Kaplan & Kurzmann @ Musikprotokoll im Steirischen Herbst / Graz

Leonel Kaplan & Christof Kurzmann

Die Zusammenarbeit des argentinischen Trompeters Leonel Kaplan und des österreichischen Elektronikers Christof Kurzmann beginnt im Jahre 2007. Aus der Reduktionisten- Szene Berlins kommend ist es für Kurzmann nur eine Frage der Zeit bis die beiden Gleichgesinnten einander begegnen. Kaplan, ist für seinen ausgeprägt minimalistischen Trompetenstil nicht nur in Lateinamerika bekannt und arbeitete bereits mit führenden internationalen Musikern wie Xavier Charles, Lê Quan Ninh, Axel Dörner oder Tetuzi Akiyama und Michel Doneda. Von 2007 arbeiten die beiden nun verstärkt als Duo, welches auch manchmal um die Saxophonisten Eden Carrasco (Chile), John Butcher (GB), den Bassisten George Cremaschi (USA) oder die Tänzerin Nicole Bindler (USA) erweitert wurde, verstärkt zusammen. Die Konzentration auf das vertikale Untersuchen von Sound und Stimmung ist dabei der gemeinsame Nenner. Bisher zwei Veröffentlichungen (2011 – Una Casa/Observatorio – Jardinista Records und 2012 – Casa Corp – Dromos Records) sowie zahlreiche Konzertaufnahmen Lateinamerika und Europa belegen die Nachhaltigkeit dieser Kooperation.

Konzert

Termine: 

04/10/2012 - 23:30

Orte: 

• Camp: Wohnzimmer

InterpretInnen: 

Leonel Kaplan (AR), Trompete
Christof Kurzmann (A), Pool, akustische Laptops

http://www.leonelkaplan.com

http://musikprotokoll.orf.at/de/2012/werk/leonel-kaplan-christof-kurzmann

The Squid's Ear (El Infierno Musical by Kurt Gottschalk)

Christof Kurzmann
El Infierno Musical  
(Mikotron Recordings) 

review by Kurt Gottschalk
2012-08-04

Christof Kurzmann's interest in song form in recent years has brought him to a number of unexpected places. In the duo Schnee with Burkhard Stangl, he has borrowed from Prince and Neil Diamond and as a part of the group The Magic I.D. has crafted some wonderfully hazy duets with singer / guitarist Margareth Kammerer. Whether new compositions or well-known tunes, Kurzmann and company have presented them in beautifully uncentered ways, as if they were vague memories of songs. Kurzmann takes a similar approach now in what is a very different project and to great results. El Infierno Musical is a setting of six poems by the Argentian poet Alejandra Pizarnik, who led an accomplished life before willfully ending it at the age 36 in 1972. A Fulbright Scholar and Guggenheim Fellow, Pizarnik lived in Paris (where she worked as an editor for Les Lettres Nouvelles) and left behind eight volumes of poetry (two unpublished during her life). Pizarnik's words are used here in service of the music, or seem to be at any rate. The phraseeology is so delicate that they tend to sit just behind the music, especially in Kurzmann's plaintive delivery. His scores are played by Ken Vandermdark (reeds), Eva Reiter (viola de gamba, contrabass recorder, dan bao), Clayton Thomas (bass) and Martin Brandlmayr (drums, vibraphone), with Kurzmann supplying saxophone, guitar and electronics. The music varies from seemingly open form improv to quiet, incidental music to easy grooves, with the verses interspersed irregularly, sometimes appearing as if to pull the threads of the music into a piece. If the poetry isn't dominant through all of the record, it seems clear that the moods it imparts are. Pizarnik's hand guides the proceedings even in absentia, to the extent that a fragment of the guitar solo from Janis Joplin's "Summertime" is heard in the distance during her poem "Para Janis Joplin." It's hard to know how close the texts come to Pizarnik's original words, having been translated by the musicians — an assemblage of Austrians and Americans — themselves. It is of course possible that the translations are quite faithful but even if they aren't it doesn't seem entirely to matter. The album isn't a poetry journal, and ultimately it comes off like a dramatic audio work inspired by the sad beauty of Pizarnik's lines. Near the end, she herself appears, in her native tongue and through the filter of a decades old recording. As she recites her "Ashes II," she sounds somehow comfortable with the goings-on. The Squid's Ear review by Kurt Gottschalk 2012-08-04 http://www.squidsear.com/cgi-bin/news/newsView.cgi?newsID=1475

