The Squid's Ear Magazine


Ullmann, Gebhard / Achim Kaufmann: Geode (Leo Records)

Albert Mangelsdorf Award-winning pianist Achim Kaufmann and multi-reedist Gebhard Ullmann met in the studio for the first time in Berlin, Germany to record these upbeat free improvisations, intricate collective playing covering a wide range of moods and styles.
 

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product information:

Personnel:



Gebhard Ullmann-tenor saxophone, bass clarinet

Achim Kaufmann-piano


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UPC: 5024792072729

Label: Leo Records
Catalog ID: LEOR727.2
Squidco Product Code: 22003

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2016
Country: UK
Packaging: Jewel Case
Recorded at RBB Studios, in Berlin, Germany, on July 1st, 2013, by Nikolaus Lowe.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"The piano player Achim Kaufmann is the recipient of one of the highest jazz awards in Europe for 2015 - Albert Mangelsdorf award. The reed player Gebhard Ullmann has been the recipient of many awards during his 30 years' career. Amazingly, these two great improvising artists have never played together before. They recorded in the beautiful chamber music hall of Berlin radio. The sound quality is fantastic and so is the music. Don't be put off by the title: geode is a geological term - that's how deep the musicians have to dig to get to the truth."-Leo



"Gebhard Ullmann has been described by Paul Bley as "one of the finest improvising artists in the world today" and for many years has been one of the foremost heralds of the music scenes in Berlin and in the international enclaves. Since moving to Berlin in 1983 he has recorded more than 50 albums.

Achim Kaufmann, relatively speaking, has been much-underestimated but this is changing. He has become noted for the way in which he allows both isolated notes as well as chords the space in which they may respire. His influences grow from dissimilar musical domains, but jazz tradition is heard behind his elucidations of excerpts and pieces from Ellington or Monk for example.

These two, very fine musicians come together to deliver some very exciting free music in which the amalgamation of the softer tenor and bass clarinet with the comparative attack of the piano results in some audacious tonal explorations.-"Ken Cheetham, Jazz Views


Get additional information at Jazz Views

Artist Biographies

"Born on November 2, 1957 in Bad Godesberg, Germany saxophonist (tenor and soprano), bass clarinetist, bass flutist and composer Gebhard Ullmann studied medecine and music in Hamburg and moved to Berlin in 1983.Since then he has recorded more than 50 CDs as a leader or co-leader for prestigious labels such as Soul Note (Italy), Leo Records (UK), Between The Lines (Germany), CIMP (USA), NotTwo Records (Poland), Clean Feed (Portugal) Unit Records (Switzerland) and others.

For many years he is considered one of the leading personalities in both the Berlin and international music scenes and has received numerous awards for his work including the Julius Hemphill Composition Award in two categories ('99), the Deutsche Phonoakademie award ('83), one of the first SWF Jazz Awards ('87) and the nomination best-jazz-CD-of-the-year by the German Schallplattenkritik for his CD Tá Lam in 1995.

His CDs Final Answer (2002) The Bigband Project (2004) New Basement Research (2008) News? No News! (2010) Mingus! (2011) Clarinet Trio 4 (2012) were all listed in Downbeat Magazine among the best CDs of those years. The CD Transatlantic received the prestigious Choc of the French Jazz Magazine in 2012. Since 2005 Gebhard Ullmann is listed in the Downbeat Critics Poll, 2015 for the first time in three categories.

Since 1993 Ullmann was a recording artist for Soul Note and has been living in New York City and Berlin. He has toured with his music throughout Europe as well as Africa, the Middle East, Canada, New Zealand, the USA, South East Asia, Mexico and China and performed on most of the world's most prestigious jazz festivals."

-Gebhard Ullmann Website (http://gebhard-ullmann.com/GU.html)
3/13/2024

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

"Achim Kaufmann was born into a musical family in Aachen, Germany, in 1962, and became fascinated by jazz and the possibilities of improvisation as a teenager. He started writing tunes around that time. Later he studied music at the Conservatory in Cologne and also took classes with creative masters such as Dave Holland, Steve Coleman, Muhal Richard Abrams, George Lewis, and Steve Lacy.

From 1996 to 2009, he lived in Amsterdam where he became part of that city's internationally renowned improvised music scene.Since 2002, he has been touring internationally with the trio Kaufmann/Gratkowski/de Joode, an improvising unit which has released four CDs so far, to much critical acclaim.

In the late '90s and '00s, Achim led two groups with reed player Michael Moore: trio kamosc and gueuledeloup quartet.In 2007, he recorded kyrill, a set of compositions for piano trio featuring Valdi Kolli and Jim Black. Their follow-up cd, entitled verivyr, was released in 2011.

He has also collaborated with his wife, poet/painter Gabriele Guenther, on the audiodrama Borderline - From the Shadows of a Journey, and has written music for various chamber ensembles.In his solo work, mixed techniques are used to create a fluctuating world of sounds and gestures. Resonance and reverberation, space and density play an important role in both his solo and ensemble work.

Since his move to Berlin, he got involved in various new projects, such as the trio grünen with Robert Landfermann and Christian Lillinger, Oni Kramler (with Matthias Schubert, Antonio Borghini, and various guests), and a trio with cellist Okkyung Lee and trumpeter Axel Dörner.

In 2013, the sextet SKEIN (Kaufmann/Gratkowski/de Joode plus Richard Barrett, Okkyung Lee, and Tony Buck) had its premiere at the dOeK festival in Amsterdam and subsequently recorded for SWR radio.

He recently released duo albums with long-standing collaborators Michael Moore and Thomas Heberer.

In addition, Achim has played and/or recorded with Han Bennink, Mark Dresser, George Lewis, Steve Swallow, Tobias Delius, Wolter Wierbos, Mark Helias, Paul Rutherford, Thomas Lehn, Ab Baars, Paul Lovens, Dylan van der Schyff, Peggy Lee, Chris Speed, Tomász Stanko, Gerd Dudek, Bill Elgart, Paul Lytton, Harri Sjöström, Andrea Parkins, Harris Eisenstadt, Ingrid Laubrock, Tristan Honsinger, Shelley Hirsch, Steve Swell, Thomas Heberer, Urs Leimgruber, Roger Turner, Fay Victor, Fred Lonberg-Holm, John Hollenbeck, Bob Brookmeyer, Simon Nabatov, Lê Quan Ninh, Gerry Hemingway, John Hébert, Al Foster, Adam Nussbaum, and many more.

He was awarded the German SWR Jazz Award in 2001, and the prestigious Albert Mangelsdorff award in 2015.

"For many years, Achim Kaufmann has been one of the most inspiring and exciting personalities of the European jazz and improvisation scene. His music bears witness to great harmonic subtlety and structural depth. A brilliant pianist and composer, his reflected exploration of tradition has led him to a nuanced, contemporary sound language that encompasses poetry, energy and abstraction in equal measure." "-Julia Neupert, SWR radio

-Achim Kaufmann Website (http://www.achimkaufmann.com/bio.html)
3/13/2024

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


Track Listing:



1. Interanimation 4:18

2. Lightly Enticed 4:52

3. Roadside Verges 4:03

4. Of Linnets And Ivory 7:37

5. Fault-lines 5:01

6. Eulenblind 4:09

7. Fleckgeist 3:40

8. Zircon Shuffle 2:35

9. Bone, Grizzle And Quartz 6:13

10. Jasper Ax 2:46

11. Storm Inside 4:54

12. Cobweb Interiors 4:41

Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
Jazz
Free Improvisation
European Improvisation and Experimental Forms
Duo Recordings
Leo Records

Search for other titles on the label:
Leo Records.


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