Home » Jazz Musicians » Ernst Bier Discography

Live at the A-Trane

buy album

Ernst Bier

Label: Konnex Records
Released: 2007
Views: 838

Tracks

From now on; Waynish; Delilah; Sunshower; Hangin out with J.C.

Personnel

Additional Personnel / Information

Sonny Fortune: alto sax, flute, percussion; Karl Schloz: guitar; Matthias B

Album Description

Sparks fly When jazz musicians get together on stage, there is always the chance that sparks will fly - assuming that all those involved are open to the possibilities, listen to each other, and have something to say. Then and only then may the audience witness a creative process in which an exchange of energy and ideas plays out. It is through this process the history of this music – jazz – is expanded, and a new nuance is woven into its rich fabric. Such an encounter may be spontaneous or planned. In this case, it goes back to Manfred Schiek's, the head of Konnex Records, original idea. Manfred had previously recorded Sonny Fortune as well as Ernst Bier in a number of settings. In 2005 he proposed the idea of a co-operative group project to Ernst and Sonny Fortune. Berlin drummer Bier first met Fortune in New York in the 1980's at a time when the saxophonist was working with Elvin Jones and Ernst was concurrently studying with Elvin. Following Manfred Schiek's offer, a couple of long-distance phone calls cemented the deal, and the date was set: the 12th – 16th of July at the famous Berlin jazz club, the A-Trane. Bier quickly put together a rhythm section: Guitarist Karl Schloz and Hammond B3 organist Matthais Bätzel were high-caliber players with whom Ernst had frequently worked over the years. Both have strong roots in the modern jazz tradition, but their playing is grounded in the present. Of course, the opportunity to play with Sonny Fortune was something special; Fortune, who was born in 1939, is considered to be one of the strongest virtuoso saxophonists of his generation. Fortune came to jazz at the age of 18, but he says that, "to find out whether or not I had what it takes to be a musician, I had to go to where it was happening – New York." He was 28 years old when he arrived in the Big Apple where he began playing with Elvin Jones, Frank Foster, and Mongo Santamaria. Later he worked with Leon Thomas and McCoy Tyner. At one point during the two and a half years he worked with Tyner, he turned down a gig with Miles Davis. Miles offered him the gig again in 1974; this time Sonny was his man – you can hear him on the Miles Davis albums "Big Fun", "Agartha", "Pangaea", and "Get Up With It". Early on, Sonny Fortune was impressed and influenced by Charlie Parker and Sonny Rollins, but to this day there is one player in particular that he respects – almost deifies: John Coltrane. Coltrane's 1959 album "My Favorite Things", gave Fortune the orientation for his own artistic path, a path along which he later met Coltrane personally. "John gave me direction in my life. Before I saw and heard him I was going nowhere in a hurry." is the way Sonny describes Coltrane's enormous influence on him. You can hear this influence in every tone of the A-Trane live recording. The explosive strength of Coltrane's tenor flows over into Fortune's alto saxophone playing, and it is immediately apparent in the soaring, incredibly intensive tour de force playing on the first two original compositions. Each band member was caught up in the flight, sharing his creative energy with the others. On Victor Young's ballad "Delilah", Fortune's brilliant flute playing bristles with vitality. On Kenny Barron's "Sunshower", Fortune again grabs hold of the Alto saxophone, and he and his colleagues on stage are once more magnificently in the game. The last piece, "Hanging Out With J.C." pays direct tribute to Coltrane. It is a sequel to his artistic calling, which began with "My Favorite Things", and continued with Fortune's meeting and, for a short time, working with Coltrane, followed by a New York concert with Elvin Jones on the night that John Coltrane died. Then there was the 1987/88 Coltrane Legacy Band with McCoy Tyner, Elvin Jones, Reggie Workman, and Sonny Fortune, and then again ten years later, a concert dedicated to Coltrane on the occasion of Elvin Jone's 70th birthday. And, finally, in July 2005 the week-long guest appearance in Berlin's A-TRANE. In this case there was no attempt to resurrect the legendary Coltrane line-up by adding piano and bass; instead, by bringing in Hammond organ and guitar, the band could form its own sound in which each of the four could contribute his individual voice. All this makes for an exciting encounter where, as we have said at the beginning, sparks fly. Ulf Drechsel