Julia Hülsmann Trio

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

..a review in the Graun drew my attention to this group which i had not heard or heard of ....

rather sweet playing tunes from Imprint last year in Germany ....

has any one come across her and the group?

definitely ECM artists and close to noodlin but enough to tickle me ears ...

[Ian Thumwood]

Calum

Thanks for bringing Julia Hulsmann to my attention. The Youtube clip was enjoyable but I must admit that I thought that your comment about ECM was ironic until I "googled" her and found that she has indeed put out several records for Manfred Eicher's label! The track played was good although I think that the live performance would be radically different than those which ECM would release as anything too unbooted seems to be rejected in favour of performances which are more reflective. There is also the aural goo that Konigshaug dresses the recordings with which tend to make the music seem unnatural.

What intigues me is how this style of playing is now so ubiquitous yet Eicher seems almost compelled to release album after album of these kinds of piano trios. There seems to be a ploy to issue a trio of this ilk from every European country (France, Italy, Norway, Greece, etc) and the problem is compounded by the fact that it is now just ECM who sre the only record label putting this kind of stuff out into the market. Even Brad Melhdau and Gwilym Simcock seems hard-edged in comparison with this lot !It is all rather formulaic. The drummer is content on playing a pattern (often not "swinging" in the traditional sense), the bass player is the glue that holds the trio together and the pianist sweetly performs material that is frequently devoid of any sense of blues or the kind of ordure that makes jazz different from classical music. As with Hulsmann's example of performing a saccharin tune by the ridiculous singer Seal , a pop cover in the repertoire is also essential. Pouring over her ECM records on Amazon, I'm afraid that Ms Hulsmann seems like yet another Euro-jazzer whose work should be thrown in the skip. The "problem" for me is that when you go to Vienne (and I am sure that this is the case with all jazz festivals across Europe) every piano trio sounds like this. I once went to one gig where three such "identi-kit" trios performed one after the other and , combined with the fact that the outside gig had been transfered indoors to the darkness of the theatre because of the rain, I fell asleep during one set - luckily I was up in a balcony so no one saw other than the members of the first trio who sat a few seats down!!) At least this year a proper pianist in the guise of Mulgrew Miller will be heavily featured. The whole piano trio thing in Europe generally sucks and I find it a huge relief to be able to hear musicians like Jason Moran, Vijay Iyer, Gerald Clayton and Eri Yamamoto , to rattle a few names off the top of my head) who actually have an understanding of what the jazz heritage is about and put out CD's which feature a more orthodox relationship between the three instruments.

For the sake of being provocative and mischievious, I put to you the suggestion that white people should from now on be prevented from performing piano trios.......

[Byas'd Opinion]

white people should from now on be prevented from performing piano trios

But not until the new Brian Kellock album is out, please. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjeptMdOGj8

It was originally due out last month on a small local label, but release has been delayed because a couple of larger labels have expressed an interest in putting it out. I don't think ECM will be one of them, though. See http://living.scotsman.com/features/...ned.6714126.jp

[Ian Thumwood]

Yes. Mr Kellock is very good. This is more of the kind of piano playing I like!

[Pianorak]

More of that Talented Mr Kellock here: http://www.thick-skinned.com/sounbites.htm.

Dare I say that the YouTube item of Cathie Rae doesn't do her any favours. Much better on the "soundbites".

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

whilst sympathetic to your argument Ian i think we should perhaps spare ourselves the controversies of skin colour eh ... how about effete bourgeois Europeans instead?

[Tenor Freak]

For the sake of being provocative and mischievious, I put to you the suggestion that white people should from now on be prevented from performing piano trios.......

Oh, I don't know...Europe hasn't done too badly with piano trios...but I would agree that there's probably little to differentiate many of the current crop from what I've heard. If I had not known it was Julia Hülsmann (whom I've never heard before) I probably would have guessed it was Tord Gustavsen or perhaps EST. I'm not going to knock Eurojazz piano trios for not being "authentic" because given Europe's own musical traditions we're never going to sound like an American group.

[Tenor Freak]

A propos my comment above, I quite like this - though I'm not sure Ian would LOL http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0ztCILcaoM (Warning: contains European jazz trio music. Always read the label)

[Tom Audustus]

"What intigues me is how this style of playing is now so ubiquitous "

Yes, but it is also very popular and jazz is a very broard church. I'm really enjoying Phronesis at the moment and going to see them at Fleece Jazz on Friday. Is this the sort of thing you're complaining about Ian?

[Ian Thumwood]

Tom

Sorry, been on holiday and therefore unable to respond. Odd to pick up that Youtube link as it was to some rock group and nothing tp do with jazz!!

The piano trio is too popular and the way that the three musicians now interact seems to be full of cliches. I suppose the problem is that the bass usually ends up playing a vamp, the drummer then takes up a pattern which tips it's hat towards rap / contemporary pop albeit refracted through a jazz mentality and invariably the pianist will then play a sub-Mehldau type of improvisation. Just wish that someone would just "dig in" as opposed to pussy-footing around.

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

Ian have you listened to Matthew Shipp ...interested to hear your views ...

[Ian Thumwood]

Calum


Oddly enough, I had been checking out Matthew Shipp immediately before I went away on holiday and the double CD you linked to elsewhere was one that I had intended to pursue. The only records with him on in my collection are as a member of David S Ware's quartet and I really like this kind of playing. This is exactly what I have been on about and why I think that it is those contemporary players who seem to have evolved out of Duke Ellington that are so interesting. There was an interesting interview with him on Youtube that was fascinating but I can't find the link I had to it. There are quite a few tasty looking CD's he has made on Blue Thumb but this record company never seems to tune their pianos when they make a recordinging and this somewhat sours my enjoyment of records. It is staggering how often you still find that there are out of tune pianos on records. I have discs by Dave Douglas, William Parker and Brad Goode where the quality of the piano is far short of being of the minimum standard.

[Pianorak]

. . . There was an interesting interview with him on Youtube that was fascinating but I can't find the link I had to it. . .

Just in case: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJe1wB7I_-k

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

thanks for that pianorak .... i liked his comment/implication that jazz is an underground language that doesn't fit with the corporate world ... i wish the auntniks running 'jazz' on r3 could have that thought more firmly in mind ....

[Tom Audustus]

Ian - The link seems to work for me or are you just being sarky? ;-)

Last Friday, Phronesis were very impressive technically, though I thought it took them to the second set to get going. I always think of the Fleece audience as a rather conservative bop-loving crowd but they certainly got behind the band after the interval.

By the way, it was good see so many younger people coming along to the gig and overhearing some of the interval chat it is clear that at least some musical teenagers are into jazz on the Essex / Suffolk boarder.