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Amok Amor (Liilinger / Eldh / Slavin / Evans): We Know Not What We Do (Intakt)

An edgy, technically spectacular, inventive and slightly twisted jazz quartet of German-based free improvisers Christian Lillinger (drums), Petter Eldh (bass), Wanja Slavin (sax), with NY trumpeter Peter Evans (Mostly Other People Do the Killing) on trumpet, for 9 innovative compositions that thrill, amuse, and keep you on the edge of your seat.
 

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product information:

Personnel:



Christian Lillinger-drums

Petter Eldh-bass

Wanja Slavin-saxophone

Peter Evans-trumpet


Click an artist name above to see in-stock items for that artist.




UPC: 7640120192792

Label: Intakt
Catalog ID: ITK279.2
Squidco Product Code: 24125

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2018
Country: Switzerland
Packaging: Jewel Case
Recorded at H2 Studio, in Berlin, Germany, in May, 2016, by Marco Birkner.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"You are gonna love this quartet", writes American journalist Kevin Whitehead. "This quartet was preceded by the Starlight trio of the Berlin players Christian Lillinger, Petter Eldh and Wanja Slavin, but Peter Evans is obviously a full partner in a new band. He brought some prime material, and shows uncanny range. His improvising is airy and abstract, tuneful, and tinged with the blues. His lines and Slavin's can be disarmingly lovely; the blend is bright and fizzy. The rhythm section is earth to their air: the nutty precision of abstract beat music echoes in Eldh's eloquent stutters and way of covering highs and lows in a single line, and in Lillinger's clarity at high speed; his sticks on snare can sound like dried peas poured on a metal sheet, every stroke distinct. Yeah, they're all great, but this music is about how they come together, showing creative tradition some crazy love: amour run amok." Amok Amor is essential listening for anyone who is concerned about the primary challenges still facing the human race and is wondering where to find a ray of hope."-Intakt



"The quartet Amok Amor was founded upon the existing trio of Christian Lillinger (drums), Petter Eldh (bass) and Wanja Slavin (alto sax), who wanted to augment their band with another reedist in order to expand their sound spectrum. At a festival in Austria they teamed up with Peter Evans (trumpet) - it was a match made in heaven.

Of course such a line-up evokes memories of the legendary Ornette Coleman Quartet with Don Cherry, Charlie Haden and Ed Blackwell however, this music is completely different. Amok Amor, rather, is interested in sound colors, apart from jazz their influences also include classical avant-garde, hiphop and beat music propelled by a punkish attitude. For most parts the music is a tour de force of call-and-response patterns, rhythmic diversions, complicated metric figures and deconstructed harmonic fragments.

"Pulsar", the opening track, continues the concept of their debut album (Boomslang Records, 2015). It's an eight-and-a-half-minutes monster of permanent alert. Evans' sharp trumpet lines are foiled by Slavin's precise alto stabs, a row of signal-like short phrases is embedded in damaged beats. The track spills over with velocity and density literally assailing the listener, it's on the verge of demanding too much (but it doesn't cross this line). Evans and Slavin trade blows on a vast number of tonal and phrasal elements topped by Eldh and Lillinger delivering a crazy rhythmic hotbed. Especially Eldh's bass constantly pumps new blood into the veins of the track. At the end there's a single trumpet tone, carved in stone, accompanied by hi-hat barrage. That's how it feels when you're punched directly on the kisser.

The album contains similar tracks like "Trio Amok" or "The New Portal" but it is more than just a second brew of the debut. For example, there are two points of rest on We Know Not What We Do: the Peter Evans composition "Alan Shorter", a homage to Wayne's older brother, and Wanja Slavin's "Jazzfriendship". In the first Slavin's alto sax sounds like a flute, seducing Evans' trumpet to come up with phrases cool as a Miles Davis riff from Ascenseur Pour L'Échafaud. The latter presents a head which is close to easy listening, mirroring certain motives by playing them backwards.

Additionally, the album provides another novelty compared to the first one: the use of electro-acoustic elements (strangely, it's not mentioned in the liner notes who's responsible for them). The finale of the album, "A Run Through the Neoliberalism" starts like the opener. But then the electronics pick up the head of the reeds, slow it down and alienate it. Christian Lillinger said that the piece was meant to be a political statement, that there was more to it than just music, it was about the attitude behind it.

