Misha Mengelberg – piano | Dirk Bell – guitar | Ryan Carniaux – trumpet | Gerd Dudek – tenor sax | Joscha Oetz – bass | Nils Tegen – drums

Recorded at the Loft Cologne by Stefan Deistler, mixed and mastered by Uwe Sabirowski, photos by Guillermo Tellechea, photo of Nils Tegen by Gerhard Richter, graphic design concept by Christiane Resch, produced by Dirk Bell, contact: mail@dirkbell.de. Thanks to Stefan Krautkrämer, gRoBA and to Mark Steinhäuser, Uwe Sabirowski, Hans-Martin Müller, Martin van Leusden. 2014 all rights reserved. Unauthorised copying is aviolation of applicable laws. Made in Lithuania.

Tracklist: 1. Eleven Steps Part 1 [6:22] 2. To Heaven Part 2 [4:46] 3. Part 3 [5:20] 4. Part 4 [13:25] 5. Part 5 [3:55] 6. Part 6 [5:04] 7. Part 7 [5:56] 8. Zok! Part 1 [14:53] 9. Part 2 [19:51] Total Time: [79:54]

All compositions by Mengelberg | Bell | Carniaux | Dudek | Oetz | Tegen

I once asked Misha

how many steps to his front door and he said: “eleven” —sheer fantasy. I’m here to pick him up for a concert at the Loft in Cologne. We have a cup of coffee toebroek: a personal ritual of his that he performs for his visitors.

And off we go to Cologne, to meet the rest of the band at my place — dinnertime. Ryan Carniaux, from New York, professor for jazz trumpet in Essen. We’re both members of gRoBA, an orchestra in Cologne. Gerd Dudek, a German jazz-legend, knows Misha for decades. Nils Tegen, a composer and piano player in his other life. Joscha Oetz, back from Lima — when he’s playing the bass, you feel at home. These musicians have been working together for years in numerous combinations all over the world. And we’re all fans of Misha Mengelberg.– Dirk Bell

MISHA MENGELBERG PIANO

Misha Mengelberg is the respected leader of the Dutch ensemble ICP Orchestra, yet is equally known for his integral role in the development of the „New Dutch Swing” that sprang up in the Netherlands in the sixties. Most often found in lineups with drummer Han Bennink, Mengelberg has been mixing composition and improvisation since the 60s and, due to his developed and distinctive style, has come to be regarded as one of the top pianists in jazz. In 1967 he co-founded the Instant Composers Pool with Bennink and Willem Breuker. He was co-founder of STEIM in Amsterdam in 1969. Mengelberg has played with a large variety of musicians including Derek Bailey, Peter Brötzmann, Evan Parker, Anthony Braxton.

DIRK BELL GUITAR

Dirk Bell is a Cologne based composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist. He is a member of gRoBA, and was a long time member of Frank Kollges’ Intermission. Dirk plays guitar, flute, bass and stick and uses a variety of electronic toys. He scratches and mixes 78rpm records on real gramophones. Originally a folk player, he studied jazz guitar with Pat Martino and others in the 80s, musical acoustics with Prof. Martin Vogel and counterpoint and other things with Misha Mengelberg. His main instrument is the guitar. He plays up to 8 strings and fretless while exploring the possibilities of exotic playing techniques. His current projects are „Alphawellenreiter” (with Ryan Carniaux) and „Kosmos Hotel” (with Michael Heupel and Ramesh Shotham).

RYAN CARNIAUX TRUMPET

Born in New York City, raised in Rhode Island. Awarded a scholarship to attend Berklee College of Music in Boston. He studied trumpet with Tiger Okoshi and Greg Hopkins, composition and arranging with Phil Wilson and Ken Pullig, ensemble classes with Bill Pierce and Gorge Garzone. Masters Program at the Conservatory Maastricht. Toured with Mark Murphy in Peter Herbolzheimers’ band, played with Benny Golson. Carniaux played in France with Eric Alexander and Jerry Bergonzi. Playing with the German band TTT has allowed him to frequently work with Manfred Schoof, Gerd Dudek and Wolfgang Lackerschmid. It has been an honor for him to work with and learn from these elder statesmen.