Orpheus in the Underworld (El Infierno Musical by Ed Pinsent)

Orpheus in the Underworld

Christof Kurzmann attempts grand things on El Infierno Musical (MIKROTON RECORDINGS CD 20). He composed all the music, plays electronics, saxophone and guitar, and sings all the lyrics where they appear; these words were written by the Argentine poet Alejandra Pizarnik, and translated into English with the help of Cecilia Rojo. The aural experience is rich – an unpredictable melange of jazz, free jazz, improvisation, chamber music, blues, pop music and rock music, sometimes given a vaguely medieval / Renaissance flavour by the viola da gamba playing of Eva Reiter, who also plays the contrabass recorder on a couple of tracks. Plus the whole package is contextualised with images sampled from the “Hell” panel of Bosch’s famous Garden of Earthly Delights triptych.
Many musicians may have commented on, been struck by or even dreamed of making a concept album about this “musical Hell” proposed by Bosch, where sinners are punished in amongst a ghastly cacophony of archaic musical instruments, some of which are changed by the diabolical agency into engines of torture. I should point out that Kurzmann is not explicitly intending to do any of the above either, and only the title of this suite has any consonance with the Bosch painting, of which we see a Photoshopped variant provided by the visual artists Jimmy Draht and Stefan Haupt. The main aim of the work is to pay tribute to the poetess Pizarnik, a collection of whose writings also appeared under the title El Infierno Musical and indeed prompted Kurzmann, who purchased said volume almost by accident from a street seller while drinking coffee in Buenos Aires, to found the quintet of this name in 2008.
Musically this album is strong and convincing, even if not as chaotic as anything with a Bosch cover ought to be, and while the individual players – e.g. saxman Ken Vandermark, drummer Martin Brandlmayr – perform with authority, I sometimes find the package a shade too mannered and contrived for my tastes. Kurzmann is the sort of musical catholic who has no problem in mixing different vernaculars, styles and genres in his musical statements, often doing so in the same breath, if he decides that’s what is called for. The main stumbling block for me is Kuzmann’s rather effete voice, which recites rather than sings the lyrical content, and always sounds breathless or on the verge of tears as he negotiates another corny-sounding flattened fifth. So far this prevents me from reaching the core meaning of the work, which is probably encoded more into the poetry than in the music. Still, one needs to persevere with work of this complexity and depth. Don’t let my meagre prejudices prevent you from hearing this extremely unusual and distinctive piece of work. This arrived 31 January from a label based in Moscow.

The Sound Projector

July 1, 2012

By Ed Pinsent

 

http://www.thesoundprojector.com/2012/07/01/kosmic-blues/

Video: Made To Break

Made to Break en el 43 Voll-Damm Festival Internacional de Jazz de Barcelona (Luz de Gas, 2011). Ken Vandermark, Tim Daisy, Christof Kurzmann, Devin Hoff.

2 Concerts With Made To Break

MADE TO BREAK
  Ken Vandermark [tenor saxophone, clarinet]
  Christof Kurzmann [ppooll]
  Tim Daisy [drums]
  Devin Hoff [double bass]

Thursday, July 19th @ A L'ARME! FESTIVAL Berlin / Germany
http://www.radialsystem.de/rebrush/rs-programme-monatsuebersicht_neu.php?id_event_date=10785851&language=de_DE


Friday, July 20th @ KONFRONTATIONEN NICKELSDORF / Austria
http://www.konfrontationen.at/ko12/index.htm

El Infierno Musical - review by Julien Héraud

El Infierno Musical - A tribute to Alejandra Panzarnik (Mikroton, 2011)
Encore plus surprenant que le duo Davies/Wastell:  le dernier projet de Christof Kurzmann, El Infierno Musical, hommage à la grande poète argentine, Alejandra Pizarnik. Le groupe est composé de Kurzmann à la voix, électronique (et saxophone alto puis guitare électrique sur deux pistes), Ken Vandermark au saxophone ténor, à la clarinette et à la clarinette basse, Eva Reiter à la viole de Gambe, Clayton Thomas à la contrebasse et Martin Brandlmayr à la batterie et au vibraphone. Chacun de ces musiciens est célèbre dans les milieux du free jazz et du réductionnisme, mais El Infierno Musical, contre toute attente, est un recueil de chansons tirées de l’œuvre éponyme de Pizarnik.

