Over four decades after his demise, Eric Dolphy is still the paragon by which bass clarinetists are judged in jazz. No slight meant to the man’s memorial, but time seems well past due for a fresh standard. Clarinetist Theo Jörgensmann assembles a convincing case for potential consideration on his latest hatOLOGY venture. Recorded in the spring of 2006 at Alchemia, it’s his second commercially released outing with the Olés Brothers. Bassist Marcin and drummer Bartlomiej Brat are something of the defacto rhythm section at the popular Cracow club. They play readily with foreign improvisers that make tour stops in the Polish city among them David Murray, Chris Speed and Ken Vandermark and take a cue from that last in a conspicuous appreciation for bicep-flexing action jazz. While receptive to Jörgensmann’s more ruminative forays on “Perrata” and “Giuffree”, they respond most favorably to the full bore gallops of “Direction” and the latter half the nearly 20-minute chamber-to-freebop “Menace”. The extended avalanche drum-break on that last piece is practically bubbling over with percussive ebullience and the bassist’s string-abrading solo that follows is similarly bathed in aural rivulets of sweat. The crowd eats it up, whistling, clapping and audibly galvanized by the aggressively velocious interplay.
Jörgensmann is a bit harder to parcel out and doesn’t shackle himself to any one bag. His sound on the licorice pipe-shaped reed is an oblique admixture of old and new. “Giuffree” contains ad hoc quotes from several tunes associative with its namesake including “Jesus Maria”. An attention to moody articulation and finely etched detail pervades. The weave of the Olés is textured and elastic, adding appreciable depth and color to Jörgensmann’s melody-rich musings. On the harder charging numbers surnames like DeFranco and Mahall aren’t out of bounds. Jörgensmann’s preference for middle-register corkscrews and topspins in his phrasing especially echo the latter comparison, but again any allegiance to existing nomenclature is only fleeting. Jörgensmann and his colleagues aim for ambulatory swing on the closing “4x4”, strutting and side-stepping like a trio of Pied Pipers lighting out of Bremen with an audience of enraptured mice in tow before breaking into another bristling sprint and threatening to leave them behind. The piece carries on a bit too long, losing steam in its final third, but considering the caliber of what’s come prior it’s hardly grounds for complaint. Dolphy’s spirit still clings to the crown, but players like Jörgensmann are far from content with rote supplication to his memory.
~ Derek Taylor
Posted by derek on February 4, 2008 7:14 PMThere is THREE records commercialy available from The association between Jörgensmann and the Oles Brothers. To "Alchemia" you must add:
- Miniatures (Marcin Oles & Bartlomiej Brat Oles + Theo Jörgensman) Not Two Records MW 748-2.2003.(So far, the masterpiece of the trio).
- Directions (Olès/ Jörgensmann/ Olès) Fenom media FM 05-002 (the label of the two polish brothers).2005.
Contrary to his first hatOLOGY in quartet or in duet where he used the clarinet, Theo Jörgensmann plays this day a "cor de basset" (in english, a "bassett clarinet") who is an instrument who comes from the baroque age and sound close to a clarinet with a deeper extension in the bass register. To my knowledge, Theo Jörgensmann has never play a "real" bass clarinet (or, at least, never recorded with one). So, Derek, I'm not sure that the parallel that you draw here between Eric Dolphy & Jörgensmann is really relevant. It makes a little more sense wit Giuffre even if the way Jörgensmann plays his "basset" is also far from the philosophy & the way Giuffre was using his clarinet. Aniway, the "Alchemia" is a good record and I'm glad than people start, at last, to speak about Jörgensmann who is certainly one, if not the best, clarinetist (what ever is the "genre" of the instrument) plying today. Thanks for that.
Posted by: PLM at February 27, 2008 6:21 PM
It's "basset horn" in English, not bassett clarinet.
I don't hear much Dolphy in TJ's playing at all. Rudi Mahall, yes, not Jorgensmann.
Still, haven't heard this one yet.
Dan, the instrument that Jörgensmann is playing on "Alchemia" is called (on the three records) a "basset clarinet" - bassett with two t according to "Miniatures" and direction ("Bb bassett clarinet" to be exact in "Directions"). My english is not very fluent, so I've thougth that name was the english term for the french "cor de basset" because it also sound like a "cor de basset" in the most straigth or quiet moments of the three records (I found of baroque music and of the clarinet family). So, if it's not a "basset horn" (to use the proper name according to you), I wonder what instrument of the clarinet's family, Jörgensman is currently playing. The only thing that I'm certain, it's than Jörgensman is NOT playing in this three records a bass clarinet.
