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Chris Torkewitz
Label: goschart music
Released: 2022
Duration: 1:11:09
Views: 1,609
Tracks
Vista (Chamber Suite I); Farbtoene (Chamber Suite II); Noticias (Chamber Suite III); Epilogo (Chamber Suite IV); Filou; Steingarden; T.S. (Tentet); One for You; Seiltanz; Ausblick (String Quartet)
Personnel
Chris Torkewitz
saxophone, tenorAdditional Personnel / Information
Adam Matthes: viola; Aleksandr Karjaka: bass clarinet; Amanda Gookin: cello; Austin Walker: drums (solos); Ben Bryden: tenor sax; Bradley Madsen: trombone; Chris Torkewitz: comp., cond., tenor sax (solo), flute; Curtis Stewart: violin; Dan Blankinship: trumpet; David Ashton: soprano sax (solo), alto sax, flute; David Smith: trumpet (solos); Florian Hoefner: piano (solo); Isaac Kaplan: trombone; Jannina Norpoth: violin; Jay Rattman: clarinet (solos), alto sax (solo), flute; Jim Saltzman: tenor sax (solo); John Raymond: trumpet; Kathryn Andrews: harp; Lisa Dispigno: flute; Markus Schieferdecker: bass (solo); Mat Schumer: bari sax, bass clarinet; Max Seigel: bass trombone; Olli Hirvonen: guitar (solo); Sam Hoyt: trumpet (lead); Tim Vaughn: trombone (lead); Vicky Chow: piano (solo); Mike Marciano: mixing and mastering; Dustin Cicero: concert recording; Aleksandr Karjaka: cover photo; K.H. Krauskopf: concert photography; Larissa Pickens and Ashley Redican: layout and design
Album Description
As a composer, arranger, saxophonist, pianist, and educator, Chris Torkewitz has had a busy musical life filled with accomplishments. One of his proudest moments took place on March 21, 2013 when he presented an impressive concert comprised of his original music performed by a specially assembled Jazz Chamber Ensemble and a Jazz Orchestra. The full concert has finally been released and the results are timeless, futuristic, and adventurous. Born and raised in Neustadt an der Weinstrasse, Germany, Chris Torkewitz remembers that early in life he heard classical music and the pop music of the 1980s. “I also began to enjoy big band music like that of Tommy Dorsey and Glenn Miller and later on Oliver Nelson, particularly his Three Shades Of Blue album.. I started on the piano when I was 5 or 6, mostly studying classical music. I began playing alto- sax at 11 and picked up the tenor and flute a few years later. Around that time, my saxophone teacher played me the famous Massey Hall concert with Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker.” Chris began composing music when he was 18 and he was active as an improviser and a composer in many different projects in Germany including his Latin jazz trio and the Afro-Cuban themed tentet Proyecto típico. Chris came to the United States to attend the Manhattan School of Music where he earned a Doctor of Musical Arts and his Master’s degree. “The most important thing that I learned while there was to be fully dedicated to whatever I was working on, and to always take the music to the next level as a composer.” After he graduated, he stayed in New York for a time, leading a trio on piano and serving on the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music. Having earned his performance and teaching diplomas as a multi-instrumentalist from the Cologne Conservatory of Music and Dance, in 2014 Chris returned to Germany to become a professor of popular music at the University of Arts and Applied Sciences in Freiburg, Germany but he has been back in the U.S. many times since then, taking numerous transatlantic flights. Chris has also toured Canada, Syria, Cuba and Central America and appeared at numerous festivals. Of his recordings, 2017’s The Drive finds him in particularly inventive form on tenor and flute with his Sugar Hill Trio. While Chris Torkewitz has written extensively for jazz trios, quartets, and large ensembles, his 2013 concert is a milestone. “It is a snapshot of my music at the time composed for two very different groups. The ensembles were formed specifically to play this music and this was their only public appearance although I hope to be able to do this again in the future. We performed each selection before the audience just once, so no alternate versions exist.” Chris used some of the very best players in the area for the concert. The Jazz Chamber Ensemble consists of a string quartet, clarinet, bass clarinet, flute, harp, piano, and string bass. While