|
|
daniel schläppi
«voices» |
|
|
|
|
1 graupenschauer
6.58
|
|
|
|
1 at first sight 7.08
total time 60.46 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
Daniel Schläppi (b, comp) Jürg Bucher (ts, ss, bcl) Dominic Egli (dr) Domenic Landolf (ts, ss, bcl) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
After about a dozen prentice years as an inspiring and grooving bass player and tough, emphatic accompanist of countless musicians of different fields of contemporary jazz Daniel Schläppi (b, comp) has eventually brought his first band voices into being. He assembles some of the most promising newcomers of Swiss jazz with the likes of Jürg Bucher (ts, ss, bcl), Domenic Landolf (ts, ss, bcl) and Dominic Egli (dr). The compositions and style of prime mover Schläppi suit the quartet voices to a tee. The musicians unfold new dimensions in improvisation starting out from the songlike tunes by Schläppi and reach far beyond the concept of soloing which has become so common in jazz. An authentic music originates from the tension between phantastic airiness and tangible earthiness which ignores in a seemingly weightless way the gravitation of habit. Daniel Schläppi deliberately directs the artistic concept of the band voices to provide the exact mixture of free space and structure for four extraordinarily creative, fanatic and venturesome individuals which brings out best their – nomen est omen – voices; that also explains the renunciation of harmony instruments. Everybody involved plays with constant respect for his fellow musicians and the collective in spite of the carefree and youthfully resolute liveliness with which the musicians seize this musical playground. But only those who can call their own exactly the stilistic suppleness, personal maturity, sure-footed control and aesthetic standards which always have been the foundation of true jazz manage to do so. Schläppi, Egli, Bucher and Landolf act in the spirit of their band at all times, while still exploring the twilight zones of their personal scope of abilities as single musicians. That is the only way such a free and easy yet at the same time concise interplay can come into existence, which is practised by voices without exception and obviously without any trouble at all. This even leads the band in sequences of free improvisation to develop music which formally sounds completely concise in all its spontaneous interaction. Under the leadership of Schläppi four kindred musicians have met in the idiom voices who cannot be irritated nor carried away by the modish and superficial, inconsistent and planless, hypocritical and innovative trends of contemporary jazz coquetry. The quartet rather distinguishes itself as an independent musical organism and retains an existential rest of commitment in its expression as a homogeneous dynamic band of the transient fragile art of the moment called jazz. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
«The bass player’s long run-up |
|
Peter Rüedi, Weltwoche, 20.02.2003 |
|
For ten years Daniel Schläppi has been working at his first CD. The patience was worth while: I bet you that you don’t guess what school he attended.
By Peter Rüedi
In ancient times when satire more often took place in magazines than real life a rather weird editorial department of young Germans monthly offered a biting alternative to the whimsical
simple-mindedness which made everybody sick for good who took up a copy of the magazine ‹Nebelspalter› at a doctor’s waiting room (where else than in waiting rooms was this publication read?). In the deep sixties somebody at
‹Pardon› had the idea to test the competence of the lectorship of some renowned publishing companies. He copied a lengthy extract from Robert Musil’s ‹Mann ohne Eigenschaften›, camouflaged it with some mistakes and
handwritten corrections and distributed the text as an extract by an unknown beginner. The result was devastating. Even Rowohlt who published Musil dismissed the extracts as worthless trash. Art is beautiful but makes work For decades, the American journal Down Beat has reserved its last page for the so called ‹blindfold test›, where a more or less famous guest comments on what he is listening to without any information given. At times the candidate makes a fool of himself and now and then a spark of glamour touches the odd which would never have been noticed otherwise. The first CD the Bernese bass player Daniel Schläppi has published under his own name after ten years of numerous activities would be an extremely hard nut to crack in any ‹blindfold test›. It is hard to imagine that an American listener would guess at a European group. Not to speak of a band from Berne. The quartet he built around the center of gravity provided by his heavy and bluesy bass playing does without a harmony instrument and reminds us of those units in which Elvin Jones