Posted by: PLM at February 28, 2008 3:13 AMThanks for the corrections, PLM, I’m not familiar with the Fenom Media disc you mention. Fwiw, I don’t hear much Dolphy in Jorgensmann’s playing either & didn’t intend to intimate such above. I was speaking more of Dolphy being the standard & Jorgensmann being a contender. Mahall and DeFranco are better points of comparison in terms of his playing, IMO. Bassett clarinet it is, though there are various points in the program where it sounds like a bass clarinet to me. Either way, clarinets seem to be a trickier taxonomy than saxophones, though I do have to admit to the periodic (& embarassing) inability to distinguish alto from tenor with certain players. Not an easy thing to cop to, but a personal failing nonetheless.
Posted by: derek at February 28, 2008 5:45 AMI stand corrected - looks like we're talking two different instruments here (the basset horn has a bell, the basset clarinet doesn't appear to have one). Shows what I know.. about time to look those earlier TJ discs out.
Posted by: Dan Warburton at February 28, 2008 9:14 AMAgree with PLM about "Miniatures"--fabulous record. Haven't heard "Directions", but I'll keep an eye out for it (thanks, PLM, for bringing it to our attention).
Although not a big vibes fan, I love Jorgensmann's quartet with Christopher Dell on vibes. Of course, it never hurts to have Klaus Kugel on drums! Both of the hatOLOGY quartet CDs are excellent, and their first recording, "Ta Eko Mo" (on the ultra-obscure Z.O.O. label) is also good, though (if memory serves) not quite as fine as the hat's.
(On the other hand, I've never been able to work up much enthusiasm for Jorgensmann's clarinet duets w/ Koltermann. And, despite the impressive personnel listing, "Aesthetic Direction" doesn't do much for me, either. Though I haven't completely given up on the latter CD.)
Posted by: Bill_R at February 29, 2008 10:15 AM"I stand corrected - looks like we're talking two different instruments here (the basset horn has a bell, the basset clarinet doesn't appear to have one). Shows what I know.. about time to look those earlier TJ discs out."
Basset horns/clarinets are generally in the key of G or F with the G one being straight (like a long A clarinet) and the F horn with a bell (like a slightly smaller alto clarinet). The baroque G basset is the instrument for which Mozart originally wrote his Concerto (now usually played on an A clarinet). There is also a G clarinet in a lot of Turkish music, straight again and usually made of metal and usually just referred to as a G clarinet. So, call it what you will; I don't know that there's anything definitive on the subject.
Posted by: Jacob Lindsay at February 29, 2008 12:23 PMAlthough if the instrument in truely a "Bb bassett clarinet" as PLM describes, then it is probably some kind of customized Bb clarinet with an extended lower register, in which case I guess he can call it whatever he wants.
Posted by: Jacob Lindsay at February 29, 2008 12:52 PMYou can find "Directions" on these sites:
www.fenommedia.pl
www.oles-oles.com
The basset clarinet is a clarinet, similar to the usual soprano clarinet but longer and with additional keys to enable playing several additional lower notes. Typically a basset clarinet has keywork going to a low (written) C, as opposed to the standard clarinet's E or E♭ (both written), and is most commonly a transposing instrument in A, although basset clarinets in C, and B♭ also exist,[1] and Stephen Fox makes a "G basset clarinet/basset horn".[2] The similarly-named basset horn is also a clarinet with extended lower range, but is in a lower pitch (typically F); the basset horn predates, and undoubtedly inspired, the basset clarinet.
About the "Basset clarinet":
(from Wikipedia): "The basset clarinet was most notably associated with the clarinet virtuoso Anton Stadler (1753-1812), a contemporary and good friend of Mozart. Mozart wrote his Clarinet Quintet in A major, K. 581 and Clarinet Concerto in A Major, K622 for this instrument; the concerto is partly based on an earlier fragment of a Concerto for Basset Horn in G, K584b. The soprano Vitellia's final aria (Non più di fiori) from Act II of Mozart's last opera, La clemenza di Tito, also features a basset clarinet obbligato.
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