Michael Thieke & Beat Keller

Tom Jackson/Daniel Thompson
Dark Kitchen
Confront Core 58

Scaled down to only necessary timbres, these clarinet-guitar duos still demonstrate how much can be accomplished with an astute integration of spontaneous timbres and textures. However despite the instrumental similarity, improvisational procedure isn’t identical. German clarinetist Michael Thieke and Swiss guitarist Beat Keller, who have worked with the likes of Burkhard Beins and Kai Fagaschinski over the years, situate their six tracks of timbral transformation within minimalist practice. While hardly maximalist clarinetist Tom Jackson and guitarist Daniel Thompson four improvisations are more freeform and fluid. Both UK natives haver played with stylists such as Dirk Serries and Colin Webster.

On Dark Kitchen, the introductory “Improvisation One”, which is nearly the same length as the three subsequent tracks combined, set up the parameters. As the clarinetist ranges among high-pitched constricted squeaks, renal snorts and mid-range wallowing tones, the guitarist counters with chiming runs, metallic crunches and pressurized twangs that emphasize slightly detuned bottom strings. Even as linear bites and tremolo stop thin as they’re projected, swift string frails maintain a steadying horizontal direction. That paradigm is followed throughout, as rubato reed vamps are flattened into unbroken drones unless fragmented into hollowed trills. Thompson’s expositions follow a similar trajectory with rapid turns from plucking notes from the guitar’s highest range to harsh clips from below the bridge. Rather than matching hair-raising clarinet yelps with identical elevated tones however, Thompson pulls additional vibrations from the spatial surroundings and moves past single-string filigree to pressurized string hammering which completes textural layering and joins with a reed squeak to signal completion.

Aiming for rhythmic and melodic transformation, Thieke and Keller’s broken octave narratives on the other hand are wedded to tonal ambiguity that gradually turn expected timbral intertwining to something more and singular. Mixing the guitarist’s feedback loops into the expositions, there are dynamics shift so that clenched reed whistles and rhythmic string picking are no longer isolated but cleverly integrate. There’s even a point during the following “City” and “Looks” where textures are revealed so subtly that it’s impossible to tell from which instrument they originate. Finally hard finger frails and an unbroken reed trill reveal individual identity.

Feedback is used sparingly so that sometimes a defined contrast is more sensed than heard. However undulating twangs also broaden near-silent vibrato-less reed respirations to an inflated, but definitely non-melodic interwoven sequence. Unaccented whooshes from the clarinet mix with oscillating amp hisses to reach a crescendo on the concluding “Heart”. Near reed stasis breaks out into lyrical trills as harsh string pressure add rhythm to solidify textures and add to group definition.

Contrasting paths are followed by each duo, though each arrives at a significant and satisfactory timbral definition.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: Dark: 1. Improvisation One 2. Improvisation Two 3. Improvisation Three 4. Improvisation Four

Personnel: Dark: Tom Jackson (clarinet) and Daniel Thompson (guitar)

Track Listing: Last: 1. Last 2. Breath’s 3. City 4. Looks 5. Kind 6. Heart

Personnel: Last: Michael Thieke (clarinet) and Beat Keller (feedback electric guitar)