Karl Berger | Werner Hasler | Gilbert Paeffgen | No Business Records

Werner Hasler – trumpet / electronics | Karl Berger – vibraphone | Gilbert Paeffgen – drums

Tracklist: 1. Holtondimi [7:06] 2. Lomallet [7:04] 3. Metro DimDim [2:27] 4. CAbH [5:55] 5. Notes [7:47] 6. Augdimaug [4:02] 7. Spiralthing [2:38] 8. Wuammas [4:11]

All tracks recorded 14th December, 2010 at Mobiles Tonstudio and mixed by Peter Pfister exept tracks 3, 6 and 8 recorded 4th November, 2010 at Influx – Studio Bern by Dave Muther, mixed at Hörsaal by Werner Hasler.

All music composed and produced by Gilbert Paeffgen and Werner Hasler. Mastered by Arūnas Zujus at MAMAstudios. Design by Oskaras Anosovas. Producer – Danas Mikailionis. Co-producer – Valerij Anosov

Werner Hasler | Gilbert Paeffgen | Karl Berger | Photo by Otto Mühlethaler

Werner Hasler | Gilbert Paeffgen | Karl Berger | Photo by Otto Mühlethaler

The electrified acoustic trio

combines several worlds. Stories are told here in the jazz idiom: starting from a basic groove is stressed about this and also improvises with nesting and rhythmic themes. The compositions are mainly played on scales from division of the octave harmonic structures and parallelisms, scales, supposedly inspired by such contrasting worlds as well as the oriental Maqamwelt of natural horns in the Alps region.

The trio moves also because of the natural inclusion of electronica outside “world music” sound is ethnocentric and exoticism of the young new century – in which bits and bytes a supporting role-play required. The clash of purely electronic and acoustic sounds of the trio receives a new topicality and urgency.

Karl Berger

Karl Berger

is an award – winning composer / arranger, winner of six Downbeat Critics Polls as a jazz soloist, the mastermind behind the legendary Creative Music Studio and the emergence of spontaneously arranged confluences of individual improvisational expressions and world musical traditions. His recordings and world-wide performances included musicians from the jazz tradition such as Dave Holland, Ed Blackwell, Graham Haynes, Bob Stewart, Kenny Wessel, and from world musical backgrounds such as Steve Gorn, Nana Vasconcelos, Ismet Siral, Hozan Yamamoto. He collaborated with Don Cherry, Gunter Schuller, the Mingus Epitaph Orchestra, just to name a few. He performs internationally and records for the Tzadik label. Karl Berger’s writing credits include 100+compositions for jazz, classical and world-musical ensembles, as well as orchestral arrangements for recordings by Jeff Buckley, Natalie Merchant, The Cardigans and others, including many collaborations with producer Bill Laswell. Presently at the begining of 2011 he led the year-round weekly series of Karl Berger’s Stone Workshop Orchestra at John Zorn’s renown performance space The Stone in New York City. — Much more on Karl Berger can be found on his web page by clicking here…

Gilbert Paeffgen

Gilbert Paeffgen

was born 1958 in Wurzburg and lives in Berne, Switzerland. He plays drums. The German expat and Swiss resident puts together rhythmically active heads, odd grooves, lively ostinatos on the drums and ingredients from different angles and cultures in projects with different musicians and artists. 1984-1993 he was part of Aventure Dupont together with guitarist Vinz Vonlanthen and bassplayer Baenz Oester. 1990-2000 he joined the trio Del Ferro / Overwater / Paeffgen with Dutch pianist Mike Del Ferro and Tony Overwater on bass. 1997-2003 he was a co-founder-memberof The Treya Quartet with Italian trumpet player Paolo Fresu. Entitled Liebesieder3Sat / DRS produced a special TV edition in 2003, with the Treya Quartet and the opera singer Barbara Hendricks performing interpretations of Gabriel Faure songs / compositions. With Wege Wuthrich’s Big Senn Paeffgen was visiting Bhutan / Himalya in 2008 for an extended concert tour – an extraordinary experience, which is documented in the Dieter Fahrer / Arte-Film SMS From Shangri-La. Since 2000 Gilbert Paeffgen runs his own band: the Gilbert Paeffgen Trio, where he combines different ethnic influences with Rock, Avantgarde and Jazz. — Much more on Gilbert Peaffgen can be found on his web page by clicking here…

