KAUFMANN/GRATKOWSKI/DE JOODE
Achim Kaufmann – piano
Frank Gratkowski – clarinets and alto saxophone
Wilbert de Joode – double bass
In early 2002, Achim Kaufmann, Frank
Gratkowski and Wilbert de Joode first got together as a trio at a small
venue in Amsterdam.
Since then, the three musicians have
been touring and performing internationally on a regular basis, while
constantly developing, deepening and enriching their musical rapport
now documented on five CDs so far: kwast on Konnex; unearth on nuscope; palaë and oblengths on Leo Records; and geäder on gligg records.
In 2023, the trio released their first vinyl album, recorded at the SoundOut Festival in Canberra, Australia.
The trio’s music has been completely
improvised from the outset, created in the moment. There have never
been any rehearsals prior to concerts, premeditated structures or
concepts – a fact that frequently flummoxes listeners, critics or even
fellow musicians, as the three often manage to evoke the impression
that their music could indeed be adhering to compositional presets.
Kaufmann/Gratkowski/de Joode combine
the transparency of early 21st century chamber music – silence, the
moving into and out of noise regions, textural juxtapositions, the
relics of almost tonal harmony surging up then evaporating just as
quickly– with the energy, the rhythmic momentum and unpredictability of jazz and other rhythmically more aggressive musics.
To celebrate their ten-year anniversary as a trio in 2013,
Kaufmann/Gratkowski/de Joode invited Richard Barrett, Tony Buck, and
Okkyung Lee to form the sextet SKEIN which led to a series of concerts
and a release on Leo Records in 2014.
The current lineup of SKEIN consists of Liz Allbee, Kazuhisa Uchihashi, Richard Barrett and Tony Buck.
Teaming up with Tony Buck in a quartet, the trio toured extensively in Europe in 2018 and subsequently released the disc Flatbosc and Cautery.
QUOTES............................................................................................................
„The dynamic range is unheard of and unique, even within the world of
(free) improvised music. These guys are grandmasters - that should be
evident after all those years.“
Herman te Loo - Jazzflits (The Netherlands) – about oblengths
“That album [palaë] is a stunner from its opening moments, where it may
take you a minute to sort out who’s playing what. Plasticity of timbre
is one of this trio’s hallmarks. (…) The players are so sensitive to
dynamics, they’ll play spatial games with your perceptions—make one
instrument sound like it’s in the foreground, and the others far in the
distance.”
Kevin Whitehead, liner notes for “Oblengths”
"Although it's an acoustic ensemble, sounds that might ordinarily be
heard as 'electric' figure that plasticity: There is 'static' generated
by the bass, buzzy rumbling, spooky echoes, etc. plus
characteristically clanky preparations, scraping, and generally a wide
variety of techniques for mixing overtones & resonance — including
ample 'straight' tone. (…) There are surely few ensembles that combine
this level of individual talent & broad technical creativity with
so many years of developing a collective style: The musical language
they've developed is quite versatile, and they certainly seem to be at
no loss for ideas. Might they just keep getting better?“
Todd McComb, medieval.org - about oblengths
“From hot, Dolphy-esque cascades to piano-roll pointillism, to
unresolved twelve-tone tales, it’s improvised chamber music of the
highest order.”
Clifford Allen, Signal to Noise magazine (review of palaë)
"...the power of their collective history is highlighted during their
third album's opening number, where de Joode's athletic and falsetto
bass is matched with unerring timbral precision by the blunted subtone
of Gratkowski's clarinet. The two musicians jive around each other,
their counterpoint gelling into a cracked continuum, which Kaufmann
bolsters using the inside of his piano. It's like the three musicians
are channelling themselves through the same default sound – a
strikingly original opening gambit to a savvy hour of improvised
music.”
Philip Clark, The Wire (review of palaë)
“The three spontaneously weave compact pieces full of intricate,
multi-threaded interaction. (…) The group can construct spare, riveting
music from the quiet hush of bristling detailed textures. They can also
shape improvisations that build to a full-bore rush of heated
intensity. But what stands out most is how they do this with such a
highly-developed group
sound…”
Michael Rosenstein, Signal to Noise (review of kwast)
"Yes, this trio is pretty astounding (…) The ways in which this group
interacts and creates new environments for improvisation reminds me of
the Graewe/Reijseger/Hemingway trio, despite the different
instrumentation. They create a new world every time they perform. This
was one of the best improvised concerts I have seen in quite some time,
and is right up there with performances by other long-time groups that
I have witnessed live such as G/R/H, the Schlippenbach Trio, and
Parker/Guy/Lytton."
Russell Summers, nuscope recordings
“…it’s like nothing you’ve ever heard before."
Greg Buium - down beat magazine (review of 'kwast’)
"The best band I heard [at the 2008 Dutch Jazz Meeting] was the
free-improvising Wilbert de Joode/Achim Kaufmann/Frank Gratkowski trio."
Kevin Whitehead
Kevin Whitehead's liner notes for oblengths
some video links:
VPRO Amsterdam 2016 part 1
VPRO Amsterdam 2016 part 2
photo credit: Goran Potkonjak