Twirls

Having experience in varied situations and different sized ensembles over the years with the likes of Torsten Papenheim, Berlin-based saxophonist Alexander Beierbach uses this two CD set to highlight distinct segments of his playing. Twirls is actually the name of a five-year-old duo of the saxophonist with pianist Nicolas Schulze, who is equally busy in the German capital. Their blend of pastoral and cursive Jazz chamber music with frequent textural surprises is defined in a disparate fashion on the first CD. Augmented to a quartet on the attached disc, bassist Meinrad Kneer, who often works with Julie Sasson and drummer Yorgos Dimitriadis, who plays with many bands, add a percussive underpinning, but doesn’t alter the paradigm significantly.

Barely avoiding excess sweetness and gentleness during eight duets, Beierbach and Schulze play around the parameters of Chamber Jazz with breathy tenor sax or peeping soprano sax lines often mated with sympathetic piano chording. Although interaction can often be flowery, faltering or intermittent, there’s enough solid keyboard patterns and reed variations to propel the two into dual intermediacy. The pianist’s comping sometimes adds consolidated sound wedges even when advancing at lento tempo or slower. Pushing aside low energy respites on tracks such as “Tide II”, “Driftwood I” and “Sway”, the saxophonist opens up the improvisations with bent notes, double-tonguing, waspish whines and a trilling whistle which seems to pop up and vanish at will, without individual attribution. At the same time despite buzzing reed smears and processional key pumping the duo maintains a linear focus which defines their close partnership.

The addition of the bassist and drummer implements a sharper point to those tracks. In no way overbearing, but Kneer’s thickened or spiccato stops and slices and Dimitriadis’ subtle but vibrating pumps always confirm their presence. Almost from the first track pitch and tempo speed up with the pianist hardening his chording and the saxophonist adding slurs and split tones to string bow pops and stop/start drum vibrations. As the playing moves broken octave affiliations Beierbach toughens his output even more. On the aptly titled “Thrust”, reflux moves his breathy lines from near prettiness to irregular trills and slurring split tones as Schulze energetically punches the keyboard, Kneer squeaks up the scale with staccato motions and Dimitriadis emphasizes rim shots and inconsistent cymbal hiss to complete the transformation Then on “Encounter”, as the bassist’s swift plucks set the scene, piano-reed affiliations fragment as the saxophonist vibrates tongue stops and slurs in many directions to meet the drummer’s hard smacks. Expansion is moderated by high-pitched rolling piano tones that soon bounced up and down in tandem with the others’ expressions. Finally streaming keyboard clips restrain the forward motion and corrals it into a concentrated narrative.

Preserving two archetypes of their long-standing partnership Tides & Shadows confirms all the musicians’ comprehensive and sympathetic skills. It also demonstrates that profound playing doesn’t have to be overwrought to make an impression.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: CD 1: TWIRLS DUO – Tides: 1. Blink 2. Tide I 3. Tide II 4. Driftwood I 5. Driftwood II 6. Tide III 7. Sway 8. Encore CD 2: 1. Another Blink 2. Buoy 3. Night 4. Thrust 5. Hymn 6. 7. Shadows

Personnel: CD 1: Alexander Beierbach (tenor and soprano saxophones) and Nicolas Schulze (piano) CD 2. Beierbach; Schulze: Meinrad Kneer (bass) and Yorgos Dimitriadis (drums)