| Pierre Favre & DrumSights — Now (April 2016) |
Pierre Favre & DrumSights — Now (April 2016) ■*■ Swiss by birth, Pierre Favre recorded his first solo drum record in 1971. As a purveyor of Western improvised music rooted in jazz, Irene Schweizer, Peter Brötzmann and John Surman were his immediate peers. His scope soon expanded exponentially to encompass traditions from around the globe. These revelations led to an embrace of percussion as group activity, not just the province of a single player behind a single kit relying rudiments and regimens as the basis for expression. Born: in Le Locle, Switzerland.
Location: Switzerland
Album release: April 2016
Recorded: May 14 &15, 2015, at Bauer Studios, Ludwigsburg, Germany. Mixed and mastered at Bauer Studios.
Record Label: Intakt Records
Duration: 56:54
Tracks:
01. Again (Favre) 7:58
02. Brushes Flock (Favre) 7:25
03. Roasting Syncope (Jaeger) 2:02
04. Dance of the Feline (Favre) 8:28
05. Sycamore (Lauterburg, Zangger) 0:52
06. Along (Favre, Jaeger) 2:24
07. Pow Wow (Favre) 5:45
08. Painted Face (Favre) 1:34
09. Tramping (Favre) 7:31
10. Woolly Jumper (Lauterburg) 1:46
11. Nuevel (Zangger) 1:27
12. Games (Favre) 9:35
• Recorded May 14 & 15, 2015, at Bauer Studios, Ludwigsburg, Germany, by Adrian von Ripka.
• Mixed and mastered at Bauer Studios by Adrian von Ripka.
• Recording produced by SRF Kultur, Pierre Favre and Philipp Schaufelberger.
• Cover art and graphic design: Jonas Schoder.
• Liner notes: Pierre Favre and Balts Nill.
• Photo: Pino Ninfa.
• Produced by Pierre Favre and Intakt Records, Patrik Landolt.
• Published by Intakt Records.
Personnel:
♣ Pierre Favre (Drums & Percussion)
♣ Chris Jaeger (Drums & Percussion)
♣ Markus Lauterburg (Drums & Percussion)
♣ Valeria Zangger (Drums & Percussion) Description:
• Pierre Favre: The percussionist as poet; the drummer as soundscape painter; the composer as storyteller. Singing Drums was Pierre Favre’s first percussion ensemble. A title which sets the agenda: the search for a ‘voice’ for drums. Hardly any other drummer has worked as consistently with drumming and percussion ensembles as Pierre Favre.
• Pierre Favre worked with his new ensemble with Chris Jaeger, Valeria Zangger and Markus Lauterburg for five years on this repertoire. Although most of the pieces are written compositions, they play them all off by heart and there is lots of room for improvisation. Pierre Favre says: „And the most complex and risky parts are played with a smile.“
• Pierre Favre writes in the notes: „This group has become an organism with a specific and recognizable sound. Some parts can be perceived by unsophisticated ears as lacking precision, but they are in fact wanted so, as mixing 5/8 and 6/8 rhythms, and some more too. The aim of it all is to create frictions, to open spaces in the listener’s feeling, to bring him to let go of his fear of leaving the ground and to use his wings!“ DE:
• Der Perkussionist als Poet, der Schlagzeuger als Klangmaler, der Komponist als Geschichtenerzähler.
«Singing Drums» hiess Pierre Favres erstes Schlagzeugensemble. Ein programmatischer Titel: Die Suche nach der «Stimme» in der Trommel hat Pierre Favre nicht mehr losgelassen. Kaum ein anderer Drummer hat so konstant mit Perkussionsensembles gearbeitet wie Pierre Favre. Mit ihnen erweiterte er die Klangpalette des Schlagzeugs — von den virtuosen Rudimentals bis zu wunderbar verspielten und versponnenen Klanggeweben.
• Während fünf Jahren feilte Pierre Favre mit drei der spannendsten Schweizer SchlagzeugerInnen der jüngeren Generation am Repertoire für das Album „Pierre Favre DrumSights, Now“: mit Chris Jaeger, Valeria Zangger, Markus Lauterburg. • Obschon die meisten Stücke ausgeschriebene Kompositionen sind, spielen sie alles auswendig. „Und die komplexesten und riskantesten Teile spielen wir mit einem Lächeln“, ergänzt Pierre Favre.
