Combining early music with oriental jazz… it is a unique combination. Classical music as a basis for jazz improvisations is something I encountered earlier on the cd's van Trio X. The combination of early music with oriental elements is also something that characterizes, among other things, the Sephardic repertoire of La Roza Enflorese. The combination of both jazz and early music with an oriental touch is remarkably original. The result sounds like nothing else I have discovered before. It's high time to explore this music!
The cd opens with Tres Morillas M'enamoran [track 01]. Gürkan Balkan sets a free melody with Al-Andalus character. The use of the bass clarinet by Annette Maye announces the jazzy side of this piece. The rhythmic ostinato is the start and as more instruments join the musical interplay, the swinging character comes more to the foreground. The ostinato comes to a standstill and soprano Regina Kabis sings a 16th-century Spanish melody. The melody is doubled by Balkan or Maye. After the vocal passage, the bass clarinet resumes the ostinato and Albrecht Haaf starts his improvisation on piano. The world of oriental jazz and early music alternate with each other. Yet there is no break in style or atmosphere for the listener. The whole feels very organic.
Ben póde Santa María [track 03] begins with a strong percussion section. Then the clarinet starts the renaissance melody which is later taken over by Kabis. The melody comes from the 13th-century Cantigas de Santa María manuscript. Again, these fragments of early music are alternated by improvisational passages without breaking the flow of the music. Continuity in instrumentation and similar modality hold the whole together.
Besides jazzy arrangements of early music, this cd also contains newly composed music. Ostinato I [track 07] by clarinetist Annette Maye is an example of this. This piece is strategically placed in the middle of the cd. Despite this composition differing in style from the first six tracks, sufficient common elements have been preserved to allow the stream of music to flow uninterrupted.
The cd ends with two 16th-century Sephardic melodies: Por Que Llorax Blanca Nina [track 12] and Cuando El Rey Nimrod [track 13]. This is the only moment when they don't really bring anything new. In style, this is reminiscent of the core repertoire of La Roza Enflorese. Yet the jazz elements provide enough to distinguish the difference between the two ensembles.
The combination of both Al-Andalus and Sephardic music as well as traditional names such as Monteverdi shows the broad basis of early music from which Freiburger Spielleyt and Ensemble FisFüz draw inspiration. With this cd they manage to build a bridge between the world of early music and that of oriental jazz. This cd is certainly unusual but fantastically fascinating.
5/5
- WHO: Freiburger Spielleyt, Ensemble FisFüz
- WHAT: Oriental Touch: Early Music meets Oriental Jazz
- LABEL: Christophorus CHE02262
- ORDER: JPC