Results for "Riviere Composers' Pool"

Riviere Composers' Pool

Theo Jorgensmann

Born: September 29, 1948

Jörgensmann was born in 1948 in the town of Bottrop in the Western Rhur industrial region of Germany. His work with the 'Bottrop Sextet' reveals that he continues to retain great affection for the town where he grew up. In the middle of the sixties he worked as a laboratory technician in a chemical laboratory. He started to play clarinet at the age of 18, taking private lessons from a music teacher at Folkwang Academy of Music in Essen. His dedication to the clarinet as his only instrument was only briefly interrupted during a 15 month spell doing National Service, when he was asked to play soprano saxophone for the Army dance band. After the phase in the German Army, Jörgensmann worked with handicapped children and studied several of semesters social pedagogics and computer science. Theo Jörgensmann is one of the most advanced modern free improvisers on his instrument, combining moody chamber jazz with hints of a modal hard bop sensibility. The distinctive tonal quality of Jörgenmann’s playing owes something to his choice of clarinet. Many of his albums, available on hatOLOGY, were recorded using a straight basset clarinet in Bb, made by Harald Hüyng, a pupil of the great Herbert Wurlitzer. This clarinet, although an Oehler System, would have some essential similarities to that played by Stadler when playing the Mozart Clarinet Concerto in the 1780’s. It has extended keywork to enable an additional D and C at the bottom of its range. In 2008, however, Jörgensmann switched from his basset clarinet in Bb to a Low G clarinet, built by another pupil of Herbert Wurlitzer, Wolfgand Dietz. The special sound of his playing arises from the fact that Jörgensmann blows with less pressing of the teeth. As a result, he can play other phrasing and accents, as it is usually possible on the clarinet. It is thus more closely related with the 'hard bop' saxophonists. Jörgensmann made his first appearance at a major event as a member of the 'Contact Trio' with {{Michael Jüllich=56888}} at the 1972 Frankfurt Jazz Festival. During this period he began working with local musicians. He didn't become a professional musician until 1975. In the early 1970's Jörgensmann played in a Jazz Rock group which included the keyboard player {{Hendrik Schaper}} (later a member of {{Klaus Doldinger=6335}} and {{Udo Lindenberg}}) and the drummer {{Udo Dahmen}}. At this time he used electronic effects pedals, such as fuzz, wah-wah and chorus. Probably he was one of the first clarinetists which electronically distorted their instrument. But by 1975 when he formed the clarinet ensemble, 'Clarinet Contrast', he was interested in the pure acoustic sound of his instrument. 'Clarinet Contrast' included {{Bernd Konrad = 8465}}, {{Hans Kumpf}} and {{Michel Pilz = 10309}} as well as one of the musicians Jörgensmann had most admired when he first began playing clarinet, {{Perry Robinson = 10767}}. In 1975 he also founded his first Quartet, which end of the seventies was one of the most successful jazz bands in Germany. In 1977 the 'Theo Jörgensmann Quartet' performed as German representative at the festival of the European Broadcasting Union in Hilversum, Netherlands. Jörgensmann's exclusive focus on the clarinet has led him to form a succession of partnerships with other clarinet players and because of its commitment to the clarinet he was part of the Renaissance in the jazz and improvised music scene. In 1979 the influential European producer and music journalist, {{Joachim-Ernst Berendt}} helped Jörgensmann call together the members of the 'Clarinet Summit'. This was an all-star clarinet group with soloists: {{John Carter = 5578}}, {{Perry Robinson = 10767}}, Theo Jörgensmann, {{Ernst Ludwig Petrowsky = 10259}} and {{Gianluigi Trovesi = 10909}}. John Carter and Theo Jörgensmann met each other at the Moers Jazz Festival in 1979. There they performed solo and as a duo on three days. {{Eckard Koltermann}} is another clarinetist who Jörgensmann has