Currents

Wolfert Brederode | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 19, 2008)
• Original Release Date: 2008
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: ECM Records
• ASIN: B000TLPW1W
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #202,949 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

About the Artist

In Holland the patient and reflective character of Brederode's own music has drawn the attention of theater directors and choreographers. As a sideman capable of exploring many aspects of jazz, he has collaborated with international musicians including Dave Liebman, Jeanne Lee, Arve Henriksen, Trygve Seim, Wolfgang Puschnig, Cristina Branco and many others. The cast he has assembled on Currents has honed his music in concerts, and plays it with sensitivity. Clarinettist Claudio Puntin (Swiss-born and of Italian descent) will be known to ECM aficionados. His debut for the label, "Ylir", with Icelandic singer/violinist Gerdur Gunnarsdottir, recorded 1997 and 1999 was widely praised. In addition to the Ensemble Modern, mentioned above, Puntin has worked with a wide range of artists including Fred Frith, Hermeto Pascoal, Jim Black, Dave Douglas, Nils Wogram, Jay Anderson and Anders Jormin. Bassist Mats Eilertsen, one of Norway's most resourceful young musicians appears also on guitarist Jacob Young's new recording Sideways - released in April 2008 in the USA. In addition to his ECM recordings with Young, Trygve Seim and The Source, and Parish with Bobo Stenson, Mats Eilertsen has played live with Kenny Wheeler, Pat Metheny, Nils Petter Molvær, John Taylor, Christian Wallumrød and many others. Samuel Rohrer studied in Bern and at Boston's Berklee College. He has worked across most expressions of contemporary improvising with players including Charles Gayle, Harald Haerter, Sirone, Michel Portal, Ferenc Snetberger, Joao Paulo, Markus Stockhausen, Arild Andersen, Wolfgang Muthspiel and many others. He also leads his own band, Tree.

Product Description

The gentle pulsations of the piano of Wolfert Brederode have played a significant role on April and Compass, ECM recordings of singer Susanne Abbuehl. Now the Dutch pianist (born 1974, in Wassenaar near Den Haag) steps forward to lead a group of gifted players - clarinettist Claudio Puntin and drummer Samuel Rohrer from Switzerland, and Norwegian bassist Mats Eilertsen - all of whom commit their improvisational energies to the lyric flow of his music, its chamber music sensibility, and the slow-drifting currents of its river of sound. Currents, recorded at Oslo's Rainbow Studio, is Brederode's ECM leader debut. Distinctive in its own right, Brederode's music can also be viewed in the wider context of the developing `traditions' of chamber jazz. The quartet's contrapuntal improvising and its melodies, shared between clarinet and piano, may bring to mind vintage Jimmy Giuffre and Paul Bley collaborations, important influences on music at ECM: the harmonic palette of the Giuffre 3, of course, drew influence from 20th century composition, as do these players. Wolfert Brederode studied classical and jazz piano at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, and clarinettist Claudio Puntin is active in both jazz and contemporary music - he has worked with, for example, the Ensemble Modern. Brederode's touch as a player is a poetic one, aptly so given the ongoing collaboration with singer Susanne Abbuehl. Susanne is co-composer of one piece here, the E.E. Cummings-inspired "As You July Me", a piece from the Abbuehl band repertoire. Everything else here on Currents is from the leader's pen.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Carried away by currents!, September 17, 2008

By 

David Tagtmeier "Night Blooming Jazzman" (Sacramento, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Currents (Audio CD)

Currents, the new cd from the Wolfert Brederode Quartet, is one of the better releases from the current crop of ECM artists -and that's saying alot with all the excellent new music from Bobo Stenson, Norma Winstone, The Marcin Wasilewski Trio and Mathias Eick! (all have strong, new ECM releases out and are highly recommended) I bought this on impulse after reading that Wolfert Brederode was the pianist on Susanne Abbuehl's sublime "April" cd. As on that album, this quartet features a clarinetist prominently. The music? All the usual ECM adjectives apply-it's wistful, beautiful, ethereal, haunting and has me playing it on heavy rotation! I was especially impressed with the light airy quality the quartet achieves and how it never lapsed into self-indulgence. Piano, clarinet,double bass and drums spin a delicate and melodic web. Don't let the unfamillar name scare you off-this ones a jem.

David Tagtmeier