Gerry Hemingway

A celebration as well as a farewell, this live concert marks 20 years of curation of the Swiss music venue by Hildegard and Walter Schär. Consisting of three extended pieces by expatriate American drummer Gerry Hemingway and referencing the family’s timber business which supported the space, the animated result features permeations of  a quartet’s veteran internal members.

Besides the drummer, now a Swiss resident who has worked with everyone from Mark Dresser to Magda Mayas, it consists of German reedist Frank Gratkowski, known for affiliation with Simon Nabatov and Achim Kaufmann; Swiss bassist Christian Weber, who plays with Lucas Niggli and Alfred Vogel; and Japanese pianist Izumi Kimura, who has recorded with Barry Guy. The album builds up to “Bau 4 Assembly” the capstone conclusion, which at nearly 36½ minutes is longer than the first two track combined. It also takes advantage of the spatial setting and uses wood scraps as additional sound sources.

Like an amuse-gueule during a large meal “Third Story Variation” mostly finds Kimura preserving a swaying, high-key exposition while simultaneously strumming the inner piano harp and resonating items on the strings and soundboard. Hemingway’s conga drum-like thumps and cymbal slaps animate what is essentially a straightforward earthy duet. A similar transformation occurs during the penultimate minutes of the almost 23-minute trio track. Advancing to a standard swing, a walking bass line and drum crunches corral upward reed squeaks into only slight deviations from the resultant melody. This is a change from most of the exposition where Gratkowski alternates among clarinet, bass clarinet and alto saxophone reed sucks, peeps, tongue slaps and growls, Weber highlights guitar-like pings and arco buzzes while Hemingway thumps his drums until a connective harmonization leading to the relaxed resolution.

Nearly every timbre, texture and technique for all four is worked into “Bau 4 Assembly” as tolling piano chords, snare drum rattles and broken chord reed augmentation speeds up to encompasses altissimo flutters, cawing snorts and up and down multiple pitches from the bass clarinet. Dynamic keyboard clips provide the continuum as presto interludes include Hemingway’s hums and mouth trumpet emphasis and hollow rim shots; Gratkowski’s measured alto flute lowing; and spiccato buzzes from the double bass. Wood scrapes and scratches are brought into the mix as the piece reaches a polyphonic crescendo with even Kimura’s fingers leaping from one end of the keyboard to the other. Finally the theme skids down to a conclusion as a concluding drum bang signal the end.

It’s a shame that the Schärs have abandoned their curational role. But this quartet certainly provided them with a fine send off.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: 1. Slivers 2. Third Story Variation 3. Bau 4 Assembly

Personnel: Frank Gratkowski (clarinet, bass clarinet, alto saxophone and alto flute); Izumi Kimura (piano); Christian Weber (bass) and Gerry Hemingway (drums and voice)