Review
John Fordham
Thursday 11 August 2016 19.00 BST, Score: ***
■*■ Antonio Sanchez’ acclaimed drum score for last year’s Birdman movie has alerted a wider audience up to how expressive all~percussion music can be. This album features a dozen pieces composed by the 79~year~old Swiss percussion marvel Pierre Favre for his DrumSights quartet. Favre made an ECM album called Singing Drums in 1984, and he still leads groups that layer multiple rhythms with a warmth and vocal~toned naturalness that hides their astonishing complexity. Brushes-dominated pieces are ruthlessly badgered by bass-drum booms and woody tappings; deep fusions of conga and tom~tom rhythms ring and chime with metallic upper sounds; rubbery, racing-heart rhythms are pursued by thundering hooves; and there are byzantine conversations on taxing meters like the 5~6~5~5 pattern of the brittle, chattery Pow Wow. Every track has character, but the almost 10~minute Games (originally written for the African djembe), a mix of soft and hard sounds, martial, sensuous, relaxed or breakneck grooves, could be a sampler for the whole remarkable venture.
■*■ https://www.theguardian.com/
Review
Derek Taylor, April 21, 2016
• http://dustedmagazine.tumblr.com/post/143174805612/pierre-favres-drumsights-now-intakt
Website: http://www.pierrefavre.ch/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pierre.favre.397/
Drummerworld: http://www.drummerworld.com/drummers/Pierre_Favre.html
Performed with:
• Four In Time
• Benny Bailey
• George Mraz
• Albert Nicholas
• Lil Armstrong
• Booker Ervin
• Lou Bennett
• Manfred Eicher
• Cole Porter
• Jimmy Woode
• Jan Erik Kongshaug
• Jack DeJohnette
• John Eaton
• Léon Francioli
• David Friedman
• Fritz Hauser
• Daniel Humair
• Peter Kowald
• Evan Parker
• Bud Powell
• Paul Motian
• Flavio Ambrosetti
• Paul Giger
• Arvo Pärt
• Fredy Studer
• Furio Di Castri
• Joachim Kühn
• Stu Martin
• Barre Phillips
• Michel Portal
• Dom Um Romao
• Bill Smith
• John Tchicai
• Olé Thilo
• Peter Warren
• Barney Wilen
• Stephan Wittwer
• Nana Vasconcelos
• Kenny Wheeler
• Roberto Ottaviano
• David Darlin
• Steve Swallow
• Karin Krog
• Franco Cerri
• John Surman
• Charlie Haden
• Dino Saluzzi
• John Surman
• Tamia
• Irene Schweizer
• George Gruntz
• Dusko Goykovich
• Chet Baker
• Max Greger
• Bill Smith
• Albert Mangelsdorff
• Manfred Schoof
• Alan Skidmore
• John Taylor
• Mal Waldron
• .... and many more
_____________________________________________________________
| Pierre Favre & DrumSights — Now (April 2016) |
Location: Switzerland
Album release: April 2016
Recorded: May 14 &15, 2015, at Bauer Studios, Ludwigsburg, Germany. Mixed and mastered at Bauer Studios.
Record Label: Intakt Records
Duration: 56:54
Tracks:
01. Again (Favre) 7:58
02. Brushes Flock (Favre) 7:25
03. Roasting Syncope (Jaeger) 2:02
04. Dance of the Feline (Favre) 8:28
05. Sycamore (Lauterburg, Zangger) 0:52
06. Along (Favre, Jaeger) 2:24
07. Pow Wow (Favre) 5:45
08. Painted Face (Favre) 1:34
09. Tramping (Favre) 7:31
10. Woolly Jumper (Lauterburg) 1:46
11. Nuevel (Zangger) 1:27
12. Games (Favre) 9:35
• Recorded May 14 & 15, 2015, at Bauer Studios, Ludwigsburg, Germany, by Adrian von Ripka.
• Mixed and mastered at Bauer Studios by Adrian von Ripka.
• Recording produced by SRF Kultur, Pierre Favre and Philipp Schaufelberger.
• Cover art and graphic design: Jonas Schoder.
• Liner notes: Pierre Favre and Balts Nill.
• Photo: Pino Ninfa.
• Produced by Pierre Favre and Intakt Records, Patrik Landolt.
• Published by Intakt Records.
Personnel:
♣ Pierre Favre (Drums & Percussion)
♣ Chris Jaeger (Drums & Percussion)
♣ Markus Lauterburg (Drums & Percussion)
♣ Valeria Zangger (Drums & Percussion) Description:
• Pierre Favre: The percussionist as poet; the drummer as soundscape painter; the composer as storyteller. Singing Drums was Pierre Favre’s first percussion ensemble. A title which sets the agenda: the search for a ‘voice’ for drums. Hardly any other drummer has worked as consistently with drumming and percussion ensembles as Pierre Favre.
