Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Julius Windisch Quartet: Chaos

1

Julius Windisch Quartet: Chaos

Julius Windisch Quartet: Chaos
Berlin-based pianist and composer Julius Windisch may not be a household name but he is not a newcomer either. He is a member of the psychedelic electro / jazz / improvisational duo Caesarean Moons, and in 2017 released his debut album, Drama (QFTF), recorded with his quintet. He has also been playing with other musicians on various projects, which often cross jazz boundaries.

Windisch's quartet retains no members from the 2017 quintet. Moreover, tenor sax has been replaced by alto and trumpet is eliminated from a game at all.

Chaos is a relative term and Chaos presents a more or less harmonized side of chaos. Indeed, the material is quite strictly composed and sometimes it seems that the space for improvisation is too restricted. Windisch uses much more staccato articulation while playing piano on Chaos than he did on Drama and his compositions are more sophisticated structures. Phrasing is often based on break rhythms and sequences of shortened duration notes. Nevertheless, melody remains important to his music. If Drama was based on a popular jazz approach, Chaos touches on more free and experimental forms.

Windisch is making an effort to free himself from the Esbjorn Svensson / Brad Mehldau tradition and to turn towards a more Cecil Taylor / Craig Taborn aesthetic. Trying to pinpoint the current sound of this young composer would be quite accurate to define it as an amalgamation of previously mentioned musicians but with delicate touch of Bill Evans sentimental mood. It's obvious, Julius is still in the process of shaping his sound but Chaos is a solid declaration of purpose.

Track Listing

Chaos; Pain; Wohin; Zulassen; Easte; Leere; Freude am Zahnrad; Gräit; Wassolldas.

Personnel

Additional Instrumentation

Recorded by Tito Knapp. Mixed and Edited by Anthony Greminger. Mastered by Luca Aaron. Cover Art by Lea Schmitt.

Album information

Title: Chaos | Year Released: 2020 | Record Label: Hout Records

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter 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.

More

Tramonto
John Taylor
Ki
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii
Duality Pt: 02
Dom Franks' Strayhorn
The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.