The Squid's Ear Magazine


Ullen, Lisa / Torsten Muller: Into The Staring Town (Creative Sources)

Recording at the Vancouver International Jazz Festival in 2014, the duo of Swedish pianist Lisa Ullen and German double bassist Torsten Muller perform two extended improvisations focused on music and sound, using extended techniques and unusual approaches to their instruments in service to the spontaneous flow of ideas between them, never excessive, always captivating.
 

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Personnel:



Lisa Ullen-piano

Torsten Muller-doublebass


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Liner notes by Damon Smith (bassist, label leader Balance Point Acoustics)

UPC: 5609063403237

Label: Creative Sources
Catalog ID: cs323
Squidco Product Code: 21654

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2015
Country: Portugal
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold
Recorded live at Vancouver International Jazz Festival 2014, by Marc L'Esperance.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"The bassist Torsten Muller was for several years a close collaborator of the trombonist Gunther Christmann, one of the unavoidable pioneers of free improvisation in Europe. He is actually a bassman from the improvised scene at the same pull as a Peter Kowald or a Phillips Bar. It was also heard in King Ubu Orkestru, an exceptional ensemble that united radical improvisers in the 80s and 90s: Wolfgang Fuchs, Peter Van Bergen, Erhard Hirt, Christmann, Wachsmann, Lytton, Malfatti, Charig, Mazzon.

Having been established in the USA for years, the amateurs do not know it. They will be able to catch up by listening to this beautiful duet with the remarkable Swedish pianist Lisa Ullen. Perfect touch and perfect dynamic, sense of the best sound at the best moment when it intervenes in the strings, taste of the purity, this defector of classical music is really a pianist to discover. In this concert at the internationally acclaimed International Jazz Festival in Vancouver, the pianist and double bassist engage in a high-flying exchange while avoiding an excess of technical virtuosity. Muller prefers to make us hear rare nuances of the work of the bow in a sound wooded, human, expressive, almost vocal.

The music is airy, spacious, focused on the quality of the stamps of each instrument. Dialogue is distended or tightened, and the individual choice of possibilities open to everyone during the moment of improvisation reveals their spontaneity, their sense of invention and their musical intelligence (talent, experience , Intuition, flair). The excellent cover notes written by double bassist Damon Smith are interesting. And we can feed on this reflection to apprehend this beautiful album, surely one of the best of its kind.

One of the deep interests of Into The Staring Town is that the two musicians multiply the ideas of the game, transform them permanently, avoiding the obvious too easy to exploit too much what has just been acquired, but preferring to change the register , Phrasing, sounds, scansion, dynamics, speed... With them, the options seem endless and are renewed. The short moments of waiting are metamorphosed into precipitation and their modes of play are superimposed in infinite variations. A real freshness of inspiration. There is a form of courage, of exigency, without this austere search. One bathes in a contemporary lithism assumed and magnificent with an acute lucidity.

Time passes quickly (forty-nine minutes that one can not measure) and one does not waste it while this music is profoundly generous in its figures, its gestures, its echoes. What more could I say? Here is an exceptional duo that exploits a musical, instrumental and human potential in a way as sensitive as magisterial. A real treasure."-Jean-Michel van Schouwburg, Orynx, Translated by Google


Liner notes by Damon Smith (bassist, label leader Balance Point Acoustics)

Artist Biographies

"Lisa Ullén, pianist and composer. Born 1964 Seoul

Korea, grew up in the north of Sweden, now based in Stockholm. Graduated in 1990 from the Royal Academy of Music, Stockholm . Studies in jazz and improvisation at Chapel Hill NC USA. electro-acoustic music at EMS (Electro Acoustic Studio of Sweden).

Among her commissioned works are intermedia project Kyrillien, chamber manga opera Ninjutsu , musical drama play Now time is waiting. She has been supported and rewarded by the Swedish Arts Council, the Society of Swedish Composers, Swedish Arts Grant, and the Royal Music Academy.

The musicians of Lisa Ullén Quartet have their musical roots in jazz, punk, chamber music and blues but come together in what might modestly be called modern acoustic improvisational music. An impressively keen ear is paired with astounding musicianship, where each single note played is as important as the linear totality. A new generation of Swedish musicians expand the concept of free jazz, giving space to beat and melody as well. All the members of the group are well established on the

Swedish jazz and improvisation scene. LUQ have been broadcast by the Swedish National radio and TV and the second album was released in April -09 with very good reviews Lisa Ullén and Nina de Heney Duo has existed since 2007, and has rapidly gained recognition as one the most thrilling new groups on the improvisation scene in Sweden. They are individually known and respected as well established performers, having each developed a personal sound on their respective instruments.

Their second album, released in April -09, received very good reviews.They have performed at the main festivals in Sweden, such as the Umeå International Jazz Festival and the Stockholm Jazz Festival, and their music has several times been broad-casted on the National Swedish Jazz Radio P2."

-Musikcentrumost (http://www.musikcentrumost.se/en/?fid=3974)
3/13/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Torsten Müller (born November 25, 1957 in Hamburg, Germany) is a free improvising bassist in Vancouver, Canada. He plays a 5 string double bass. He lived in Bremen and Hamburg from 1976 to 2001, where he started his musical career and worked as a radio host and producer at Radio Bremen, a public radio and television broadcaster.

He came into the free improvised music scene in the mid 70s, first playing with Free Music Communion (an ensemble with guitarist Herbert Janssen and pianist Udo Bergner) recording three LPs on their own Fremuco Records label. He was a member of the large improvising ensemble King Ubu Orchestra for 10 years.

Torsten Müller has performed concerts all over the world with a diverse array of improvisers, including Evan Parker, John Russell, Jon Rose, Joelle Léandre, John Zorn, Arto Lindsay, Lol Coxhill, Alexander von Schlippenbach, Paul Lovens, Phil Minton, Charles Gayle, Melvin Poore, Paul Rutherford, Peter van Bergen and Alfred Harth.

He moved to Vancouver, Canada in 2001 where he has been performing at the Vancouver International Jazz Festival and acts as co-curator of the annual Time Flies Improvised Music Festival. He plays in various ensembles, including Vancouver based drummer Dylan Van Der Schyff's Bande X and his own ensemble, Hoxha, with British trombonist Paul Rutherford and Dylan Van Der Schyff."

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torsten_M%C3%BCller_(musician))
3/13/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



1. Open Access/Booming Ground 26:23

2. Closing Down/No Lamp Has Ever Shown Us Where To Look 22:15

Related Categories of Interest:


Creative Sources
Improvised Music
Jazz
Free Improvisation
European Improvisation, Composition and Experimental Forms
Duo Recordings
Vancouver and Western Canada

Search for other titles on the label:
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