The second incarnation of Frisque Concordance, formed in 1992 by Georg Graewe & John Butcher and currently the quartet of Butcher on tenor & soprano saxophones, Graewe on piano, Wilbert de Joode on double bass and Mark Sanders on drums, in a 2-CD set, the first a superb studio set recorded in Vienna in 2017, the second a live concert at the 2018 Konfrontationen Festival in Nickelsdorf.
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John Butcher-tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone
Georg Graewe-piano
Wilbert de Joode-double bass
Mark Sanders-drums
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UPC: 9120036683341
Label: Random Acoustics
Catalog ID: RA 031-32CD
Squidco Product Code: 30151
Format: 2 CDs
Condition: New
Released: 2021
Country: Germany
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold
CD1 recorded in Vienna, Austria, on March 11th, 2017, by Martin Siewert.
CD2 recorded live at Konfrontationen Festival, in Nickelsdorf, Germany, on July 18th, 2018, by Gerald Pally and Jens Jamin.
"The group Frisque Concordance began back in October 1992 when the quartet-comprising UK saxophonist John Butcher and the Germans pianist Georg Graewe, double bassist Hans Schneider and drummer Martin Blume-was recorded live at the Ruhr Jazz Festival in Bochum, Germany. The results were released in 1993 as Spellings, the first album on Graewe's Random Acoustics label.
Although Butcher and Graewe recorded one album as a duo, Light's View (Nuscope, 1999), Spellings represented the entire Frisque Concordance story until the release of the album Distinct Machinery in 2021, twenty-eight years later. While bearing the same name as the 1992 group, the personnel had altered somewhat, with Butcher and Graewe remaining but now being joined by Dutch bassist Wilbert de Joode and UK drummer Mark Sanders, both of whom had past experience playing with the saxophonist and pianist as well as with each other. The fact that Butcher and Graewe have been the heart of the group in both incarnations emphasises that they are the primary focus of its music, with one, other or both playing throughout.
Distinct Machinery is a double album with one disc that was studio-recorded in Vienna in March 2017 and another recorded live during Konfrontationen in Nickelsdorf in July 2018, a total of ninety-six minutes of music. Despite sixteen months and about forty miles between the recordings on the two discs, the studio and live recordings are compatible and work well together. This is best illustrated by the tracks "Hot and Cold" and "Cold and Hot" on the studio and live recordings respectively; played back-to-back, the mood and sound of the two are remarkably similar, with none of the four players dominating but all of them contributing to the ebb and flow of these balanced group improvisations.
In other respects, there are significant differences between the studio and live recordings. The studio-recorded disc features ten tracks, six of which play for under four minutes, whereas, apart from "Cold and Hot," the live recording comprises three tracks, "Desmodromics I-III," which total forty-five minutes and represent the group's set, complete with solos as well as extended ensemble passages in which all four interact and stretch out together. Taken together, the entire album reaffirms Frisque Concordance as a well-integrated, empathetic improvising ensemble. On the basis of the music here, the most appropriate reaction is to welcome the group back and urge them not to leave it another twenty-eight years until their next album."-John Eyles, All About Jazz
"It happened to be my birthday, that day in October 1992 when I had the great fortune of listening to the first incarnation of Frisque Concordance at the Ruhr Jazz Festival in Bochum (Germany), ingeniously curated by Martin Blume, who also played the drums in this quartet along with Hans Schneider on bass, offering his wonders . . . Here, on Distinct Machinery, Georg Graewe and John Butcher, the Concordance's core, team up with Wilbert de Joode and Mark Sanders, both another two constants in the wider Graewe universe for quite some time. Structurally the four-some and its two realizations is to be understood as a pars-pro-toto for how exactly this universe operates and evolves. Schneider was one of the very early members of this poly-centric bundle, dating back to the legendary FMP releases from 1976 and 1978 by Graewe's first quintet, a group the pianist had formed only a few days before his 18th birthday. Butcher, a collaborator for 30 years now, is (along with Frank Gratkowski) the most congenial horn counterpart to Graewe's fuid ways of sublime bridge-building. This is just a small sample of the ways in which Graewe develops his work: long-standing relationships perform expeditions into uncharted territories and then sometimes do it again, years later, offering Proustian moments of recognition plus, always, things never heard before. Continuities