• Pierre Favre worked with his new ensemble with Chris Jaeger, Valeria Zangger and Markus Lauterburg for five years on this repertoire. Although most of the pieces are written compositions, they play them all off by heart and there is lots of room for improvisation. Pierre Favre says: „And the most complex and risky parts are played with a smile.“
• Pierre Favre writes in the notes: „This group has become an organism with a specific and recognizable sound. Some parts can be perceived by unsophisticated ears as lacking precision, but they are in fact wanted so, as mixing 5/8 and 6/8 rhythms, and some more too. The aim of it all is to create frictions, to open spaces in the listener’s feeling, to bring him to let go of his fear of leaving the ground and to use his wings!“ DE:
• Der Perkussionist als Poet, der Schlagzeuger als Klangmaler, der Komponist als Geschichtenerzähler.
«Singing Drums» hiess Pierre Favres erstes Schlagzeugensemble. Ein programmatischer Titel: Die Suche nach der «Stimme» in der Trommel hat Pierre Favre nicht mehr losgelassen. Kaum ein anderer Drummer hat so konstant mit Perkussionsensembles gearbeitet wie Pierre Favre. Mit ihnen erweiterte er die Klangpalette des Schlagzeugs — von den virtuosen Rudimentals bis zu wunderbar verspielten und versponnenen Klanggeweben.
• Während fünf Jahren feilte Pierre Favre mit drei der spannendsten Schweizer SchlagzeugerInnen der jüngeren Generation am Repertoire für das Album „Pierre Favre DrumSights, Now“: mit Chris Jaeger, Valeria Zangger, Markus Lauterburg. • Obschon die meisten Stücke ausgeschriebene Kompositionen sind, spielen sie alles auswendig. „Und die komplexesten und riskantesten Teile spielen wir mit einem Lächeln“, ergänzt Pierre Favre.
Review
John Fordham
Thursday 11 August 2016 19.00 BST, Score: ***
■*■ Antonio Sanchez’ acclaimed drum score for last year’s Birdman movie has alerted a wider audience up to how expressive all~percussion music can be. This album features a dozen pieces composed by the 79~year~old Swiss percussion marvel Pierre Favre for his DrumSights quartet. Favre made an ECM album called Singing Drums in 1984, and he still leads groups that layer multiple rhythms with a warmth and vocal~toned naturalness that hides their astonishing complexity. Brushes-dominated pieces are ruthlessly badgered by bass-drum booms and woody tappings; deep fusions of conga and tom~tom rhythms ring and chime with metallic upper sounds; rubbery, racing-heart rhythms are pursued by thundering hooves; and there are byzantine conversations on taxing meters like the 5~6~5~5 pattern of the brittle, chattery Pow Wow. Every track has character, but the almost 10~minute Games (originally written for the African djembe), a mix of soft and hard sounds, martial, sensuous, relaxed or breakneck grooves, could be a sampler for the whole remarkable venture.
■*■ https://www.theguardian.com/
Review
Derek Taylor, April 21, 2016
• http://dustedmagazine.tumblr.com/post/143174805612/pierre-favres-drumsights-now-intakt
Website: http://www.pierrefavre.ch/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pierre.favre.397/
Drummerworld: http://www.drummerworld.com/drummers/Pierre_Favre.html
Performed with:
• Four In Time
• Benny Bailey
• George Mraz
• Albert Nicholas
• Lil Armstrong
• Booker Ervin
• Lou Bennett
• Manfred Eicher
• Cole Porter
• Jimmy Woode
• Jan Erik Kongshaug
• Jack DeJohnette
• John Eaton
• Léon Francioli
• David Friedman
• Fritz Hauser
• Daniel Humair
• Peter Kowald
• Evan Parker
• Bud Powell
• Paul Motian
• Flavio Ambrosetti
• Paul Giger
• Arvo Pärt
• Fredy Studer
• Furio Di Castri
• Joachim Kühn
• Stu Martin
• Barre Phillips
• Michel Portal
• Dom Um Romao
• Bill Smith
• John Tchicai
• Olé Thilo
• Peter Warren
• Barney Wilen
• Stephan Wittwer
• Nana Vasconcelos
• Kenny Wheeler
• Roberto Ottaviano
• David Darlin
• Steve Swallow
• Karin Krog
• Franco Cerri
• John Surman
• Charlie Haden
• Dino Saluzzi
• John Surman
• Tamia
• Irene Schweizer
• George Gruntz
• Dusko Goykovich
• Chet Baker
• Max Greger
• Bill Smith
• Albert Mangelsdorff
• Manfred Schoof
• Alan Skidmore
• John Taylor
• Mal Waldron
• .... and many more
_____________________________________________________________