collaborated with on many occasions. As well as working together as the 'German Clarinet Duo' , in the mid 1980's they were both regular members of the clarinet ensemble CL 4, along with {{Lajos Dudas = 17437}}, {{Dieter Kühr}}, {{Eckard Koltermann}} and {{Gerald Doecke}}. By no means are all Jörgensmann's collaborations with clarinet players. As a young musician Jörgensmann also favoured to work in larger ensembles or duos. So he was member in the big bands of {{Andrea Centazzo= 15428}}, {{Willem van Manen}}, {{ Michael Sell - Composer}} , {{Franz Koglmann= 8447}} and the 'Grubenklangorchester' and he also performed as a duo with pianist John Fischer from US, Dutch guitarist {{Jan Kuiper =56915}}, German pianist {{Bernd Köppen = 56479}}, German poet Oskar Ansull, French bass clarinetist {{Denis Colin= 23580}}, German actor Bernt Hahn, German church organist Hans-Günther Wauer, Swiss pianist Daniel Ott, German performer {{Limpe Fuchs}} and Hungarian pianist {{Karoly Binder = 56718}}, with whom he recorded meanwhile 4 duo CDs. Jörgensmann is active as an improvisation theorist. He is convinced that improvised music is the most modern kind of music, since it has created a completely new kind of musician, an integral musician, who is conductor, composer and performer at the same time. „To find the right balance between communication of motion and non- communication is the major part of improvised music; that communication of motion as a part of interaction in music is an opportunity to create a new structure of time, which the listener could perceive as a new kind of musical space; that the idea of jazz does not depend on a specific material and special form; that the essential aspect of jazz is the fact that jazz musicians discovered the fourth dimension of time in music.“ Together with the musicologist and musician Rolf-Dieter Weyer, Jörgensmann wrote a philosophical book about improvisation "Kleine Ethik der Improvisation". As a lecturer Jörgensmann taught improvisation and clarinet at University of Duisburg between 1983 and 1993. At the same time, he hosted a radio program on jazz at West German Broadcasting. And from 1993 until 1997 he was a lecturer for free improvising at Music Therapeutics Institute of Witten/Herdecke University. Several of his recordings on the HatHut / hatOLOGY label are with the Theo Jörgensmann Quartet which consists of Theo Jörgensmann on clarinet, {{m: Christopher Dell = 40167}} on vibes, {{m: Christian Ramond = 31328}} on double bass and {{Klaus Kugel = 2933}} on drums. The quartet performed with {{Lee Konitz = 8463}} at the Muenster Jazz Festival 1999. Another regular partner has been {{Kent Carter = 11814}}, working together on the 'Theo Jörgensmann Workshop Sextet' ({{Charlie Mariano = 9072}}, {{Petras Vysaiauskas}}, Theo Jörgensmann, {{Karl Berger = 4931}}, {{Klaus Kugel = 2933}}, {{Kent Carter = 11814}}), as well as the 'Vysniauskas - Jorgensmann Quintet': ({{Petras Vysniauskas = 15461}}, Theo Jorgensmann, {{Andreas Willers = 14607}}, {{Kent Carter = 11814}}. {{Klaus Kugel = 2933}}) and the {{m: Riviere Composers' Pool = 103445}}.

Riviere Composers' Pool: Summer Works 2009

By Riviere Composers' Pool

Label: Emanem
Released: 2010

Rivière Composers' Pool: Summer Works 2009

by AAJ Italy Staff
November 23, 2010

Festa grande per gli irriducibili amanti della Emanem (etichetta di primo assoluto riferimento per tutto ciò che concerne l'improvvisazione libera): questo nuovo lavoro è addirittura un CD triplo (in vendita a prezzo speciale) che raccoglie e racconta due sessioni di registrazione in studio e due concerti tenuti dai membri del celebrato Rivière Composers' Pool, vale a ...

Riviere Composers' Pool: Summer Works 2009

by Raul d'Gama Rose
November 17, 2010

Rivière Composers' PoolSummer Works 2009Emanem2010 Summer Works 2009 is, very possibly, one of the finest testaments to spontaneously composed contemporary music since saxophonist Steve Lacy fired his first broadsides in Europe almost four decades ago. The music flies in the face of logic--how can two,three or four ...