All in all, We Know Not What We Do combines effortlessness and complexity, a lust for improv and an absolute awareness of form and structure. It's a great example of precise musicianship and inventiveness, a postmodern smorgasbord of exactitude and zigzagging playfulness.

Unfortunately, it seems that the project's been put on ice in the meantime, there are no further plans for albums or tours in the near future. At least, there are two wonderful CDs that document the music of this superb group."-Martin Schray, The Free Jazz Collective


Get additional information at The Free Jazz Collective

Artist Biographies

"Christian Lillinger (born April 21, 1984 in Lübben ) is a drummer, composer and percussionist of modern creative style and new improvisational music.

Lillinger studied at the University of Music Carl Maria von Weber Dresden at Günter Sommer from 2000 to 2004. Between 2001 and 2003 he was a member of the Bundesjugendjazzorchester.

Lillinger plays in the trio Gropper | Graupe | Lillinger, until 2015 under the name Hyperactive Kid, with the saxophonist Philipp Gropper and the guitarist Ronny Graupe, where he is largely confined to the conventional drum kit. In 2008, he composed his first band Christian Lillingers Grund, whose first two released albums were released at Clean Feed Records at the end of 2009 and 2013. In addition Lillinger works as a sideman with well-known musicians such as Rolf Kühn, Joachim Kühn, Miroslav Vitouš, Beat Furrer, Rudi Mahall, John Schröder, Barre Phillips, Ernst-Ludwig Petrowsky, Wadada Leo Smith, Frank Gratkowski, Simon Nabatov, Tobias Delius and Axel Dörner, Thomas Lehn, Michael Wollny, Louis Scyvis, Bruno Chevillon, David Liebman, Edmund Lehmugruber, Theo Jörgensmann, John Edwards, Greg Cohen, William Parker, Joe Lovano and Tony Malaby. Since 2004 he has been working continuously in the EUPHORIUM, the international ensemble of contemporary performing arts and music around the Leipzig-based Oliver Schwerdt, especially in the trio with Schwerdt alias Elan Pauer and Ernst-Ludwig Petrowsky. Since 2009, Lillinger has also been working in the Klaviertrio Grünen with Achim Kaufmann and Robert Landfermann, who presented a first album on the Portuguese label Clean Feed Records in 2010. Since 2010, Lillinger has also worked in the trio Dell Lillinger Westergaard, which also performed with John Tchicai. In 2011 he founded the Trio Starlight with Petter Eldh and Wanja Slavin, who moved his debut CD 2013 to the Swiss label Unit Records. With Eldh and Slavin he also founded the Quartet Amok Amor with the American trumpeter Peter Evans, who released his first album of the same name in 2015.

Lillinger is also a member of the following groups: Rolf Kühn Unit, Henrik Walsdorff Trio, Pascal Niggenkempervision 7, Ronny Graupes Spoom, Schmittmenge Meier, Marc Schmolling Trio, Wanja Slavin Quintett, Carl Ludwig Hübschs Drift, Hübschacht, Uwe Steinmetz Stream Ensemble, The upper class, Ember, Gerhard Gschlößl's group of four, Gerhard Gschlößls G9, KUU! And also plays with Joachim Kühn in trio.

From 2012 to 2013, Christian Lillinger was a member of the board of the Union of German Jazzmusicians."

-Wikipedia (translated by Google) (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Lillinger)
3/13/2024

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

"Frans Petter Eldh, Born in Gothenburg, Sweden, was obsessed with Jazz, Classical, Soul, Reggae, Swedish folk music, Middle-Eastern and Hip Hop at an early age and collected vinyl since the age of 7. He initially played guitar before switching to what became his primary instrument, the double bass. Early influences, Charles Mingus, Anders Jormin, Charlie Haden, Charlie Parker, A Tribe Called Quest, Monica Zetterlund, Samla Mammas Manna, Aretha Franklin and Earth Wind and Fire have guided his diverse output as a musician.

Long-standing collaborations include the following erratic and progressive forces:Amok Amor, Django Bates Beloved, Jameszoo Quartet, Enemy (Kit Downes/James Maddren), Lucia Cadotsch Speak Low, Hayden Chisholm, Gard Nilssen's Acoustic Unity, Peter Bruun, Christian Lillinger, Benoit Delbecq and Kaja Draksler. As a producer he has remixed work by Jameszoo - Flake (Brainfeeder), Andromeda Mega Express Orchestra - Vula (Afterhours), Speak Low (Enja) and releases his own music on Galatea Records.