Werner Hasler | Photo by Graham Waite

Werner Hasler | Photo by Graham Waite

Werner Hasler

was born in 1969 and lives in Berne, Switzerland. He plays trumpet and electronic instruments. Werner ran his own band, ‘manufactur’, from 1998 to 2008. His aim at this time was to find ways of using electronic music as a medium for interaction between musicians, touring, recording and producing the four records #1, #2, rong dob and flambitres during the band’s 10 years. In 2000, he was a soloist in the Swiss pavilion at the World Expo in Hannover, and became subsequently engaged in collaborations and compositions with the composer’s Daniel Ott Ensemble Zampugn. Since 2002 he has been working intensively with the Palestinian singer and oud player Kamilya Jubran. First of all contributing to her project Mahattaat, then working in partnership, combining Kamilya’s voice and oud with his trumpet and electronica. They produced two projects – Wameeddin 2005 and Wanabni’m 2010. In 2005 Werner was invited by the Swiss Arts Council to go to Cairo for a residency where he worked with Mahmoud Refat (electronics) and Karima Nait (vocals). In the same year he released the recording Transmit, an intercontinental collaboration with the Japanese sound designer, Sunao Inami. More recently, in 2010, he was offered funding from Kulturstiftung Liechtenstein to study in Paris and also to return to Cairo. He pursued a challenging subject: how to improvise and compose outside harmonic thinking, focusing on the division of octaves, maqam and overtones. In the same year, he started a new project titled the outer string, working in a quartet with Katryn Hasler, Carlo Niederhauser and Christoph Steiner and in a duo with the French cello player Vincent Courtois. — Much more on Werner Hasler can be found on his web page by clicking here…

 

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2 thoughts on “Karl Berger | Werner Hasler | Gilbert Paeffgen | No Business Records

  1. At first sight, the main talking point on the eponymous offering from trumpeter Werner Hasler, drummer Gilbert Paeffgen and Karl Berger is the vibraphonist’s co-optation into the multinational trio. That impression lasts no longer than the first listen to this fresh and open collaboration. Berger, a German-born, New York-based veteran, has a long-held interest in world music, a product of his association with wandering griot trumpeter Don Cherry, which proves to be the perfect grounding for this meeting. Paeffgen, in particular, has gone on record affirming his affection for African and Celtic music.

    The eight cuts are credited jointly to the brass man and drummer. Their compositions are rhythmically complex but harmonically simple, making the most of Berger’s ambiguous role midway between melody and percussion. They eschew overt virtuosity in favor of a distinctive group conception, achieving an orchestral feel from just three voices. Their arrangements are tight, but loose enough to accommodate Berger’s ringing solos, extracting maximum dividend from what might seem limited resources.

    Hasler uses electronics to subtly extend the range of his trumpet from pinched whispers to subterranean buzzing, though at times he recalls the synth sound of trashy Europop. An essentially tuneful drummer, Paeffgen blends well with Berger to provide an underpinning latticework through which the trumpeter weaves his lines. Paeffgen makes full use of his kit, orchestrating one part against the other, contrasting a syncopated cymbal pattern against a rolling tattoo on his snare.

    Like all good openers, “Holtondimi” gives a strong taste of the preferred terrain: attractively layered patterns derived from chiming vibes, measured percussion and impassioned, smeary trumpet. Tempos vary, as does the instrumentation: vibes sit out on the fluttering “Metro DimDim” and the processional “Wuammas,” while the addition of burbling electronics on the ambient “Spiralthing” is slightly disconcerting. But the highlight of the 41-minute program is the episodic “Augdimaug.” The two principals pass through a series of related callisthenic motifs, showing off the pleasing attributes of this band to great effect.

  2. (Werner) Hasler-(Gilbert) Paeffgen-(Karl) Berger (No Business NBCD 33), trumpet & electronics, drums, and vibes, respectively. This is alternatingly subtle and bracing, free-floating and rhythmically driving music. Paeffgen plays some well conceived drum improvisations, Hasler’s trumpet is engaging, his electronics colorful, and Berger is his always exploratory self throughout.

    I suppose this is chamber jazz, though it hardly matters what you call it on the level of the music itself. The sparseness of the instrumentation gives plenty of room for all three to collaborate dynamically, to use the space allocated to them for strongly creative interactions. The notes denote a fully healthy, fully concious musical animal. It is alive with vibrant improvisations restricted to no formal limitations.

    If you needed evidence that Karl Berger keeps trudging forward after so many years, here it is. He is unassumingly central, still. And the other two thirds of the trio are no less important to this music gem.

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