Wednesday 15 January 2020, 7.30pm
With Peter Brötzmann, the swiss label presents an outstanding artist in it’s ranks. MÜNSTER BERN is the name of the CD which was recorded in 2015 in the Bern Cathedral. Listening to Peter Brötzmann solo is an ambiguous experience!
He studied painting in Wuppertal and was involved with the Fluxus movement but grew dissatisfied with art galleries and exhibitions. He experienced his first jazz concert when he saw American jazz musician Sidney Bechet while still in school at Wuppertal, and it made a lasting impression.
He has not abandoned his art training. Brötzmann has designed most of his album covers. He taught himself to play clarinets, then saxophones; he is also known for playing the tárogató. Among his first musical partnerships was with double bassist Peter Kowald. For Adolphe Sax, Brötzmann's first recording, was released in 1967 and featured Kowald and drummer Sven-Åke Johansson. In 1968 Machine Gun, an octet recording, was released. The album was self-produced under his BRO record label imprint and sold at concerts, but it was later marketed by FMP. In 2007 Atavistic reissued Machine Gun.
With support from:
The second part of the evening is played by the Konus Quartett together with the composer Tomas Korber. The quartet played at Oto back in 2017 and performed pieces by Jürg Frey and Chioko Szlavnics. The second collaboration with Tomas Korber has a new release following called “Anschlussfehler”. The piece was premiered last Spring during an Asia tour and at he the at the FIMAV-FESTIVAL MUSIQUE ACTUELLE VICTORIAVILLE.
Swiss electronician TOMAS KORBER started releasing music about fifteen years ago, right when the Swiss saxophone quartet KONUS QUARTETT (Christian Kobi, Fabio Oehrli, Jonas Tschanz, Stefan Rolli) was formed. KORBER has worked with major figures from the electroacoustic improvisation scene (Günter Müller, Jason Kahn, Keith Rowe) and the onkyo improvisation scene (Toshimaru Nakamura, Otomo Yoshihide). As a composer, his impeccable works revolve around an immersion into stripped-down, silence-pregnant, interrelation-rich sound worlds.
KONUS QUARTETT are devoted to a radical repertoire, both in form and substance. They have commissioned and recorded works by Barry Guy, Jürg Frey, Klaus Lang, Martin Brandlmayr, and Chiyoko Szlavnics, among others. In 2011, they commissioned a concert-length piece by KORBER for saxophone quartet and live electronics entitled Musik für ein Feld. The recording of this piece was one of the outstanding albums of 2014.
www.tomaskorber.com
www.konusquartett.ch
www.cubus-records.ch
Peter Brötzmann is one of the most important and uncompromising figures in free jazz and has been at the forefront of developing a unique, European take on free improvisation since the 1960s.
Brötzmann first trained as a painter and was associated with Fluxus (Participating in various events and working as an assistant to Nam Jun Paik) before dissatisfaction with the art world moved his focus towards music. However he continued to paint and his instantly recognisable visual sensibility has produced some of our favourite LP sleeves as well as a number of gallery shows in recent years.
Self-taught on Clarinet and Saxophone, Brötzmann established himself as one of the most powerful and original players around, releasing a number of now highly sought after sides of musical invention including the epochal 'Machine Gun' session in 1968 - originally released on his own Brö private press and later recordings for FMP (Free Music Production) the label he started with Jost Gebers. Brötzmann's sound is "one of the most distinctive, life-affirming and joyous in all music" and he has performed with almost all of the major players of free music from early associations with Don Cherry and Steve Lacy to regular groupings with Peter Kowald, Alex Von Slippenbach, Han Bennink and Fred Van Hove, the Chicago Tentet (Mats Gustafsson/Joe McPhee/Ken Vandermark and more) and various one-off and ad hoc associations with many others including Keiji Haino, Derek Bailey, Evan Parker, Anthony Braxton and Rashied Ali.
Tomas Korber lives in Zurich and works as a composer, producer and improvising musician. In addition to his work as a solo artist, he has worked with numerous renowned musicians both at home and abroad. He has been involved in the production of over two dozen recordings throughout his career, has appeared at major festivals around the world and has toured Europe, the United States and Asia. Tomas Korber was awarded the Artist in Residence Scholarship (New York) of the city of Zurich and received a composition commission from Pro Helvetia.
https://www.tomaskorber.com