Selected releases in 2017 include Django Bates Beloved - The Study of Touch (ECM), Amok Amor - We Know Not What We Do (Intakt), Susanne Sundfør - Music For People In Trouble (Bella Union), Richard Spaven - The Self, Lucia Cadotsch Speak Low - Renditions (Enja), Gard Nilssen's Acoustic Unity - Live in Europe (Clean Feed)"

-Petter Eldh Website (http://pettereldh.com/?page_id=45)
3/13/2024

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

"Wanja Slavin (b.1982), started with clarinet and piano at the age of six. His first teachers were his father and Hildegard Niemann, later Nicolas Simion (Saxophon and Composition), Lee Konitz (Saxophon), Rolf Weber (Clarinet) and Kazue Suzuki (Piano).

At the age of 15 Slavin started at the Richard- Strauss Konservatorium studying Clarinet and Saxophon by Leszek Zadlo. Beside he's studies at the Conservatory he also took lessons in composition by Vadim Werbitzky.

2008 - 2010 Slavin began he's further education in Film music at HFF in Potsdam Babelsberg by professor Ulrich Reuter.

As a musician Wanja Slavin gain several prices: at New Generation Förderpreis des Bayerischen Rundfunks he won the first price twice. At Gasteig Musikwettbewerb, Jugend Jazzt and BMW Welt Jazz Award 2011 he gained the second price.

2005 Wanja Slavin debuted as composer at festival der Münchner Gesellschaft für neue Musik. About the same time he premiered pieces by composer Benedikt W. Schiefer and Vadim Werbitzky that specially had directed their work to Slavin.

Wanja Slavin has been invited to festivals such as Münchner Klaviersommer and Moers Festival and worked with musician Joachim Kühn, Kenny Wheeler, Mederic Collignon, John Schröder, Rudi Mahall, Alexander von Schlippenbach, Tobias Delius, Marty Cook, Geoff Goodman,Paulo Cardoso, Wilfried Hiller, Christian Lilinger to name a few.

His current projects are: Lotus Eaters, Wanja Slavin Sextet and the trio Slavin / Eldh / Lillinger."

-Wanja Slavin Website (http://wanja-slavin.de/)
3/13/2024

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

"Peter Evans is a trumpet player, and improvisor/composer based in New York City since 2003. Evans is part of a broad, hybridized scene of musical experimentation and his work cuts across a wide range of modern musical practices and traditions. Peter is committed to the simultaneously self-determining and collaborative nature of musical improvisation as a compositional tool, and works with an ever-expanding group of musicians and composers in the creation of new music. His primary groups as a leader are the Peter Evans Quintet and the Zebulon trio. In addition, Evans has been performing and recording solo trumpet music since 2002 and is widely recognized as a leading voice in the field, having released several recordings over the past decade. He is a member of the cooperative groups Pulverize the Sound (with Mike Pride and Tim Dahl) and Rocket Science (with Evan Parker, Craig Taborn and Sam Pluta) and is constantly experimenting and forming new configurations with like minded players. As a composer, he has been commissioned by the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), Yarn/Wire, the Donaueschingen Musiktage Festival, the Jerome Foundation's Emerging Artist Program, and the Doris Duke Foundation for the 2015 Newport Jazz Festival. Evans has presented and/or performed his works at major festivals worldwide and tours his own groups extensively. He has worked with some of the leading figures in new music: John Zorn, Kassa Overall, Jim Black, Weasel Walter, Levy Lorenzo, Nate Wooley, Steve Schick, Mary Halvorson, Joe McPhee, George Lewis, and performs with both ICE and the Wet Ink Ensemble. He has been releasing recordings on his own label, More is More, since 2011."

-Peter Evans Website (http://pevans.squarespace.com/about/)
3/13/2024

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


Track Listing:



1. Pulsar 8:31

2. Body Decline 5:05

3. Brandy 6:02

4. Alan Shorter 4:54

5. Trio Amok 4:05

6. Enbert Amok 5:18

7. The New Portal 6:26

8. Jazzfriendship 2:28

9. A Run Through The Neoliberalism 4:03

Related Categories of Interest:


Intakt
Improvised Music
Jazz
Free Improvisation
European Improvisation and Experimental Forms
NY Downtown & Metropolitan Jazz/Improv
Quartet Recordings
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Search for other titles on the label:
Intakt.


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