GERD DUDEK TENOR SAX

Gerd Dudek studied clarinet privately and attended music school in the 50s before joining a big band led by his brother Ossi until 1958. During the early 60s, Dudek played in the „Berliner Jazz Quintet”, in Karl Blume’s group and in Kurt Edelhagen’s orchestra until 1965. He then became interested in free music and joined Manfred Schoofs quintet. Dudek took part in the first sessions of The Globe Unity Orchestra in 1966, and played with them at various time into the 1980s. He also worked with many other European free musicians and composers, including Alexander von Schlippenbach, Manfred Schoof, Wolfgang Dauner, Misha Mengelberg, Berlin Contemporary Jazz Orchestra, Albert Mangelsdorff, Don Cherry and George Russell.

JOSCHA OETZ BASS

Oetz’s own quintet „Perfektomat” features Niels Klein, Simon Nabatov, Laura Robles and Bodek Janke. Their self titled album is due for release 2015, the sixth production as a leader for Joscha Oetz. In addition to his excellence in jazz and improvised music, Joscha Oetz is a specialist in latin american traditions, especially afro peruvian music. During his years in Peru, he played with grammy winning singer Susana Baca, the late Rafael Santa Cruz, Huevito Lobaton, Cecilia Bracamonte and many other important representatives of the afro peruvian scene. As a member of the afro-peruvian sextet lead by Gabriel Alegria he recorded the widely acclaimed CD Nuevo Mundo and extensively toured the US.

NILS TEGEN DRUMS

Nils Tegen is a drummer, piano player and composer/arranger who works with many different artists in different kinds of music. Taking Jazz as a starting platform he has been touring and giving concerts all over Europe and Scandinavia, USA, Peru, Mexico, Australia and Russia working with artists like: Michel Pilz, Misha Mengelberg, Apparat, Brandt-Brauer-Frick Ensemble, Wende Snijders, Jose Gonzalez, Matthias Schriefl, Pablo Held, Jonas Burgwinkel, Robert Landfermann, Niels Klein, Dieter Meier, Tocotronic, Nackt, Fred Köster and many more jazz musicians from Germany. He is known for his individual sound and energetic playing.

Amsterdam, Olympiaplein.

Monday, December 19th, 2011. I once asked Misha how many steps to his front door and he said: “eleven” – sheer fantasy. I’m here to pick him up for a concert at the Loft in Cologne.

Ten years ago I was waiting in front of the door of room 101 at the Koninklijke Conservatorium; very nervous because I was late and didn’t want to disturb his counterpoint class. I came to play music with him. Coming out of the room, he seemed pretty angry – “Why didn’t you just come in?” He had been sitting there with a student talking about life and such, waiting for this guitar player from Cologne, whom he met at the Ruhrtriennale after a duo-performance with Simon Nabatov. Simon had taken me along and introduced me to Misha. Thanks, Simon. Later, he asked me, „did you study ounterpoint?” “Not really.” “Come back next week.” From then on I went to Amsterdam every Friday – counterpoint, noise class, coffee, chess, talk. Misha, the counterpoint teacher. He recognized well completed exercises with a “ZOK” (zeer ok). When Misha quit teaching, I started to visit him at home. More coffee, chess, talk, and playing or listening to my bigband collection on 78rpm records (By the way, the conclusion is: nothing beats Ellington).

When Misha was a young boy, his uncle Willem took him to the Concertgebouw to listen to Ellington’s band. “I always wanted to sound like him, and I think I got pretty close with ICP”, he says. Another love of his is Monk. In the sixties he went to a club to listen to Thelonious. After the concert he went to the piano and played Round Midnight. “He probably thought, what’s this little Dutch ape playing there? He nearly sounds like me.”

My friend, Martin van Leusden, once organized a solo performance with Misha. Arriving at the club, he found the piano totally out of tune and thought about cancelling the show. Misha showed up and sat at the piano, saying: “Oh, what a nice challenge.” “I’ve learned how to save myself”, says Misha. Now, back on December 19th, 2011, I walk up the 22 (or so) steps to his door, we have a cup of coffee toebroek: a personal ritual of his that he performs for his visitors. And off we go to Cologne, to meet the rest of the band at my place – dinnertime.

Ryan Carniaux, from New York, is professor for jazz trumpet in Essen. We’re both members of gRoBA, an orchestra in Cologne. Gerd Dudek, a German jazz-legend, knows Misha for decades.Nils Tegen, a composer and piano player in his other life. Joscha Oetz, back from Lima – when he’s playing the bass, you feel at home. These musicians have been working together for years in numerous combinations all over the world. And we’re all fans of Misha Mengelberg.

The food is great. Let’s talk about music. The concert is sold out. Everything is set up. Now please press the start button to listen to us playing at the Loft, December 20th, 2011, 21.00 hours. — Dirk Bell, Cologne, April 2014

CD version (incl. shipment cost world-wide)