CD Import

Party At The Bimhuis

Ab Baars

Item Details

Genre
:
Catalogue Number
:
221707
Number of Discs
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1
Label
:
:
International
Format
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CD
Other
:
Import

Product Description

Ab Baars - clarinet, tenor saxophone Wilbert de Joode - double bass Martin van Duynhoven - drums Ig Henneman - viola Misha Mengelberg - piano Guus Janssen - piano Maritte Rouppe van der Voort - alto saxophone, flutes I'm having a party A good old-fashioned party And since it clearly appears That I brought the music You bring the ears --Hoagy Carmichael Long story short, as Ab Baars's trio neared it's tenth anniversary, he decided to throw a party. Baars not being one to rush into anything (off stage, at least), the band was eleven-and-a-half before he finally got around to it. But nobody complained, any more than when friend Sean Bergin's MOB had it's tenth birthday Bimhuis bash at age nine. To join him in making merry Ab invited folks who'd helped make it all possible: his trio-mates of course, and four other colleagues crucial to his development as composer, tenor saxophonist and clarinetist. Maritte Rouppe van der Voort is his closest ally from his '70s student days in Rotterdam, when she tipped him off to then-obscure tenor saxophonist Von Freeman. These old friends have always had close rapport, and over the years they've teamed up in numerous outfits, including the '80s trio Trebbel with Guus Janssen, and a memorable 1997 Rouppe group interpreting Charles Ives songs. (I'm still hoping she'll record it.) As this party was being planned Ab and Maritte toasted their own 25 years of playing together with the CD Veer and Haul (Wig), exceptionally close-matched duets, echoed here by 'Party Talk 2.' Guus Janssen, whom Ab also met early on, was the first leader he worked for who called for different improvisational strategies and resources, and different notions of a solo's arc, from one piece to the next. 'Playing in Guus's first Septet was very difficult for me,' Ab Baars says, 'because he wanted us to 'compose' together in the improvisation, while relating to the mood or materials of the composition. Before that my improvising was more like diving into the unknown after I had played a theme. 'I like both ways by the way.' In the mid-'80s he went to work for another influential leader/pianist, the ICP Orchestra's Misha Mengelberg. 'On one of my first concerts with ICP, we played Monk's 'Reflections.' I had studied it and played a traditional solo like a good boy. Afterwards Misha came up to me and said, 'Ab, you don't have to play it like THAT, make up your own story.' That helped me a lot in finding my musical way.' And then there's Ig Henneman, Ab's longtime partner, and a composer and violist he much admires. In recent years they've divided their time between Holland and Italy, where they find themselves playing duo more and more. 'I like the way Ig plays and breathes-like a woodwind player, where a lot of string musicians play on and on, forgetting to take a breath. She also minds whatever melody or composition she improvises on, with a great feeling for form. Her composing is important for me, too. She shapes 'simple' material in a logical and transparent way, and again she's always very aware of the form-something true of her completely written compositions as well as her pieces for improvisers.' On the big night, Baars greeted the members of his trio first: bassist Wilbert de Joode and drummer Martin van Duynhoven. '3900 Carol Court' (the title track of their first GeestGronden CD, recorded in 1992), is for Ab's mentor John Carter, who unlocked the secrets of the clarinet's falsetto register for his student, and made him hear the advantages of simple material that encourages free interpretation-not to mention how to reconcile the blues and dissonant chamber music. But around 51 seconds into Ab's solo intro, he tips his hat to another forceful clarinetist rarely cited as a personal inspiration, the Ellington orchestra's Jimmy Hamilton: specifically his climbing birdy riff that anchors the finale of Duke's 'Ad Lib on Nippon.' It sheds new light on Baars's concept; the host reveals himself in conversation. For the alchemy of the trio, hear 'GF,' based on the opening of Beethoven's Great Fugue for string quartet. T

Track List   

  • 01. 3900 Carol Court
  • 02. GF
  • 03. Indiaan
  • 04. Party Talk, Pt. 1
  • 05. A Portrait of Roswell Rudd
  • 06. Party Talk, Pt. 2
  • 07. Von
  • 08. Party Talk, Pt. 3
  • 09. Whisper-Soft Horsemeat
  • 10. Reflections
  • 11. Enter from the East

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