Two from Die Hochstapler

Formed in 2011, the French-Italian-German quartet Die Hochstapler (The Impostors) has comprised the same four players ever since, with the instrumentation of a classic jazz quartet—saxophone, trumpet, bass and drums. Prior to the pair of recordings below, they had released three albums on Umlaut, The Braxtornette Project (2013), The Music of Alvin P. Buckley (2015), and The Quick Brown Fox Jumps Over the Lazy Dog (2018).

Away from Die Hochstapler, all four members have impressive track records; saxophonist Pierre Borel is a member of Konzert Minimal and Umlaut Big Band, the former alongside drummer Hannes Lingens who is also a member of Apartment House, and the latter with trumpeter Louis Laurain who is also a member of ONCEIM; bassist Antonio Borghini has played in and recorded with the Anthony Braxton Quartet...

Die Hochstapler
Beauty Lies
Umlaut
2022

Recorded within days of each other, in February 2022, during the quartet's residency at the legendary Berlin venue Au Topsi Pohl, the albums Beauty Lies and Within were released on the same day, with titles which run together to form the title of one of the album tracks, "Beauty Lies Within." Each album is clad in impressive artwork by Joel Grip. All of which leads one to expect the albums' music to be similar. However, nothing could be further from the truth. Beauty Lies comprises twenty-five tracks which were recorded without an audience, on February 14th or 17th, ranging in length from the four seconds of "Loop" to almost ten-and-a-quarter minutes of "True Love," each track being credited to all four quartet members or to one individual. These tracks apparently represent all of the composed and collectively developed material that the quartet used in Within. For Beauty Lies the pieces were seamlessly joined together to create the impression of a continuous forty-three-minute performance, albeit one with occasional jump cuts or non sequiturs. Nonetheless, there are enough coherent extended passages to make very enjoyable free-flowing listening; even Laurin's vocal rendition of "Beauty Lies Within" itself seems logical and natural in this context.

Die Hochstapler
Within
Umlaut
2022

Recorded live in concert, on February 16th 2022, at Au Topsi Pohl, Within is radically different to Beauty Lies right from its opening notes. This album comprises two extended tracks ("Part 1" and "Part 2" -maybe halves of a performance) of similar lengths, totalling fifty-seven minutes altogether. Inevitably, the music is far more free-flowing and coherent than that on Beauty Lies.

The quartet do not often opt for individual virtuoso soloes, instead playing as an ensemble for much of the time, with all four being equally responsible for moving things along and introducing new motifs. In addition to trumpet and drums, Laurain and Lingens double on other instruments, bringing variety to the soundscape. Unlike Beauty Lies where everything seems composed, Within clearly contains improvised parts, notably in response to the introduction of composed themes which are explored at length.

Along the way, there are occasional phrases borrowed from other jazz players across a broad spectrum of jazz styles; as ever, half the fun of listening to the album is recognising and placing such quotes. Ultimately, though, the music here mainly originates from Die Hochstapler themselves and they deserve credit for having developed a style of playing which is uniquely theirs alone.

The difference between these two albums is comparable to that between scattered jigsaw puzzle pieces and the completed jigsaw picture. The two complement one another perfectly and should be considered as companion pieces. Rather than deciding which one to choose, go for both; they belong together...

Tracks and Personnel

Beauty Lies

Tracks: Time Machine; Loop; Le 34; Parade; When You Play the Jazz; Bells; Squid Pro Quo; Rien Nul; The Genius of Modern Music; How Many Hairs; Anasthesia; Loop; True Love; J & B; Hochstaplacy: Napoleon; Banana Cage; Beauty Lies Within; Two Kinds of Blue; Loop; Der Bürokrat; Hochstaplarker; The Great Wars; J & T; Loop.

Personnel: Pierre Borel: alto sax, cymbals, bird calls; Louis Laurain: trumpet, vocals; Antonio Borghini: double bass; Hannes Lingens: drums, vibraphone.

Within

Tracks: Part 1; Part 2.

Personnel: Pierre Borel: alto sax; Louis Laurain: trumpet, bird calls, vocals; Antonio Borghini: double bass; Hannes Lingens: drums, vibraphone.

Comments