A live recording of free improvisation recorded at Theater im Viertel, in Saarbrucken, Germany in 2021 from the SteDaJoDa quartet of Daniel Studer on double bass, Stefan Scheib on double bass, Daniel Weber on drums and Johannes Schmitz on guitar, the dark double bass foundation and floating ("Schwebend") percussion work balanced by Schmitz' blues oriented electric.
Format: CD Condition: New Released: 2022 Country: Portugal Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold Recorded at Theater im Viertel, in Saarbrucken, Germany, on March 30th and 31st, 2021, by Stefan Scheib.
"Schwebend ("floating"), recorded in Germany in March 2021, is one of the latest releases from Creative Sources, a part of getting things rolling again with performances & conceptions here from 2021/2022. (As many labels continue to scour 2019 for performances worth releasing....) And I was attracted by the lineup featuring Swiss bassist Daniel Studer, in a quartet paired with Stefan Scheib, also on double bass (paralleling, perhaps, the Studer-Frey duo, as mentioned here originally in May 2019... - & Schwebend was recorded by Scheib as well), plus Johannes Schmitz (guitar) & Daniel Weber (drums) to form SteDaJoDa.
The six tracks, recorded over two consecutive dates, involve various bent tones & slides, a wide range of string "deconstruction" & starkness characteristic of the Swiss scene, but also an occasional flash of electric rock guitar, seeming at first to come out of nowhere.... I wasn't familiar with the other three musicians (although the Weber name appears with some frequency...), but the effect here is of exotic & twisting shapes, a bit of noise as ingredient perhaps, but more inclined to pointillism, even ringing metal (but also wood or membranes...), all somewhat distended (pace an occasionally concrete idiom appearing) - or, as some might say, presented as a little night music.... I could suggest, then, that feelings of anticipation are "answered" by (rock) guitar, only to float away... perhaps into a "distant radio" vibe, fluttering, then spinning, groaning, bending again....
Schwebend ends up feeling both figural & virtuosic: Actually, its opening sequence is already strikingly so, while later passages elaborate new timbral combos & figures as well. And this isn't the first quartet around Studer & crunchy strings to release an album on Creative Sources (with the sometimes quiet & breezy album by Anemochore having been reviewed here in July 2019...), again with considerable dynamic range & sometimes intricate extended counterpoint. To that foundation, SteDaJoDa adds an ominous quality, a sliding & crackling unease, a spicing of blues it comes to seem, always creeping up on us.... And even some shredding to close."-Todd McComb's Jazz Thoughts