Harri Sjöström
Formerly Quintet Moderne is since the death of Paul Rutherford performing as the Quartet Moderne.
Quintet Moderne – Wellsprings Suite
Cadence jazz 1176
The improvised quintet heard here, quintet moderne, is an infrequently performing collective that has something of merit to say with each appearance. A supergroup of two Finns, two Britts and one german, consisting of founder and soprano-saxophonist Harri Sjöström, strings-player Philipp Wachsmann, trombonist Paul Rutherford, bassist Teppo Hauta-aho and percussionist Paul Lovens, these folks set expectations high and deliver on these thoughts.
As for the recorded works, their discography is extremly scant, with one full length record “Ikkunan Takana” and the infamous “The Strange And The Commonplace”, a one-sided LP on Loven’s PO TORCH label containing a short 1989 performance. While the three spontaneous pieces, taken from a winter 2001 concert in Prague, do meander at the times (arguably the result of the syllabus they have set for themselves), they deliver a heightended frame of drama, an ambitious and cooperative sense of sound play, and perhaps most exiting, their own sense rhytmic flow.
The two lengthy pieces and one brief excursion that make up the program unfold gradually, as the aim of the musicians is to allow room so that the rhytmic and harmonic ideas flow in a natural progression. That being said, this isn’t the kind of improvised program where the concentrated energy rages throughout, but rather, the textural musings dominate, with swelling, calculated surges to change the course and to offer a different perspective. Yes, Wachsmann scapes and glides, Sjöström’s piquant bite prickles, Rutherford goes lyrical and elicts his otherwordly sound, Teppo Hauta-aho shuffles and Lovens, well, he is his usual brilliant colorist.
Some highlights include the bright horninterplay of the initial moments of “Wellsprings 1″ and it’s middle section, with the group charging together, the highlight being a Lovens-Rutherford-duett, and near the end of the piece, a string reverie. As for “Wellsprings 2″ wachsmann’s eeriestrings, and later electronics standout. The tension-filled barrage at the 21 minutes mark is perhaps the most compelling moment of the concert, with the rush of Loven’s cymbals, the bridlike chants of Wachsmann and Sjöström soaring amidst the rumbling from Hauta-aho’s bass. Finally “Wellsprings 3″, the groups final piece (with actual playing time under four minutes), encapsulates the previous ventures. Commencing with jagged bursts from Sjöström as Lovens matches his spurtsand the rest of the group enters into this spirited dialog, eventually resolving into a Classical-like interplay.
The constantly unfolding group dialog and its inherent exitement is a pleasure, surely one for fans of creative improvised music by these all-stars. Jay Collins
HARRI SJÖSTRÖM
Born Febr. 29.1952 in Turku, Finland (sopranosaxophone) After his first studies in music (piano/guitar) in his childhood Harri continued studies in music, photography and film in San Francisco, (Lone Mountain College and San Francisco Art Institute)- USA from 1974- 1978. Since this time he has almost exclusively been involved with contemporary improvised music. After his studies in the U.S. he moved to Vienna, Austria where he was introduced to the European improvised music scene and he formed his first European groups, organising numerous projects a.o. in Finland, introducing many of the remarkable innovators from the international improvising scene. In 1985 he moved to Berlin, which has been the base of hes operations ever since. Harri is one of the founders of the international“ QUINTET MODERNE“ and the trio „THE PLAYER IS“ together with Teppo Hauta-aho and Phil Wachsmann. One of the newly formed group`s is the „WAIT“ –band, involving a.o. drummer Tony Buck, pianist Bernhard Arndt, Chris Dahlgren on bass and Timo Kinnunen on accordion and the sextet “Up and Out” with Hermann Keller, Matthias Bauer, Daniel Göritz, Timo Kinnunen and Tony Buck
Since 1991 H. Sjöström has been involved in a big number of projects around the legendary pianist and composer Cecil Taylor, a.o. in the“ CECIL TAYLOR QUINTET“ with C. Taylor, P. Lovens, T. Hauta-aho, T. Honsinger, H. Sjöström and „CECIL.TAYLOR QUARTET- QUA“ and „Qua Yuba“(Cadence Records) as well as in larger ensembles. Some are documented on FMP-Records.(Free Music Production). Harri Sjöström has collaborated with a large number of notable improvisors in the international scene since the late –70s and performed at many of the international jazz and contemporary music-festivals and Jazzclubs. Teaches saxophone since 1980 and is a vital part of the european improvised music scene.
PHIL WACHSMAN
Born Uganda, 1944; violin, viola and electronics.