most of the music for the chamber group was written out by Chris, clarinetist Jay Rattman and violinist Curtis Stewart have opportunities to improvise during their solos. The Jazz Chamber Ensemble begins the concert with Chris’s four-part “Chamber Suite.” The opening movement, “Vista,” sets a light-hearted and whimsical mood, utilizing an eccentric rhythm with unexpected accents. As with the other pieces, it constantly evolves with strong forward momentum, building to an early climax with clarinetist Rattman wailing above the insistent rhythm. The second movement, “Farbtoene” (which in English means colors, hues or tints), is a moody ballad that is filled with suspense, tension and exquisite tone colors, enriched by Kathryn Andrews’ fine harp playing and Rattman's and Stewart's atmospheric improvisations towards the end. “Noticias” (news) sounds quite urgent and gradually increases in passion with Rattman’s clarinet flying over the top. The brief final section, “Epilogo” (epilogue) has pianist Vicky Chow in the lead before its sudden end. Of the “Chamber Suite” as a whole, Chris modestly says, “It appears from somewhere, branches out in colors and then, after exploring its ideas, it builds to a close.” One would think that switching from the ten-piece Chamber Ensemble to the 17-piece Jazz Orchestra for the next two originals would be an abrupt change; only Jay Rattman (who switches to alto and flute), drummer Austin Walker, and bassist Markus Schieferdecker perform with both groups. But as one can hear on the big band’s opening number, “Filou” (which means “friend” in Greek or “trickster” in French), the mood does not immediately change from the “Chamber Suite” even if the potential colors are different. “Filou” at first recalls Bob Brookmeyer’s writing for the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra, swinging in its own way but harmonically complex. The ensemble interacts with drummer Austin Walker, trumpeter David Smith (mostly muted) and guitarist Olli Hirvonen share the spotlight with Walker for a stretch, and David Ashton improvises an extensive and fluent soprano solo that uplifts the music, leading to the final spirited ensembles. The atmospheric “Steingarden” (rock garden) is dedicated to the gardens that Chris saw in China. It sets a mysterious mood, tenor-saxophonist Jim Saltzman creates an explorative improvisation as the ensembles continue to evolve and become quite dense, and David Smith contributes an excellent trumpet solo that adds to the piece’s intensity. “T.S.” is a change of pace. Utilizing a tentet taken from the big band, Chris creates a relatively straight ahead (but far from predictable) performance. He joins in on tenor and takes a fine solo that displays both his creative imagination and his mastery of the horn. Pianist Florian Hoefner and Smith on trumpet also make memorable statements. “One For You” gives listeners one more example of Chris Torkewitz’s original and colorful writing for the full Jazz Orchestra. Jay Rattman, this time on alto, is quite inventive during his short spots but the performance primarily displays the attractive colors of the ensemble. The Jazz Chamber Ensemble returns for “Seiltanz” (tightrope walk) which its composer says “is inspired by the tension one feels in taking so many transatlantic flights, going back and forth.” One can feel both the wonder of flying over the Atlantic and the monotony of taking so many flights in the highly expressive music. The unique release concludes with “Ausblick” (outlook), a somber but affectionate farewell piece that utilizes PUBLIQuartet, the string quartet from the Jazz Chamber Ensemble. Chris Torkewitz looks forward to the future with enthusiasm. “My goals are to stretch out a bit more as a player, to lead another chamber ensemble and a big band, and maybe combine the two. I want to constantly challenge myself. With the pandemic, it has been a long year and I certainly look forward to playing and performing again. But for now, I am very glad that the music from this concert is finally coming out. I really appreciate the contributions of the other musicians on the release and feel very lucky to have worked with them. I really look forward to everyone getting a chance to hear this.” — Scott Yanow, jazz journalist/historian
Album uploaded by Chris Torkewitz
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