photo: Cristina Marx
SKEIN (extended)
Liz Allbee - trumpet and extensions
Frank Gratkowski – alto saxophone, clarinets and flutes
Kazuhisa Uchihashi - guitar and daxophone
Achim Kaufmann – piano
Wilbert de Joode – bass
Richard Barrett – electronics
Tony Buck – drums
SKEIN extended is an ensemble of seven outstanding composer/improvisers all of whom have redefined their instruments and musical vocabulary.
The core group of SKEIN, if you will, is the trio Kaufmann/Gratkowski/de Joode. This improvising unit has been touring and performing internationally on a regular basis since 2002, while constantly developing, deepening and enriching their musical rapport now documented on five CDs.
In 2013, Kaufmann/Gratkowski/de Joode invited three of their favourite musicians (Richard Barrett, Okkyung Lee and Tony Buck) to form an exceptional electro-acoustic sextet: SKEIN, which had its premiere at the dOeK Festival in Amsterdam and subsequently recorded live for SWR radio in Germany, later released on Leo Records.
The extended version of
SKEIN with new members Liz Allbee and Kazu Uchihashi performed for the
first time at the 2016 Berlin jazz fest, this time with Gerry Hemingway
on drums and using Gabriele Guenther's poetry as a pivotal point for
group improvisation. This concept was then continued under the name
"Trokaan Project" which recorded a number of live concerts in 2019
subsequently released as a double CD.
The septet line-up with Tony Buck got together again for the Konfrontationen Festival Nickelsdorf in 2018 and Klangspuren Festival Schwaz in 2021.
The Nickelsdorf recording was released in 2022 by klanggalerie.
Some reviews................
"They
circle around and with each other without a fixed leader, without
predictable structures or obvious arrangements yet, at the same time,
it seems as though they are mutually guided by an external force which
tells them precisely where they are going. Their synchronous movements
create pure hypnosis. This is free music in its most daring form,
fostered by radical openness, adventurous elasticity and a connection
that is hard to put into words. Sometimes you just have to sit back and
let it come over you."
Guy Peters (enola.be) about the Nickelsdorf performance (released as Spectra & Affrays by klanggalerie)
About SKEIN : Leo Records : LR 708
“Like huge flocks of birds flying in formations (SKEIN
is therefore a perfect name for the band), they seem to have an
invisible radar sending out signals which shows them what they have to
do – it is intuitive understanding par excellence. (…)
Schacht is
like a mad and free expressionist dance consisting of a free jazz piano
trio part and which takes a different shift when electronics and cello
drop in. The tempo of the piece takes incredibly fast turns, the
structures seem to glide from one part to the next– and all this is
done effortlessly, out of the blue, as if it was the easiest thing to
do. (...)
This is one of
the best albums this year, it is music of an austere beauty, full of
the energy and unpredictability of free jazz and the subtlety of new
music textures.”
Martin Schray (freejazzblog.org)
„The music is
very much like a chemical reaction as maybe seen from the inside.
Sounds are discontinuous and fragmented; the decomposing anions and
cations oscillate under their own electrostatic charges to form new
links where they can, rather than where they are willed, until one must
wonder if any of the equations will ever reach equilibrium.
This is a fine album of startlingly free improvisation. It's spectacular.“
Ken Cheetham – Jazz Views
“Improvisierte
Musik in kompromissloser Form: Nichts ist hier von vordergründigem
Effekt, nichts schielt nach Abgehobenheit, nichts ertrinkt in Routine –
es ist verwegene, bissige Musik. Schonungslos
ostentativ.”
Hannes Schweiger - Freistil Magazin (A)