In the CD booklet to Gushwachs, John Corbett notes that Phillip Wachsmann came to free improvisation from a predominantly classical background, particularly via the contemporary experiments of “indeterminacy, graphic and prose-based scores, conceptualism and electroacoustics, listening to Webern, Partch, Ives, Berio and Varèse, reading ‘Die Reihe’ and interrogating the rhythmic, harmonic and melodic preoccupations of Western art music. Starting in 1969, Wachsmann was a member of Yggdrasil, an ensemble performing works by Cage, Cardew, Feldman, Ashley and others and in this group he used contact mikes on the violin and made his own electronic instruments, ring modulators and routing devices. Ironically, his studies with Nadia Boulanger in Paris (1969-1970) pushed him hard in the direction of free music. He recalls: ‘Despite her neoclassical orientation, her insistence that composition is about the imagination of performance and its realisation, the live moment, and her stunning ability to make this happen was a powerful influence on me, steering towards ‘performance’ and therefore ‘improvisation’.'”
Wachsmann moved from Yggdrasil to Chamberpot – recorded on Bead 2 – and shortly thereafter appeared on Tony Oxley’s influential February papers, forward looking in the virtual ‘industrial’ orientation of some of the tracks, years before this became an accepted genre; the two musicians have continued to work together, in various groupings but notably in the percussionist’s Celebration Orchestra. Phillip Wachsmann has also performed and/or recorded with: Derek Bailey’s Company, e.g. on the recording Epiphanies; Georg Graewe; Barry Guy; Iskra 1903; King Übü Orchestrü; London Jazz Composers’ Orchestra; Evan Parker, particularly as part of the Evan Parker Electronic Project; Quintet Moderne; Fred Van Hove’s ML DD 4; Rüdiger Carl’s COWWS (now CPWWS) Quintet; and Lines, with Martin Blume, Jim Denley, Axel Dörner and Marcio Mattos. He also plays as a solo musician.
Phillip Wachsmann also administers Bead Records.
TEPPO HAUTA-AHO
(May 27, 1941, Janakkala, Finland) studied double bass at the Sibelius Academy and did further studies in Prague in 1967, 1970 through 1973. He taught at the Helsinki Conservatory in 1974, Suolahti summer courses 1985-1988, and at the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival 1971-1981. He has worked with the Helsinki Philharmonic and the Finnish National Opera Orchestras and is a member of the Helsinki Chamber Orchestra and Helsinki Chamber Soloists, Miksi ei, Quintet Frequen. He has worked in Jazz and experimental musics with Vilkki Sextet & Quartet, Pekka Poyry Quartet, Kalmisto Klang, Tuohikvartetti, George Russell, Mircea Stan, Serious Music Quartet, Sound Kitchen, Töölö Bass Trio, Trio Neuva Finlandia, Quintet Moderne, Cecil Taylor, and Anthony Braxton. Since 1977 he has continued to perform in schools with Carita Holmström and was involved in children’s theatre performances with Dick Idström and Carita Holmström.
PAUL LOVENS
Born in Aachen, Germany, 6 June 1949; Drums, percussion, musical saw, etc.
Paul Lovens played the drums as a child. Self-taught, from the age of 14 he played in groups of various jazz styles and popular musics and from 1969 has worked almost exclusively as an improvisor on individually selected instruments. He has worked internationally with most of the leading musicians in free jazz and free improvisation, among whom have included the Globe Unity Orchestra, the Berlin Contemporary Jazz Orchestra, the Schlippenbach trio, Quintet Moderne, Company, and a duo with Paul Lytton. He has undertaken concert tours in more than 40 countries, is a founder member of a musician’s cooperative and has produced recordings for his own label, Po Torch Records since 1976. He has worked with painter Herbert Bardenheuer. Despite very rare solo performances, and although giving occasional concerts with ad-hoc groups and an involvement in projects with film, dance and actors, Paul Lovens’ main interest and work is musical improvisation in fixed small groups. In the mid-1990s these small groups numbered around 16, of which a few were part of a special selection, called ‘vermögen’.
Paul Lovens somehow epitomises the free drummer/percussionist who is not there to lay down the beat and kick everyone else into action but to listen, colour, contribute, guide, and occasionally direct, the overall cooperative sound. In concert one cannot fail to be moved by his intensity and concentration and there is an overiding feeling that even the most random events are somehow planned in time. In this respect, there is a nice irony that on the Nothing to read CD with Mats Gustafsson, Lovens describes his kit as consisting of ‘selected and unselected drums and cymbals’. Miking seems to be a problem at times with some recordings giving him undue prominence and others insufficient. Good recordings are Elf bagatellen, Nothing to read, Pakistani pomade, and ,stranger than love.