Évidemment, c'est plutôt déroutant au départ: Kurzmann scande des poèmes, les rythmiques sont discrètes, simples et précises, les solos de Vandermark sont très lyriques et mélodieux, la basse retrouve sa fonction harmonique et accompagnatrice, etc. A considérer cette suite comme une œuvre expérimentale, on ne peut que difficilement s'enthousiasmer, car Kurzmann utilise dans son écriture des langages connus de tous, plus qu'un pied de nez à l'improvisation non-idiomatique. Cependant, il faut considérer, il me semble, EIM comme une suite de chanson avant tout, et c'est à partir de ce point de vue que leur intérêt peut apparaître. Extérieurement à la musique, c'est déjà plus que surprenant d'entendre la plupart de ces musiciens interpréter des chansons, c'en est même presque ahurissant tellement on était habitué à autre chose. Quant à la musique, en-dehors de la voix de Kurzmann que je n'apprécie pas particulièrement, ça m'a paru très rafraichissant d'utiliser des techniques de jeux et d'écritures propres aux musiques improvisées (jazz, réductionnisme, free jazz) comme des improvisations collectives, des chorus où chaque instrument peut quitter sa fonction traditionnelle, aux musiques improvisées mais également à certaines musiques populaires (chanson, rock) comme des mesures en 4/4, des ostinatos, etc. Un grand coup de frais pour la chanson, mais surtout un pari très risqué pour ce type de musiciens qui n'arrivera pas forcément à convaincre leurs admirateurs habituels. En tout cas, l'accompagnement musical est simple, sobre, humble mais effectué avec précision, attention et sérieux, tandis que les séquences plus improvisées sont interprétées avec personnalité et chaleur.

Pour ce premier vinyle sur le label Mikroton (également disponible en CD), Kurzmann a su produire une musique très surprenante, et innovante, en revenant paradoxalement à une musique traditionnelle. Je ne pense pas que Panzarnik ait connu le free jazz, ni si elle était amatrice de musiques improvisées au sens large, donc au premier abord, ça me paraît judicieux de lui rendre hommage sous la forme de chansons tout en utilisant des techniques personnelles et créatives. Un album osé, franc, et aventureux - à sa manière - si simple, chaleureux et honnête qu'il pourrait paraître provocant... A l'image du collage influencé par Bosch qui orne la pochette: une curiosité!

Tracklist: 1-El infierno musical / 2-Ashes I / 3-Dianas tree / 4-Para Janis Joplin / 5-Cold in hand blues / 6-Ashes II
Julien Héraud

Great Radioshow on "Radio Nacional Español" about Alejandra Pizarnik and "El Infierno Musical" (spanish)

http://media3.rtve.es/resources/TE_SCARNEC/mp3/7/2/1339433146427.mp3

Interview and Radiobroadcast about "El Infierno Musical"

Interview by Carlos Pérez Cruz (spanish):
http://www.elclubdejazz.com/roundjazz/entrevistas/christof_kurzmann_05_2012.html

Radioprogram also by Carlos Pérez Cruz (spanish):
http://www.elclubdejazz.com/vocesdejazz/audios/christof_kurzmann_05_2012.mp3
Radioprogram also by Carlos Pérez Cruz (english):
http://www.elclubdejazz.com/vocesdejazz/christof_kurzmann_05_2012_eng.html

my concerts in april:

10.04. Galeria Elsi Del Rio, Buenos Aires, Argentina (with Leonel Kaplan)
17.04. - 25.04. Residency at EMS Studios, Stockholm, Sweden
20.04. Culturen, Box 1, Västerås, Sweden (with Sofia Jernberg)
24.04. Fylkingen, Stockholm, Sweden (duo with Sofia Jernberg and Quartet with Sten Sandell, David David Stackenäs & Joe Williamson
27.04. Jazzatelier, Ulrichsberg, Austria (with Leonel Kaplan & John Butcher)
29.04. Nadalokal, Wien, Austria (with Leonel Kaplan & John Butcher)

Ken Vandermark & Christof Kurzmann - Brasil, March 2012

Ken Vandermark & Christof Kurzmann - Brasil, March 2012

24.03. São Paulo - Duo @ CCSP
25.03. São Paulo - with Thomas Rohrer, Panda Gianfratti and Mauricio Takara @ Serralheria
26.03. Porto Alegre - Duo @ StudioClio also: Dias | Rieger | Armani
27.03. Florianopolis - Duo @ Sol da Terra