, com Dorner nos eletrônicos e Prats explorando detalhes percussivos que vão envolvendo o ouvinte; o trompete chega mais ao fim, de forma abrasiva e cortante. Isso nos remete à faixa seguinte, "SSO", em que o sopro continua em primeira plano, sobre pontos minimalistas ao piano, que crescem em intensidade para os três juntos atingirem picos incendiários lá pelos três minutos, nos momentos mais vibrantes da apresentação. Muita dessa energia concentrada retorna em "Suparco", peça em que Fernández é o destaque, conduzindo uma entorpecente linha em seu piano que atravessa os últimos dois minutos de forma inquietante. "SNSB", a mais longa, fecha o disco em outro tom, remetendo mais à vibe climática inicial, inclusive com Dorner voltando a transitar pelos eletrônicos em algumas passagens.
O álbum faz parte da Spontaneous Music Tribune Series, um dos selos dedicados ao free impro mantidos pelo polonês Multikulti Project.
Por Fabricio Vieira

olewnick.blogspot.com:
Anoher trio from the same label as above, here with Dörner (trumpet), Fernández (piano) and Prats (percussion), but much more on the Euro free improv rather than jazz side of things. Five cuts, from quiet to raucous, Dörner having a great deal of swaggering fun on the latter. There are several exciting moments, including Prats' playing on 'Suparco' and Dörner and Fernández on much of the final track but, overall, the session feels a little routine, with too few meaty ideas. Not bad, not so necessary.
by Brian Olewnick

salt-peanuts.eu:
Take three resourceful improvisers: German trumpet and electronics player Axel Dörner plus Catalan pianist Agustí Fernández and drummer-percussionist Ramon Prats (both play together in the Liquid Trio). Locate a scene: Rosazul studio in Barcelona. Find enough time: November 2nd, 2017. Readers of salt-peanuts.eu who are well-versed in the history of European free-improvisation and avant-garde music would not need further information. «Venusik» is already in their shopping list.

But this review is written for those of you who, unfortunately, are not familiar yet with these sonic sorcerers, masters of the art of the moment, gifted with elephantine ears and hands of the most advanced brain surgeons. Dörner is one of the most influential European trumpeters, working with free jazz groups as Die Enttäuschung and Alexander von Sclippenbach’s Monk Casino and Globe Unity Orchestra, but he is also a true explorer of the trumpet as generator of microscopic sounds. Fernández also sees the piano as an infinite sound machine and has developed a highly personal aesthetics of playing the keys, the strings of the piano and its wooden body. Prats is also a highly versatile improviser, who has worked with innovative improvisers as Mats Gustafsson and Albert Cirera but also with mainstream jazz musicians as Esperanza Spalding and Eric Alexander.

«Venusik» offers five stormy free-improvisations, all radiate elusive moods of comfort and unrest and all cry for freedom. The quiet mood of the opening «AEM» is informed at first by the subtle electronics and restless breaths of Dörner and the nuanced percussion sounds of Fernández and Prats, later all melt into an otherworldly nervous and thunderous entity. «SSO» ups the temperature to a boiling point and suggests muscular, fiery and chaotic interplay, still led by Dörner and coming closer to a total sonic meltdown, but ends in a surprising, lyrical note of Fernández. «SRON» builds layers upon layers of unconventional rhythmic patterns, comprised of extended breathing techniques, preparations of the piano strings and noisy percussive sounds. All these sounds are suddenly distilled into a silent, ethereal soundscape. «SUPARCO» continues the mysterious, quiet vein but methodically masses the delicate, poetic sounds and noises into an ecstatic, psychedelic trance. The last and longest «SNSB», almost 18-minutes long, builds its dramatic tension slowly and patiently from the most sparse and minimalist sounds and gestures, through emotional and poetic tones and overtones , until it drowns in a sensual, resonant pulse, like an ancient ceremony that aims in driving away evil demons and corrupt politicians.

Keep the volume level to 11 and let this enlightening music wash your ears and mind.
by Eyal Hareuveni

muzycy:
Axel Dorner: trumpet and electronics
Agusti Fernandez: piano
Ramon Prats: drums and percussion

utwory:
1. AEM 7:41
2. SSO 5:23
3. SRON 10:08
4. SUPARCO 9:02
5. SNSB 17:35

total time - 50:06
wydano: 2018-11-09
nagrano: Recorded at Rosazul (Barcelona), November 2nd 2017 by Juan Berbín
Mixed and mastered by Juan Berbín

more info: www.multikulti.com