Reviews that mention Armand Angster
March 3, 2014
Itinéraire Bis
Between the Lines BTLCHR 71231
S.O.S.
Looking for the Next One.
Cuneiform RUNE 360/361
Robert Marcel Lepage
Le lait maternel.
Ambiances Magnétiques AM 212
Keefe Jackson's Likely So
A Round Goal
Delmark DE 5009
Something In The Air: Reed Blends.
By Ken Waxman.
Reed sections have been part of jazz’s performing vernacular since its earliest days. But only with the freedom that arose with modern improvised music in the 1960s were the woodwinds able to stand on their own. In the right hands, with the right ideas, a group consisting only of saxophones and/or clarinets can produce satisfying sounds that don’t need the intervention of a rhythm section or even brass for additional colors. All of the fine discs here demonstrate that. MORE
December 22, 2009
Matt Darriau/Patrick Novara/Ismail Lumanovski
Liquid Clarinets
Felmay fy 8150
Trio de Clarinettes
Ramdam
Frémeux & Associés FA 492
Austere or ornamented is the way three improvisers on each disc here choose to blend the textures of three woodwinds. Limited only by technique and imagination, the results are equally memorable whether the sounds are skewed towards reserved New music or Mediterranean festive rhythms.
Cunningly switching among many members of the clarinet family, the French Trio de Clarinettes avoids the timbral sameness that would result from too many peeping clarinet glissandi or harmonized woodwind runs. Instead undertones, partials and echoes are exposed as often as strident trills, puffed vibrations and highly stylized flutter tonguing. Each trio member has extensive improvised and otherwise background. Jean-Marc Foltz, who has concretized with l’Accroche Note, la Musikfabrik NRW and l’ Ensemble Intercontemporain also plays jazz with pianist Stéphan Oliva and bassist Bruno Chevillon among others. Sylvain Kassap is one of the founders of the Laborintus ensemble which creates music for film, theatre and dance and has improvised with bassist Didier Levallet and percussionist Günter “Baby” Sommer. Founder of an earlier version of this clarinet trio, Armand Angster has improvised with the likes of bassist Barre Phillips and drummer Paul Lovens and more formally with, among others, l’Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the New Ensemble of Amsterdam and London’s Music Project. MORE
December 22, 2009
Ramdam
Frémeux & Associés FA 492
Matt Darriau/Patrick Novara/Ismail Lumanovski
Liquid Clarinets
Felmay fy 8150
Austere or ornamented is the way three improvisers on each disc here choose to blend the textures of three woodwinds. Limited only by technique and imagination, the results are equally memorable whether the sounds are skewed towards reserved New music or Mediterranean festive rhythms.
Cunningly switching among many members of the clarinet family, the French Trio de Clarinettes avoids the timbral sameness that would result from too many peeping clarinet glissandi or harmonized woodwind runs. Instead undertones, partials and echoes are exposed as often as strident trills, puffed vibrations and highly stylized flutter tonguing. Each trio member has extensive improvised and otherwise background. Jean-Marc Foltz, who has concretized with l’Accroche Note, la Musikfabrik NRW and l’ Ensemble Intercontemporain also plays jazz with pianist Stéphan Oliva and bassist Bruno Chevillon among others. Sylvain Kassap is one of the founders of the Laborintus ensemble which creates music for film, theatre and dance and has improvised with bassist Didier Levallet and percussionist Günter “Baby” Sommer. Founder of an earlier version of this clarinet trio, Armand Angster has improvised with the likes of bassist Barre Phillips and drummer Paul Lovens and more formally with, among others, l’Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the New Ensemble of Amsterdam and London’s Music Project. MORE
March 28, 2009
Brugge, Belgium
October 2-October 5, 2008
Pianist Alexander Von Schlippenbach’s German quartet rolled through a set of Thelonious Monk compositions; Sardinians, saxophonist Sandro Satta and keyboardist Antonello Salis liberally quoted Charles Mingus lines during their incendiary set; Berlin-based pianist Aki Takase and saxophonist Silke Eberhard recast Ornette Coleman’s tunes; and the French Trio de Clarinettes ended its set with harmonies reminiscent of Duke Ellington’s writing for his reed section.
All these sounds and many more were highlighted during the fourth edition of Jazz Brugge, which takes place every second year in this tourist-favored Belgium city, about 88 kilometres from Brussels. But sonic homage and musical interpolations were only notable when part of a broader interpretation of improvised music. Other players in this four-day festival came from Italy, Spain, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Hungary, Poland and Belgium. With strains of rock, New music and folklore informing the jazz presented at the festival’s three sonically impressive venues, music at the most notable concerts was completely unique or added to the tradition. The less-than-memorable sets were mired in past achievements or unworkable formulae MORE
February 13, 2008
Butch Morris & Ensemble Laboratorio Novamusica
Conduction 142/1-143/2
Galatina Records CD 0701
True to Butch Morris’ declaration that he wants to work with more than jazz-oriented improvisers, this notable two-CD set finds the New York-based conduction pioneer performing two new ideographic-oriented pieces with the Italian Ensemble Laboratorio Novamusica (ELN).
Considering that the eight-piece Venice-based ensemble was organized more than 15 years ago with the express purpose of researching, studying and performing New music, the fit with Morris is near perfect. Still, the second of these CDs, recorded at Berlin’s Total Music Meeting (TMM) is superior to the first disc taken from a Venice concert three days earlier. On both discs, the ELN – trumpeter Ilich Fenzi, trombonist Umberto de Nigris, Cecilia Vendrasco playing different flutes, violist Piergabriele Mancuso, bassist Andrea Carlon, drummer Peter Gallo, Carlo Carratelli on upright piano and harpsichord plus director Giovanni Mancuso on piano – operates at an enviably high level following Morris’ complex system of signs and gestures. However all concerned seem particularly energized at the TMM. Perhaps it’s because of the location, or maybe it’s because a choir of bass clarinetists – Armand Angster, Peter van Bergen, Wolfgang Fuchs and Hans Koch – joins the band for the final two numbers. MORE