liner notes to "Theo & Kirk" Traumton Records
The duo is the most basic form of musical conversation. At it's best it's communication at the highest level, stressing the delicate balance between action and inaction; (not an easy task whether, the medium be words or notes). It presupposes a common goal as the highest priority. Successfully mastered , this delicate balance yields the kind of interaction which makes improvised music an immediate experience, challenging performer and audience, alike. These two incredible improvisers are not only masters of their instruments and the art of duo-playing. They are also musical alchemists of the highest order. They draw from the deepest tradition of jazz-improvisation, the harmonic vocabulary of contemporary "classical" music, they interact with sensitivity, flexibility and ease and mix in some of the eeriest and most moving references to the animal kingdom this writer has heard to date.
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(The Truth Is Spoken With Your Eyes is one of my absolute favorites on the album.) Kirk and Theo don't just play for you. They reduce the distance between performer and listener so that passive consumption is almost impossible. You are drawn into their world from the first note to the last. When Kirk burns on an unaccompanied piano solo, with the right hand melody just slightly behind the accompaniment, creating an almost unbearable tension, you're at the edge of your seat crying for resolution. Kirk and Theo, masters of the delicate balance, give us the gift of a listening and sharing experience which goes beyond fifty minutes of music.
David Friedman
Two
Musicians
On a mission of magical magnitude
Musingly making measures mean more than mere moments in time
Telling tales of two times one
As twins telling tales simultaneously
Intertwined in time
Combining intuition,
Knowing,
Now,
Then,
The mysterious mastery of the moment
Masking mortal meaning
Moving through myriad masks
Into real reality
Not reviving,
Reiterating,
Retroacting,
Reconstructing
But simply being.
David Friedman, Wustrau, July-August, 1998
Liner Notes for Association Urbanetique, Enja records. 1990
When I arrived in Berlin almost three years ago to assume the responsibilities of cheif surgeon at the somewhat difficult and prolonged birth of the present jazz department of the Hochschule der Künste, I encountered a jazz scene desperately in need of an energy transfusion. An intensive two week improvisation seminar including well known drummer Ronnie Burrage, was the first step in an ongoing energizing process. At the end of the first day of the seminar Ronnie came up to me and said, " Hey man, you have to check out this alto player in one of my groups. Heís really happening!" Naturally I was immediately intrigued. So when my turn came around to work with Ronnieís class I certainly had to agree with his enthusiastic evaluation. This guy definitely was happening and he still is! His name is Felix Wahnshuffle, Saxophonist in "Association Urbanitique". Remember his name. Heís going somewhere. Two of the other members of the group were also in the class. Drummer Rainer Robben and bassist Horst Nonnenmacher displayed conserable musicianship and flexibility in their chores as accompanists for various seminar participants.
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I was later to discover, however, that each of these young men is not only an extremely talented instrumentalist but also a composer of unique and engaging melodies and forms. In the course of one and a half years I was witness to several evolutions of "Association Urbanitique"; the first with piano minus trumpet and the second with guitar and trumpet minus piano. Each formation had its particular charm but I felt the close cummunicative energy between Brennecke and Wahnshuffle became diffused by the added element of a chordal instrument. Obviously the guys felt the same way because the next time I heard them at Berlinís well jazz club, "Quasimodo", they were a quartet minus guitar. I was thrilled. The result was exactly what you are about to hear or are already hearing and enjoying; a fascinating unterchange of harmony and melody among trumpet, saxophone and bass with a compelling rhythmic underpinning provided by Rainer Robbenís drums and Horst Nonnenmacherís skillful moving back and forth between harmony and pulse. Association Urbanetiqueís music posesses a textural transparency with an emphasis oncontrapuntal line painting propelling their sound
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horizontally and vertically with an urgency most unusual in men of their "tender" age. Throughout this recording Brennecke plays the perfect foil for Wannshuffle's Dolphy-Colmanesque linear bursts of inspiration. The formerís tempered yet relentlessly probing lines seem almost to pose tonal questions exuberantly answered by the latterís delightfully complex angular affirmations. There is a simplicity the these menís music although it is certainly not simple music.In fact, itís often complex, yet always accessible. Whoops! Iím getting carried away. Why donít I stop writing words and let the the language of music communicate this very personal message.
Happy Listening!
David Friedman, Berlin. August, 1990
"Improvisation"
Improvisation.
spontaneous composition
a high wire act without a security net.
A process
Surprises shared equally between artist and audience
A social game
Interactive, imperfect,
Thought and action
A subtle balance
Space as an event
Even more powerful