used two or even three tenor players to balance the heavy groove of his drums (Joe Farrell, David Liebmann, Steve Grossman, Frank Foster). Schläppi’s Elvin is Dominic Egli, is 27 years young and opens the first tune ‹at first sight› with a powerful, slow and heavy as granite, 6/8 metre which Jürg Bucher and Domenic Landolf take up in unison. Then there is a break into a fast 4/4 pace and then the break back – Mingus was here. Both reedists play the tenor, the soprano and the bass clarinet, the moods change in ‹varying inks› (as Goethe would have put it). Yet, intensity always conquers over routine. All four musicians are connected to the Swiss Jazz School in Berne. Some people occasionally find fault with its traditional ways of education. They couldn’t be more in the wrong if the measure is music as played by Schläppi/Bucher/Landolf/Egli. At its best a school not only helps to find skills but also an attitude. All four have their own voice, Schläppi makes them all sound. We deal with melodies here, at times even in collective improvising intertwined ones: no reeled off scales, few cheap stereotypes from the postbop-repertoire. Everybody listens to everybody, everyone not only cares for sounds but also for gaps. Thus, a vivid interaction is born, at no time the thought of the somewhat stale traditionalism which gets on our nerves as a kind of bebop-dixieland crosses our minds. ‹Art is beautiful but makes a lot of work› Karl Valentin said. Instead we get an always intense and unperturbed pleasure, a light, sometimes Ornettian, cheerfulness which is positively extravagant, given the musical standard of Schläppi’s compositions. Footnote: Contemplating the Swiss supply of jazz pedagogics one could get uneasy: its standard but also its quantity has risen in a way that Darwinistic struggles of survival are predictable. Schläppi’s group, that is a deal!, is out of the wood.» |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
«Old hands with fun to play |
|
Berner Zeitung, 07.01.2003 |
|
The postbop band of bass player Daniel Schläppi has recorded its CD ‹voices› at a staggering level. Urs Bruderer The first impression is that of a typical premature delivery in Swiss jazz: The portraits of four young men; the sponsoring logos of Pro Helvetia, the canton and the city of Berne, and Migros Kulturprozent; as booking contact you can find the phone number of the band leader. Another CD by a couple of students fresh from jazz school, recorded in memory of their first project and to impress potential concert promoters? Agile and fiery We are dealing with something completely different here. The 34 years old Bernese bass player Daniel Schläppi has been a professional for twelve years. He has been playing crossover music, free and experimental jazz and was also a member of a jazz orchestra. If a cat like that puts together an acoustic postbop quartet for his fist production under his own name it will certainly not be to show off his knowledge to the world who please be in awe. He acquired his belief in improvising by performing. So did his fellow musicians. The two saxophonists, Jürg Bucher (35 years old) and Domenic Landolf (of 33 years) – not by accident two pupils of Andy Scherrer, the most exiting conservative in Swiss jazz – have earned their reputation in the scene as attentive and agile soloists. And what about the 26 years old drummer Dominic Egli? He is a fiery wizard of polyrhythms who combines the full-blooded Elvin Jones with the precise Billy Hart. Tricky and swinging Tradition is believed in. But complete from bebop to freejazz and up to the hard and groovy patterns of the 90es. The two freely improvised pieces are excellent. Schläppi’s compositions also span the whole history: swinging solos follow upon tricky themes. Structures are built just in order to be deconstructed in an even more impressive way. Beyond that the varied pieces are great vehicles for the virtuosic potency of this band. Tricky changes in rhythm and pace are executed with an organic matter of course. The rather detached disposition of the two reedists (both play the tenor and soprano saxophones, as well as the bass clarinet) is in full harmony with the driving play by the rhythm section. At all times, the sound of the band counts more than the effect of the soloist. This quartet cannot be called inovative. But it masters the art of interplay at the dizzying level of today’s masters. Those who usually buy their stuff at Joe Lovano’s or Branford Marsalis’ can for a change fall back on home production. There won’t be a loss in quality, on the contrary: the four youngsters play like old hands, just with undiminished joy.» |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
«Bass player hears voices |
|
Der Bund, Wednesday, 08.01.2003, culture department |
|
