Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Matthias Schubert: 9 Compositions for The Multiple Joy[c...

Matthias Schubert: 9 Compositions for The Multiple Joy[ce] Ensemble

By Glenn Astarita
January 1, 2014
View read count

Matthias Schubert: 9 Compositions for The Multiple Joy[ce] Ensemble

Featuring an international cast, Matthias Schubert conducts a program that snugly resides in the avant-garde space. Each track is outlined in the liners, citing connotations, inspirations and homages, where it's up to the listener to connect the dots via his or her interpretations. It's a hybrid offering engineered with asymmetrical parts of classical, jazz improvisation, John Cage-like indeterminacy and neo-minimalism.

"Conlon Zoubeck" features pianist Phillip Zoubeck's off- center manipulations that could be categorized as a song-form designed on busy minimalism via staggered flows, unanticipated delays and ricocheting effects, seguing into a hectic foray. Throughout the album diversity is a key aspect. For example, on "Anthonykowski" Schubert pays homage to new-jazz pioneer

Anthony Braxton

woodwinds
b.1945

" data-original-title="" title="">Anthony Braxton, which as the leader cites, is a "4-layer orchestration followed by a 4-layer improvisation." Eminent alto saxophonist

Frank Gratkowski

saxophone
b.1963

" data-original-title="" title="">Frank Gratkowski is the soloist, as the ensemble executes a geometric sequence of progressions amid countering sub-themes (layers). At times angular and gruff, Schubert provides a cunning muse of Braxton's multifarious compositional structures.

The piece "Frith Fields" is dedicated to legendary avant- garde and progressive rock guitarist

Fred Frith

guitar
b.1949

" data-original-title="" title="">Fred Frith (Henry Cow), propagated by guitarist Scott Fields' slightly distorted and steely lines, performed on electric guitar. Schubert coins this as a non-interactive improvisation, devised with alternating time signatures. Essentially, the ensemble stops, starts and refreshes the activities with a discordant line of attack. And the program is consummated on the flighty, sullen and capacious "John Muller," which is dedicated to renegade music theorist John Cage and flutist Hans Martin Muller. Here, Angelika Sheriden's flute lines project a fluctuating discourse, treated with the instrumentalists' strange effects and responses, such as a subtle pluck of a bass string and barely audible string scraping exercises. Indeed, Schubert's ubiquitous viewpoints elicit food for thought via these hugely contrasting musical statements that may prompt the listener to wonder what other curveballs or oddities may surface along the way.

Learn more about our star rating system

Track Listing

Conlon Zoubeck; Moose; Anthonykowoski; Duke Muche; Frith Fields; Boulevinsky; Ende der Zeit; Akkordstudie; John Muller.

Personnel

Matthias Schubert

saxophone, tenor

Scott Fields: guitar; Elisabeth F��gemann: cello; Sebastian Gramss: contrabass; Frank Gratkowski: alto saxophone; Carl Ludwig H��bsch: tuba; Axel Lindner: violin; Udo Moll: trumpet; Matthias Muche: trombone; Matthias Schubert: conductor; Angelika Sheridan: flute; Holger Werner: clarinet; Phillip Zoubek: piano.

Album information

Title: 9 Compositions for The Multiple Joy[ce] Ensemble | Year Released: 2013 | Record Label: Red Toucan Records

PREVIOUS / NEXT

SFJAZZ Collective: Live SFJAZZ Cente...
< Previous

Magic 201
Next >

Support All About Jazz

All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.