pre.lude [1:27]
21st Century Jesus [4:34]
Kap Hoorn [5:30]
Ten Lifes [4:56]
i.lude I [1:03]
October Boulevard [4:27]
Love Fails [5:16]
Life Is Like Weather [5:58]
i.lude II [1:19]
Everybody Knows But Me [3:39]
Lullaby [4:49]
i.lude III [1:30]
Climbing Up [3:39]
post.lude [1:54]
Chris Gall (piano)
Marcel Krömker (bass)
Peter Gall (drums)
Enik (vocals tracks 2, 4, 7, 8,10)
All music by Chris Gall, all lyrics by Enik
rec. 2007
This is part of ACT’s "Young
German Jazz" series and pairs Chris Gall
and his trio with the singer Enik. Gall is
an accomplished pianist who studied at Berklee
and he has a young and vibrant trio. Together
they’ve produced an album that ranges stylistically
and crosses boundaries with a real sense of
adventure.
The disc begins with pre.lude
– all lower case and with a full stop, in
the accepted modern manner. Let’s not worry
too much about trendy typography, this is
harmonically paraphrased Chopin and it reappears
throughout the various preludes or "i.ludes"
as they’re later called. But in their exploration
of the classical, the lyrical and the pop
elements of music – which includes the fringes
of "world" music – the band reminds
me of two other trios; the Bad Plus and E.S.T.
Not nearly as combustible, but allied in sensibility,
in the potential to co-opt and transform all
music, disdaining no vehicle if it seems useful
and right.
Try Kap Hoorn for
this side to their music making. Or try Ten
Lifes (Lives, surely) with its romantic
space and rich piano chording and hints of
Keith Jarrett to add to the Bad Plus’ Ethan
Iverson influence. This is something that
appears again in Love Fails, which
sounds strongly like one of Jarrett’s late
1960s trio performances – remember when he
took on Dylan’s My Back Pages? – though
here we find that there are also folkloric
influences as well, touches of Bartók
and cimbalon imitations. This is an extensive,
evocative, wide-ranging workout of a track
and manages, despite these seemingly disparate
elements, to fuse together with conspicuous
success.
There are hints of Latin
American rhythm and of Abdullah Ibrahim, maybe,
in the title track – but there’s also that
Bad Plus cum E.S.T, transmutational, omnivorous,
pulsing drama again, with Marcel Krömker
(bass) and Peter Gall (drums) stoking up the
excitement level.
The final ingredient I’ve
left to last and that’s Enik, who sounds like
a cross between a Weimar cabaret singer and
David Bowie. He has a rough textured, occasionally
falsetto-heading voice and sings in English
with a distinctive German accent. He sings
on five tracks and it’s a not unattractive
sound.
On balance though I prefer
the trio in all its instrumental compression.
This is an exciting young band well worth
looking out for.
Jonathan Woolf
CD Reviews
ACT 9659-2 [50:08]
