Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Elastic Bricks: Oùat

Elastic Bricks: Oùat

By Mark Corroto
March 2, 2022
View read count

The Berlin-based piano trio Oùat releases their first album with the seemingly paradoxical title Elastic Bricks. If you listen closely, there is nothing incongruent nor oxymoronic about the music. The studio recording from 2021 by pianist

Simon Sieger

piano

" data-original-title="" title="">Simon Sieger, bassist

Joel Grip

bass, acoustic

" data-original-title="" title="">Joel Grip, and drummer

Michael Griener

drums
b.1968

" data-original-title="" title="">Michael Griener is an all acoustic instrumental affair with a twist. The vinyl edition comes with individual texts, paragraphs from writer Erin Honeycutt accompanying each of the nine compositions. Although no voice is heard, the written word definitely influences the the listening experience. Or, maybe not.

Let us back up a bit. The musicians, who can be heard in multiple ensembles including

Satoko Fujii

piano
b.1958

" data-original-title="" title="">Satoko Fujii's Orchestra Berlin, Monk's Casino, Umlaut Big Band, Art Ensemble of Chicago and with musicians such as Sven-?ke Johansson, and

Ellery Eskelin

saxophone, tenor
b.1959

" data-original-title="" title="">Ellery Eskelin, reimagine the piano trio as a vehicle for storytelling. "Shall We" with its

Thelonious Monk

piano
1917 - 1982

" data-original-title="" title="">Thelonious Monk mathematics adheres to Honeycutt's text, "What shall we say when we do not know anymore what to say between the pauses?" The trio (and probably the listener) clearly has said caesura in mind here.

"Sommer" is a meditation on time. It is an

Ahmad Jamal

piano
1930 - 2023

" data-original-title="" title="">Ahmad Jamal-like percussive creation where Honeycutt's words tell us "SOMMER arrived like there was no such thing as arrived." The trio takes her cues about destruction to assemble before disassembling the music. There's more arriving and departing with "Dala-Floda Departure," where Grip's double bass takes on the infectious characteristics of a mbira, an African thumb piano. "Tibia of The Mole" with its text "arriving ever arriving and falling..." draws from

Duke Ellington

piano
1899 - 1974

" data-original-title="" title="">Duke Ellington's conceptions of modernity and automation, mixing slow stride with talking bass. The same textures pop with "Topsi Dance" and its reliance on stop/start locomotion and Honeycutt's words "When we flew we really flew like there was no tomorrow."

Learn more about our star rating system

Track Listing

Shall We; Mother and Son; Sommer; Dala-Floda Departure; Height of Nothingness; Tibia Of The Mole; Weihnachten; Topsi Dance; Borghini Ballade.

Personnel

Simon Sieger

piano

Joel Grip

bass, acoustic

Michael Griener

drums

Album information

Title: Oùat | Year Released: 2022 | Record Label: Umlaut Records

PREVIOUS / NEXT

Luke Stewart Silt Trio, Nublu Orches...
< Previous

Lou Marini Speaks His Mind
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.