A twofold discovery: the band ‹voices› and the first recording by the Bernese bass player Daniel Schläppi Daniel Schläppi introduces with ‹voices› his first band of his own: The eponymous album is a hit. In the course of the festival ‹Diagonales 03› the group appears at the ‹Dampfzentrale›. Tom Gsteiger The more or less self-taught bass player Daniel Schläppi, born in 1968, has become known as a solid sideman with a broad stilistic scope: he swam in the sea of mainstream with the Stewy von Wattenwyl Trio, he experimented with fusion with Twice A Week, and he took off into the Elysian fields with the Martin Streule Jazz Orchestra. Now he ventures the step from sideman to leader: ‹I am ready for this.› Last february Schläppi spent some time in the studio with drummer Dominic Egli and the two saxophonists Jürg Bucher and Domenic Landolf to record an album with the downright programatic title ‹voices› (Brambus): the extraordinarily inspired music sings and swings which is a real joy. The repertoire consists almost entirely of originals by Schläppi which already could be heard in different contexts but also reveal completely new qualities thanks to the unusual instrumentation of his quartet. Two free improvisations are added which give evidence in an impressive way that we deal with musicians with an open ear and almost telepathic powers of reaction. Those who believe that Schläppi chose two tenorists (who also play the soprano saxophone and the bass clarinet occasionally) to join his band to take up the times of wild ‹saxophone battles› couldn’t be more mistaken. The goal of ‹voices› is on the contrary to create exciting contrasts between the sounds and phrases of the the two sax players. It becomes quickly evident that Bucher and Landolf, who by the way were both taught by ‹maestro› Andy Sherrer, represent two completely different ways of playing. As a tendency one could point out that Landolf is more often moving on the vertical axis. He explores the harmonies into the remotest corners in an astounding way which at times giveses his lines a crooked and abstract touch. Bucher more often floats on the horizontal axis, plays in a more sparse and melodic way. Of course these saxophone players can also ‹cut loose›, but when they do so it is never their purpose to shoot each other. In addition to this great saxophone-duo we have a rhythm section of no less power: Schläppi plays his bass in a balanced combination of earthy heaviness and tramponline-kinetics, Egli plays with smoothness and pressure at the same time while he gives the aspect of sound the highest priority. The conclusion is evident: with ‹voices› Schläppi has landed a hit at the first go.» |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
«Trampoline kinetics |
|
Basler Agenda, Nr. 2, 2003 |
|
The Swiss jazz scene presently abounds with talent. Some of these talented players are performing in the course of ‹diagonales 03› at the Bird‘s Eye, among them bass player Daniel Schläppi. Schläppi belongs to the tribe of the Bernese who are told to be very slow. In his case there lies some truth in this: At 35 he presents a band of his own for the first time. This obviously cannot be called a vertical take-off, but all the same a dream of a start, because the quartet ‹voices› (eponymous CD on Brambus)introduced by Schläppi is one of the most exiting combination of creativity for miles around. The almost self-taught Schläppi who made the transition from fusion to jazz and from electric bass to double bass has chosen an uncommon instrumentation for ‹voices›. In the foreground the ideally complementing tenor saxophonists Jürg Bucher and Domenic Landolf intertwine their interesting lines and in the background ‹trampoline kinetician› Schläppi and the drummer Dominic Egli who is equally versatile with all four of his extremities make pressure. With its ‹two-tenor›-format Schläppi's group is not so much in the line of mainstream but rather follows a small thread of tradition. The most famous group with such a lineup was presented by drummer Elvin Jones' ‹Live At The Lighthouse› in 1972 - the saxophone players were David Liebman and Steve Grossman and audibly referenced John Coltrane with their extensive and extatic improvisations. Jones had first tested the ‹two-tenor›-format two years prior to the Lighthouse recordings on the studio album ‹Coalition› with Frank Foster and George Coleman. While Jones prefers aesthestics orientated to density and energy, Schläppi favours with ‹voices› transparence and dialogic playfulness. Thus the bass player is more in the vicinity of the groups by drummer Billy Drummond and by bass player Chris Lightcap who also excel in the presence of ideally complementing saxophonists: On Drummond's ‹Dubai› we can hear Chris Potter and Walt Weisskopf, on Lightcap's ‹Lay-Up› Tony Malaby and Bill Mc Henry. There is but one conclusion: ‹voices› is not a band who needs to hide. It can easily keep up with international standards. Tom Gsteiger» |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
