Language Selection
Michael Riessler: Mainstage - Jazzfestival 2015
This event has already taken place.„Jeu de cartes"
Germany, France
Michael Riessler - composition, bass clarinet, saxophone
Pierre Charial - barrel organ
Vincent Courtois - cello
Once a trio does away with its traditional rhythm section, it can easily be accused of producing what for many years has been labeled as “chamber music jazz”-i.e., lofty yet conventional musical pieces whose sound ebbs off in big concerts halls without causing a stir. By pulling this trick, formations of this kind have been able to focus their audience’s attention on an ensemble sound that revels in reduction. Bands working in this style are creating a foreground without a background, as it were. Tunes fade away without giving a hint of novel structural approaches or ideas. When clarinetist and saxophonist Michael Riessler talks about his new ensemble’s “complex chamber music,” he refers to a background of structural thinking steeped in classical training. While touching upon the African-American jazz tradition only marginally, improvisation still is an important component of his band’s performance. African-American jazz provides this band with its impulse for free and intertwined improvisation. Its structural forms, by contrast, are rooted in European modernism. Based on this aesthetic approach, Michael Riessler has developed a totally new musical language that transcends established ways of playing, totally dismantling traditional notions of jazz. His language goes far beyond fully notated formalities of the contemporary avant-garde and its mathematical claim to self-fulfillment. While he may partly use the avant-garde’s structural methods, he does so subversively, playfully, and imaginatively. With his music, Michael Riessler makes a radical stab at being different. He draws up a new way to weave together the historical threads of jazz with European art music, without any false attempts at amalgamation.
Germany, France
Michael Riessler - composition, bass clarinet, saxophone
Pierre Charial - barrel organ
Vincent Courtois - cello
Once a trio does away with its traditional rhythm section, it can easily be accused of producing what for many years has been labeled as “chamber music jazz”-i.e., lofty yet conventional musical pieces whose sound ebbs off in big concerts halls without causing a stir. By pulling this trick, formations of this kind have been able to focus their audience’s attention on an ensemble sound that revels in reduction. Bands working in this style are creating a foreground without a background, as it were. Tunes fade away without giving a hint of novel structural approaches or ideas. When clarinetist and saxophonist Michael Riessler talks about his new ensemble’s “complex chamber music,” he refers to a background of structural thinking steeped in classical training. While touching upon the African-American jazz tradition only marginally, improvisation still is an important component of his band’s performance. African-American jazz provides this band with its impulse for free and intertwined improvisation. Its structural forms, by contrast, are rooted in European modernism. Based on this aesthetic approach, Michael Riessler has developed a totally new musical language that transcends established ways of playing, totally dismantling traditional notions of jazz. His language goes far beyond fully notated formalities of the contemporary avant-garde and its mathematical claim to self-fulfillment. While he may partly use the avant-garde’s structural methods, he does so subversively, playfully, and imaginatively. With his music, Michael Riessler makes a radical stab at being different. He draws up a new way to weave together the historical threads of jazz with European art music, without any false attempts at amalgamation.