and disruption, known and unknown, frisque concordance and contenance angloise, as Martin Le Franc described the 15th century new distinctive style of Dunstable-English music. Distinct Machinery is just that. The combination of a studio and a live set very much distills all these qualities into diamonds, nuggets, and land-slides of sound ever unfolding. You buy one and you get two, but these two give you all. And it is not like these two are easily peg-holed sides of one coin. Listen to the drive and the dynamics of 'Hot and cold' in its two iterations here, studio- and live-setting, and you immediately realize this is not about simple dichotomies. There is a distinct romanticism in the abstract, there are planes of Ayleresk layers in the physical feel of Butcher's sometimes almost silent sound, there are distinct single-notes in Graewe's waves of still energy. There are the endless great plains of Sanders' roaring thunder filled with the warm hues of metallic star-breath-cymbal colors, there are de Joode's interstellar pulse-like sheets of legato, grounding and multi-mirroring it all..." --Markus Müller, Berlin November 2020
Get additional information at All About Jazz
Artist Biographies
• Show Bio for John Butcher "John Butcher's work ranges through improvisation, his own compositions, multitracked pieces and explorations with feedback and extreme acoustics.Originally a physicist, he left academia in '82, and has since collaborated with hundreds of musicians - Derek Bailey, John Tilbury, John Stevens, The EX, Akio Suzuki, Gerry Hemingway, Polwechsel, Gino Robair, Rhodri Davies, Okkyung Lee, John Edwards, Toshi Nakamura, Paul Lovens, Eddie Prevost, Mark Sanders, Christian Marclay, Otomo Yoshihide, Phil Minton, and Andy Moor - to name a few. He is well known as a solo performer who attempts to engage with the uniqueness of place. Resonant Spaces is a collection of site-specific performances collected during a tour of unusual locations in Scotland and the Orkney Islands.His first solo album, Thirteen Friendly Numbers, includes compositions for multitracked saxophones, whilst later solo CDs focus on live performance, composition, amplification and saxophone-controlled feedback. HCMF has twice commissioned him to compose for his own large ensembles. Other commissions include for Elision (Australia), the Rova (USA) & Quasar (Canada) Saxophone Quartets, reconstructed Futurist Intonarumori (USA), "Tarab Cuts" (based on pre-WWII Arabic recordings, and shortlisted for the 2014 British Composer's Award) and "Good Liquor .." for the London Sinfonietta. In 2011 he received a Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award for Artists. Recent groupings include The Apophonics with Robair and Edwards, Anemone with Peter Evans, Plume with Tony Buck & Magda Mayas and a trio with Okkyung Lee & Mark Sanders.Butcher values playing in occasional encounters - ranging from large groups such as Butch Morris' London Skyscraper and the EX Orkestra, to duo concerts with David Toop, Kevin Drumm, Claudia Binder, Paal Nilssen-Love, Thomas Lehn, Fred Frith, Keiji Haino, Ute Kangeisser, Matthew Shipp and Yuji Takahashi." ^ Hide Bio for John Butcher • Show Bio for Georg Graewe "Georg Graewe began composing and performing professionally at the age of 15. He has since been leading a variety of ensembles - ranging from trio to chamber orchestra formats - which have involved some of the leading instrumentalists in contemporary music. His compositions, which include chamber music and works for full orchestra as well as scores for films, theater productions, radio drama, and video, have been performed and broadcast around the world. Graewe has had a long-standing trio with Dutch cellist Ernst Reijseger and US-based percussionist Gerry Hemingway since 1989. He has also performed and/or recorded with Anthony Braxton, Evan Parker, Dave Douglas, Phil Minton, Roscoe Mitchell, Barry Guy, Barre Phillips, Hamid Drake, John Butcher, Robert Dick, John Butcher, Mark Dresser among others. Over the last 10 years, he has also written three operas. Kopenhagen (based on the same-titled play by Michael Frayn) was produced by OPER KÖLN (Cologne Opera House) in 2003. His second opera, Quicksilver, (a commission by Semperoper Dresden) came out in November 2006. And his most recent opera, Barbara Strozzi oder die Avantgarde der Liebe, was staged by Theater Luzern in Switzerland in 2010 and Oper Bonn in Germany in 2011. Since 1999, Graewe has been closely associated with CNMAT (Center for New Music and Audio Technology) at UC Berkeley. From 2002 - 2007, he taught at Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler in Berlin. In 2010, Graewe curated a series of 27 events that presented different aspects of resonance between music, poetry, visual arts, and science as part of the European Cultural Capital RUHR 2010. A catalogue plus DVD edition documenting this project has been published on his own Random Acoustics label." ^ Hide Bio for Georg Graewe • Show Bio for Wilbert de Joode "Wilbert de Joode (1955) is a veritable research scientist of bass pizzicato and bowing techniques. A self-taught musician, he has been playing the double-bass since 1982. He began working in groups that improvised within a jazz framework. Other musicians were soon drawn to his idiosyncratic style, and in the mid 80s he played in groups led by Vera Vingerhoeds, Armando Cairo and Ig Henneman where he further developed his improvisation skills. He came into contact with such musicians as J.C.Tans, Rinus Groeneveld, Michiel Braam, Han Bennink, Han Buhrs (Schismatics) and Ab Baars. De Joode is currently one of the most active bass players on the European improvised music circuit. His individual style and musicality transforms the double bass into an equal partner in the most varied ensembles. A personal tone colour, exploration of the outer registers, quirky improvisations and the use of gut strings contribute to an instantly recognizable and intriguing sound. The seventeen improvised pieces on his first solo cd Olo (distributed by ToonDist) show how rich and complex his sound on the double bass is." ^ Hide Bio for Wilbert de Joode • Show Bio for Mark Sanders "Mark Sanders has played with many renowned musicians including Roscoe Mitchell, Wadada Leo Smith, Derek Bailey, Henry Grimes, Roswell Rudd, Peter Brotzmann, Barry Guy, Otomo Yoshihide, Jah Wobble, Sidsel Endresen , Charles Gayle, Peter Evans and William Parker. He works with John Edwards in a duo and with groups including Evan Parker, `Foils` with Frank Paul Schubert and Matthius Muller and groups with Veryan Weston, John Tilbury, Agusti Fernandez and Mathew Shipp. Mark works in a regular improvising duo with John Butcher and also performing John`s composition `Tarab Cuts` which has played festivals in Rio de Janiero, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Glasgow, Bristol and London. In a trio with cellist Okkyung Lee, John and Mark have played in Belgium, France, England and Scotland. He also has a longstanding duo with Sarah Gail Brand which has featured on the BBC`s `The Stuart Lee Show`and in the film `Taking the dog for a Walk`. He has performed solo for a Christian Marclay exhibition at The White Cube Gallery in London, Evan Parker`s festival`Unwhitstable` in Wroclaw, Poland for `Solos Festival` The 100 Years Gallery London, an improvised music series in Derby and Cafe Oto in London. Working with Christian Marclay in his `Everyday` piece for film and live music, he has performed in Aldeburgh, Ruhr Trienalle, Vienna Bienalle, Holland festival and London`s QEH and has also collaborated with him playing for the film `Screenplay`in London and Lisbon. In situations using composition in one form or another Mark works in various projects including `13 Vices` with Brian Irvine/Jennifer Walshe, Alex Hawkins Ensemble featuring Peter Evans, Simon Fell Ensembe, groups with Hasse Poulsen and Luc Ex , Sarah Sarhandi`s `Both Universe`, Elaine Mitchener`s `Sweet Tooth` and has played in the groups of Shabaka Hutchings including`Sons of Kemet` Conceptual Artist Sam Belinfante collaborated with Mark in his piece `On the One Hand, and the Other` in two exhibitions at Camden Arts Centre, London For Conceptual artist Henrik Hakensen`s film `The End` he has performed as an improvising soloist with orchestras conductedd by Jessica Cottis, playing the music of John Coxon in Glasgow, Sydney and Monte Carlo As a guest with New York`s ICE Ensemble he has performed John Zorn`s `The Tempest` in London and at Huddersfield New Music Festival. Mark also works in the groups of Paul Dunmall including Deep Whole Trio with Paul Rogers, in duo and `Frisque Concordance` with Georg Graewe , and the ensembles of Mikolaj Trzaska, Uwe Oberg and Peter Jaquemyn. He has performed in the USA, Canada, Brazil, Japan, Morrocco, South Africa, Australia, Mozambique and Turkey, playing at many major festivals including Nickelsdorf, Riga, Ulrichsburg, Glastonbury, Womad, Vancouver, Isle of Wight, Roskilde, Berlin Jazz days, FMP, Mulhouse, Luz, Minniapolis, Banlieue Bleues, Son D`hiver and Hurta Cordel." ^ Hide Bio for Mark Sanders
12/3/2024
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12/3/2024
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
12/3/2024
Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.
12/3/2024
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Track Listing:
CD1
1. Inklings 3:58
2. Hot And Cold 7:19
3. Torsion 3:00
4. Metes And Bounds 2:47
5. Drunken Thread 10:20
6. Fissures 2:11
7. Flank Angle 1:51
8. Entanglements 9:06
9. Flow Field 5:17
10. Refraction 2:22
CD2
1. Desmodromics I 10:40
2. Desmodromics II 13:42
3. Desmodromics III 20:37
4. Cod And Hot 2:26
Improvised Music
Free Improvisation
Jazz
European Improvisation, Composition and Experimental Forms
London & UK Improv & Related Scenes
Quartet Recordings
John Butcher
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