«Acoustic jazz |
|
Berner Bär, 09./10.01.2003 |
|
Bern. At ‹Diagonales Live Jazz 03›, taking place at the ‹Dampfzentrale›, Daniel Schläppi performs acoustic jazz at its best with his band ‹voices›. Simultaneously the CD of the same name is launched. The Bernese bass player Daniel Schläppi plays jazz of another dimension with his three fellow musicians some of whom are considered as promising newcomers in the Swiss jazz scene. The improvisations partly go beyond the usual concepts of soloing by ‹ordinary› jazz musicians. The postbop band features the two saxophonists Domenic Landolf and Jürg Bucher, as well as the drummer Dominic Egli. The quartet masters the art of interplay at an extraordinary level.» |
|
|
|
|
|
Beat Blaser, jazz editor at DRS II in Apéro-Special on 16.01.2004 |
|
«For some time now, Daniel Schläppi has been stepping out of the shadow of his bandleaders and been realizing his own projects. He runs a quartet by the name of ‹voices› with two of the best tenor saxophonists of the younger generation, Domenic Landolf and Jürg Bucher.» |
|
|
|
|
|
Bluewin Events, 04.2004
|
|
«Daniel Schläppi's first proper band has definitely a great deal of potential to become one of the most exiting voices on the Swiss scene. Schläppi's concept is ‹green meadow› and a lot of room for individual talent for improvisation which is extending the usual measure - and for that he has found ideal partners in his three creative companions. In a fresh and carefree way the four musicians pass the balls to each other, thereby probing themselves and their limits again and again. They enjoy with audible enthusiasm the vast, free spaces but all the same take into account their mutual solidarity.» |
|
|
|
|
|
Basler Zeitung, 06.01.2003 |
|
«[…] the Bernese bass player Daniel Schläppi who, after years of working as water boy, presents with ‹voices› (eponymous CD on Brambus) his first band under his own name […] Schläppi has made a rather uncommon choice for the instumentation of his quartet. With Jürg Bucher and Domenic Landolf the ‹front-line› is held by two tenor saxophonists who both studied with maestro Andy Scherrer; in addition there is the equally smooth and driving rhythm team of Schläppi and drummer Dominic Egli. Unfortunately this able band who can easily display a breathtaking brilliance is put in the same line with the historic ‹sax-battles› in the program of ‹diagonales 03›. But ‹voices› doesn't try to find the strongest stag of a rutting place but tries to find exiting contrasts between the sounds and phrases of the two saxophonists. It quickly becomes evident that Bucher and Landolf incorporate two completely different ways of playing which beautifully complement each other. Landolf is rather moving on a vertical line. He explores in a stupenduous way the harmonies into the farthest corners which gives his lines a crookedly abstract touch; while Bucher rather moves on a horzontal line and therefore plays in a more economic and melodic way.» |
|
|
|
|
|
Jazztime, 02.2003 |
|
«The compositions and style of prime mover Schläppi suit the quartet ‹voices› to a tee. The musicians unfold new dimensions in improvisation starting out from the songlike tunes by Schläppi and reach far beyond the concept of soloing which has become so common in jazz. An authentic music originates from the tension between phantastic airiness and tangible earthiness which ignores in a seemingly weightless way the gravitation of habit. Daniel Schläppi deliberately directs the artistic concept of the band ‹voices› to provide the exact mixture of free space and structure for four extraordinarily creative, fanatic and venturesome individuals which brings out best their – nomen est omen – ‹voices›; that also explains the renunciation of harmony instruments. Everybody involved plays with constant respect for his fellow musicians and the collective in spite of the carefree and youthfully resolute liveliness with which the musicians seize this musical playground. But only those who can call their own exactly the stilistic suppleness, personal maturity, sure-footed control and aesthetic standards which always have been the foundation of true jazz manage to do so.» |
|
|
|
|
|
Aargauer Zeitung, 09.01.2003 |
|
«For instance Daniel Schläppi's project ‹voices› which surprises with its rare quartet instrumentation: With Domenic Landolf and Jürg Bucher two excellent tenor saxophonists share the stage, and nex to the band leader and bass player drummer Domenic Egli completes the rhythm team. In 1957 an album by Kenny Dorham was called ‹2 horns, 2 rhythms› - the Swiss remake turns out to be as exiting.» |
|
|
|
|
|
Bob Blumenthal, writer Marsalis Music / US, 18.07.2003 |
|
«Your material represents a high level of musicianship and creativity.» |
|
|
|
